The longing for an official Oblivion remaster is a familiar tale in the gaming world, a sentiment echoed by voices like PC Gamer’s Joshua Wolens. But as we often find at Digital Tech Explorer, innovation can spring from the most unexpected places. TechTalesLeo, our guide for captivating tech stories, brings us news of a creative surge sparked by none other than Oblivion’s controversial persuasion wheel. While the mechanic itself has its critics (you can witness its unique charm here), the ‘WheelJam’ it inspired has just wrapped up. What emerged? A treasure trove of wonderfully weird, surprisingly fun, and completely free proof-of-concept PC games. These gems, forged in a week of indie developer ingenuity, offer unique and engaging experiences, even without the polish of full-scale releases.
Spotlight: Blade & Wheel and ObliviGun
Among the standout entries is Blade & Wheel, a game that cleverly repurposes the wheel mechanic to guide players on a heroic journey. In this title, the wheel’s segments dictate actions such as ‘Attack’ and ‘Struggle’ during combat encounters, or ‘Meander’, ‘Move’, and ‘Rush’ while exploring the game world.
Another ingenious creation is ObliviGun. This game takes a humorous spin on the old “Oblivion with guns” joke, presenting a hardcore, boomer-esque shooter. The core mechanic revolves around the persuasion wheel, which dictates your firearm’s properties. Each time you reload, you must reconfigure the gun via the wheel, making its performance delightfully unpredictable and challenging.
Diverse Concepts from the WheelJam
The ‘WheelJam’ has cultivated a wide array of innovative game concepts. You’ll find entries where players fight demons using wheel-driven office productivity software, or where the wheel itself becomes a magic circle for casting spells. Other unique ideas include befriending cryptids through wheel-based interactions, cooking chili with a wheel determining ingredients or steps, and even a game centered around engine flywheels. There’s also a game that might particularly appeal to some, titled Reaction Wheels, which focuses on the control systems of vintage spacecraft.
To explore all these creative projects and more, you can visit the itch.io wheeljam page where all the game jam entries are hosted.
Expand Your Gaming Horizons: PC Gamer’s Curated Lists
If this dive into indie creativity has you hungry for more PC game recommendations, our friends at PC Gamer have some excellent resources:
- 2025 games: This year’s upcoming releases
- Best PC games: Our all-time favorites
- Free PC games: Freebie fest
- Best FPS games: Finest gunplay
- Best RPGs: Grand adventures
- Best co-op games: Better together