Welcome to our latest roundup of what’s going on in the indie game sector. It’s Steam Next Fest week, with literally thousands of demos for upcoming games available to us. I’m trying to check in as many people as possible before the event ends on Monday. However, I made a serious error in my plan: I chose to try Raccoon Demo first. I could and would happily play this all week.
It is a coin-pushing roguelike deckbuilder that follows the format of Balatro. To progress, you have to earn a certain number of points and the goal increases with each round. Every three rounds there is a boss of sorts – some coins that have a negative effect on your game until you get rid of them. After each round, you’ll visit a shop to buy and sell special coins and other upgrades. As you might expect from this type of game, the key to winning is finding ways to increase the points you get from each coin.
In my first successful run, I found a way to electrify coins by charging them (which increases their score) and use passive abilities and special coins to spread and increase the effect. I was then able to replicate a particular coin that pulled all the other coins nearby into a cyclone – having water based coins in there helped spread the electrical effect among the other coins. There were some rounds in which I did not have to do anything. The cyclones threw enough coins onto the shore for me.
This was just the first way I discovered how to break the game. Six hours later, I’m eager to find more.
Raccoon – More from Doracoon Balatro Publisher Playstack – Coming to Steam on March 31st. Demo is still available.
The Eternal Life of Goldman has been on my wishlist since we first learned about it a few years ago. I’m so glad this was one of the demos I tried. It’s an absolutely gorgeous platform adventure with hand-drawn art. Goldman, as an elderly gentleman, will have you immediately replacing the parts of your cane so you can hook onto floating rings or pogo springs.
The platforming is challenging enough that I had to focus on the demo, which lasts about 75-90 minutes. There is almost always something going on in the background or even the foreground. This game from Weppy Studios is shaping up to be a great deal. I can’t wait to play it all Goldman’s Eternal Life It’s expected to hit PC, Nintendo Switch, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S later this year.
Of course I had to check out the Next Fest demo vampire crawlerWhich is also available on Xbox. Ponacle’s latest game is a turn-based deckbuilder roguelite. Oh, and there’s also this one escape from vampires By-products. Instead of passively firing your weapons at nearby enemies, you have a little more control here.
It plays a bit like those first-person maze games from the 90s. You’ll walk through each level with the help of a map that shows where enemies, chests, and bosses are located. When you encounter enemies, you’ll play cards in a certain order to deal damage or increase your stats for that particular battle. You can play all of your available cards at once, but you may want to rearrange them first so that, for example, you use a card that increases your damage before wielding any weapon. Each card has a mana point value – you can only play the entire hand if you have enough mana. And yes, weapons are also being developed.
Turn-based games aren’t usually my thing, but sometimes they feel just right. vampire crawler The demo was a hit. I can already tell that I’m going to be spending dozens of hours with the entire game, which is coming to Steam, Xbox Series X/S, PS5, Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android this year.
I’ve tried a few other demos so far, including one from John Carpenter’s Toxic CommandoA cooperative shooter in the vein of left 4 Dead. It’s a little rough around the edges right now, but it looks quite enjoyable.
There are a bunch of other Next Fest demos I’m looking forward to trying out over the weekend, including the precision platformer crocPvE pirate game windrosecyberpunk platformer Replacedrecord store sim wax headsMatch-Three/Tower-Defense Game titanium court And dragon care tarot. I read that you can breed dragons later, so I’m sold.
new releases
If you can’t watch enough of The Witcher and are impatiently waiting for CD Projekt Red to release The Witcher IV, here’s a way to keep your thumbs busy in the meantime. Reign: The Witcher Nereal for Steam, Android, and iOS ($6) is the latest installment of Devolver Digital’s Rains series.
You still play as Geralt of Rivia. However, this is a narrative-focused game in which you make choices by swiping. This is something different for Witcher fans. It might just draw some long-time Reign players into that fictional universe for the first time.
bread and fred It’s the cutest thing. Sandcastles Studio’s co-op platformer has been available on PC (Steam, GOG, and the Epic Games Store) and Nintendo Switch for some time, and this week it comes to Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, and PS5. It normally costs $15 and is a 20 percent launch discount on those consoles. However, to get that savings on PlayStation you’ll need to be a PS Plus subscriber.
You and a friend take control of a pair of adorable penguins who are chained together. The objective is to climb the mountain, sometimes swinging over each other to reach inaccessible places. But if you miss a jump, you may fall back down and erase a portion of your progress. There is a single-player mode in which a penguin is replaced by a rock. The beauty of the pixel art here is very charming.
Here’s another co-op game. It is a side-scrolling RPG brawler. After several months in early access/game preview, the full version of Stoic towerbourne Coming to Xbox Series X/S, Xbox on PC, Steam, and PS5. It costs $25, although there is a 20 percent launch discount on Xbox. It is also on Game Pass Ultimate and Premium.
After the 1.0 update, the game has a full campaign that you can play alone offline or with friends online. Stoic has added new biomes, enemies and bosses, and is said to have hundreds of missions, side quests and bounties. I really dig the fluidity of the animation in the trailer, although it’s a little hard to understand the action at first glance. Still, I’m quite curious to try it towerbourne.
I’ve been a little too busy with other Next Fest demos (plus) overwatch challenges, I’ll accept it) to play dice one lakh Still, but this rogue deckbuilder looks pretty interesting. The objective is to find the right combination of dice and rings (i.e. passive abilities) to roll one million points at a time. as with choice BalatroIt’s all about finding powerful synergy between the dice and rings to break the game and create ridiculous scores. I quite enjoyed a line on the Steam page that reads, “State-of-the-art next-gen graphics (not really, I drew them all on Paint).”
dice one lakh – from CountlessNights and publisher 2 Left Thumbs – is also available on Itch on PC and Xbox. It is on Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass. Otherwise, it costs $13, but is 20 percent off on Steam until March 11. A demo is also available on Steam.
upcoming
Let’s start this section with a news summary. Mouse: PI for Hire The raid is still visible, but unfortunately we’ll have to wait a little longer to play it. Fumi Games and publisher Playside have delayed the game by a few weeks to April 16 to improve the game.
I love voxel-based heist games tear downSo I’m excited for the online multiplayer update. Tuxedo Labs revealed that it will go live on Steam on March 12th.
There will be a co-op campaign option added (for up to 12 players!). Hundreds of other multiplayer modes will be created by the studio and community, including Prop Hunt, Battle Royale, and the floor-is-lava mode. There is going to be a lot of carnage. PS5 and Xbox Series tear down A multiplayer update will be available later this year.
ConcernedApe (aka Eric Barron) celebrates its 10th anniversary Stardew Valley By showing some early gameplay footage, some stories from his time working on the greatest indie game of all time, and revealing two additional characters that players will be able to marry when the 1.7 update goes live. Sandy is good, so it would be nice to have her as an option, but Clint? That guy is useless. Hopefully Barron will eventually focus more of his attention on Haunted Chocolatier once this stardew Has been updated and cleaned up.
Also as part of the 10th anniversary celebrations, it was revealed this week that an orchestra would perform the music for one night only Stardew Valley Oct. 25 at Colorado’s Red Rocks Amphitheater. When the Symphony of Seasons Tour stopped by me I passed up the chance to see it in person, because I don’t always make the wisest decisions in life. At least now we can watch the official recording of the last concert.
Minimap, a social platform for gamers, ran its first indie game showcase this week. Among the main attractions:
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thrifty business (Spellgarden Games), a casual thrift-store management sim coming to Steam this year. A demo is available now.
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another look Please see the artworkAn anomaly-detecting game – without any scares or monsters – from please, touch the artwork Developer Thomas Waterzooi.
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Lily’s WorldA psychological horror game from SonderingEmily that will have you investigating the laptop of a teenage girl in the early 2000s. Trailer reminds of films like Screenlife are searching And without unity.
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coming of age adventure Ikuma – Frozen Compass From MoonEye Studio. You’ll play as both cabin boy Sam and husky Ellie (or take control of one of them from your friend) as you try to get home from the Arctic. It should be coming to Steam later this year.
tomb water It was originally scheduled to come out in November, but Moth Atlas and publisher Midwest Games delayed it to further refine it. It is now set to arrive on Steam on March 31st. The Next Fest demo is now available.
It is a 2D soulslike inspired by western setting and 2D pixel art Bloodborne And the early Legend of Zelda games. You will encounter terrifying eldritch creatures as you search for a missing friend. You’ll have seven playable classes to choose from and the ability to wield over 50 firearms and melee weapons and over 20 spells. tomb water It is said to contain approximately 20 hours of gameplay.
has no release date solarpunk So far, but I found this trailer quite enjoyable. It offers a first look at co-op gameplay for this base-building and exploration game from the two-person team of Cyberwave and publisher Rocaplay.
Up to four players will be able to explore floating islands together, collect resources, and build a house. As the title suggests, it has a technology-driven element solarpunk. You can use renewable energy sources to power devices that can automate things like resource harvesting and watering plants. The planes you use to travel between islands also look nice.
solarpunk It’s set to hit Steam later this year. A demo is available now.
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