The studio behind Humble Games' latest game, Bõ: Path of the Teal Lotus, says it "lost access to the pipeline of critical systems without warning" when Humble Games "made the difficult but necessary decision to restructure operations" two weeks ago.

Humble Games is owned by Ziff Davis, which also owns GamesIndustry.biz parent Gamer Network.

In a statement posted to X/Twitter, Squid Shock admitted it had been "a hectic two weeks since [it had] launched [its] first game Bo: Path of the Teal Lotus", and announced it had turned to Patreon to help finance the game after "exploring every possible option to deliver the future content we had planned."

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The latest episode of The GI Microcast is available to download or watch now, discussing some of the biggest stories from the past week.

On this episode, we discuss Humble Games' claims that is restructuring amid reports of mass layoffs and ponder how this reflects some of the biggest challenges in publishing today. Specifically, we look at a range of indie-focused publishers and the troubles they've encountered in the past year, and discuss the future prospects for this segment of the market.

We also discuss two stories in which generative AI was a primary concern, from Activision reportedly using these tools at the potential expense of staff and the SAG-AFTRA strike, in which the union is trying to protect voice actors from being exploited by companies using AI.

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Update, July 25, 2024: Former Humble staff have disputed the company's statement regarding the restructuring, claiming it underplays the impact on the team.

An anonymous staff member impacted by the layoffs told GamesIndustry.biz the statement is "patently incorrect," emphasising that all Humble Games staff were laid off this week.

Operations are said to be moving to a third-party consultancy The Powell Group, which will handle all remaining games. In a transcript of a meeting with Steve Horowitz, president of Ziff Davis's shopping and technology division, it was suggested affected staff may be offered opportunities elsewhere within Ziff Davis or at The Powell Group.

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Humble Games' last release before the studio was "restructured" last week, Bõ: Path of the Teal Lotus, has launched a Patreon to support the game "in these uncertain times".

Writing on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, developer Squid Shock said that whilst it did not fault the team's work, Humble's changes "have meant we have missed out on critical post-launch support, which may put our studio's future at risk".

Although Humble has disputed the statements of former staff that characterised the layoffs as a shutdown, instead insisting laying off its staff is merely a "restructuring", Squid Shock also describes the changes as "shutting down".

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Coral Island developer Stairway Games has responded to the lack of Switch port, blaming the recent layoffs at Humble Games for leaving console versions "in a place of uncertainty".

The cosy life-sim game received over $1.6m in Kickstarter funding. However, some backers who specifically backed the game for a Switch version are angry at the lack of news for a port. Other backers have claimed requests for PS4 keys have been automatically upgraded to PS5 without consent.

At present, the game is available on PC via Steam, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S (plus Game Pass), but not Switch.

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Between Against The Storms’ critters, Manor Lords’s perfect oxen, and now Cataclismo, Hooded Horse’s roster of strategy games share a common thread that many guard-the-village-em-ups can fatally overlook: they present a civilisation that’s worth protecting. Even if the fallen culture you’ll defend against waves of gribblies offers fascinatingly few concrete details on its origins, there’s a lithe and impressionistic otherworldliness and use of colour in Cataclismo’s art that evokes unearthed layers of history. Also, everyone is just so gosh darn likeable, with their foppish hats plopped atop stretched bodies, and dialogue that remains resolute, chirpy, and eager, even when you’re click-marching these poor folk straight to their deaths.

Still, none of this will stop me will sacrificing every last man, woman, and child of these beleaguered warriors if it means preserving a single one of my immaculately crafted staircases.

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Between Against The Storms’ critters, Manor Lords’s perfect oxen, and now Cataclismo, Hooded Horse’s roster of strategy games share a common thread that many guard-the-village-em-ups can fatally overlook: they present a civilisation that’s worth protecting. Even if the fallen culture you’ll defend against waves of gribblies offers fascinatingly few concrete details on its origins, there’s a lithe and impressionistic otherworldliness and use of colour in Cataclismo’s art that evokes unearthed layers of history. Also, everyone is just so gosh darn likeable, with their foppish hats plopped atop stretched bodies, and dialogue that remains resolute, chirpy, and eager, even when you’re click-marching these poor folk straight to their deaths.

Still, none of this will stop me will sacrificing every last man, woman, and child of these beleaguered warriors if it means preserving a single one of my immaculately crafted staircases.

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Chaos and comedy. Death and rebirth. Luck and, uh, running out of luck. A good roguelike doesn't treat the player like other games do. Roguelikes won't guide you helpfully along a path, or let you cinematically snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. They're more likely to dangle you deep between the jaws of defeat and fumble the rope until you go sliding down defeat's hungry gullet. This is their beauty, and it's a part of why we keep coming back for another go. Next time everything will go right. Next time you'll find the right pair of poison-proof loafers, the perfect co-pilot for your spaceship, a stash of stronger, better ropes. Next time.

Here's our list of the 19 best roguelikes on PC you can play in 2024.

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Chaos and comedy. Death and rebirth. Luck and, uh, running out of luck. A good roguelike doesn't treat the player like other games do. Roguelikes won't guide you helpfully along a path, or let you cinematically snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. They're more likely to dangle you deep between the jaws of defeat and fumble the rope until you go sliding down defeat's hungry gullet. This is their beauty, and it's a part of why we keep coming back for another go. Next time everything will go right. Next time you'll find the right pair of poison-proof loafers, the perfect co-pilot for your spaceship, a stash of stronger, better ropes. Next time.

Here's our list of the 19 best roguelikes on PC you can play in 2024.

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Role-playing musical Stray Gods is getting DLC in which you'll play as sorrowful ghostly rocker Orpheus, the developers have announced. You briefly meet Orpheus in the base game while playing as leatherclad muse Grace, finding him moping in the underworld, eyes dripping with glam rock mascara. In the DLC he makes a musical comeback on earth, alongside messenger god Hermes. I've not stumbled on Orpheus in the other mythical game of this season, Hades 2 (he showed up in the first Hades but there's no sign he's reappearing in the sequel). So it looks like fans of the ancient Greek sadboi will have to flock to Summerfall's expansion when it comes out this summer.

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Cataclismo is the new game from Digital Sun, the team behind Moonlighter, so I was waiting for the twist from the moment I started. Moonlighter's a straight-up dungeon crawler, until you crawl out of the dungeon with all your loot and have to face a far more terrifying foe than any monster you encountered in the depths: supply and demand. Moonlighter was a dungeon crawler, then, and also a game about stocking a shop and making a profit. Risk your life to find stock, and then return to the surface and try to find the right price for it. The horror!

So what's the twist with Cataclismo? My recent demo began in a dark autumnal woods. I'm controlling an archer, clicking to move them through forest paths between spectral, bronzing trees and dark abysses that make the whole thing feel very claustrophobic. Is this an action RPG? No, up ahead I find another troop type, a lobber, who flings bombs or rocks or somesuch. Height and distance come into play as we fend off an attack by mysterious horrors, who all look like plucked but uncooked turkeys. Oh, this is an RTS!

And it is. But then we come to a clearing with a broken bridge and no way to get across. Here is the twist! It's an RTS in which you can build. It's an RTS in which you have to build, in fact. Pretty soon I'm fixing the bridge with wooden pieces, making sure that each piece I place is supported and safe. Further on I get a staircase that needs repairing with stone, so I'm dealing with cheap, flimsy wood, and heavy, more dependable stone. Next comes a proper castle, already built, and night is falling so I place my troops and fend off hordes of those turkey enemies. It's tower defence! Stop it already.

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The two-person studio behind 2021's tip-top top-down action-RPG Unsighted yesterday announced their next game, a 3D metroidvania named Abyss X Zero. It's not out for a while yet but its look already reminds me of two things: the pleasingly clean art style of Mega Man Legends and the edgy anime schoolgirl styles of Kill La Kill. See for yourself in the announcement trailer below.

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