Put your best freak forward in Monster Zoo Tycoon, a horror house management sim where your customers can become cultists or cuisine

If you were born around the 80s or 90s, 'tycoon' games are likely still fresh in your mind - a hallmark management sim genre and a golden age of joyful time sinks that made it easy to see yourself as the head of a thriving business or institution: a school, a theme park, even a city.

For those who grew up with animal rescue novels and TV shows, obsessed with the thought of running a conservation effort and meticulously placing trees and rocks to appease a big cat in an enclosure, the genre is well and truly back. So what happens when you merge that with the growing appetite for the macabre? Monster Zoo Tycoon, of course.

Monster Zoo Tycoon is a brand-new take on the resurging business management simulator - one that zeroes in on the duality of the so-called cozy gamer by merging their two favorite genres: horror and simulator. Like a circus composed of the obscene, your job here is simple: offer the people what they want - a living museum of all things spooky, crazy, and downright revolting.

From vampires and zombies and right the way down to werewolves, what your visitors come to see are exactly what they might become. Sounds like a booming business proposition, doesn't it? Well, even without competition, making a living this way isn't without its struggles.

Hiring competent staff is a major blockade. Though fuelled with an all-too-human morbid curiosity, convincing the living to work among the dead, cursed, and feral is no easy ask. Lucky for you, the methods used to capture your showpieces works just as well on your guests. Get creative with park props to ensnare the odd patrons, and with a little bit of innocent coercion sans brainwashing, they'll soon become your thralls: the basis of a workforce eager to please visiting mortals by doting on the zoo's many immortals.

How do you go about keeping your captured creatures fed? Well, not every broken person has to commit to a life spent serving another - they can settle for lunch. A snack. Supper. Whether they leave satisfied or simply never leave at all, every visitor has a role to play in keeping the Faith flowing and your creatures fed.

Even the human population is a necessary resource in Monster Zoo Tycoon. Without them clamouring to see your growing house of horrors, there's little reason for it to exist. Like a lion escaping its cage, breakouts can cause total chaos. That's not great for publicity. And should a press sneak discover the slimy secrets of your rancor-fuelled racket, visitor numbers can dry up quicker than a corpse left to cook under the sun.

Monster Zoo Tycoon is a dual-management marathon: a balancing act between secretly growing a cult at the same time as attempting to optimize the profit margins of the occult. If you've ever thought that business management sims need a little more room for sneakily creative endeavors and backroom dealings, bear those fangs and give 'em hell - observed from the safety of a viewing platform, of course. Safety is your top priority. Right?

If that all sounds a little too stressful and below board, we get it. Not everyone wants to be seen profiting off of the demise of basically anyone and everyone. Thankfully, indie.io is never without a new game or two (or even three) to keep you busy in the run-up to the next.

With a life-affirming narrative making waves earlier this month, there's plenty more where that came from. We Took That Trip is a hard-hitting tale totally worth checking out. Though not as supernatural in standing as our new monster-flaunting management sim, this is still a surreal, perspective-shifting journey that's sure to ignite your imagination. And with a brand-new demo out now, you don't just have to take our word for it.

If the strategy aspect is still something you're craving, Dunebound Tactics is another great example of what indie.io has helped bring to the table. Offering position-based survival with intricate squad-based combat decision-making, this harsh, desolate, and intensely dusty desert world is yours for the taking: if you can correctly command your arsenal to get the job done, of course.

Just want to simmer down after a long day? Really ready to embrace casual gameplay with a candle and some layered lighting? Check out Cozy Builder. This low-pressure construction game doesn't stack up the chores. You don't need to harvest resources, manage your cash, or order complex materials to craft your dream space. It's all provided for you. Here, you're free to let your imagination guide you. Think, design, click, and simply take a moment to create (and curate) your happy place. You'll get there one day.

These four games are just the tip of the indie.io iceberg. The publisher has been working with small teams and solo developers for years now, swinging in to help with areas like marketing and distribution or any part that would otherwise take a talented game developer away from making the best game they can. So, whether you're in the middle of an ambitious project or wrote off the idea of crafting your own ideal game over audience outreach concerns, why not make an email to the indie.io team your next task?