#Beyond the Board

[19thperson]

19th's Steam Next Fest Impressions June 2025 Edition - Day 1

Okay, even discounting real life stuff going on, jumping back to back between Hundred Line, Deltarune, The Summer Game Fest showcases, and Next Fest happening immediately after, I am exhausted with all these self imposed game obligations.

But the show must go on.

Beyond The Board

A puzzle game where you play as a Rook going, as the title suggests, beyond the board.

During a chess game, the ground suddenly falls out beneath the pieces and they find themselves in a vast tiled dimension beyond their understanding. (I hate it when that happens.)

The puzzles are either "Traverse this space, using turn-limited switches to reshape the map," or "corner the black chess piece using the asymmetrical layout." There's some interesting stuff done with the fact that the player can also be on walls as long as they're properly tiled, but it's not fully explored here.

The demo does have a boss battle, against the "eldritch king." He shoots lasers at you in set intervals, as a chess king normally does, and you have to move to jump between solving the puzzle and dashing for cover. It felt a bit trial and error.

Despite having a really abstract and kind of thin premise, I am really liking the games aesthetics and overall vibe.

Everdeep Aurora

A metroidvania about a little cat thing in the underground looking for her mother.

First thing's first, the presentation is really nice. I like how the palette changes from area to area. It gives spaces that would normally blend together some more identity.

General movement is alright so far. It's definitely at the early metroidvania problem of the player instinctively being able to tell their kit is incomplete. Oddly enough, the dig mechanic that seems to be the centerpiece of the game is barely used here.

The demo felt... weirdly aimless? The protag wakes up with a letter from her mother saying to meet in "their usual place." She walks five feet to the right, and suddenly the neighborhood kids in a dilapidated mansion are trying to scare her away by pretending to be ghosts. When that fails they set up a hide and seek game for the right to explore deeper into the mansion.

I do not know why I am doing any of this, or how it relates to my search.

The writing wasn't all "bad," though. There's some fun implied lore, stuff like a brewing workers revolt, vague statements about the surface being unsafe, and some implied history, but it's mostly vague hinting. There were also an odd number of NPCs with no dialogue whatsoever. Those could have been used to flesh out the scenario a bit more.

In conclusion, an interesting game whose demo doesn't put its best foot forward.

Prison of Husks

A late PS1/early PS2 styled soulslike, with a heaping helping of Fumito Ueda.

You play as a nameless "doll," who wants to escape the prison they wake up in. You fight other dolls and enemies with a sword. There's lore probably.

The game makes some major deviations from the souls formula. There aren't any player stats, just weapon stats, and enemies don't respawn with saves. It seems to be stripping away most of the RPG aspects, and aiming for more straight action.

This game's parry equivalent, a perfect block, doesn't seem to stagger enemies, instead just auto-refilling your stamina. The player has armor points that let them tank a couple hints, and those can only be refilled with a crit. Crits are only available if you've emptied the enemy's refilling poise bar. It all comes together into a system that encourages aggression, while still trying to heavily punish player mistakes. The only thing missing is a good sense of "impact."

I'm enjoying the throwback graphics, but there's some odd disconnects. The game's presentation is deliberately low resolution, but parts of the UI and menus are way too crisp. I get it's probably for readability, but it clashes.

The demo is pretty dense, featuring both some hidden areas and two bosses. My main complaints at the moment are technical. One enemy, when strafing me, looked less like they were stepping and more like they were gliding in A pose. I was also able to cheese the demo-end boss by getting it clipping halfway into the ground.

Generation Exile

A management game where you try desperately to keep a dying generation ship alive after the attempt to flee a ruined earth goes pear shaped.

I am bad at management games in general, and tend to bounce off them early. This game caught my interest because it seemed more plot focused. If there's a good story hook, I can imagine dragging myself through the learning curve. It worked for Lobotomy Corporation, after all.

That wasn't what I got. That isn't to say the trailer is lying. It's just that it seems special events are not frequent. The cast seems procedurally generated too, so it doesn't look like there will be much overarching character arc stuff. I'm sure there will probably be an overarching mystery to follow, but I could not get near it before I just got frustrated by my ass building placement, wanting to start over.

Whether or not its an especially good management game on its own merits is someone else's wheelhouse. Not a great judge of this genre.

Neon Inferno

You're two badasses who run n gun their way through both the NYPD and the yakuza. That's all you need to know.

This is an arcade ass arcade game, for better and for worse. The default difficulty is "arcade," and every other option dials it down from there.

The presentation is top notch. This is some quality spritework. A lot of the art direction feeds back into some of the game's more interesting gameplay decisions.

The game is a Metal Slug-ish run-n-gun, but both the player and enemy sprites take up more screen real estate than usual. To add more threats, there's also a foreground layer of enemies to deal with. The player can shoot into the background, but they can't move while doing so. Combine this with a chunky hitbox, and it's a game where you can easily get checkmated if you aren't keeping enemies under control.

The player does have some extra defensive options, but they're intentionally limited. There's a dodge roll, but it's a relatively short and slow one. There's a bullet parry, but only special green bullets can be reflected.

This is a game that demands not only good reflexes and spacial awareness, but also a little bit of routing and optimization. Which means, depending on your tastes, it'll either be a nail biting challenge or drudgery.

I thankfully landed in the former here. I really liked it.

[linuxgamenews]

Beyond The Board: Innovation in Puzzle Gaming

Beyond The Board minimalist puzzle adventure game has a Demo coming for both Linux and Windows PC. Thanks to the creativity and skill of Fragile Shapes Studio, gameplay comes to life in an unforgettable way. Which you can try now on Steam.

You’re deep in a tense chess match. Every move counts. Then — CRACK — a bolt of lightning rips through the sky, shattering your perfect strategy and sending the entire stage spiraling into a surreal, alternate dimension. You're no longer playing chess. You're inside it.

Welcome to Beyond The Board, the upcoming minimalist puzzle adventure from Fragile Shapes Studio. This isn't your typical mind game.

Unveiled during the OTK Games Expo, Beyond The Board is like if Monument Valley had a mysterious love child with Limbo. Now all dressed up in checkered patterns and strange, dreamy landscapes. And best of all? The demo is out, and Linux support is on the way.

Yep, we're definitely going to drop a Demo for Linux, since we're developing BTB using Unity.

Fragile Shapes Studio is definitely excited to bring native support, but there's no ETA just yet. It’s on the roadmap — but with just two devs handling both production and marketing, they’re a bit swamped for now. Hang tight — it’s coming.

You play as a lone Rook — separated from your party and also flung into a collapsing realm after a freak lightning strike breaks the rules and reality itself. The mission? Track down the enemy King. The catch? Nothing works the way you'd expect.

A Title That Breaks All the Rules—Literally

Forget everything you know about chess. Here, Beyond The Board bends. The tiles shift under your feet. Enemies don’t play fair, and puzzles twist your mind until it feels like you’re dreaming. One moment you're hopping across familiar patterns, the next you're falling through a gap in the stage into a new dimension. Every move matters, but not in the way you're used to.

This isn't just about thinking ahead—it's also about feeling your way forward through quiet ruins, eerie fog, and kingdoms that feel like they’re holding their breath. There are no tutorials, no long-winded explanations. So just you, your instincts, and a hauntingly beautiful world that speaks through music, motion, and silence.

Beyond The Board - Demo Release

Why You Should Care

If you’re into titles that make you slow down, pay attention, and just vibe with the world, this is for you. It’s challenging, sure, but not punishing. It’s full of secrets that reward curiosity. And it respects your intelligence while letting you figure things out on your own, without hand-holding.

What You’ll Find in Beyond The Board:

A surreal world of ruins and wonder – Each new area feels like a dream falling apart.

Puzzle mechanics that flip the rules – Switches, strange tiles, and logic-bending paths force you to rethink everything.

Enemies with personalities – Every piece has its own rule set. So learn them. Outsmart them.

ecrets everywhere – Return to past levels with new tools and ideas. You’ll see them in a whole new light.

Try It Now—And Wishlist It

The free demo is live on Steam, playable via Proton. Which is also the perfect way to dip your toes into this beautifully broken world. Explore, get lost, share what you find — and for native Linux support, keep your eye out. Support is on the horizon.

So go ahead: step Beyond The Board. The minimalist puzzle adventure game doesn’t just ask you to solve puzzles—it also dares you to question the stage itself.

[babykittenteach]

No but fr having an indigenous family broken up for its own good by the state and one of them leave her homeland to go get a Real Education is not just counter to the original story's characterization, it's not just erasing the colonialism commentary for the sake of failed feminism presumably based on the girlboss objection to portraying women as caretakers and the classist objection to blue collar jobs, it is an act of colonialism.

It is in fact so ridiculously an act of colonialism that it should come off as such to anybody able to think about media critically for a few moments, but to anybody familiar with what the US did to many indigenous peoples via the faux benevolence of boarding schools, including to native hawaiians, it's fucking revolting.

Like, shoutout to removing Pleakley's gender exploration, to removing the cop villain in lieu of just having the mad scientist remain one, to removing some of Cobra Bubbles's nuance, to removing commentary on race and colonialism, etc etc, but mainly: this did a colonialism.

[danwidth]

wowee these ones gave me psychic damage hhhhhhhh. me making the expressions as i draw them and wondering why i feel the need to cry

roughs are finished! just have to time and clean! will probably keep the bgs as they are to save time. they're good enough lol. clean up may also be a bit rougher than my usual boards, but maybe that's a good thing ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ i've been having a lot of fun with this one. it's nice to board something that isn't music, tho i still love them. it's just different :)

teeny ibby bibby tenna i could never hate you *scoops him up and peppers with kisses*

i am once again asking you to read beyond repair by @manofthepipis

[spookysshadow]

TobiIzu AU where Butsuma and his Hatake wife have an arranged marriage - one that was arranged to keep the Hatake-Senju alliance strong after a retaliation battle broke out after several years of failed negotiations/resource sharing.

That is what his mom tells him, at least, that to prevent the Senju from fighting a battle on two fronts and the Hatake from losing any more members of their dwindling clan they agreed to marry the two eldest of the clans together.

Except that Tobirama’s parents have a habit of being downright mean and argumentative when in the same room, only to then turn around tell their children how much they admire and respect each other, not only as spouses but as warriors.

Tobirama, ever the inquisitive one, asks his mom how she can respect dad if they can never be in the same room without arguing?

Her answer consists of a long winded explanation that basically says they speak with swords and actions, then words - that when they argue or spar, especially back when their clans were tempting each other into fights at their borders, that they were getting to know the other and it’s why, despite it being an arranged marriage, she loves her husband and finds him worthy of her hand and their children.

Little Tobirama takes all this in and comes to the logical conclusion that fighting the Uchiha must be a mating ritual of sorts and that the fight continues because no one has found a compatible match yet.

Naturally he seeks to rectify this. He does so by scribbling down his plan in a blank scroll that his brother gave him for his 4th birthday. The plans consists of several very important steps:

1 - get stronger

2 - get sent to the battlefield to meet potential suitors

3 - engage with several of them, preferably his age or up to Anija's age (who's 4 years older than him)

4 - single out one Uchiha who's fighting style he enjoys and respects, and who in turn seems to respect his fighting style.

5 - commence courtship via multiple battles/skirmishes until both parties are satisfied with the skills they've seen and then

6 - get married and stop the war

Not bad for a four year old child and his Anija seems to agree with his plan (mostly because he was only half listening and heard - peace with Uchiha and nothing else)

And so he goes, little Tobirama trains long and hard to acquire the necessary skills to become strong and get sent to the battlefield. When he losses his younger siblings to the Uchiha, it just makes him more determined to go and find his match to end this stupid war.

His first encounter with the Uchiha, of course, is at the river where he crosses blades with Izuna Uchiha. The boy is a bit whiny and he worships his weird, spiky haired older brother that Anija is enamoured with, but he stance is strong. And when he gets home, thoughts swirling about Izuna and he catches his expression in the mirror, he recognizes the same face his mom would make when thinking about their father.

Ah, he thinks then, A potential candidate for him to consider.

Next time they meet is on the actual battlefield. And despite trying to find other Uchiha to fight, in order to widen his sample size, Izuna appears before him and steals his attention. Meets him blow for blow, anticipates his moves and keeps his attention until someone calls a retreat. Tobirama finds it only a bit annoying, but at the same time can appreciate a potential suitor who is secure in what they want.

After 3 or 4 failed attempts at fighting someone else, Tobirama decides that Izuna must truly be serious about pursuing a courtship with him. And Tobirama, in turn, is touched that someone wants to court him so much after only meeting him a handful of times. It would feel insulting to not return Izuna's courtship with the same seriousness - so he does.

Tobirama spends hours training and inventing jutsus just to fight Izuna. When he meets him on the battlefield he praises the other's skill, compliments him on any new jutsus or tactics he brings to the field, and once even comments on how the way Izuna uses his Sharingan is truly masterful.

Needless to say, Izuna is confused as to why his self-proclaimed rival who he hates is saying all these things to him. And worse, why he's kind of into it. Which, of course, just makes him train even harder to catch Tobirama off guard. He will defeat the White Demon! For his clan and for his sanity!

Of course every new advancement brings forth more praise and admiration from Tobirama. Especially when Izuna brings out his new lightening based technique and lands, a severe hit on Tobirama. Not enough to be fatal, but enough that Hashirama calls a retreat. And instead of anger or fear, Tobirama looks up at Izuna with a fondness that has Izuna seriously questioning the man's sanity.

Lying on the infirmary bed while Anija fixes him, Tobirama decides that the injury must be Izuna's way of proposing. And he should answer in kind. Thus, the hiraishin is born. A whole new untapped branch of ninjutsu, invented by a man in love. At least, that's how Tobirama views it. And he's nothing if not a perfectionist.

The last battle of the Uchiha vs Senju happens (not that anyone but Tobirama is aware it will be the last) and Tobirama uses Hiraishin on his beloved. There is a brief moment of panic in his chest when he realizes that if Izuna dies then he won't be able to marry him and it increases when Izuna refuses Hashirama's help. But, Tobirama quickly settles that mental conundrum by assuming that it means Izuna only wants Tobirama to heal him.

So, Tobirama, a man in love, breaks into the Uchiha compound and sets about fixing up his fiance. Which is what he tells Madara, his soon to be brother-in-law, when he finds him as he's finishing up the procedure.

Izuna wakes up to a healed side, the news that his fiance is resting in the guest room and an interrogation from his older brother asking why he never bothered to mention he was courting the White Demon? When had his obsession turned into romantic feelings? Did you at least explain to him that he'd have to marry in?

All Izuna can say is: What?

Both brothers. after a short conversation, realize that neither of them have any idea what Tobirama is talking about. However, Madara is not above using this to get a ceasefire and Izuna is morbidly curious to see what he can get away with if his so-called fiance is so in love with him.

In the end, they do get a ceasefire and they do get married, and no one has the courage to inform Tobirama that is perception of the war was way off base. All the while, Tobirama is patting himself on the back for a job well done.

[ecto-biologist]

*visibly shaking* I CAME AS FAST AS I COULD

[sabh0]

Listening to set books while drawing

[phoenixwithapencil]

@rocketbirdie's zoobs wouldn't leave my head

[renshengs]

sometimes you're just a rich handsome 27 year old graduate from south korea's most prestigious cop school with a glacial relationship with your big powerful cop dad and then you move to a small town substation in the countryside for work where you spend the next entire month being an uncooperative asshole while accusing your new 40 year old coworker of mass-murder before he helps you catch the actual mass-murderer and then afterwards you need to take a 3 month vacation about it because you realize being around him is changing you for the better and also you're falling in love with him at breakneck speed

[cowgirls-blues]

One of them knows how to install a doorknob.

[puhpandas]

are you disappointed that i’m not the same me you had in your head all this time?

[quinni91]

Classism as self-delusion in The Terror:

Mr Hickey indulges his 'practicals' over his 'morals' (murdering the weakened Gibson and cannibalising him) and Goodsir calls him out on that in the same breath as cruelly talking the piss out of Hickey for having obviously grown up in such a bad situation that his mother kept him alive by feeding him any disgusting bit of offal someone of Goodsir's class would find undignified and shocking to eat.

Goodsir believes "People there are good," but the British Empire only functions and continues itself by feeding on people it keeps weakened for that purpose (slaves, immigrants, the working class Goodsir is mocking with his 'Mam' comment)

Goodsir says he doesn't "recognise this behaviour", and I believe him, he doesn't recognise it, but he should. It's been all around him his whole life, it is him.

[danwidth]

Please give me another answer.

I don't like this one.

had to do them justice with a somewhat finished drawing.

read beyond repair!!

[queerpiratebrainrot]

I'm looking up WBN fanart for Reasons, and i have found zero fanart of Silver, and ya know what. We are all correct for it.

[invinciblerodent]

do you ever put your hands down and your big slutty calf-eyes away, you sweet sweet silly man

i continue to desire him carnally, btw

[aesthetic-crows]

SPIDERGWEN -

‘The coolest spiderwoman ever’