What Are We Playing [Aug 2026]

This month's What Are We Playing ranges from coming-of-age stories that are out of this world, a fast dice-drafting rouge-lite video game, and a boxed set of supernatural mystery cases.

Image via Steam

I Was a Teenage Exocolonist by Northway Games

A teenager comes of age on a new planet, taking on the daily work of a young colony, hydroponic farming among them, alongside a cast of colonists who each carry their own history. The art carries a lot of the game's charm, with palettes that turn calm and open during the outdoor stretches and alien creature designs that lean warm and a little strange, more fantasy than hard science fiction.

Where most RPGs would put the outcome of a challenge to a dice roll, this one runs everything through a card game instead. Cards build up over the course of play, some earned through story beats and some through the choices made along the way. Resting lets a player drop a card to sharpen the deck, though only between two options rather than the full hand, a limit that keeps a more intentional build just out of reach. Card draw is random, but the the occasional modifier woven into a challenge gives these moments a rhythm that brings Balatro to mind. Difficulty rises in step with the characters' growing skills.

The early hours ask for a little patience. Experience builds slowly, and some dialogue options sit behind stats before they feel earned. Relationships take their time too, sometimes to the point where deepening one friendship means setting the rest of the colony aside. A few earlier, smaller wins would go a long way toward pulling a new player in faster. The final stretch also hands over less control of the story than the hours before it, which stands out after so much time spent making choices that felt like they mattered.

Time: ~10 hours

Difficulty: 2/5

Image via Steam

Rue Valley by Emotion Spark Studio

A mysterious time loop story with a comic book look, with vibes in the neighborhood of The Forgotten City, Kentucky Route Zero, and Disco Elysium. Each loop means talking to people, moving through the town, and gathering information that carries into the next run. Time loop games can wear thin fast, but this one mostly avoids that trap, aside from a wish for a quicker way through a loop's early beats once they're already familiar.

The ending draws mixed feelings, and a few systems feel rough in places, but the overall experience holds together well. The Kafkaesque premise, waking up in a therapist's office every single morning, carries real weight throughout. A good pick for anyone drawn to narrative-first games with some bite to them.

Time: ~10-15 hours

Difficulty: 1/5

Dicey Dungeons by Terry Cavanagh

A rogue-lite built on dice drafting, where skills get chosen and upgraded on the fly and the fun comes from stacking synergies between them. Six characters each play differently, and the Inventor stands out among them, forcing real choices about which skills to keep and rewarding quick thinking when new combos show up mid-battle.

The word "Episode" promises more story than these levels actually carry, but that's a small quibble against a fast, snappy dice-battle format built for short runs and quick progress. It fills a gap that Citizen Sleeper, another dice-drafting game with far more story wrapped around it, doesn't quite fill in terms of gameplay. Worth a look for Slay the Spire fans wanting something different but with a similar line of thinking.

Time: <1 hour per run

Difficulty: 2+/5, increasing with progress

Image via Steam

Lost Records: Bloom & Rage by Don't Nod

This is a story split between past and present, from some of the same creators behind Life is Strange, and it carries a familiar shape for anyone who has played those games. The writing suits the cast well, with a little repetition here and there. Anyone who grew up as the quiet, awkward kid in the room may find a lot to recognize in the protagonist, though that connection will land differently for everyone.

Plenty of branches shape how the story can end, though it's not always clear which choices moved things in a different direction. Tension and release run through the plot in equal measure, even with a cutscene-to-gameplay ratio that leans heavy on the cutscenes. A strong pick for fans of narrative games, coming-of-age stories, or 90s nostalgia.

Time: 11 hours Difficulty: 1/5

Image of Six Feet Under

The Magnus Protocol Mysteries by Indie Boards & Cards

The first boxed set of The Magnus Protocol Mysteries brings three cases: The Last Supper, The Grinning Corpse, and Six Feet Under. Each one works the same way, laying out a full pile of evidence at once for players to sort through and investigate as they work out a supernatural mystery. Most of the deductions come together, and there's something novel about a case built on supernatural logic, even though a few details stay vague enough that a "best guess" is the only way through. Each case runs short and tight, which works in its favor even where a bit more depth would have been welcome. A solid pick for anyone drawn to evidence-based mystery games but wanting to try something a little different. Time: <1 hour per game

Difficulty: 2.5/5

What have you been playing lately?