Happy New Year everyone! The year is 2020 and nothing makes sense! I don't know if it's the cold or post-holiday burnout but we only have a select few video game crowdfunding projects to recommend this month. As always, we have no insider information or financial interest in any of these projects, and no one at Retronauts has been compensated for including anything on this page. Furthermore, we continue to support the efforts of Kickstarter employees to unionize.

Game Over Carrara
Platform: PC, Mac, iOS, Android
Campaign ends: January 17
Estimated delivery time: June 2020
Minimum pledge to receive the game: €5 (about $6 US)

If I've said this once I've said it a thousand times: there simply are not enough video games set in Italy. Lo and behold, here is Game Over Carrara, a "Horror Visual Novel/Point and click" game set in the titutual town of Carrara and made by Italian developers who used real photos of the city to build their environments. The plan is to release the game episodically and the first two episodes are already available for free for PC, Mac, and Android.

Note that paying 5 euros is only enough to get episode 3; donors who want the full game will have to pledge at least €20 (about $23 US).

My Work Is Not Yet Done
Platform: Windows
Campaign ends: January 31
Estimated delivery time: December 2020
Minimum pledge to receive the game:$15 US

My Work Is Not Yet Done is described as a "pilgrimage simulator" belonging to the "Exploration, survival, simulation, horror" genres. Society has crumbled and players must find a way to live in what's left of the world. There won't be any combat in the game, but there are wonderfully-retro black & white "1-bit visuals" that make the entire experience look like a Macintosh game from 1992. Also included in the game are a long list of mechanics, including "Digestion / excretion (liquid + solid)." Smash that pledge button!

Spirittea
Platform: PC, Mac, iOS, Android (console versions "are also options if finances allow")
Campaign ends: January 31
Estimated delivery time: January 2022
Minimum pledge to receive the game: CA$ 15 (about $12 US)

Finally, a project that has nothing to do with the end of the world! Spirittea is a bathhouse management simulator with a Yokai Watch-twist: the player character can see "spirits" roaming the countryside and can invite them to relax in the baths, usually after completing an errand to earn their trust. Once they come to the bathhouse, they need to be catered to in just the right way to earn their money. Yes, they carry money because capitalism is a plague to the living and the dead alike,

If this sounds vaguely like Spirited Away, know that the solo developer behind this project definitely saw that movie too. There's more to the game than just wet ghosts though, including a variety of life-sim mini games as well as a tiny arcade in the bathhouse just for fun.

• kickstarter
• D Feit