Little Indie Games Worth Knowing About (Probably)

[Left_Empty]

Wow, Siralim keeps going places!

[Nightgaunt]

IGF Awards just finished and here are the winners:

Seumas McNally Grand Prize
Eliza (Zachtronics)
A Short Hike (Adam Robinson-Yu) – WINNER
Untitled Goose Game (House House)
Mutazione (Die Gute Fabrik)
Slay the Spire (Mega Crit Games)
Anodyne 2: Return to Dust (Sean Han Tani & Marina Kittaka)

Excellence in Visual Art
Mutazione (Die Gute Fabrik)
Knights and Bikes (Foam Sword) – WINNER
Void Bastards (Blue Manchu)
Creature in the Well (Flight School Studio)
Eastward (Pixpil)
Stone Story RPG (Martian Rex / standardcombo)

Excellence in Audio
Observation (No Code)
Vectronom (Ludopium)
Astrologaster (Nyamyam)
Knights and Bikes (Foam Sword)
Mutazione (Die Gute Fabrik) – WINNER
Untitled Goose Game (House House)

Excellence in Design
Katana ZERO (Askiisoft)
Lonely Mountains: Downhill (Megagon Industries)
Slay the Spire (Mega Crit Games)
A Short Hike (Adam Robinson-Yu)
Elsinore (Golden Glitch)
Patrick’s Parabox (Patrick Traynor) – WINNER

Excellence in Narrative
Mutazione (Die Gute Fabrik)
Heaven’s Vault (inkle) – WINNER
Elsinore (Golden Glitch)
Wide Ocean, Big Jacket (Turnfollow)
Eliza (Zachtronics)
LIONKILLER (Sisi Jiang)

Nuovo Award
Tales From Off-Peak City Vol. 1 (Cosmo D)
Infini (Barnaque)
The Space Between (Christoph Frey) – WINNER
Life Tastes Like Cardboard (Demensa)
Promesa (Julián Palacios)
Song of Bloom (Philipp Stollenmayer)
The Longing (Studio Seufz)
PAGAN: Autogeny (Oleander Garden)

[Dave_Perkins]

Thanks so much for this!

[Left_Empty]

Lucky for everybody that the Outer Wilds alpha demo had won the Grand Prize in 2015!

[Chappers]

Anondyne 2 and Mutazione are free for a few more hours on the epic game store.

[Bobtree]

[David2]

How could i NOT know about this one. Sentinels of the multiverse computer game!

[tomchick]

Whoa, cool find, David! Lemme take a look:

Sentinels of Freedom will feature Episode 1: Cold War, Part 1 - as a self contained story - on release with many levels, new heroes and villains, along with hero upgrades. Part 2 of Cold War will release shortly after in 2020.

Uh, this sounds suspiciously episodic. Sounds like they’re leaning more into the “story driven” than the “strategy/tactics”.

What kind of hero will you be? Create your Hero - choose backstory, archetype, powers, and appearance…Choose how your hero uses their abilities with different weapon choices, attack styles, and special effects; some archetypes even have different types of units that you can summon. Refine your heroic identity throughout the game at the hero plaza where you can change everything about how your hero looks, all the way down to your hero’s body type.

Wait, what? I don’t want to create a Sentinels of the Multiverse hero. The folks who made the card game have done a fine job with that part already. Why can’t I play as one of the guys from the card game? Why do I need to roll up Super Random Man?

For a game due out next month, there’s not a lot of concrete gameplay information. They’ve got a couple of videos posted on their YouTube channel that are just design theory stuff. No actual gameplay info. Here’s their only other game:

Hmm. I’m skeptical they’re going to be able to tap into what made the Sentinels universe special (i.e. imaginative and varied character design in the context of relatively simple cardplay), but I would love to be wrong.

-Tom

[Juan_Raigada]

@tomchick

For a game due out next month, there’s not a lot of concrete gameplay information. They’ve got a couple of videos posted on their YouTube channel that are just design theory stuff. No actual gameplay info. Here’s their only other game:

Mmmm, looking at the screenshots I hope it is Freedom Force meets Valkyria Chronicles.

[Left_Empty]

This is usually the moment when the developer dramatically pops up to alleviate Tom’s concerns.

[geggis]

Excellent, thanks for the update! Mutazione I hope to play soon. Knights and Bikes I first saw on the Switch, of all places, and it looks freakin’ adorable and beautiful.

[BloodyBattleBrain]

Yeah I snagged mutazione.

I have no idea what it even is…

[Nightgaunt]

They call it a “mutant soap opera,” which isn’t too bad of a description. It’s mostly about walking around and talking to the interesting freaks in its weird world. It also has a gardening system (though it doesn’t crop up until a bit into the game).

[Nightgaunt]

Now in Early Access. When you stab something, it bleeds the word B L O O D (in red text).

[geggis]

Ooo, a killer pun and typographic graphics!!

Edit: wait, is that a pun? I don’t know.

[David2]

@tomchick

Wait, what? I don’t want to create a Sentinels of the Multiverse hero. The folks who made the card game have done a fine job with that part already. Why can’t I play as one of the guys from the card game? Why do I need to roll up Super Random Man?

I found this video of early beta play. It lets you play with a team of superheroes, including Bunker and other knowns. The game looks like a updated clone of Freedom Force, including character creators, power creation, and a lot of other potential depth! Even more excited now lol. I’m barely able to not buy it now, sight unseen. I will wait till i see what day 1 buyers say (the uncertainty of the future job status is the only thing making me hold off).

[ledshok]

Love the visual style:

[tomchick]

Superhot. SUPERHOT. SUPERHOT.

-Tom

[Kolbex]

I keep hearing the title of this one sung in my head like Nights in White Satin.

[tomchick]

@Kolbex

I keep hearing the title of this one sung in my head like Nights in White Satin.

Welp, I guess that’s going to be going through my head now. :/

-Tom