Aliens and badgers and unspeakable horrors, oh my! From a highly anticipated pre-order, to the exciting reboot of one of the most popular and quirky adventure games from an even popular-er and quirkier developer, as well as some sweet upcoming titles and updates, Link Dump has you covered.

News and Previews

Shut Up And Take My Money! If you're at all like me, you've been staring at a wall listening to lonely country songs while you wait for Chucklefish's upcoming sci-fi indie sandbox/action-adventure Starbound to be released... maybe making plaintive whale sounds once in a while. Well, now's your chance to put your money where your mouth is, because here's your chance to finally pre-order! The game, planned for PC, Mac and Linux, still isn't out until later this year, but by throwing your hat (and your cash) into the ring now you'll not only gain access to the beta when that finally releases, but also help the game reach a bunch of stretch goals for more content. Sounds like a win/win situation to me!

Make Long, Loving Eye Contact It's been a while since we reviewed the stellar creepy free indie action-adventure SCP - Containment Breach, but the team behind it hasn't been sitting around twiddling their fingers doing nothing. The game has received a massive amount of updating in the months since its feature here, and not just bug fixing... there's a substantial amount of new content in the form of more scenes, items, encounters, SCPs, and much, much more. It's an impressive amount of dedication to what is a completely free project that's well worth experiencing no matter how (un) familiar you may be with the wildly popular community-driven Wiki site behind the material, so make sure you check it out... again or for the first time.

The Stones Would Approve Last year, Might and Delight released the gorgeous indie action platforming adventure Pid, which was about a lost little boy in a gorgeous and surreal world filled with danger. For their next endeavor, however, they're going a decidedly different route with Shelter, where you play a mother badger forced from her den with her cubs and trying to find a new safe place for them. Details are scarce, but seem to imply you'll be dealing with a lot of the brutal truth of nature as you try to travel while protecting your cubs... which might not always go as well as you'd hope. The game looks gorgeous, and we'll be keeping our eyes on this for more details as they develop.

Through Snow and Dark of Night... Though you'll need to look elsewhere other than the actual website to find more information on it, Glowforth's stunning upcoming adventure The Last Inua is something you should be looking out for. Due out later this winter for PC, Mac, and iOS, it's about a father and son struggling to survive in the Arctic when a corruption begins spreading through the land. While the father Ataataq is strong and can climb and push heavy objects, his son Hiko is wasting away from illness... but also developing unique magical abilities. You can read more in Indie Statik's lengthy preview, or follow the official Tumblr of the developers for more information, but this could be one seriously beautiful, unique game that explores one culture often left ignored in games and popular culture as a whole.

Kickstarter/IndieGoGo Projects

Tall, Green, and... Handsome?... Sorta? If you love quirky point-and-click adventures, you have to be familiar with Zeebarf, and chances are you've then played his excellent Small Favor series about an illegal favor-trader in space. If that's the case, you're about to get really excited, because you're getting another chance to revist that galaxy in weird and wonderful new ways as Clickshake have officially launched their Kickstarter for the new and improved commercial version of A Small Favor. Planned for PC and Mac, as well as featuring not only new artwork but an expanded story and hours of new content, this is the perfect opportunity to not only support an indie developer who has consistently released some of the best content around for free, but take another adventure into the favor trade!

Sleep Tight Krillbite Studios' upcoming indie horror adventure Among the Sleep has been both hotly anticipated, and the source of some controversy. The game has you play in the first-person perspective of a two-year-old toddler who experiences a strange and surreal effect late at night while the rest of the house is sleeping, but some people falsely claimed the point of the game was to have the child hurt, or that the game was too dark to be aimed at children... a moot point since it's a game intended for adults. Regardless, development has soldiered on, and now the time has finally arrived to both help fund and pre-order it with the official Kickstarter campaign! This game has a ton of potential, and if you're a fan of unique horror, it should definitely be on your radar.

Do you know an upcoming indie project or some community gaming related news you think deserves some attention? Send me an e-mail with LINK DUMP FRIDAY in the subject line at dora AT casualgameplay DOT com with the info, and we'll judge it with the all-seeing glare of our own self-importance for inclusion in a future Link Dump Friday article!