Games I Played in March 2026

Games, Review
A screenshot from The Séance of Blake Manor showing three panels of images. The first is a view of the bustly streets of Victorian Dublin, Ireland. The second shows a man approaching another man who is reading a newspaper, and the third shows a letter being passed from one to the other.
The Séance of Blake Manor | screenshot by me

I started playing The Séance of Blake Manor (Spooky Doorway), a first person puzzle adventure and detective game. Declan Ward is hired to find Evelyn Deane, a woman who seems to have disappeared at Blake Manor. The Manor (a high-end hotel) is hosting a séance, attracting a dozen or so strange individuals who believe in the supernatural and strange. The player’s job is to explore the Manor, sneak into guest rooms, and interrogate guests and staff to find evidence of what happened to Evelyn — all of which is displayed on an elaborate mind map that allows the player to make connections to find the truth in the limited time before the seance takes place. Each investigative action costs the player a minute of time, building a sense of tension and the need to rush.

Megaphone-Controlled Dystopias, Rad Record Stores, and Haunted Post Offices: Eight Cool Games from Steam Next Fest

Games

In recent years, I’ve been trying to expand into playing a wider variety of games, especially indie games created by small teams. Steam Next Fest, an online event held three times each year, is an excellent way to explore a variety of games and game genres to find something new. The most recent event, from February 23 to March 2, event hosted a slew demos for forthcoming indie games in a wide variety of genres.

As I scrolled through the list of games participating, I made my choices mostly based on vibes. Interesting artwork or creepy atmospheres caught my attention immediately — and before I knew it, I had a massive list of games to explore. Unfortunately, I only made it through a small fraction of the games I wanted to play. Here are some of my favorites, and if any of these games sound interesting, you can support them by wishlisting them on Steam.

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Games I Played in February 2026

Games, Review
Screenshot from a video game, showing a computer terminal. Little PostIt notes stick to the sides with gameplay instructions. On screen is a postcard with text scratched out.
Transcribing a postcard in Dead Letter Dept. | screenshot by me

Dead Letter Dept., developed by Mike Monroe and Belief Engine, is a fantastic horror game with an interesting premise. After moving to the city, the player is taking part in a data entry job in an empty, dank warehouse in the middle of nowhere, filling in addresses that a mail-scanning system finds illegible. Each day, you wake, wander down the dreary corridors of your apartment hallway, hearing the muffled voices of your neighbors in their own apartments, and take the train to work.

The job — and gameplay — involves hand-typing in addresses and, in some cases, increasingly bizarre passages of text. Little narratives unfold in the strange letters and postcards sent through, each building a sense of dread. While typing, the electricity sometimes flickers and pops (multiple times causing me to jump) and also hear strange sounds of things shifting around the room.

Games I Played in January 2026

Games, Review
Michelle is a stylish survivor in Sorry We’re Closed | screenshot by me

Sorry We’re Closed (á la mode games) is a survival horror game with immense amounts of style. The art (which is one of the first things that attracted me to it) is stunning, both the nostalgic computer graphics and the character portraits. The music hits the perfect vibes and the gameplay adds to the survival horror experience.

Michelle is a young woman working in a corner shot in a small neighborhood in London. Though on another continent, the community feels very much like some of the counter-culture neighborhoods I’ve seen in San Francisco, being full of charming punks, oddballs, and weirdos. Everyone seems a bit on edge, considering the number of disappearances in the area.