A break from work and studies. A hearty once-a-year feast with loved ones. Gift giving and receiving. There are many reasons to look forward to the holiday season. One more is that it’s a great opportunity for more gaming time.

Of course, 2023 has been a blockbuster year for game releases. Players are already spoiled for choice when it comes to choosing a title to play over the festive period. But while there are already loads of game award winners and dazzling AAA releases, I want to make the case for three different indie games, all of which are easily available, and easy to fit into a few days of downtime.

Storyteller

If you’re on the move this festive season, and enjoy puzzle games, look no further than literary-themed Storyteller, from Annapurna Interactive and developer Daniel Benmergui. While you’ve been able to play Storyteller since March on PC and Nintendo Switch, this September the game got an update across platforms and also came to Netflix Games – which means it’s now playable on iOS and Android devices with no extra cost if you’re a Netflix subscriber.

With drag-and-drop gameplay by default, Storyteller shines on mobile. Given a title like “Heartbreak for everyone,” or “Murderer gets arrested,” players drag archetypal book locations and characters into empty story panels to achieve the scenario. Move any of these elements and the whole scene will elegantly update. For the record, the game consists of 60 different puzzles over 14 themed chapters, and players can move between them freely so you’re never really stuck.

Now, Storyteller isn’t quite the free-form story builder it claims to be, as you are increasingly locked into ticking off prescribed situations. However, it features a deliciously dark sense of humour (and narration), along with a charming cartoon art style. And even though you can complete it in around 3 hours, there is a fair amount of replayability to further sweeten the deal.

This Bed We Made

When was the last time a narrative adventure game had you scribbling clues and codes on a notebook? If you’ve been craving such a throwback experience, but updated with modern and mature thematic sensibilities, may I direct you to This Bed We Made, from Canadian developers Lowbirth Games.

In this third-person narrative mystery, you play as young hotel maid Sophie, who is completing her duties during a snowstorm in February 1958. Sophie has a dirty little secret – she likes to snoop through guests’ belongings. Things take a personal turn when she discovers one man has been secretly taking photos of her. Aided by a colleague, Sophie kickstarts an investigation which reveals the lives of multiple hotel residents are chained together.

This Bed We Made is far from a walking sim, but it provides a similar thrill as you piece together people’s stories by finding and examining items. In addition, your actions – including the rooms you choose to explore, your conversations and what you do, or don’t, clean – will determine which of the multiple (sometimes a bit disjointed) endings you achieve. At four to five hours a playthrough, you’ll definitely want a few tries at reaching the best outcome for the characters you quickly come to care about.

What really elevates This Bed We Made, though, is the way that it replicates an era, while throwing the curtain back on mental health issues and same sex relationships as they existed in the conservative period. These relatable, relevant topics obviously existed during the time in question, but were considered aberrant and therefore taboo. By tackling them head-on, the clearly well-researched and lovingly made This Bed We Made creates a strong emotional bridge between past and present. It’s also massively fun to identify the many 1950s easter eggs stuffed into the game. Fans of Carol should lap it up especially.

This Bed We Made is out now for PC and PS5, before coming to PS4 and all Xbox consoles this week, on 20 December.

Jusant

For more action-orientated explorations, while maintaining a quiet, contemplative atmosphere, there’s Jusant, a climbing adventure that surprisingly comes from Life is Strange makers DON’T NOD. Jusant, which translates from French to mean an “ebb tide,” centres on a young protagonist who sets out to scale a deserted rock pillar in an arid landscape. Our hero is aided by an adorable little water creature called Ballast, who can commune with nature and provide other assistance.

Although it has a very different mechanic, Jusant should appeal to anyone who enjoyed Planet of Lana earlier this year. Both family-friendly games feature striking, stylised visuals, a puzzle traversal aspect that requires the skills of both the protagonist and their cute companion, and a world of silent mysteries left by past inhabitants.

Jusant isn’t without challenge, but it’s a game that encourages players to progress at their own pace. You won’t plunge to your death so much as drop to the end of your line, and need to start your ascent all over again. Jusant is especially notable for its more realistic climbing mechanic, utilising left and right controller triggers to reach with your respective arms, while you also need to place pitons for climbing security, and rest to regain stamina.

Again, Jusant is a relatively short game, at around five hours. That means it doesn’t outstay its welcome, and throughout you’re encouraged to reflect on its upbeat message that action and hope can persist in the face of environmental collapse.

Jusant is out now for PC, Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5. It is also currently part of the Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass library.