Why Anodyne Deserves a Second Playthrough
A 2013 top-down oddity that borrowed Zelda's shape but none of its comfort. We revisit its unease and ask why it never broke through.
Digging Up the Indie Darlings the Decade Forgot
An Alexandria-based crew of enthusiasts revisiting overlooked indie releases from the 2010s, one dusty save file at a time.
Browse ArchiveQuestions We Get in the Comments
Some things readers keep asking us about how the crew operates.
How do you pick which indie games to revisit?
We look for titles that got quiet or mixed receptions on release but showed real design ambition — often games with under 500 user reviews that never found their audience the first time around.
Do you only cover games from one platform?
No. Our retrospectives span PC, handhelds, and console eShops. If a game slipped through the cracks between 2010 and 2020 and had something worth saying, it's fair game for the crew.
Are these reviews written by one person?
The crew rotates. Different writers take different titles depending on who has history with the game or genre, so tone shifts a little piece to piece — that's intentional.
Do you cover games that are still available to buy?
Yes, we only feature titles with legitimate storefront listings — Steam, itch.io, GOG, or console marketplaces — so readers can go pick them up after reading if a piece resonates.
Why 'L'Armoire Danais'?
It's our nod to a forgotten cabinet of curiosities — a place where things get filed away and rediscovered later. Feels right for a site built around games nobody talks about anymore.
Fresh Off the Shelf
Recent dives into the decade's quieter releases.
The Two-Person Studio Behind Kentucky Route Zero
Cardboard Computer spent seven years shipping five acts. We trace how a slow, magical-realist point-and-click found its cult following.
Revisiting Toren, Brazil's Forgotten Fable
A short, atmospheric climbing game from 2015 that vanished under bigger releases. We look at what its brevity got right.
Readers Nominate Their Most Overlooked Titles
We asked, you answered. A running list of indie games our readers say deserved more attention than they got on release.
What Owlboy's Nine-Year Development Taught Indies
Long before it launched in 2016, Owlboy became a cautionary tale and a promise. We unpack the wait and whether the payoff held up.
Got a Forgotten Indie Darling in Mind?
Send us the title you think deserves a second look and it might land in our next retrospective.
How This Crew Reads Games
A few things that shape every piece we publish.
A Decade of Distance
Every game we cover has had years to breathe, letting us judge it on staying power rather than launch-week hype.
A Rotating Crew
Multiple writers based in Alexandria bring different histories with genres, so no single voice dominates the archive.
No Regional Blind Spots
We chase indie releases from Brazil, Japan, Poland, and beyond — not just the titles that dominated Western storefronts.
Mechanics First
Reviews focus on design decisions and systems, not just narrative summaries or surface-level impressions.
What Readers Say About the Archive
I found this site looking for anything on Sethian and ended up reading four other pieces I'd never have searched for on my own. That's rare.
The Kentucky Route Zero piece actually made me go back and finish Act IV, which I'd abandoned in 2019. Didn't expect a review to do that.
Most sites just rank the same fifteen indie hits every year. This crew clearly plays the stuff nobody's covering anymore.
From the Archive Shelf
A sampling of the titles our crew keeps coming back to.
Anodyne
A 2013 Zelda-inspired dream logic game that traded comfort for unease, still discussed by fans for its unsettling dungeon design.
Kentucky Route Zero
Cardboard Computer's slow-burn point-and-click delivered its five acts over seven years, earning a quiet but devoted following.
Toren
A short Brazilian climbing game from 2015 with striking visuals that got buried under a crowded release calendar.
Owlboy
Nine years in development before its 2016 launch, this hand-drawn platformer became a symbol of indie patience and ambition.
The Longing
A 2020 slow-game experiment demanding 400 real days to complete, still debated for redefining what indie pacing could be.
Sethian
An obscure puzzle-adventure with hand-painted worlds that barely registered on release charts but rewards patient exploration.