In The Drift Is Our Game of the Week: Fixing the Internet in Space

A Dreamy Space Platformer That Earns This Week’s Spotlight

In The Drift is our latest Game of the Week pick, and this is exactly the kind of game the spotlight was made for. Our Game of the Week is not only about what is brand new, already released, or chasing the loudest headlines. Sometimes it is an older game, sometimes it is new, sometimes it is unreleased, and sometimes it is simply a promising project that deserves a closer look.

This week, that game is In The Drift, a dreamy narrative platformer from Daniel Fineberg, co-creator of the indie hit Sable. Announced during the Wholesome Games Showcase, the game is coming to PC via Steam and is built around a wonderfully strange but meaningful idea: fixing the internet in space.

Developed by Fineberg alongside a small team of friends and collaborators, with funding support from Phantom Friends, In The Drift follows Luna, a young engineer working across The Belt, a scattered stretch of asteroids slowly being pulled apart by the Drift. Her job is simple on paper, but emotionally much bigger in practice: keep people connected before the world around them drifts too far apart.

In The Drift – Announcement Trailer

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In The Drift

Release: To be announced

Genre: Narrative platformer, adventure, indie

Developer / Publisher: Daniel Fineberg

Platform: PC via Steam

Keeping a Galaxy Online

The heart of In The Drift is easy to understand, but it carries more weight than a simple description can suggest. Luna is not saving the galaxy with weapons, armies, or grand speeches. She is maintaining connections. She drives across lonely asteroids in her truck, repairs rusted radio towers, fixes crumbling infrastructure, and tries to keep the people of The Belt linked together while everything around them seems to be coming loose.

That gives the game a quiet identity. It is not only about space, machinery, and broken systems. It is about the small acts that keep people from feeling lost. In a medium often obsessed with destruction, In The Drift seems more interested in repair, care, routine, and the fragile work of holding a community together.

Luna travels across The Belt, repairing broken infrastructure and keeping people connected.

Why It Deserves the Game of the Week Spot

For Fix Gaming Channel, Game of the Week is not a trophy handed only to the biggest launch of the week. It is a spotlight. It is our way of saying: this is worth noticing. Sometimes that means a released game we think more players should see. Sometimes it means a demo. Sometimes it means an upcoming indie game with a strong idea, a clear mood, and enough personality to stand apart.

In The Drift fits that perfectly. The first impression is not built on noise or scale. It comes from mood, artwork, movement, and a premise that feels human underneath the science fiction setting. A game about fixing internet connections across an asteroid belt could have been played as a joke, but here it feels sincere. The idea works because it connects a very modern anxiety with a lonely, almost dreamlike space setting.

There is also the Sable connection. Fineberg’s previous work helped create a game remembered for its sense of place, travel, atmosphere, and quiet self-discovery. In The Drift looks more compact and intimate, but it appears to share that interest in movement, solitude, and finding meaning in a world that does not explain everything at once.

A Shorter Experience Can Be a Strength

The game is currently described as being around five hours long. For some players, that may sound small. For a narrative-driven indie game, it can be a real advantage. Not every game needs to stretch itself across dozens of hours. A focused running time can help a story keep its shape, avoid filler, and leave players with a complete emotional arc instead of a long list of unfinished systems.

That shorter structure also suits the premise. Luna goes out, works on the failing infrastructure of The Belt, then returns to her ship. That rhythm already sounds like the kind of loop that could build attachment over time. The job outside gives the world its scale, while the ship gives the story its human centre.

A Crew, a Cat, and a Place to Belong

Between repair jobs, Luna returns to her ship and spends time with the rest of her crew. That part may end up being just as important as the platforming and repair work. The official description points toward a gently woven story about human connection in a slowly unravelling world, and that is the part that makes In The Drift feel more personal.

Space can often feel cold in games, but a lived-in ship, a small crew, and a feline first mate bring warmth into the setting. It suggests that In The Drift is not only about what Luna fixes outside, but also what she finds when she comes home. That balance between loneliness and companionship is what makes the game stand out for us.

Between repair jobs, Luna returns to her ship and connects with the crew around her.

Light Platforming, Lonely Roads, and Strange Landscapes

The feature list points toward light puzzle-platforming, truck travel, strange asteroid landscapes, and story-led progression rather than heavy mechanical complexity. That matters for the kind of experience In The Drift seems to be aiming for. This does not look like a game trying to overwhelm players with endless systems. It looks like one trying to build a tone and then let players sit inside it.

The screenshots already show a strong contrast between wide, lonely outdoor spaces and warmer interior scenes aboard the ship. The truck moving under a star-filled sky, the industrial platforming areas, and the quiet crew moments all suggest a game built around atmosphere as much as action.

In The Drift combines gentle storytelling with light puzzle-platforming across strange asteroid locations.

Music That Fits the Mood

The soundtrack is being composed by Laryssa Okada, whose credits include Manifold Garden, Dorfromantik, and Last Time I Saw You. That feels like a strong match for a game built around strange landscapes, soft melancholy, and human connection. If the music lands, it could become one of the key parts of the game’s identity.

A Promising Indie Worth Watching

In The Drift is not trying to win attention through scale, violence, or spectacle. Its hook is quieter and more interesting: repair what is broken, keep people connected, and find somewhere you belong while the world around you drifts apart.

That is why it gets our Game of the Week spotlight. Not because it is the biggest game of the week, and not because it is already proven, but because it has a clear identity and a promising emotional core. For players who enjoy narrative games, lonely landscapes, thoughtful science fiction, and indie projects with a strong sense of mood, In The Drift is one to wishlist and keep an eye on.

Related Reading

For more independent game coverage, visit our Indie section, follow our ongoing Game of the Week picks, and read our feature on why Steam Next Fest matters for gamers and solo indie developers.

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