Indie publisher New Blood has listened to over 1,000 voicemails left on its old-school tip line, including suggestions like 'you ever think about making a game where you fight bugs?'

Back on April 1, cult indie studio New Blood unveiled a tip line for fans to call in and say, well, whatever. A month on, I'm happy to confirm it was no fleeting April Fools gag: The tip line is still up for whatever you might want to tell the creators of Dusk, Faith, Ultrakill, Gloomwood, Fallen Aces, Blood West, Tenebrous Somnia, Untitled Classic Fallout-style RPG, and their associated spinoffs.

The original announcement features in-character messages from various New Blood contributors, including voice actor Gianni Matragrano as a Gloomwood Huntsman and composer Andrew Hulshult as Amid Evil protagonist Champion. It's a cute, fun video, but the studio's followthrough on the bit is what really caught my attention.

On May 1, New Blood shared a recording of one fan who thinks the studio should release a game where you "fight bugs" because it's "all the rage these days." Alongside the recording, New Blood wrote that it's "listened to over 1,000 of your voicemails so far," and thanked fans for their "questions, kind words, food orders, and concern about the status of our refrigerator."

I gave the 800 number a call myself, and yep, they're still taking voicemails if you want to weigh in about the studio's games. I just hope my own confidential and very serious message doesn't get me in any trouble. You can reach New Blood at 1 (800) 352-9727.

New Blood's got a lot of irons in the fire: Ultrakill, Fallen Aces, and Gloomwood have all undergone interesting metamorphoses in early access, but those briskets are still slow-cooking. Ultrakill's recent layer of Fraud looks like a particular winner, with an emphasis on illusion and layout tricks that could only work in 3D rendering, but not real life⁠—more of that in games, please. New Blood also recently announced that Scavengers, a $5 roguelike DLC for Blood West, will launch on June 3.