The Library
Articles.
Long-form writing on the genre, the references, and the craft behind HAWKER. Search, sort, read.
- Article
Shop Economy as Constraint Optimisation: A Design Note
A shop management game stands or falls on whether its economy is a genuine optimisation problem. A Tyrian Games design note on why Hawker's shop is a constraint puzzle.
9 min readRead - Article
Lucian's True History: Satire as Early Fantasy
Lucian wrote a travel-satire around 150 CE that looks like early sci-fi fantasy. Why it matters to modern worldbuilding and how HAWKER draws on it.
9 min readRead - Article
Games Like Binding of Isaac with Story: 10 Picks
Loved Isaac's combat but wanted more story? 10 roguelites that keep the twin-stick feel and add narrative weight.
9 min readRead - Article
Best Grimdark Games on Steam 2026: 20 Picks
20 grimdark games on Steam worth playing in 2026, from AAA to indie folk-horror, ranked by current canonical status.
9 min readRead - Article
Finished Moonlighter 2? 12 Games to Play Next
Done with Moonlighter 2's Early Access? 12 games that fill the shopkeeper roguelite gap, plus one coming in September 2026.
9 min readRead - Article
Games Like Slay the Spire with a Narrative Thread: 10 Picks
Loved Slay the Spire but wanted more story between the card battles? 10 narrative-driven deck builders and card roguelites worth your time.
9 min readRead - Article
Best Dark Fantasy Games on Steam 2026: 25 Picks
25 dark fantasy games on Steam worth playing in 2026, from AAA classics to indie grimdark discoveries, all updated for the current year.
9 min readRead - Article
Light Meter Games: From Thief to HAWKER
Thief invented the light meter in 1998. Here is how the mechanic evolved across 28 years and where HAWKER takes it next.
9 min readRead - Article
Games Like Lies of P: Dark Fantasy Cousins
Lies of P nailed the Soulslike on a non-FromSoftware engine. Here are 10 dark fantasy games that match its mood and combat feel.
9 min readRead - Article
Korrigans, the Morrigan, and Celtic Creatures Games Miss
Korrigans, Morrigan, Mari-Morgans, and the Celtic folkloric creatures that keep getting overlooked in games with Celtic atmosphere.
8 min readRead - Article
Games Like Darkest Dungeon with a Lighter Tone: 10 Picks
Loved Darkest Dungeon's structure but want something less crushing? 10 tactical roguelites with the shape but a kinder attitude toward you.
8 min readRead - Article
Most Anticipated Indie Roguelites of 2026 (Running List)
The indie roguelites worth watching in 2026. Release dates, genres, what we know so far. Updated quarterly.
9 min readRead - Article
How Ink Drives Dynamic Dialogue in HAWKER (and Why We Picked It)
Ink is Inkle's open-source narrative engine. Here is why we picked it over Unity dialogue assets, and what it lets HAWKER do that alternatives could not.
9 min readRead - Article
Games Like Hollow Knight but Roguelite: 10 Picks
Ten games that deliver Hollow Knight's dark atmosphere and tight combat in roguelite form, for when you want the tone without the metroidvania.
8 min readRead - Article
Kepler's Somnium: The 1608 Sci-Fi Novel Hiding in Modern Games
Kepler wrote a science-fiction novel in 1608. Here is how Somnium shaped the early genre and why it keeps turning up in modern indie worldbuilding.
8 min readRead - Article
Games Like Dave the Diver: 12 Systems-Stackers for 2026
Dave the Diver stacked diving, restaurant management, and roguelite runs into one game. Here are 12 other systems-stackers that do similar work.
8 min readRead - Article
Games Like Hades II: 12 Picks for 2026
Hades II released in 2025 and expanded the narrative roguelite formula. Here are 12 games like Hades 2 worth playing in 2026.
10 min readRead - Article
Grimdark Indie Games in 2026: The Quiet Takeover of Dark Atmosphere
Grimdark is quietly the dominant mode of indie game atmosphere in 2026. A full map of the subgenre, its history, and the releases worth watching.
10 min readRead - Article
Games Like Moonlighter 8 Years On: The Genre Has Grown Up
Moonlighter launched in 2018. Eight years later, here are 14 games like it that have kept the shop-plus-dungeon genre alive and evolved it.
8 min readRead - Article
The Light and Shadow Mechanic: A Game Design Deep-Dive
How light-and-shadow mechanics went from Thief's stealth meter to Hawker's combat inversion. A working history and design analysis.
11 min readRead - Article
Ankou in Games: The Psychopomp That Became a Character Type
Ankou is the Breton figure of Death. A guide to where Ankou appears in modern games, the archetype he has become, and why more games should use him.
10 min readRead - Article
Breton Folklore in Modern Games: A Working Reading List
Ankou, Korrigans, Marie de France's Lais, and the Breton myths that keep surfacing in indie games. A developer reading list with citations.
13 min readRead - Article
Games Like Dredge on Land: Folk Horror Without the Boat
Loved Dredge and want the same folk-horror texture without the fishing? 12 land-based games with the same patient dread and loot-loop tension.
8 min readRead - Article
Games Like Hades with Shops: 10 Picks for 2026
If you loved Hades and wished the hub had a real shop you operated, here are 10 games that combine narrative roguelite combat with actual shopkeeping.
8 min readRead - Article
15 Games Like Moonlighter 2 in 2026 (Worth Your Time)
Looking for games like Moonlighter 2? Here are 15 shopkeeper roguelites, shop sims, and dungeon-crawl merchants worth your time in 2026, including one coming in September.
11 min readRead - Article
Games Like Cult of the Lamb: 10 Picks for Cozy-Grim Roguelites
Cult of the Lamb blended cozy management with roguelite runs and folk-horror tone. Here are 10 games that work the same vein in 2026.
9 min readRead - Article
Why HAWKER Uses a 30-Day Deadline Instead of Permadeath
A dev-log on why HAWKER runs on a thirty-day clock rather than permadeath, and what that gets us design-wise that Hades and Moonlighter don't have.
10 min readRead - Article
Games Like Recettear: The Shop-Sim Roguelite Lineage
12 games like Recettear that kept the shop-sim and dungeon-crawl hybrid alive since 2010, plus one coming in 2026 that brings it to grimdark.
9 min readRead - Article
Narrative Roguelites After Hades: The Genre's Next Shape
Hades proved roguelite runs can carry a real story. Five years on, here is what the narrative roguelite subgenre looks like and where it goes next.
12 min readRead - Article
Marie de France and the 12th-Century Lais We Pulled From
How Marie de France's 12th-century Breton Lais shaped HAWKER, and why her short poems are still being mined by indie games 850 years later.
11 min readRead - Article
What is a Shopkeeper Roguelite? The Genre Moonlighter Started
A shopkeeper roguelite runs two games at once: a shop you price by day, a dungeon you die in at night. Here's where the genre came from and where it's going.
14 min readRead