iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

The biggest surprise in 2025 for me was The Séance of Blake Manor. It's set in 1897 Ireland, with hand-drawn 3D animation, great voice acting -- and a talent for scaring without jump-scares. It deserves its many rave reviews, and you should play it! store.steampowered.com/app/1395520/...

The title page for The Seance of Blake Manor, showing a man holding a letter and staring at a moon in the eye of a skull.

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Not a puzzle or detective game! There's now a big action incremental subgenre. For many, the action is a bit throwaway. But Astro Prospector actually cares about both - it's a genuinely solid incremental and bullet hell (without hellish difficulty). A+ store.steampowered.com/app/3503440/...

A screenshot of Astro Prospector, during the upgrade phase.

A 2025 video game list must include Blue Prince, a 9-year labor of love. Makes me wish I'd discovered the book Maze as a child as well. I'm still thinking about Blue Prince many months later. It's a complete classic. Bring a phone camera and some paper. store.steampowered.com/app/1569580/...

A screenshot of Blue Prince, finding a magnifying glass in a den.

The Electrifying Incident is a bite-sized puzzle game, by Draknek et al. It's at a more accessible difficulty than their others, but with the same level of design and charm they always bring. This was a joy to play with my 5yo, who loved the whole thing. store.steampowered.com/app/3352300/...

A screenshot of The Electrifying Incident.

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I virtually never play text games. But Type Help is a (free) arresting detective mystery with wild twists: william-rous.itch.io/type-help And it was such a break-out success that 2026 will see a commercial graphical remake! I hope it helps more people see it: store.steampowered.com/app/3641000/...

A screenshot of The Incident at Galley House, an upcoming remake of the free web game Type Help.

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I have to impress upon you that Sudokuvania is a fully realized Metroidvania. It is merely expressed as 20+ integrated variant sudokus. There is nothing else like this. Solving it is one of my proudest achievements. It is a $0 website. Use a laptop. sudokupad.app/6u61fsw0di?s...

A screenshot of the full beginning map of Sudokuvania.

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Rise of the Golden Idol was on my 2024 list, but the four(!) DLC they made since then, with 17 even weirded detective cases, stand as another whole entry. They're designed by 4 different teams, each with their own flavor, and license to go wild. Do it!! store.steampowered.com/app/3333860/...

A screenshot of The Rise of the Golden Idol's fourth DLC, The Curse of the Last Reaper.

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Strange Jigsaws (sequel to 20 Small Mazes by @flebpuzzles.bsky.social) is a short, $5 game that optimizes for variety and surprise. I was delighted the whole way through, even when it was tricking me. Come on!! You can't afford *not* to play this game! store.steampowered.com/app/2702170/...

A screenshot of Strange Jigsaws, showing some...strange jigsaws.

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Mind Diver is a 3D detective game about repairing memories, built out from a Danish student project. I was completely taken by the native Danish actors, writing, art, and novel concept. A very fresh take on the Obra Dinn model - and deserves more eyes! store.steampowered.com/app/2259330/...

A screenshot of Mind Diver, where someone is restoring a memory in a memory hole.

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Eric Mill @konklone.com · 26/12/2025

First is Öoo, a brilliant puzzle action game whose name is a screenshot of the protagonist. It takes a seemingly simple idea about pushing yourself along via bombs, and takes it down one weird rabbit hole after another. Deeply clever, and adorable. store.steampowered.com/app/2721890/...

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My favorite this year is the interactive tic-tac-toe game + soccer ball with basic physics simulation + arbitrary text marquee. :)

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Eric Mill @konklone.com · 24/12/2025

Enjoying seeing people write little unofficial bots on isitchristmas.com during its interactive season. :)

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Eric Mill @konklone.com · 27/07/2025

Much as I might be giving off some Grinch energy here, I am helping with Archive Team's effort to save links before the shutoff. I went from 0 to archiving in like 5 minutes, they make it super easy. If you want to help, the simplest way is downloading a VM: wiki.archiveteam.org/index.php/Ar...

Screenshot of running Archive Warrior to help archive google link shortener links.

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Eric Mill @konklone.com · 20/07/2025

I do not understand why the party is not marginalizing the obviously poor judgment and defensive crouch of the Biden campaign's inner circle. Anita Dunn, Ron Klain, or David Plouffe should not be allowed anywhere near a Democratic campaign again. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/19/u...

“We are not interested in second-guessing campaign tactics or decisions of campaign operatives,” said Jane Kleeb, the Nebraska Democratic chairwoman, who heads the association of Democratic state chairs and is a close ally of Mr. Martin. “We are interested in what voters turned out for Republicans and Democrats, and how we can fix this moving forward.”

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Eric Mill @konklone.com · 13/07/2025

I have come to adore Mimic Logic, this weirdo little logic game that is essentially the Parlor game from Blue Prince taken to its extreme logical conclusions. It's at 98% positive, only a few reviews short of Overwhelmingly Positive on Steam - give it a go! store.steampowered.com/app/2455920/...

A screenshot of Mimic Logic, showing the puzzle interface.

A screenshot of Mimic Logic, showing the exploration interface.

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Eric Mill @konklone.com · 03/07/2025

Come secure Wikipedia with me! We're hiring a manager to oversee security operations, and to lead a group of security and privacy engineers that keep the platform safe. There's never been more energy at Wikimedia for this kind of work. Throw in for it! job-boards.greenhouse.io/wikimedia/jo...

Why this role matters
The Wikimedia Foundation operates Wikipedia and the other Wikimedia free knowledge projects. We care deeply about the security, privacy, and integrity of these projects, and of the volunteer community that makes them matter. The Product Safety and Security team plays a central role in shaping how the Wikimedia Foundation and its projects will adapt to increasingly complex threats.

You are responsible for:

Leading a group of security engineers and privacy engineers in protecting the Wikimedia Foundation’s people, project integrity, infrastructure and other assets against threats.
Advising product management across the Foundation on security best practices and security implications of various product decisions.
Helping to establish the Wikimedia Foundation’s overall security and safety roadmap, and ensuring delivery against its technical and organizational goals.
Collaborating with Product & Engineering teams, Legal, ITS and other departments.
Setting direction, unblocking work, and ensuring delivery against technical and organizational goals.
Establishing and leading the execution of group processes, including sprint planning, security releases and deployments, security incident response.
Hiring and developing a high-performing, inclusive engineering group that builds and owns security-critical software and operates from a shared sense of mission

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Eric Mill @konklone.com · 04/06/2025

Pretty sweet job for a public interest journalist interested in making a podcast for @propublica.org! job-boards.greenhouse.io/propublica/j...

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Eric Mill @konklone.com · 06/01/2025

Honorable Mention: A tiny and free game called Voir Dire, by Daniel Mullins (of Inscryption fame), an absurd take on jury packing. It was made in 48 hours in a game jam, is only ~30 mins long, and is very funny in Mullins' unique way. Well worth a download! dmullinsgames.itch.io/voir-dire

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#1: Satisfactory is a completely enveloping hand-crafted open-world sci fi automation game that starts out small and goes to wild scale. It's long, but it has a story, and ends! It's a once-in-a-decade juggernaut of a game - there's nothing else like it. store.steampowered.com/app/526870/S...

#2: Leap Year blew me away. It's a tight little platform puzzler where ordinary jumping kills you, and is completely designed around secrets that were right there with you the whole time. Go in blind, set aside probably just an evening. Well worth it! store.steampowered.com/app/2951770/...

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#3: Rise of the Golden Idol continues the series as the weirdest and best successor to the Obra Dinn detective game mantle. The cases are just as tricky and fun, but they've learned usability lessons from the first and so it's only more smooth to play. store.steampowered.com/app/2716400/...

#4: Animal Well got a well-deserved round of admiration this year for building a haunting and layered explorer, with inspiration from Fez and Tunic. Made by a solo developer, Animal Well has a pure vision and respects the player. Play it in the dark. store.steampowered.com/app/813230/A...

#5: Minami Lane by @blibloop.bsky.social is a small game where you iteratively build out a street and read minds to meet people's needs. While not complex, it's super well done - I heartily vouch for it as being perfect for parents to play together with kids. store.steampowered.com/app/2678990/...

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#6: Lorelei and the Laser Eyes is a pure cut gem of mystery solving with incredible art design. I filled 4 pages of paper with my mad scribblings, but rarely ever felt like things were unfair or obscure. You're given what you need - then it's up to you. store.steampowered.com/app/2008920/...

Screenshot of Lorelei and the Laser Eyes.

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#7: Star Stuff by @animogames.bsky.social does a fantastic job of bringing light coding logic into very cute puzzles. This could easily get intimidating, yet never does - they keep the instructions small and the ideas clear. Obviously play-tested with love! store.steampowered.com/app/1955110/...

#8: Wilmot Works it Out by @hollowponds.bsky.social is about the joy of colorful little puzzles. The challenge is figuring out which pieces go to which puzzle, and the reward is that they're all genuinely lovely to admire once done. And a very charming ending! store.steampowered.com/app/2060590/...

#9: Portal: Revolution is a fan-made officially-approved prequel for Portal 2, built over 8 years. The quality is super high, complete with voice acting and lots of original puzzles. It's amazing this got made - if you love Portal, you need to play it! store.steampowered.com/app/601360/P...

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#10: The Operator is a small but ambitious detective game by @bastienre4.bsky.social that aims for novel interactions and dramatic presentation. It won't jumpscare you, but you want headphones and a dark room. I loved the whole experience and await the sequel. store.steampowered.com/app/1771980/...