It’s that time of month again.

Given the nature of these posts, I don’t want to waste too much time on an intro, especially since there isn’t any unifying theme for what I played this month (not that there ever is).

Though, before we begin, I’d like to plug my Next Fest coverage from a few weeks ago.

October was the final Next Fest of 2025, and there were a ton of really good demos throughout the event. I wasn’t able to play all of them (obviously – I’m just one person), but I was able to highlight around a dozen games that I thought made a really strong first impression with their demos.

I’d appreciate it if you took the time to peruse my thoughts, and I’m sure the developers would appreciate any wishlists they receive if something catches your eye. I have it on pretty good authority that wishlists do, in fact, help smaller developers a ton, so don’t forget to wishlist anything that you think looks neat.

Alright, onto the rest of what I played this past month:

Hollow Knight: Silksong

If I’m being perfectly honest, I think I’ve already said my piece on Silksong.

For what it’s worth, I still enjoyed Silksong for what it was, even accounting for my misgivings about it. There’s no denying that the combat, and platforming are a step up from its predecessor. In fact, I’d argue the platforming is leagues better thanks to the increased number of aerial abilities, and level design that’s built to take advantage of said abilities. Plus, Hornet feels so good to control by the time you roll credits.

In addition, I also enjoyed most of the boss fights that were strewn throughout the tail-end of the game. My absolute favourite was Starrsinger Karmelita, which wasn’t a huge surprise. The whole fight takes place while she is singing, and the tempo of the song in conjunction with the back-and-forth nature of the fight make it feel like a dance. It’s very cool, and is among my favourite boss fights of the year.

As far as recommendations are concerned, I don’t really feel like I need to give one. I’m pretty sure that everyone, their grandma, and their grandma’s dog have already played the game if they were at all interested in it. Doubly so since I got around to playing Silksong 3 weeks later than everyone else.

Hades 2

That’s right. I’m back on Hades 2 following the 1.0 update. I figured I owed it to myself to actually see the game’s plot through to completion now that I won’t be stone-walled like I was during Early Access.

Though, I’ve run into a bit of a hitch on that front: apparently people didn’t like the story all that much. I say that because about a week ago, SuperGiant Games announced that a new post-launch patch will be dropping soon with a focus on overhauling the game’s plot. Ergo, I assume people weren’t happy with it? Or SuperGiant felt like they could do better? Either or really.

Thus, I’m in a bit of a bind. I don’t exactly want to keep playing, and progressing the story if what I’m seeing is just going to be rewritten, as that’ll muddy the overall experience. But I also want to keep playing the game. Doubly so because I’d prefer finishing it – all of it – before I begin writing my end of year “best of” listicle in ~6 weeks time.

I suppose if things start to get a little tight, I can always opt-in to the beta branch of Hades 2 to access the patch early. I’m glad they made that available, even though I question holding off on the patch if it’s already in working order. It isn’t like Steam requires the same kind of lengthy patch certification that consoles do.

Editor’s Notes: the patch went out yesterday while I was editing this, and I only noticed this morning after publishing it. Whoops!

Either way, I’ve pumped the breaks on Hades 2 for now. I’ll see about that beta branch if I don’t get a release date for the patch in the next week, or so.

Aside from my patch related woes, the only other notable going ons with Hades 2 is that it feels very strange to start from a fresh save file. Mostly because a lot of the narrative beats are built around the player struggling to actually win a run, which is just not happening this time. Though, I was slowed down a little by Eris making regular appearances during my first 9 runs.

For context, Eris debuffs the player so that they receive 20% more damage from all sources, and this debuff increases by an added 5% after every encounter. She’s really only there to slow players down so that they can actually experience the game’s plot (somewhat) organically instead of immediately triggering a bunch of dialogue without any of the necessary context. 

It’s a smart little trick, but Eris didn’t manage to stop me from reaching Chronos for the first time by Night 6. And I almost got the bastard too on Nights 7, and 8. Unfortunately, taking 50-60% more damage made every mistake a lot more fatal, and I was done in before I could score the killing blow(s).

Day 10 though. That was the one!

Obviously, Hades 2 comes highly recommended, though, similar to Silksong, I feel like no one out there was waiting on me to recommend it before playing.

Islets Defense

For the remainder of October, we’re going to be looking at indies whose demos I played, and covered as part of as either a Demo Dive, or Next Fest.

To start: Islets Defense.

Honestly, you could probably just read my Demo Dive from earlier in the year, and you’d get an accurate picture of what I thought of the full game. The demo did a great job of showcasing what Islets Defense was all about, and accurately represented what the full game would feel like. For what it’s worth, it was fun, and I had a good time.

Though, I do wish I wasn’t such a rat-brained degenerate when it came to games with leaderboards. I replayed most of the levels trying to secure a top spot on the leaderboard, which…wasn’t always that much fun. Playing through a particularly interesting level a second time still has its charm, but replaying a level for the fourth time while you try to shave another 10% off your personal best can feel a little tedious.

However, I recognize that’s a self-inflicted problem. As such, I’d recommend that others go through each of the levels first before deciding if they want to pursue high scores. Don’t make the same mistake I did.

Regardless, I’m going to give this one a soft recommendation. Islets Defense is neat, has its own sense of identity, and comes in at a very reasonable price point. Give it a look if you’re in the market for a lite-strategy game, or want to play a different spin on classic Tower Defense.

Slip ‘n Slime

I’m going to cop-out here, and just point you to the review I published on Thursday (my time).

Short version: Slip ‘n Slime is a unique Puzzle game with a lot of charm, and it’s extremely well designed. I thought it was quite enjoyable to play, and would recommend it to anyone looking for a new low-stakes Puzzle game.

Also, I noticed there aren’t any guides for it (seemingly anywhere), so I started working on one of those. That…will manifest at some point in the future. I naively assumed it’d be easy to write since Puzzle games only have 1 solution to each level, but…uh…well…

Let’s just say that I’m a third of the way through writing out the solutions, and I’ve already crossed the 3 thousand word threshold. It’ll be a while before I’ve compiled a full list of solutions (with hints!), and recorded myself solving each of the levels as an accompaniment to the written portion of the guide.

Anyway, please give the Slip ‘n Slime review a looksie.

Xanthiom Zero

For the final game this past month, we have Xanthiom Zero.

This one is loosely connected to the Next Fest coverage I just wrote as I covered the game’s sequel: Xanthiom 2. This isn’t the first time that I’ve played the demo for a sequel before playing the prequel, nor will it be the last.

Either way, how was the game?

Pretty fun, though it’s probably the most niche thing I played in October being a smaller scale Metroidvania title.

Of the different things that Xanthiom Zero has going on, the weapon customization stood out as the clear highlight for me. There are different modifiers scattered throughout the game world, and you can equip 3 of them at a time to change how your weapon shoots. This leads to some really goofy combos that absolutely fill the screen with projectiles to the point of making your character almost imperceptible among the chaos. I thought this was funny as heck, and enjoyed how it was built into puzzle solving, and combat encounters throughout the game.

Also, I appreciated how quest markers were used sparingly in Xanthiom Zero. The only time the game tells you where to go is during the final stretch after you’ve (likely) already explored the entire game world.

Chef’s kiss. Fabulous.

I realize that’ll sound a little contrarian, but I like how quest markers were included at a point where they couldn’t spoil anything for me, but could help a struggling player who just wants to get over the finish line. It’s almost like the game was saying, “alright folks. It’s time to wrap things up, and get the hell outta here.”

All said, Xanthiom Zero is fun for what it is, and if you’re in the market for another Metroidvania (after finishing Silksong) then you’ll probably have a good time with it. I certainly did, and I’m looking forward to the sequel even more so now.

And with that, I think I’ll call it for MiR.

I’m not exactly sure what the rest of the year will look like, but the upcoming release calendar (for indie games) doesn’t show any sign of slowing down. As such, I’ll still be kicking around writing about whatever I happen to be playing.

As always, thank you for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one.

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