Since I read huge amounts of books I’ve decided to publicly declare my participation in LitHub’s summer challenge in the hopes that I’ll actually stick to it. Here’s what I’m signing up for:

5/28: Great Classic Novels Under 200 Pages

The Stranger – Albert Camus

6/11: The Greatest Summer Novels of All Time

The Summer Book – Tove Jansson

6/25: What the New York Times Missed

Annihilation – Jeff Vandermeer

7/9: The Best Contemporary Novels Under 200 Pages

Mrs Caliban – Rachel Ingalls

8/13: The Greatest Coming-of-Age Novels

Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte

9/3: The Best Campus Novels from the Last 100 Years

Ninth House – Leigh Bardugo

BONUS: The Best Contemporary Novels Over 500 Pages

Fingersmith – Sarah Waters

I am reviving my storygraph account (sort of) to track progress: https://app.thestorygraph.com/profile/leokitty

QUESTER on Steam^¹

It is a decadent future world built by manga artist Kazushi Hagiwara. A dungeon exploration RPG specializing in hack-and-slash. The game is full of challenging elements. There are 24 characters (8 classes), skills to enjoy combos, modifiable armaments, "NEW GAME+" to enjoy playing around, etc.

Released: May 15, 2023

Add to Steam Wishlist

Available on

Age Rating: 12+

Steam^¹ integration powered by Terovania Solutions

Metro Quester caught my eye because it’s a “dungeon exploration RPG” but not in the first person crawler style. Also that it leaned very heavily into very old PC styles with the greens and very limited color usage other than portraits.

The game itself is basically thus: You explore, revealing the map and making sure to gather enough food every week to not starve. If you don’t hit that marker the penalties are a huge set-back (you lose tons of equipment, etc). You find new camps, who have new Questers you add to your available squad. They have different jobs with different class skills and expertise so you can cobble things together based on where you’re going. As you fight bosses and strong enemies you unlock new map areas and get a higher level cap.

There is a story but I don’t remember what it is. It’s not really that important, society has collapsed and you have to explore the remains of Tokyo.

The battles are turn based, you get a bit of info about what moves the enemies are going to do and can plan around that. Party-members draw aggro by the amount of damage they do but players with defensive skills can pull more to themselves and fortify with their sets of skills. After you input your commands, everything gets spit out in a text box, which you can make go fast (I make go fast).

It’s very easy to repeat the same set per turn, which lets you automate things on non-big-boy fights quite a bit. This is good because you’ll leveling up to beat those area bosses.

I would recommend this game to anyone who likes the bones of a dungeon crawler/RPG without much flash. I really enjoyed the lack of flash, honestly; it is very intentional and executed well.

1348 Ex Voto

1348 Ex Voto on Steam^¹

Journey through a tumultuous Medieval Italy as Aeta, a young knight errant who sets off on a brutal quest to find and save her closest one. 1348 Ex Voto is a cinematic action-adventure game inspired by chivalric tales.

Released: Mar 12, 2026

Add to Steam Wishlist

Available on

Price: $16.24

Age Rating: 18+

Steam^¹ integration powered by Terovania Solutions

I’ve had my eye on this game for a while, as a fan of medieval chivalric and romantic tales. Yes I do have four different versions of Orlando Furioso sitting around my house.

This demo was pretty short, it’s what I would guess is the “prologue” for the game. It introduces Aeta, the situation at hand and sends you off on a journey. The combat is very interesting and distinct, essentially setting you in a 1:1 per enemy. I don’t know if it will hold up in the game but you don’t draw aggro on multiple enemies at once. You do have to defeat every enemy, so I think this setup makes sense. The actual combat reminds me a lot of the tradition of European CRPGs (Gothic et al) which…this is I guess so there you go. Very heavy feeling. I would recommend trying out this demo to see if the combat is for you if the game seems interesting, I think it is definitely a “not for everyone”.

Meow Survivors

Meow Survivors on Steam^¹

A casual top-down game with simplified roguelike elements, where a ginger cat named Meow battles endless waves of enemies. Gain experience, upgrade your skills, find the most effective combination of abilities, and try to survive as long as possible.

Released: Mar 3, 2026

Add to Steam Wishlist

Available on

Price: $1.49

Steam^¹ integration powered by Terovania Solutions

Very stripped down VampireSurvivors-esque. Enemies aren’t very smart and get stuck on stuff, like trying to go straight through walls to get to you instead of going around the borders/etc. Can’t imagine putting much time into this one in its current state.

Vampire Crawlers

Vampire Crawlers: The Turbo Wildcard from Vampire Survivors on Steam^¹

From the creators of Vampire Survivors comes a turbo-charged, turn-based roguelite deckbuilder! Deal world-ending combos, blitz through infested dungeons, and master the Turboturn to obliterate hordes of familiar foes with a chaotic hand of cards.

Released: Apr 21, 2026

Add to Steam Wishlist

Available on

Price: $9.99

Age Rating: 12+

Steam^¹ integration powered by Terovania Solutions

I’m not actually mad that Vampire Crawlers is very good but I am mad that Vampire Crawlers is very good. It really does combine Vampire Survivors with a dungeon crawler from the DOS days very well. There is a mini-map on screen so I’m sure that will cause some fuss. Oh also it’s a deck-builder but I’m choosing to not engage with that intellectually and will simply build the biggest dumbest deck known to mankind as I play through. Which I will be doing many times, I assume.

Armatus

Armatus on Steam^¹

ARMATUS is a third-person roguelite shooter set in the demon-infested ruins of Paris. As the last supernatural warrior of an ancient order, armed with powerful firearms and incredible celestial powers, scour the city in search of a lost gateway to heaven – the Sunless Gate.

Coming soon

Add to Steam Wishlist

Available on

Age Rating: 18+

Steam^¹ integration powered by Terovania Solutions

This one is a “roguelite shooter” which means you kill enemies on semi-random rooms in a map to get to a boss. As a demo you’re not able to do any permanent upgrading of the character (the other essential “roguelite” part), so enemies seem a bit like damage sponges and it’s hard to gauge if they’d stay that way or if it’s just scaled for difficulty progression. You do get to pick your weapon from what’s been unlocked at the start of a run.

I feel it’s got Returnal in its roots though I don’t see any indication that there are any of those platforming/progressions going on there. One thing that annoyed me is that the character moves too fast by default and it goes into the walk –> run speedup thing very quickly on top fo that.

Will check this one out when it’s on sale because I do enjoy a good Catholic Inspired Horror. Though the “chosen souls ascending” Rapture is a bunch of Prot Rot.

Tombwater

Tombwater on Steam^¹

A Souls-Like Western full of Eldritch horrors. Explore the accursed Wild West town of Tombwater and lay bare the darkness that lies beneath. Survive blood-spilling combat in this gruesome 2D action-RPG that may just drive you to madness.

Released: Mar 31, 2026

Add to Steam Wishlist

Available on

Price: $24.99

Age Rating: 12+

Steam^¹ integration powered by Terovania Solutions

I like the concept of an “Eldritch Western” game but I died a ton of times in the demo and decided to take a break. It’s from a section from the middle of the game so that you can see a “complete structure” which makes sense but also dumps you into a bunch of peril. I put it on my wishlist for now, I’ll keep an eye out. I do like the top-down 2d action RPG sub-subgenre.

Dungeons of DUSK

Dungeons of DUSK on Steam^¹

Dungeons of DUSK is a classic turn based dungeon crawling RPG that takes place canonically between the episodes of the cult classic FPS. Are you… WORTHY?

Coming soon

Add to Steam Wishlist

Available on

Age Rating: 16+

Steam^¹ integration powered by Terovania Solutions

I’m not sure why everyone is suddenly making DRPGs but if they’re competent, I’m not going to complain. A spinoff of DUSK that’s a dungeon crawler? Sure, I will check that out. I played the first floor to get a sense of how it’s all put together, and it does have all the right parts. I like that there are secret areas to unlock on each floor. It’s of the style where you are not pulled into encounters with enemies but interact with them directly on the map through combat actions/etc. I think that’s a good choice for something that is coming from a “For people who like Hexen” background. It both opens it up to a new audience and has some trappings in the first-person and combat that seem similar though more subdued. On the wishlist it goes,

I can recommend a lot more, and of specific genres if you’re looking for certain things for yourself or others but this is what I came up with off the top of my head on a Friday night.

Carpathian Night Starring Bela Lugosi

This one is a “classic Castlevania”, made by a small team who did a very good job putting together game that is fun to play in moderately sized level chunks. Hard at times but never grueling like the Beyond The Ice Palaces of the world. Does a lovely job on the sprite art and backgrounds.

Into the Necrovale

I spent a huge chunk of 2024 simply not shutting up about this game, and I pledge to continue hard-selling it at every opportunity. This is a fast-paced run-based action game with no character stats and no levels, you put together equipment and figure out upgrades and your preferred attack styles along the way. If you really like putting together crazy builds, you will love this game. It does get really hard at times, which is both a thematic element and also making sure you change up that equipment.

El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron

El Shaddai is, for the most part, a third person action game where you switch between a few weapon/attack types depending on the enemy. It has that very loose combat feel you find in lower-budget games of that style and it can get repetitive in nature. It also has experimental story-telling and 2d sequences and some of the most beautiful designs and in-game art you’ll ever see. It’s a very worthwhile experience.

Guild of Darksteel

Short story-driven 2d action game. You are a mercenary who has undergone a process where you achieve immortality, but of course there’s some weird stuff going on around all that. You talk to a lot of people, you hit a lot of things in a chain-based combat system and travel through a very intentionally designed world and story.

Yuppie Psycho: Executive Edition

A narrative horror-adventure game about your wonderful first day working for a company that is some kind of evil beyond the normal companies being evil. Filled with a lot of interesting puzzles and weird horror stuff. Developer Baroque Decay previously released Count Lucador which is another good horror-adventure.

Rogue Loops

A very distilled run-based game, in Rogue Loops you go in uh, loops and then fight a boss. And advance to the next world and do that again. And do that across difficulties. You unlock characters with different fighting styles the more loops you do and there are some aspects of “character growth” (HP++) but this is a pure action->run->run again game. I would recommend checking out the demo to see if this style works for you.

Xanadu Next

If you want to show off to all your friends that you are absolutely in the know about Japanese Dungeon Crawlers, you must play Xanadu Next. Also it’s a really good dungeon crawler, solo character variety. If you have no idea what a “dungeon crawler” is, you should just buy and play it. And you’ll be an expert.

The sign has been there for a few weeks the multiple large red arrows are a new addition, I assume borne out of frustration of people just grabbing the door and not noticing the sign.

I bet people still grab the door and don’t notice the sign and bell.

It was just very weird, being like, well there’s nothing on the docket for today. Or tomorrow! I do not have to read an email, or worry about links working on a website. A weekend or a vacation are specifically breaks where you pretend you don’t need to worry about any of that, but it’s coming back.

However, I am very bad about “not thinking” and I need somewhere to put my thoughts since I can no longer corner coworkers on Slack, so it’s time to revive thee olde blogge I guess.

I have two children at Good Shepherd School, and who do an annual fundraising event around Halloween. The kids all put on costumes and take a jaunt around Inwood Hill Park and then do a trunk-or-treat afterwards. It’s a really fun time.

EVERY SPONSOR GETS A PICTURE OF AN OLIVE OR A PINA OF THEIR CHOOSING!

So, you want to be a sponsor, yeah? Here’s how:

You can send donations to:
* Paypal @ paypal.me/leokittie
* Venmo @ leokittie

With a note of who you are and where you want your Olive or Pina sent! If you have other ways you’d like to send, please contact me (find me here https://bsky.app/profile/leokitty.bsky.social).

No pics from the event since it involves other people’s children though I’ll take some pictures of mine in their costumes for sharing if they’re okay with that.