If you’ve listened to any of Jeff Rosenstock’s anthemic tracks, or spun records from indie-punk staples like Hard Girls and Shinobu, you already know Mike Huguenor. Celebrated for his razor-sharp riffsmanship and iconic guitar tone, Huguenor has spent years pushing the boundaries of what six strings can do.
Now, he’s pushing a few different buttons.
In an awesome twist for both music fans and retro gamers, Huguenor has officially announced his debut video game: Surfing the Web With the Alien: The Game!
Scheduled to drop on August 20, the game serves as a playable, retro side-scrolling companion to his critically acclaimed 2025 sophomore solo album of the same name, arriving just in time to celebrate the record’s one-year anniversary.
Here is everything you need to know about this incredibly unique DIY project.
A Playable Love Letter to Indie Rock & Retro Gaming
Surfing the Web With the Alien: The Game is a 10-level side-scrolling adventure where each stage corresponds to a track from the original album. The game follows a musician protagonist on a quest to put on an unforgettable performance, and the levels lean heavily into the chaotic, unpredictable energy of life on the road.
Players will face obstacles that range from the painfully relatable to the completely absurd:
- The Mundane: Dealing with gear mishaps, like a guitar breaking right during equipment load-in.
- The Supernatural: Fending off a ravenous horde of killer zombies using nothing but the sheer power of rock and roll.
- The Finale: A climactic rhythm-game showdown where you finally take the stage for the ultimate gig.
Huguenor, a self-taught programmer who hadn’t touched coding since messing around with HTML in the year 2000, built the game entirely by hand. He treated the development process with the exact same DIY punk ethos that defines his music career—balancing the coding desk while touring with Jeff Rosenstock and writing his upcoming literary debut, Elvis is Dead, I’m Still Alive: The Story of Asian Man Records.
“I find the element of surprise to be really important in art,” Huguenor shared, explaining that the game’s unpredictable detours mirror the real-life problem-solving of a touring musician. He views the medium as “another format for narrative… like sliding another frame into a projector.”
Expect plenty of nostalgic nods throughout the levels, with gameplay and visual design drawing inspiration from classics like Castlevania, EarthBound, old-school skateboarding games, and Frogger.
Real physical Game Boy Cartridges?!
For the ultimate collectors, this isn’t just a digital download. While the game will be readily available for PC players on Steam and itch.io, Huguenor is also releasing hand-assembled, limited-edition physical Game Boy cartridges!
The rollout follows his newly founded imprint, Infinite Baffle Records, which recently launched a full 8-bit recreation of the album (Surfing the Web With the Alien: 8-Bit) to perfectly score your retro playthrough.
Mark Your Calendars
Whether you’re a devout fan of the San Jose punk scene, a lover of instrumental post-punk, or a retro gaming enthusiast looking to dust off your old handheld, this is a crossover you won’t want to miss.
Surfing the Web With the Alien: The Game launches on August 20. Head over to infinitebaffle.net to learn more, and get ready to shred your way through the apocalypse!
Find out more here
#MikeHuguenor #JeffRosenstock #SurfingTheWebWithTheAlien #RetroGaming #GameBoy #IndieGames #PunkRock #DIYGaming #SteamGames #ItchIo #InfiniteBaffle #TechMash