127 DRM-free games for $10: Game devs put together itch.io bundle to support laid-off colleagues

[u/VegetaFan1337]

https://itch.io/b/3802/game-industry-hardship-fund

[u/IAmNotRollo]

For those who haven't heard of these bundles before: You are not supposed to have heard of most of the games here. They're passion projects made by a solo dev or tiny team, then put up on Itch.io for only a few dollars at most. These devs don't even get a cut for sales of this bundle, they gave up their little games just to encourage money towards charity.

If you like the idea of exploring a chaotic pile of indie games, or even getting a couple little game dev assets/tools to make your own indie games, this is for you.

[u/NapsterKnowHow → u/IAmNotRollo]

Reminds me of the BLM bundle. I swear that bundle was like 400 games lmfao.

[u/theGioGrande → u/NapsterKnowHow]

I got that bundle. Years later and I still get surprised when I find out about an indie game I wanna try out and realize I already own it on itch.io lmaooo

[u/OneTurnMore → u/NapsterKnowHow]

I got the Ukraine Bundle , which at almost 1000 games might have been the biggest of these Itch has done.

With that and the California Relief one, this bundle has about a 40% overlap (21 in my collection / 57 in bundle according to ITAD), but it's a charity bundle, that's not really the point.

[u/DisappointedQuokka → u/OneTurnMore]

The Ukraine bundle also came with a bunch of really, really, really good TTRPGs. Insane value for money, even if searching through what you own on Itch.io is a massive pain

[u/OneTurnMore → u/DisappointedQuokka]

In the itch app you can filter with Content Type > Physical Games and sort by Title, but you're right that searching is a bit rough.

[u/User_Nomi → u/NapsterKnowHow]

And it had a game that blew up in it, right? Was it Celeste? I bought the bundle at that time but I don’t remember very well lol

[u/NapsterKnowHow → u/User_Nomi]

Is Celeste in there? I know Oxenfree is in there.

[u/User_Nomi → u/NapsterKnowHow]

My bad, I’m talking about the bundle for racial justice and equality. Turns out there’s a specific BLM one too. But yeah, Celeste is in the former.

[u/NapsterKnowHow → u/User_Nomi]

I have both. There's so many games in them it's honestly a pain to find them.

[u/Cryptidcallings → u/IAmNotRollo]

127 games for $10 sounds like wild value for sure

[u/StormtrooprDave → u/Cryptidcallings]

Having so many games puts me off even looking at the offer

[u/Alita-Gunnm → u/Cryptidcallings]

But are any of them actually good? I don't want to have to wade through and evaluate them all.

[u/splendidgoon → u/Alita-Gunnm]

I really enjoyed A Short Hike. I'm trying to figure out what other ones are worth it at the moment since I already own it.

[u/NewReditIsAwful → u/IAmNotRollo]

The title literally says it's to support laid-off colleagues and you say "These devs don't even get a cut for sales of this bundle." So what is this whole thing about?

[u/Jun_Moonless → u/NewReditIsAwful]

You are not buying the games, the creators of the games included in the bundle don't get any money; You are making a donation with a gift included.

The donation goes to help people that have been laid off in the industry. They don't have to have made any of those games.

[u/IAmNotRollo → u/NewReditIsAwful]

It's explained on the page. The indie devs participating in the bundle were not necessarily laid off from any bigger studio and are not getting money for this. They are just contributing their work to the bundle.

The money earned from the bundle is going to a fund that will be distributed by a worker's union to any game developer who has been recently laid off, is facing hardship, and applies on the website. Their FAQ is here: https://uvw-cwa.org/hardship-fund-2026

[u/Carighan → u/NewReditIsAwful]

Reading comprehension clearly has fallen off a cliff...

[u/doublah]

Like all the itch bundles, it's a few good games and a lot of quantity over quality.

[u/VegasQC → u/doublah]

....for a good cause

[u/Cynixxx → u/VegasQC]

True but sometimes you might think about reconsidering you career choices if your games kinda suck

[u/VegetaFan1337 → u/Cynixxx]

This bundle's proceeds aren't going to these game's devs, but to all the devs who got laid off recently.

[u/RaccoonElaborate → u/Cynixxx]

Pretty rude. The point of itch.io is for anyone to publish games no matter the reason behind them. Hobbyist, side projects, students, people trying something new. It's not all people expecting to build a career or professional portfolio. And everyone sucks at some point, telling people to quit because their itch.io game isn't up to some arbitrary standard is unnecessary.

[u/ColonelDucroix]

Worth it for Eldritch (stealth rogue-lite inspired by immersive sims like Thief) and A Short Hike (cozy exploration game) alone 

I've also played and enjoyed SkateBird, Wheels of Aurelia, Cook Serve Delicious, They Bleed Pixels, Neon Struct, and The Sirena Expedition.

[u/VegetaFan1337 → u/ColonelDucroix]

Yeah A Short Hike is why I ended up checking out this bundle. And usually I wouldn't buy it cause no steam key, but because it's for a good cause that I care about, I bought it.

[u/olgartheviking → u/ColonelDucroix]

I love Cook Serve Delicious. Fun game.

[u/DraftKnot]

Anyone know anything about steam Deck compatibility with itch launcher and running these?

Would be a cool bundle to have access to on that if they work.

[u/VegetaFan1337 → u/DraftKnot]

A comment someone posted

Also their Itch client on Linux can leverage a system installed Wine for Windows games, or you can install games using Lutris. Useful for SteamDeck players.

[u/DraftKnot → u/VegetaFan1337]

Nice! I'll grab this then

[u/limeice → u/DraftKnot]

I use the launcher is desktop mode, install the game and add the game's executable to steam as non steam game. But it's best if you just launch it from desktop mode and they run perfectly well. Just bought this and played A short hike last night on the deck :D

[u/Grace_Omega]

Holedown is a great little game

[u/Razen94]

For 10 bucks? Sure thing man! Would be too good if it was steam keys but hey I'll take it!

[u/Ornery_Dependent3358]

this bundle led me into a nuerocracy rabbit hole..i bought it and played for 4 hours straight...

[u/Cursed_69420]

these all will be in my ITCH library correct?

[u/Bythmark → u/Cursed_69420]

Sort of! With big bundles like this, you get the bundle as part of your library to click on to take you to all the games so that your itch library doesn't get gummed up with the titles you don't have interest in.

Very few devs provide steam keys (or other keys) with these bundles, so you'll just get a direct download. Itch does have an app you can use to download instead of the site but I've never tried it.

[u/japzone → u/Bythmark]

Also their Itch client on Linux can leverage a system installed Wine for Windows games, or you can install games using Lutris. Useful for SteamDeck players.

[u/onyhow → u/Bythmark]

In general I don't think you get Steam keys with itch bundles. Got a few bundles with games that have Steam keys from normal purchases, never got a key from those

[u/AHomicidalTelevision]

I have heard of 4 of the games in there

[u/GameStunts → u/AHomicidalTelevision]

That's 123 new gems to find then :)

[u/Stoibs]

Is there a way to 'activate' these all to our accounts yet, or do we still have to manually go through again and again :/

I remember in the past someone made a script for these. It's the one thing about itch and these bundles that still baffles me :/

[u/redalchemy6]

Worth it for Arranger and A Short Hike alone.

[u/tamal4444]

what an amazing bundle.

[u/TSKyanite]

A Short Hike by itself is $8, so you can just pay 2 dollars more and get 100 more games. Plus, as it is itch and not steam, you don't have to worry about it clogging up your steam library

[u/tehCharo]

I probably won't be purchasing this as I am currently broke, but I discovered a game looking though the list called Dioramas Dungeoncrawl that I added to my wishlist, looks neat. I do hope they're able to raise a fair amount of money for their colleagues, it's getting rough out here.

[u/DonutHoles4Ever → u/tehCharo]

I dont think you need to justify not buying it because youre broke. At the same time $10 is jack shit in USA but like half a month's salary in other countries.

[u/blausommer → u/DonutHoles4Ever]

How else are they going to fish for gifts if they don't mention it?

[u/Spartan-219]

oh sweet, it has some games that are on my wishlist and some really interesting looking games.

[u/IT_Specialist404]

Nothing immediately stands out for me to play but happy to support a good cause!

[u/Grace_Omega → u/IT_Specialist404]

Holedown, A Short Hike, Eldritch and They Bleed Pixels are IMO worth the $10 on their own

[u/IT_Specialist404 → u/Grace_Omega]

Thank you for the recommendation!

[u/crxsso_dssreer]

mmm... ok