Almost five years later, the creator of the cult puzzle hit Helltaker is back with another free game, and it's already a big hit on Steam with 96% positive user reviews.
Awaria released last month while we were all collectively blinded by the haze of the holiday season, and impressively, it's still managed to rack up almost 10,000 reviews and Steam's coveted 'Overwhelmingly Positive' rating. Although frankly, it's pretty easy to see why.
Developer vanripper bills its latest free game as "a short game about working in haunted maintenance tunnels," which is a strong enough hook alone that I instantly added it to my Steam library.
In case you need more convincing, in place of Helltaker's "sharply dressed demon girls" are ghost girls who try to kill you and, ideally upon failing to do so, become kissable. There doesn't seem to be a whole lot more to the story than that, but frankly, is that not more than enough?
As part of a tunnel maintenance crew, it's your job to fix failing generators by identifying the problem and crafting parts necessary to fix them. "It's simple," vanripper says in the Steam description, immediately contradicting themselves by warning of bullet hell-style hazards.
"Just stay clear of anything that randomly cracks bolts of electricity, spews fire, throws sharp pieces of scrap at high-velocity or radiates with ominous green light." Oh, and there's also the aforementioned anime ghost girls you'll have to contend with. "You may even... kiss a ghost?" teases vanripper.
In case you're rightfully concerned with just how explicitly these anime girls are portrayed, the game's "mature content description" only warns of "suggestive clothing and poses" and assures, "it's all tame." That's no surprise to anyone who played Helltaker, but it's always worth clarifying when talking about this sorta stuff.
Here are all of the upcoming indie games you should have on your radar for 2025 and beyond.
