The possibly endangered games of the Humble App
Background:
While playing games for the Backlog Burner, I was surprised to learn that the Humble App (which is a "free" perk of having a Humble Choice subscription) has a few games that are actually exclusive to it.
Part of the reason I chose to play games from the Humble App is that I don't expect it'll be around much longer. It isn't getting updates or new games added to it. Also, Humble Games, the publishing arm of Humble which released many of the games available through the app, was abruptly dissolved in 2024.
With this in mind, I went through the entire current library for the Humble App and tried to identify games that I could not find available for purchase/download elsewhere.
Below is a list of games that I consider to be "endangered" because they might become unplayable/lost media if (i.e. when) the Humble App does shut down or stop working.
If you've got the Humble App, it might be worth playing some of these sooner rather than later.
If you've got game preservation sensibilities, it might make sense to download and archive these for posterity.
Game List:
Here are the games that are, as best as I can tell, Humble App exclusives and in danger of being lost permanently.
For each title below, I tried to find a decent link that gave information about the game. Many of these simply don't have a lot of online presence.
Some of them have Steam pages linked, but in those cases, they're just placeholders and you cannot actually buy the game.
-
A2Be - A Science Fiction Narrative - Steam page
-
after HOURS - info link
-
Crescent Bay - info link
-
Divinoids - Steam page
-
Elephant in the Room - trailer
-
fistful of nothing - homepage
-
Heeey! Park-Boy - Steam page
-
Keyboard Sports - Steam page (note: I found an itch.io page with it available for download, but it is clearly unofficial)
-
Lyric Sonata - gameplay video
-
Operator - trailer
-
Quiet City - trailer
-
Rogue Mansion - Steam page
-
Roman Sands - gameplay video
-
Space Routine - Steam page
-
Spoolside - trailer
-
The Groundz - gameplay video
-
THOR.N - gameplay video
-
Woten - Steam page
-
Yojimbrawl - gameplay video
-
Zodiac XX - trailer
Feel free to check my work and let me know if I missed any, or if some of these games are actually officially obtainable outside Humble and I didn't find them.
Also let me know if I whiffed any of the links or if you find better ones for any of the games.
Just a note that every game on here is on at least one of my private game-centric torrent trackers.
That’s genuinely good to hear and a nice real-world reminder that trackers like that are some of the best places for media preservation.
I used to be on a game tracker that has long since shut down, but it had an embargo period of 5 years (I think?), so you couldn’t upload newer games to the site (i.e. in 2012, you were allowed to upload games released in 2007 or before).
I really liked that policy because it meant that the site wasn’t a place where people were just downloading the newest hotness instead of paying for it, and it instead was a very organized catalog of gaming history. Shame it got shut down. I feel like a lot of good stuff was probably lost when it did.
Interesting policy from a game preservation perspective. Thankfully my primary gaming tracker doesn't seem to need such a policy while also having a very solid media preservation/data hoarding/niche enthusiast groups involved. For a random example I grabbed from a random list on the tracker, there are a good number of very well seeded Philips Videopac+ games on it.
Yeah, the old one really felt like if GOG could just have every old game instead of only the ones they had the rights to. And unlike some downloads from sketchy abandonware sites, the files were clean. It was beautiful.
That said, my info might have been wrong about the rolling release window. This article on the shutdown says they didn’t allow anything past 2004. So, my memory about the specifics of the embargo might be wrong. Either way, they made sure to disallow new games in part to keep their profile down but also because the site was much more about archiving gaming history than it was pure piracy.
Them getting taken down in 2013 for hosting, among other things, FIFA ‘98, is just… really sad.
I’m glad the spirit of the site is living on in the tracker you’re in though (and undoubtedly in others too). Game archivists are some of the most dedicated and thorough people out there. I just wish that it all didn’t have to be hidden away behind walled communities, but I don’t fault the trackers for that in the slightest.
I imagine there are many sources for game guardianship now, promoting preservation and cataloguing over simply saving a buck. Given gamers' nature, they will surely seek a place to share their passion with others, generating great nostalgia among those who yearn for the games of yesteryear.
Alright, as part of being a Highly Motivated Participant of this month's Backlog Burner, I have now played all of these. I sorted them into three categories based on what I believe to be their broader appeal.
"Worth a Look" are games that I consider standouts and that I think a good number of people could enjoy if they’re into the genre/style of the game. "YMMV" are ones I consider far more niche and/or flawed, but at the very least interesting. And "Pass" are ones that I think people can safely ignore without missing out on anything.
I don't think anything here is a 10/10 must play, but if you like indie games, especially ones that are a little strange, experimental, and rough around the edges, then there's some good stuff on offer.
If anyone has questions on any of these specifically, I’m happy to talk more about any of them.
Worth a Look
Feels like a Dreamcast/PS2 game. Lots of charm. Great soundtrack. Quite repetitive.
Playable via the web version. Cool little PvP strategy game like chess or checkers. Deserves a mobile release where it would shine.
A game about using every key on your keyboard to control your character. Very charming. Very original.
Check out the demo on Steam or wait for the full release (which seems to actually be in the works). An OG Resident Evil roguelike. Quite well-made.
Short, surreal VN with first-person navigation, great world design, and top-notch aesthetic and sound.
Short, adorable little puzzle platformer based on making the most of a limited moveset. Very thoughtfully made.
Starfox but underwater. Very cool aesthetic. Gave me motion sickness but I still recommend it.
YMMV
Tough to recommend or critique. A short FMV game about a person who experienced childhood abuse and suffers concomitant borderline personality disorder as an adult. Ends very abruptly.
A demo/teaser for a full game that never got released. Cool investigative mechanics, but the build on offer is essentially just the tutorial.
A more modern version of Rampage. Cool ideas, didn't love the execution. Might eventually release on Steam (the depot was just updated today!).
Top-down stealth game. Might be good for those that like stealth games (I don't).
Hacking sim. I found it tedious, but I can see how some people might like it if they're in the mood for a command-line game.
Clumsy management game where you control different members of a family, sending them to different concurrent tasks and keeping on top of all of their needs. Not my thing but I see how someone could like it.
Very cool conceptually: a 2D platformer in which you can rotate the 3D world on all of its different axes and also moving forwards and backwards moves you through time. Unfortunately, I found actually playing it to be considerably less cool.
First-person incremental game/chore simulator that feels like the introduction to a larger game that never got developed/released.
This is a PvP party game with no computer-controlled opponents, so it's only playable with friends.
Pass
Point and click adventure. Buggy and unsatisfying.
Clumsy 3D stealth game. Needs way more polish.
More of an "experience" than a game where you cruise through different music-inspired worlds. Might be good while high, but I found it unsatisfying sober.
PvP dodgeball game. Cool art, but buggy to the point of being nearly unplayable.
There's nothing fundamentally wrong with this one, it's just very short. More of a playable toy than a full game. Feels like something made for a game jam that never got expanded upon.