Welcome! It is the most famous national holiday, Indie Penance Day! The day major gaming websites try to make up for their AAA coverage by devoting space to unknown indies. Any gaming site you see that doesn’t come together hates independent developers as much as the United States. But not us, so keep reading to see a lot of games you will want to buy or purchase.
If you’ve been with us on any of these splendid trips, you’ll know that I’m not endorsing or reviewing any of these games, and that I haven’t played them unless otherwise noted. If you are new, you know it now. These are games that are sent when I drop the bugle call, which seem to deserve more attention. From…
Developer: Alejandro Zielinsky
Get out now
Wish list
Well, here it is lovely. At the midpoint of Tomb Raider GO and Monument Valley is Poly Vita, a puzzle game where you rearrange the level tiles to build your character’s path.
It is by Alejandro Zielinsky, is now available on iOS and Android, and is in the process of being ported to Steam.
Developer: Mr. Thee
Departure: end of 2023
Wishlist / Demo
While I don’t think either the frog or the toad likes this combination, Olliefrog Toad Skater looks like the BEST skateboarding game. Even prettier than Skatebird. Here the emphasis is on improvisation and self-expression, and you are currently in a pretty precarious position with your Kickstarter. Two-thirds there, one week left.
Developer: Final Screw Games
Departure: now (Steam 2023)
Play for free / Wishlist
With a name that looks like it should already be a genre, Tower Escape is, instead, a combination of two more. It’s a “reverse defense tower” and Snake. Surely you didn’t see it coming. Play as the creatures trying to overcome the defenses, which follow the pattern of your snake from the beginning of each tower level to the descending stairs.
It will arrive on Steam next year, but you can play it right now, completely free, in your browser via Itch.io.
Developer: Lifetap Studios
Departure: Q4 2022
Wishlist / Demo
One of my all-time favorite games is Attack On Pearl Harbor, an arcade airplane combat simulator that cruelly disappeared a decade ago. So when The Brew Barons reminded me immediately, I wanted to.
This game sounds splendidly crazy. It’s about making beer and then trying to deliver drink to pubs, while tearing down a pirate organization. And have some dog fights in the air. I can not wait.
Developer: feneq
Output: TBA
Wishlist / Demo
It is a classic RTS game, but it is also a roguelite board builder. I love the look of the art here, kind of like a slightly more developed Darwinia, with a squillion of units on the screen at once. Then there are the cover-based attacks and the increasingly imminent threat that everything will end in failure, like his rogue desire.
Developer: Lumi Family
Departure: 2022
Demo / Wish list
I’m rather stuck with the plot here. A virtual reality metavers game, Haven, has developed a virus, which has caused NPCs to turn on players and their creators to close the game. You stay, trying to find the source of the virus, in a very silly-looking first-person shooter / helicopter. Plus, you know, it’s called Mayhem On A Rainbow.
Developer: Petal Cat Games
Output: TBA
Demo / Wish list
If you had asked me ten years ago, “So what do you think will have replaced all these zombie games in a decade?” my answer would not have been “Agriculture.” Because I’m not a fortune teller. Research Story fits perfectly into this category, a very beautiful-looking Harvest Moon-me-do, about identifying plants, making crops, making friends, and domesticating animals.
Developer: Lemonade Flashbang
Departure: end of 2022
Wish list
What plans do you have for the apocalypse? If your immediate answer is “Party,” then I have a game for you. Doomsday Paradise is described as a multiplayer role-playing game, which can be played as you prefer. You can join, compete, or eliminate combat altogether, as you and your teammates postpone saving the world to have fun.
Developer: Erik Anderson
Departure: 2023
Wish list
The idea of learning Japanese scares me. Firstly, because I am abysmal in all languages, but because I was born around it, and secondly because I don’t see a single starting point. But look at it that way! It’s a game about deciphering Japanese using context clues, listening to people, and putting things together like a puzzle. Which intrigued me.
Developer: Alchemist Interactive / rokaplay
Departure: summer 2022
Wish list
It seems like the magic game that Warner has tried and failed to achieve over the last decade. An adventure and action of cooperative spells on the couch, in which you have to save a school of magic, here Greifenstein, from an infestation of magical creatures. It looks like the best Sims add-on package has ever come out.