The Philippines is far from the first country you think of when it comes to the video game industry, but it’s quietly evolved into a budding hub for game development. The island nation initially had a tenuous relationship with the medium, as for a brief period of time in the 1980s, video games were banned in the country. Now, the Philippines has a reputation for its thriving esports scene, and the output of quality Filipino-made games is gradually rising.
To observe Filipino American History Month, we’re looking at several recent games made in the Philippines, many of which include distinctly Filipino cultural elements showcased for players around the world. From explorations of Manila-inspired urban areas to bouts with terrifying aswang creatures from Filipino mythology, these are some of our favorites coming out of the motherland.
Until Then has been one of the best-known Philippine video games since its release in 2024. Mark Borja is just another high schooler in Manila, Philippines, until supernatural happenings upend his ordinary life. Despite these extraordinary circumstances, Until Then brings me back to my own high school days with its lighthearted antics and passionate friendships, and its magical realism feels straight out of an anime.
As an interactive visual novel, Until Then shares DNA with coming-of-age narrative adventures like A Space for the Unbound and Night in the Woods, though it sets itself apart with its distinct characters and Manila setting, which adds a particular flavor to the story. It also features plenty of novel interactive elements, as in between meaningful dialogue moments, you surf social media, stab fish balls at the local snack stand, run through hallways, and so on.
You may need to play a couple of times before you piece together the full story, but it’s well worth it for the entertainment along the way. If you finish the full game, you can also try the recently released Until Then: Afterimages DLC.
Lutong Bahay is like if Cooking Mama were made into a Filipino visual novel. Young Maricela is set on taking over her grandma’s carinderia (eatery) and has learned to copy her grandma’s recipes exactly. However, before she takes over, her grandma encourages her to travel to learn more about cooking from others and develop her own style. Throughout Lutong Bahay, you cook Filipino comfort-food classics from sinangag (garlic rice) to turon (fried banana rolls), each accompanied by a short story related to the dish.
The anime-style art helps Lutong Bahay feel warm and cozy--like what I’d expect from a cooking game with personal stories peppered throughout. Also, the food looks so tasty that I feel compelled to look them up or try them myself. Outside of the food, I also appreciated the small bits of Tagalog sprinkled throughout the dialogue--just enough so that English speakers could still guess at what’s going on without being too confused. As a bonus, Lutong Bahay: Lola’s Home Cooking is currently free on itch.io.
I can now start killing houseplants in real life and video games thanks to Plantabi: Little Garden. In this plant-tending sim, you grow plants and sell them for money. Plants generate passive income as they live, and you get even more cash from nurturing them. You can speed up time so that your plants grow faster. However, this also means quickly tending to your plants whenever they need water or other care, and if you don’t do it quickly enough, they will lose health.
Besides plants, you can use your cash to buy furniture to decorate your room. Whenever you get into a decorative mood and don’t want to constantly take care of plants, you can slow down time and move furniture and plants as you please.
Plantabi: Little Garden isn’t an inherently Filipino game in terms of culture, but it does come from solo Filipino developer Adrian Corpuz. I’ll admit that there isn’t much to do and the UI sometimes feels clunky, like how you can’t just drag a plant between the store and inventory without selecting it first. However, it’s easy to overlook once you understand the few controls, and different unlockable plants and furniture keep me from putting it down.
High Times hooked me right away with its prologue of cryptic questions from a mysterious woman about my character's current and past loves. Like Coffee Talk, High Times asks players to entertain friends and strangers alike with conversation, as well as form relationships with them. However, instead of coffee and tea, you'll be offering guests mood-enhancing donuts; For example, the flavor Vanilla Cheer gives the customer a positivity boost.
In addition to serving the food, High Times sees you make it fresh right in front of the guest, from molding the dough to icing the top. I haven’t met every character yet, but so far each one is a joy to interact with and seems like they have baggage to unpack. It helps that dialogue from the main cast is fully voiced, and includes work from big names like LilyPichu and Johnny Young Bosh.
It’s not surprising, considering Yangyang Mobile’s track record with intriguing visual novels. Even if a donut-making dating sim doesn’t sound like your type of game, I’d consider one of its other positively reviewed visual novels like The Letter, Love Esquire, or Perfect Gold.
The Manila-based team at CMD Studios made its own contribution to the ever-growing metroidvania genre with Fallen Tear: The Ascension. The developers cite the Ori series as an inspiration, along with JRPGs like the Suikoden franchise, and that shows in how Fallen Tear looks and plays. Following an aspiring hunter named Hira, Fallen Tear sees you explore the high-fantasy world of Raoah as it faces its possible destruction.
You’ll gain “Ascension” skills, which are your basic metroidvania traversal abilities, and you’ll make “Fated Bonds” with other characters, letting you summon them for special attacks and other abilities. There is definitely a lot to take in story-wise, with a ton of world-building from the get-go. Visually, Fallen Tear is quite pretty, with 2D hand-drawn graphics and bright colors, and any of the monsters I’ve encountered are actually adorable, which made me feel bad for cutting them down with Hira’s blade.
The party characters are charming and endearing, which is essential if you’re going on a lengthy adventure with them. Best of all, the game’s map promises to be massive, with 26 biomes to explore--this is great news for a metroidvania freak like myself.
One of the most recognizable icons from the Philippines is the jeepney, an often-crowded road vehicle adorned with vibrant, custom decorations and artwork. These gorgeous gas-guzzlers serve as public transportation vehicles, and they’re at the center of not one, but two simulator games from developer Spacezero Interactive.
Both Jeepney Simulator and its sequel have you operate a jeepney on busy streets (and believe me, they’re busy), while also having to manage fares by hand. The first game has a simplistic, blocky art style, while the sequel has a more realistic aesthetic, also adding some Tagalog voice lines that add life to the fictional Manella City (a parody of the real-life Manila).
True to the promise of being jeepney simulators, you can customize and decorate your hot rods. Both games have great senses of humor, with the sequel even adding a wanted system that brands you as the “Manella Madman.” The games ask for a lot of multitasking from the player, but having ridden actual jeepneys in the past, I can say that it’s true to life.
And now, I need someone to make a tricycle simulator.
Neuroticfly Games specializes in a very specific type of horror game, with the studio’s inspirations coming from the likes of the SCP universe, Backrooms lore, and Creepypastas. Two of the studio’s upcoming titles are rooted in Filipino mythology, and they both have demos available to the public.