I loved it!

There is a lot of cool stuff up and down thread here, including a link to Krish's own very painful yet good game about rental market hell experiences, but ofc I have to draw attention to my own book alongside some very interesting ones that I also feel the urge to add to my book pile...

hey also here! more than happy to see THE SHAMSHINE BLIND hanging out with THE PRACTICE, THE HORIZON, AND THE CHAIN

A thread of games, books, films, music and other things I enjoyed this year:

my friend made an amazing video game with beautiful comic illustration about the housing shortage in amsterdam https://krishraghav.itch.io/dont-get-your-hopes-up #amsterdam #housing #videogames #urbanism #comics

Hoe surreëel is de Nederlandse huizenmarkt voor iemand die er voor het eerst mee te maken krijgt? Niets dat dat gevoel zo inzichtelijk maakt als de game Don’t get your hopes up, gebaseerd op de eigen ervaringen van EUR-medewerker Krish Raghav in Amsterdam. www.erasmusmagazine.nl/2025/12/15/h...

Telling everyone that my hometown Chennai is pronounced "GenAI"

So @playtopia.bsky.social fulfilled my long-held dream of becoming the answer to a pub quiz question, with Don't Get Your Hopes Up featured in one of the rounds. I was even wearing the game t-shirt at the time!

Genuinely in disbelief that Don't Get Your Hopes Up is an official 2025 @indiegameawards.gg nominee!! I'm honoured to be alongside my personal game of the year @wednesdays-game.bsky.social in the category "Emotional Impact" ❤️

If your circumstances allow, I highly recommend thinking of your game as more than just a product on a storefront. "Don't Get Your Hopes Up" was always intended as a gift, a zine, an op-ed, like something crocheted with friends. The conversations and friendships it has sparked have changed my life ❤️

Gosh I loved this so much. I'm usually a notorious skimmer but I really savoured the richness of detail here. One of my favourite books this year ❤️

If you want a short, spooky activity for the evening this (free!) surreal horror game about housing insecurity is funny, atmospheric, and probably too real for anyone who's looked for somewhere to live in a city in 2025

Got my hopes up and am excited to reveal that I will be in Cape Town for @playtopia.bsky.social!! I am so excited to meet everyone and do everything. Say hi if you'll be around, and send me all your best Cape Town / Western Cape recs!

I really enjoyed this! Super funny, biting (magical realist?) exploration of housing crisis in Amsterdam (but sadly very relatable beyond just the Netherlands). Recommended. bsky.app/profile/kris...

You're looking for a new apartment in Amsterdam. Your once-confident search is morphing into panic. Nothing is available. Anything will do. ANYTHING. Learn more on Don’t get your Hopes Up in our full review of this free game: somanygames.co.uk/review/dont-...

Replaying Anthology of the Killer to prepare for a zine fair this weekend

Krish Raghav ondervond hoe moeilijk het is om een huis te vinden. Het inspireerde hem tot het maken van Don't Get Your Hopes Up. Zijn eerste game ooit. #gamedev #indiedev #dutchgames

For Bandcamp Friday, highly recommend checking out Simon's new album (which partly soundtracks Don't Get Your Hopes Up!). Out now on digital and cassette via Nocturnal Technology: nocturnaltechnology.bandcamp.com/album/victim...

Please consider "Don't Get Your Hopes Up" for your spooky season coverage! A free 40 min game about the horrors of the Amsterdam housing market, with elements of cosmic and psychological horror. A disquieting, demented experience that is all-too-real. Steam: store.steampowered.com/app/3795490/...

11. Don't Get Your Hopes Up Lovely little game of househunting in Amsterdam turned into a demented fever dream. A lot of delightful local touches if you know the city but should be relatable to anyone who's interacted with a major city property market in the last decade. Completely free on Steam!

I love that a significant source of traffic to Don't Get Your Hopes Up is, presumably, people dropping the link in their workplace group chats.

Finally finished Don't Get Your Hopes Up (store.steampowered.com/app/3795490) by @krishraghav.bsky.social all I have to say is pls play it yourself! Without spoiling the experience too much here are my favourite moments in the game with minimal context 1. This was a brutal read, I audibly gasped

I really, really loved this bite-sized narrative 'horror' game last night. Do yourself a favour and check out Don't Get Your Hopes Up. www.rockpapershotgun.com/dont-get-you...

Housing horror story: Amsterdam’s rental market is a video game www.dutchnews.nl?p=257626

Amazing as always from @nathanelamar.bsky.social and @gbienvenu.bsky.social! If anyone wants a good CD-Rip of that 琴努里 album I'm happy to share :)

Surprise featured in Het Parool over the weekend, with my game's possible alternate title in the headline. "GAME OVER: De Amsterdamse woningmarkt"

Don't Get Your Hopes Up (@krishraghav.bsky.social) "You're looking for a new apartment in Amsterdam. Your once-confident search is morphing into panic. Nothing is available. Anything will do. Anything. " PWYC - Windows, Mac, Linux: warpdoor.com/2025/09/21/d...

plans to actually enjoy this city fell through, so i played @krishraghav.bsky.social's Don't Get Your Hopes Up instead! i've been struggling to love amsterdam recently and it feels good to see that others do too. oh, the things we endure to live in a city with cool birds and good (non-dutch) food!

from the game devs of colour expo: a whole free game! both *painfully* familiar (does anywhere not? have a housing crisis currently?) and meaningfully specific as a story store.steampowered.com/app/3795490/...

Featured on @rockpapershotgun.bsky.social today, with an absolutely wonderful writeup and analysis by Nic Reuben: "I had a hard time finding a single sentence in this thing I didn't want to screenshot." ❤️ www.rockpapershotgun.com/dont-get-you...

Thanks for featuring Don't Get Your Hopes Up! ❤️

Don't Get Your Hopes Up is out now! Free on Steam + @itch.io A 40-60 minute experience about the horror of the Amsterdam housing market, and that feeling of home that's always just beyond reach. A mix of fiction, non-fiction, and social commentary. 🔗: store.steampowered.com/app/3795490/...

A game my extremely talented friend made, about the horrors of finding housing in our city, is available to play today! The art and music is killer and Krish should be raking in cash for it, but instead it is free. Check it out!

A handcrafted, nonfiction game about real lived human experience that is also free to play?! Yess

🎉 Don't Get Your Hopes Up is out Tue Sep 16! A short game about housing shortage and horror in architecture. A wayward history of Amsterdam that has evaded archival capture. A weird, disquieting, experimental non-fiction piece. Free on Steam / PWYW on itch: store.steampowered.com/app/3795490/...

You don't have to play or give attention to games that are so needlessly ignoring anti-genocide boycotts. There are *so* many other great games being released, all the time.

It’s live! The Game Devs of Color Support Bundle is here!💚🩵 🎮 100+ items from 70+ creators 💰 Just $10 (worth ~$409) 🫶🏾 Save 97% + support GDoC programs Every purchase helps fund events, grants, scholarships & more that uplift #gamedev of color! 👉 Grab the bundle now: itch.io/b/3171/game-...

I made a small Buzzfeed quiz style Downpour game called Auramaxxing: Moving to Netherlands Sim This is inspired by @krishraghav.bsky.social ‘s workshop on nonfiction games yesterday, which blew my mind! 100% based on real life! downpour.games/~zogoz/auram...

Amsterdam folks look this way ⬇️⬇️⬇️

Doing a small playtest for my upcoming game about the Amsterdam housing crisis: Sat 16 Aug, 7pm onwards at Electric Shadows Amsterdam. Come for games, aloo tikki and 凉拌杏鲍菇. Stay for an experimental workshop on making non-fiction / documentary games! Just DM me to RSVP ❤️

Good day in Amsterdam to (re)watch 'Regen' (1929), still one of the best films made about the city: www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWFa...

I went on a narrowboating trip in Wales with @v21.bsky.social and @tigershungry.co.uk so I HAD to make a Downpour about it. It has been called "The Dark Souls of Downpour games". Left = Right downpour.games/~molleindust...

China's Wahaha Group scandal is giving The Roottrees Are Dead:

Strong recommend for this Dancong brick from @white2tea.bsky.social that, at ~6g / 100ml, will kick your ass over the first few steeps before soothing the wounds with promised honey orchid notes. Incredible tea: white2tea.com/products/202...

I'm briefly demo-ing my game, "Don't Get Your Hopes Up", at a book-club event in Post Office Amsterdam next week! Thu the 17th, 7:30pm. Come on down if you're around (free, byob), and get a freshly baked build to take home! tally.so/r/3yb4xx?fbc...

Incredible sentence from Robert Macfarlane's "Is a River Alive?" (spoiler: it is)

🚨🚨LAST 9 DAYS 🚨🚨 of the annual Strange Horizons fund-raiser! Still a host of rewards up for offer (see link), and we need around $4.4K more to hit our base goal. If you’ve been intending to support us this year, then the time is now! Donate here: www.kickstarter.com/projects/str...

My game dev recommendation is just this

DON'T GET YOUR HOPES UP My short videogame about the surreal horror of trying to find an apartment in Amsterdam is "coming soon" on Steam! A deviant mix of visual novel, social commentary, and documentary. Free. I'd be delighted if you wishlist or share: store.steampowered.com/app/3795490/...