You’ve moved to a new town. You could use a friend. So why not build one? Comb through a surreal, hand-drawn city in the marvelously macabre Birth!—visiting shops, galleries, and strangers’ apartments—to find bones and organs to assemble into your new companion. It’s a bizarre and heartfelt adventure…and like nothing you’ve played before.

What we love: The peculiar point-and-tap puzzles. Figure out a café customer’s absurd order (one large cup of teeth and spiders, coming up!). Rip open a fish to find a tiny person inside, then place them on a swing hanging from a potted tree. Weird? Yes. Strangely compelling? Absolutely!

Quick tip: You don’t need to bring objects from one area to another. Everything you need to solve each puzzle is somewhere in your current location, whether you’re sifting through a grocer’s fruit display in search of a stomach or cracking a pub’s domino challenge to snag a liver.

Meet the creator: Madison Karrh is a solo developer based in Chicago. She made Birth! during the COVID-19 pandemic while living alone in a small studio apartment, and she hopes the game feels like having a quiet conversation with a friend about day-to-day loneliness.