A deep dive into the wide world of indie games. A blog by CookieJar.
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Hello! These are my (semi-)live reactions to the 2026 South East Asian Games Showcase (SEAGS) which premiered just yesterday, June 6, 2026, 11:00 P.M. GMT+8. I say "semi" live because I couldn't actually watch the premiere live; I was asleep. Still, as a Filipino, I've been pretty excited to catch one of these, so check these games out with me! Note that these are hastily written first…
The Philippines is a country that's almost impossible to love. It is perhaps the embodiment of wasted potential; worms ate the country inside-out, and now it's exiting the global sphincter as a massive piece of shit. This can be seen in the country's gaming ""industry"". Despite brimming with talent, the nation as of yet still sees 'gaming' as equivalent to 'gambling sites' and 'offshore' or…
NOTE: This review contains minor spoilers, but torment is best experienced blind. The college semester is over, and I can finally start writing again. Let me tell you all of a game I'd been playing over the past two weeks. 1. The game logo on Steam. Black Isle Studio's, Interplay's, and later Beamdog's[1] Planescape: Torment is a 1999 CRPG "cult classic." It was published during the so-called…
"My game is like Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley!" Like. "This new release is Balatro but with guns!" But with. "It's like Fortnite meets Tetris!" Meets. "If you enjoy Deus Ex and System Shock, this game is for you!" For you. The digital commerce constantly twists its heads, the flesh of markets pulsate, and with these escapades come rapid change. New trends emerge, new tactics constantly…
What to you has been a year, for me is but a second and a lifetime. 2025 is wrapped finally in festive jolly and acute melancholy, so sit with me by the chimney fire as I make my annual lamentations and ludic recommendations. This year had been, like a coaster, fit with the twists and loop-de-loops of occurrences. Even in my final year of high school, I had managed to slot myself into multiple…
Make your own universe with two ingredients. You add a cup of coffee. Your universe is warm. Steamy and calm, it is a perfect heater for a rainy day. The cup is not to be drunk in one fell swoop. Rather, it is to be sipped slowly. You let the vast expanse wash over your tongue. You add a twisted vine. The vine has been cut from a larger specimen. It is writhing and entangled. Climbing down your…
I read Danton Remoto's Riverrun at a striking time when, if one so placed my life beside that of the main character's, half the novel would be my past, and the other my possible future. Riverrun 's structure—that of short, flash fiction-style chapters each detailing a specific event in Danilo Cruz's life—guided my reminiscence. Its chapters didn't feel so much as "chapters" and more like brief,…
Just finished the True Ending(-ish) of Billy Basso and BIGMODE's Animal Well , and I found it to be perhaps the most unique video game I've played this year, if not this decade. That is because Animal Well is not a game. Animal Well is a crypt — a deeply buried treasure trove of delicately designed secrets and ciphers, all under the guise of an impossibly compact, albeit somewhat basic…
I played Garden Story a few weeks ago now and I couldn't help feeling its intended experience was so similar to the cozy games of its time. Stardew Valley, Animal Crossing, and all these titles blew up in popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic era, when everyone were confined in their homes, looking for respite in media. What better way to achieve that than through some relaxing, simple cozy…
/*** THIS POST CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS FOR CHANTS OF SENNAAR ***/ Did you know that I got into a Twitter disagreement with one of Chants of Sennaar 's game developers a few years ago? In a now-deleted tweet thread of mine, I had presented my (admittedly uninformed) thoughts about the game's climax based solely on what I had seen online, deeming it unnatural and unnecessary. After all, Chants of…
