Tag: Indies - Page 6
News Indie Hit 'Unpacking' Sold Over 100k Units In Just 10 Days
"Thank you for joining us on this journey"
One of the biggest indie releases this year is Unpacking - if you haven't heard about it, then go and read our review. We praised the game awarding it nine out of ten stars. Right, done? Witch Beam Games - the Australian-based developer behind this title - has revealed its latest release sold over 100k...
News Sci-Fi Turn-Based Strategy Nova-111 Comes To Switch In January
Stellar nova
A combination of turn-based strategy, real-time strategy, and a sort of 2D puzzle platformer-ish spaceship game, Nova-111 originally came out on the Wii U, which means a lot of you might have missed out on it. But we gave it a 9/10, don'tcha know! Luckily for you, you'll be able to weave your way through space-obstacles on the Nintendo...
News Yurukill Is A Squid Game-Like Visual Novel-Shmup Coming To Switch Next Year
Yurukill or Yuru be killed
From the makers of cult-classic shmup Kokuga and the author of the Kakegurui manga comes Yurukill: The Calumniation Games, the latest game to tap into the "people murdering each other to stay alive" genre that also includes Squid Game, Danganronpa, and Hunger Games. Yurukill, to use its shorter and easier-to-spell name,...
News Astroneer Gets January Release Date, And Finally Adds Cute Animals To The Game
Switch: The Final Frontier
Astroneer is a brilliant little base-building space exploration game with literal hidden depths, as you explore the network of procedurally-generated caves beneath your base, and harvest minerals with your handy terraforming gun. Once you've managed to settle your home planet, it's time to build a rocket and blast off to...
News Spiritfarer's Final Free Update Is Also Its Largest Update Yet
Two new characters on a new island!
Spiritfarer, the charming cosy game about ferrying spirits to the afterlife, is getting its final update this month — and it's going to be the biggest one. According to the creative director, Nicolas Guérin, the team have "saved the best for last", describing the update as "a lovely curtain call for Spiritfarer...
News Spelunky-like 'Caveblazers' Is Getting A Physical Edition
Blazers? In a cave? That's a little overdressed
Caveblazers, the Yogscast-published Spelunky-like roguelike with Celeste-like pixel art, will be getting a limited physical release of 4,000 copies, in partnership with Super Rare Games. If you've ever read an article about physical versions of Switch games, you'll know what comes next: The cartridge...
News Lacuna Is A Noir Detective Game Hoping To Reinvent The Point-And-Click Genre
WASD-and-click
What is it about "noir detective" and "pixel art" that makes them go together so well? Between Backbone, The Darkside Detective, and Unavowed, it's getting to be quite a beefy genre-within-a-genre. Now, to add to that pile, is Lacuna: A "sci-fi noir", which promises a number of features hoping to improve on a few of the...
News Combat-Free Fantasy Adventure 'Omno' Is Finally Coming To Switch
Omno? Omyes!
Omno is a game about a little onion-shaped adventurer travelling around an "ancient world of wonders" on an epic quest to discover... something. That something includes frogs, giants, crabs, and plenty of puzzle-platforming. And, rather impressively, it's a one-man project, with German developer Jonas Manke at the helm (and, er, all the...
News '90s Puzzle Platformer 'Time Loader' Will Bring The Past To The Switch In The Future
(next year, that is)
VHS tapes! SNES controllers! Affordable homes! Yes, the '90s were a great time, but they are dead. Long dead. We can relive them through video games, though. Time Loader has been out for a couple of weeks on Steam, GOG, and the Epic Games Store, but now it's also heading to PS4, Xbox One, and the Nintendo Switch next year...
News Riot Forge Nintendo Switch Showcase Airing Later Today
"get a look at some upcoming indie games"
Riot Forge and Nintendo's Indie World team appear to be uniting to promote a special showcase that'll be taking place today. As you might recall, Hextech Mayhem: A League of Legends Story is out tomorrow on Nintendo Switch - so it's expected to be on display. Apart from this, we might see Ruined King: A...
Random Unpacking's 14,000 Audio Files Make For One Hell Of A Polished Game
*clunk* *schwif* *bang*
Earlier this week, a zen game about unpacking, which is unsurprisingly called Unpacking, launched on Nintendo Switch. Since then, it's been getting a lot of attention, both for its players who don't know what GameCubes are, and for the stunning amount of detail within the isometric pixel art game. The latest detail to go...
News Skeletal Avenger Is A Roguelite 'Head-Chucking' Dungeon Crawler Coming To Switch
Cranial combat
Get this: You're a skeleton, and you're on a quest for revenge. Oh, and also: Your main weapon is your own skull. Sounds fun? Well, it's the pitch for Skeletal Avenger, a hack-and-slash roguelike coming to the Nintendo Switch this Thursday, the 4th of November. If you're a roguelike dungeon crawler fan — because that genre...
News This Wholesome, Zen Pixel Art Game Is All About Unpacking
Little boxes, all the same
Moving houses sucks. That sounds like the start of a thoughtful haiku that's all about change, but it's not, it's just a fact of life: having to pack up your belongings, your clothes, and your plants, and fit them all into a series of cardboard boxes — which you never seem to have enough of — and then truck everything...
And if it doesn't get there, he'll just "never release it"
Stardew Valley creator, Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone, last week revealed his new game, the Haunted Chocolatier. Although a PC release is the only system he's "100% certain about", he still has "every intention" of bringing it to other major platforms as well. So, when can we expect this new...
News Lo-Fi Horror 'Mundaun' Is Getting Physical Edition
Goats! Bees! Murder!
Some of us spend Halloween hiding in the living room with the lights off, scarfing down candy in the dark. Others spend Halloween watching the kind of movies that make them unable to sleep for days. Well, to the latter group, we say: come get your Mundaun, you spooky weirdos! In partnership with Super Rare Games, Mundaun is now...
News Mutazione Is Getting Free 'Penpal' Story DLC
XOXO, Mutant Girl
To celebrate two years of Mutazione, the tranquil narrative game that's all about tending to relationships, unearthing personal drama, and nurturing a garden full of music on an island full of mutants, developer Die Gute Fabrik has announced the release of a free story DLC for all players. The DLC, called "Penpal", is out now as...
News Toby Fox Speaks About Deltarune, Shows Off Concept Art In Interview With Nintendo Japan
"Imagine a professional dog in a beret"
Deltarune Chapter 2 is out right now on Switch, totally free. It's from the same creator that made Undertale — in fact, the title itself is an anagram of Undertale — and to celebrate the release, Nintendo Japan secured an interview with Toby Fox himself. A massive disclaimer here: there are large parts of...
News Digimon, Eat Your Heart Out: Monster-Fusing RPG Cassette Beasts Is Coming To Switch
Erase and rewind
Pixel art game fans, still thy heart: Cassette Beasts is coming to you from a team who've worked on Starbound, Wargroove, and Stardew Valley. Pokémon and Digimon fans, still thy heart as well, because Cassette Beasts is all about catching, training, collecting and fusing monsters together to create unique, powerful creatures to...
News Play A Cat Detective In Inspector Waffles, Out Now
Meowder most meowl
We've had bird detectives in Aviary Attorney, aliigator detectives in Later Alligator, mouse detectives in Basil The Great Mouse Detective, and now, cat detectives in Inspector Waffles. Is there something sinister going on in the animal kingdom that would require all these creatures to need investigators? We'll try not to worry...
News Cozy Grove Free Autumn Update Adds Pet Cats, Interior Design, And A Photo Mode
Also lots of quality-of-life updates!
Cozy Grove brought Animal Crossing-like wholesomeness to the Nintendo Switch earlier this year, but we were slightly underwhelmed — the game was missing a lot of vitality and the kind of content that keeps you coming back, day after day. It looks like that's set to change with developer Spry Fox's new Autumn...
News Tomb-Raiding Pixel Art Game 'Pathway' Is Getting A Physical Edition
Punch Nazis!
Nazis, tomb raiding, treasure-finding and guns. Is there a more beloved combination? Pathway draws on the Indiana Jones vibes, but retooled as a tactics game with a pixel art aesthetic. It's gorgeous. Now, the physical edition has been excavated from that big warehouse that was in the Indiana Jones movie with the Ark of the Covenant,...
News Coffee Talk Episode 2 Is Headed For Switch Next Year
Starbucks, but the bucks are deer
Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus & Butterflies was announced during the Indie Houses Direct in August, but we've now got official confirmation that it's coming to the Nintendo Switch (as well as other consoles) in 2022! Following on from the first episode, which combined barista-core gameplay with a lightly...
News Noir Cyberpunk Point-And-Click 'The Sundew' Comes To Nintendo Switch Next Week
Cyberpunky Island
If the tagline of this article didn't give it away, The Sundew — a game made by a one-woman developer team — combines the old-school point-and-click stylings of The Curse of Monkey Island with the cyberpunk noir of Blade Runner. Instead of playing as Rickbrush Threepdeckard, or whatever unholy monster protagonist those two...
News Konami Competition Tasks Indie Devs With Reviving Its Classic IP
Konami will fund and publish the winner's creation
Konami is currently hosting a Japanese indie game contest (in cooperation with Shueisha Game Creators Camp), asking small team developers to create action and shooting games based on its classic IP. The winner scores 2 million yen (about $18,000 USD) and will be given the opportunity to...
News PS1-Style Horror Tartarus Key Coming To Switch In 2022
From the team who brought Aviary Attorney to the Switch
Alex Young is trapped in a mysterious mansion, with no idea how she got there, or how to get out — and also, everything looks like a PS1 game. If you miss the old-school style of horror games, you'll likely be intrigued by this one, which is filled with puzzles, traps, and secrets to discover...
News 'Dandy Ace' Looks Like Hades X Persona, And It's Out On Switch Today
Plus new DLC!
Listen, we know there are quite a few roguelites on the market these days, but for fans of the genre, it's never enough. Give us a gimmick and a fresh art style, and we'll eagerly try them all. Dandy Ace is the latest isometric action-adventure deckbuilding roguelite, in which you'll play as Ace, a magician trapped in a mirror...
News Escape A Twisted Tower With Platforming In Aspire: Ina's Tale, Out This December
"Ina was trapped for a reason..."
Games very rarely let you play as the princess: the one who's trapped, kidnapped, and powerless, waiting for some guy to come and save her. But in Aspire: Ina's Tale, that's exactly who you are: the girl who was placed under a spell of perpetual sleep in a tower, and who needs to make her own escape. The tower is...
News Blossom Tales Sequel To Be Published By Playtonic Next Year
Zelda X Chrono Trigger X Princess Bride
Playtonic — the folks behind Yooka-Laylee — just announced their publishing arm, Playtonic Friends, and now they're announcing their next title: Blossom Tales II: The Minotaur Prince, a sequel to the original Zelda-inspired adventure game by Castle Pixel. "Think A Link to the Past meets Princes
News Side-Scrolling Platformer Lumione Looks Like Underwater Ori
Coming this October
Made by a team of university graduates with an average age of 23, Lumione is a impressive platformer that serves as the debut game for Glimmer Studio. With obvious inspiration from other hard-as-nails platformers like Ori and the Blind Forest and Celeste, Lumione takes the genre in a different direction: underwater. "The...
News Wizard School RPG Ikenfell Is Getting A Physical Edition
Wait 'til my father hears about this, Potter
If you enjoyed Harry Potter, but wish that you could play something more LGBTQ+-friendly, then Ikenfell might scratch that particular itch: set in a world where magic-users must attend a school to harness and control their abilities, but where something powerful is on the loose, Ikenfell is all about how...
News Bonfire Peaks Has A New Demo And A Release Date
Yeaaaah, this box is on fire
Good news for fans of fiendish puzzlers: Bonfire Peaks, made by Corey Martin and Alan Hazelden's boutique company, Draknek & Friends, is almost here! With a brand-new release date of the 30th of September, you'll be able to play this box-burning brain-twister before the leaves start to turn. Which is perfect,...
News Step Aside, Nintendogs: It's Time To Punch Cats In Fisti-Fluffs
Everybody was kitten fightiiing
"Fast-paced physics-based cat tussling fun" — is that the pitch for upcoming game Fisti-Fluffs, or is that what happens when we try to give our darling Mittens a bath? The answer is both, but this article is about the former. Fisti-Fluffs is, as you can hopefully tell by the title, a multiplayer competitive...
News Kokopa's Atlas Is About Gardening And Exploring With A Tiny Bird Friend
Tweet about it
Tiny birds are having a moment, aren't they? There's the Spiritfarer tiny owl update, and Haven Park's tiny bird, Flint, and last year's A Short Hike... and now, Kokopa's Atlas, a game about exploring, farming, and building a life as Kokopa, a cat-person-astronaut-expl
News Stealthy Escape Game 'Sir, You Are Being Hunted' Stalks Onto Switch Next Year
Sir, You Are Being Ported
Kickstarter-funded procedural open-world survival-horror stealth video game Sir, You Are Being Hunted is bringing its ten thousand genre prefixes to the Nintendo Switch. But wait — Sir, You Are Being Improved, too, with a restored multiplayer, a new patch, and a full remaster, known as "Sir, You Are Being Hunted:...
Round Up All The Switch News From The Indie Houses Direct
New DLC, new games, and more!
The Indie Houses Direct just finished airing, bringing together seven different indie publishers (Akupara Games, Fellow Traveller, Neon Doctrine, Raw Fury, Those Awesome Guys, Toge Productions, and Whitethorn Games) to share their bounty of game news over the course of an hour. "When indie games succeed, video games...
News Spiritfarer Collector's Edition And Vinyl Soundtrack Up For Pre-Orders, Coming 2022
Oooh, pretty box
Following on from the news that Spiritfarer is getting a colossal new update, Thunder Lotus has also announced that their colossal Collector's Edition and regular-sized vinyl soundtrack are available to pre-order from iam8bit. The Collector's Edition includes: Digital download card for the Spiritfarer soundtrack by composer Max...
TINY OWL
Spiritfarer came out a year ago, which means that hopefully everyone who's played it has stocked up on tears again after sobbing them all out over Alice the Hedgehog's story. Get ready to cry again, though, as the second of ThunderLotus' character updates is here, and this one is a teeny tiny owl are you kidding me Ahem. The Spiritfarer...
News Massive Garden Story Patch Comes To Switch, Plus A New Home Screen Icon
Oh, that's so much better
People have very, very strong feelings about the icons that appear on the Nintendo Switch dashboard. Most icons are surprisingly busy, with titles displayed prominently, and it turns out that's exactly what people want — and yet, every now and again, a game will release with the kind of icon you'd expect for a phone game:...
News Steampunk City Builder 'Airborne Kingdom' Is Swooping Onto Switch This November
Like clockwork
We love it when someone innovates on a well-trodden trend with new and exciting ideas. Airborne Kingdom, you see, is not just your average city builder. It's not even just your average steampunk city builder. Airborne Kingdom — as you can, er, probably guess from the name — is a city builder in the sky. Your city will be a...
News asobu Indie Showcase To Air Ahead Of BitSummit Next Week
Will include 20 BitSummit selections
We've had some intriguing streams recently that have promoted a wide-range of games. Another event that's got our attention ahead of its premiere next week is the asobu Indie Showcase, the second of its type that will be broadcast the day before BitSummit. asobu is based in Tokyo and its stream is focused on...
Watch Gamescom Awesome Indies Show 2021 & Future Games Show - Live!
Over 40 games on the way!
Gamescom's online expo is now well and truly into the swing of things and its second major showcase stream is the Awesome Indies Show, which is being run in partnership with IGN. It'll feature over 40 games, and with the enthusiasm that Indie developers and publishers have for the eShop we'd bet a decent number will be...
News Metal-Detecting Adventure 'The Magnificent Trufflepigs' Snuffles Onto Switch Next Week
Can you dig it?
Back when it was announced, we described The Magnificent Trufflepigs as "Firewatch, but it's set in the English countryside, and instead of being about fires and watching, it's about metals and detecting." We stand by that — it's a first-person narrative adventure that's partly about romance, partly about discovering secrets...
Soapbox Life Is Strange On Nintendo Switch Signals Better LGBTQ+ Rep To Come
Visual novels and narrative adventures are leading the way
Note. Spoiler warning! Plot details from Life is Strange and its prequel, Before the Storm, are discussed in this article. There's a lot to be disappointed about in the way the games industry has historically handled LGBTQ+ representation, and believe me, I'm dismayed by it, too. It was...
News Alveole Is A Minimalist Puzzle Game About Running, Coming This September
Born to run
Alveole, a short, experimental puzzler coming to Switch on September 1st, has only one mechanic: running. As the faceless outline of a person, you'll be locked in an "imaginary cage", according to the developers, and you must "understand how to use this opportunity when the whole world around consists of hints." The game was originally...
News Garden Story Gets 1.0.4 Patch, Coming To Switch Soon
Garden patch
Garden Story, an adorable RPG with a protagonist who is a grape, was surprise-released during the Nintendo Indie World showcase last week, and has since been winning over the hearts of everyone (including us, though we're still working on the review!). It does have a few minor issues that players have been experiencing, but the patches...
News Grow Yourself A Cute Garden In 'The Garden Path', A Wholesome Game Coming To Switch
Inspired by Moomins!
Solo UK-based developer (and illustrator!) Louis Durrant, AKA carrotcake, launched the Kickstarter for The Garden Path on July 21st, and hit their 100% goal earlier this week. Now, with less than two days left on the campaign, it's all about hitting those stretch goals — and the first one was achieved today. After meeting the...
News 'Not Tonight 2' Sets Its Post-Brexit Satirical Sights On The US
"Our most political game yet"
Back in 2020, a game called Not Tonight: Take Back Control Edition launched on the Nintendo Switch — on the exact date that the UK left the European Union, in fact. ("Brexit", as it's more commonly known). The game was a satirical take on British politics set in a post-Brexit alternate universe; you play a bouncer...
Round Up All The Games From Nintendo's Indie World Showcase - August 2021
Every single game from the show!
It's a great time to be a lover of indie games, as Nintendo's latest Indie World showcase was packed with absolute bangers. 19 games in total were shown off in the latest presentation, and the general consensus is pretty good; overall, a fantastic showing for Nintendo. But if you missed it, or you can't remember...
News Floppy Punch-'Em-Up 'Gang Beasts' Goes Gangbusters On Switch This Winter
Jelly melee
Everyone loves a goofy party game. Everyone loves janky physics. Finally, the two have been combined in Gang Beasts — although "finally" is a bit dramatic, since the game's been out since 2014. Gang Beasts is a beat 'em up, in which you're trying to throw your friends into lava, meat grinders, and various other deadly obstacles; or...
News Make Your Own Wine The Proper Way In 'Hundred Days', Coming This Winter
Do it for the vine
If you're tired of having to choose between boring supermarket wine and your home-brewed prison toilet wine, then perhaps it's time to take a vineleaf out of Hundred Days' book and buy your own dang vineyard. In this winemaking simulation game, you'll have to learn the intricate ins and outricate outs of running your very own...
