![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1786053375_269_0x0.jpg\")
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‘A Short Hike’ is among over 120 games you can have for just ten bucks.<\/p>\n
Adam Robinson-Yu<\/p>\n
As far as deals go, getting over 120 games for less than the cost of a Cantina Chicken Rolled Quesadilla Combo from Taco Bell is up there among the best, especially in light of recent news<\/a>. The fact your $10 will go to a fantastic cause is even better \u2014 and you can thank itch.io for the bargain.<\/p>\n The Game Industry Hardship Fund bundle<\/a>, hosted by Necrosoft Games, has been whittled together by creators to drum up cash that\u2019ll be dispensed by United Videogame Workers, a 501 (c)(5) organization that aims to support laid-off developers in the U.S. and Canada. While itch.io is clear that it will only assist \u201cin some small way,\u201d individual out-of-work or under-employed devs \u2014 not companies \u2014 can apply and use money to support food, healthcare, and rent needs.<\/p>\n Says itch.io: \u201cThe game industry has a problem. Too many people are out of work. Reports say 33% of the industry lost their jobs in the last two years, and the jobs they could fill are disappearing as CEOs try to replace them with AI. It\u2019s hard for companies to adjust to the new shape of the game industry, but even harder for the people they should be employing.\u201d<\/p>\n Highlighting layoffs at Ubisoft, Microsoft, and many others, the fund has already raised over $163,000 at the time of writing, and hopes to reach its admirable but most definitely gettable goal of $200,000.<\/p>\n The games themselves are a mixed bag of madness \u2014 very on brand for itch.io, which is honestly one of the most delightfully creative hubs for indie devs online (I\u2019ve been a convert ever since Art Sqool<\/a>) \u2014 but with 127 to choose from, you\u2019re bound to find something fun. You could argue that the bundle\u2019s worth it for A Short Hike alone \u2014 lauded by John Romero<\/a> \u2014 while I have a lot of time for A Dream About Parking Lots<\/a>. <\/p>\n Play Puzzles & Games on Forbes<\/p>\n Some of the more interesting titles in the bundle include:<\/p>\n Wheels of Aurelia, a half-fiction, half-racing narrative road trip game \u201cset in the roaring Italian 70s\u201d, created by Santa Ragione, they of Saturnalia<\/a> brilliance; SkateBIRD<\/a>, essentially Tony Hawk if you\u2019re a bird;Super Slime Arena<\/a>, a multiplayer party fighting game that supports up to 50 people and looks like a LAN classic;Holedown, a genuinely arresting casual puzzler that\u2019s reminiscent of Tetris, Peggle, and Mr Driller; and Drywall Eating Simulator, which promises to \u201csimulate the delights of late capitalist life\u201d.<\/p>\n Most of the games are direct downloads, meaning you won\u2019t be able to enjoy them on Steam, but even if that\u2019s a deal-breaker, $10 is a very small amount to spend when you could discover something completely new, ridiculous, or genuinely special. And, y\u2019know, supporting creators feels more important than ever before. You can buy the Game Industry Hardship Fund bundle on itch.io<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"‘A Short Hike’ is among over 120 games you can have for just ten bucks. Adam Robinson-Yu As…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":848643,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[144803,49,48,874,295360,295359,61],"class_list":["post-848642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-bundle","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-gaming","tag-gaming-industry-hardship-fund","tag-itch-io","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=848642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848642\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/848643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=848642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=848642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=848642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}