More indies to slap on the wishlist
Day Of The Devs and its indie game festivities returned for this year’sSummer Game Fest, once again proving that indie games are good and cool. Quite frankly, it was an hour or so of straight bangers ranging from mind-bending puzzlers to Pokémon-likes to emotionally charged shepherders.
While there’s some familiar names in the pack like Hyper Light Drifter and Cocoon, there’s a whole host of surprises in there. And that’s thanks to the folks over at Double Fine Productions, iam8bit, and PlayStation’s indie champion Greg Rice who put all of this together for us to enjoy each year. Below, I’ve rounded up all the announcements so you can absorb them through your eyeballs and let them rattle around your head until launch.
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Land & Sea, a new studio from the UK whose devs are best known for previously makingAlto’s Odyssey, are taking a step in a pretty different direction.Summerhillsees you play as a caped shepherd who rounds up sheep with their collie in tow. There’s not much to go on right now, aside from the fact it looks bloomin' gorgeous and will definitely have a crushing emotional impact on us. I mean, it’s a folktale about “life, loss, and livestock”, so there’s absolutely going to be tears shed as you lead some wooly boys through supernatural gates. No release date or year on this one, but you can find out more onSteam.
Italian Icelandic developer Evil Licorice are behindRetro Gadgets, a virtual gadget creation station where people can build, solder, code, and share their own gadgets with other people. What’s really neat is the ability to take apart someone else’s gadget to see how they’ve built it, or even learn from how they’ve coded things. I will be absolutely dreadful at this, but man, what an absolute treat for folks who enjoy a bit of electrical engineering. It’s currently in early access over onSteam.
Die Gute Fabrik are behindSaltsea Chronicles, a beautiful seafaring adventure where you guide a crew of survivors through a post-flood world known as “Saltsea” to uncover the mystery of your captain’s disappearance. You’ll send folks on expeditions, explore islands, and have chats with crewmates and islanders which’ll no doubt have lasting consequences. There’s also a bespoke card game within it called Spoils. Damn, Saltsea Chronicles looks good and thankfully there’s not too much longer to wait as it’s out later this year. Katharine has more about itright here.
Katharine was impressed by Sad Owl Studios' perspective-based puzzlerViewfinder, when she had asneaky peek of it at GDCearlier this year. And yep, it still looks fantastic going off the latest footage. The devs describe it as a bit of a mixture between Portal and Superliminal, in the way you’re able to solve problems by inserting slices of one world into another. There’s no release date just yet, but you can find out more onSteam.
Developer Heart Machine dropped in to remind us that, yes,Hyper Light Breakeris still a co-op roguelite they’re making, and yes, it’s a follow up toHyper Light Drifter. To be totally frank with you, I worry that the move to anopen world3D affair may dilute interest. That’s not to say it doesn’t have the potential to be fantastic, I just didn’t feel much ofanythingas I watched what sure looked to be a video game, all right. Well, there’s certainly more time for it to cook in the oven as there’s no still no release date. In the meantime, you can keep an eye on it over onSteam.
There’s always one for the anime-likers isn’t there? (of which, I am one).Eternightscomes courtesy of Studio Sai and is a singleplayer RPG mingled with a dating sim. You play as a fella with a glowy arm that can transform into a sword, and you’ll fight monsters using said arm, in what looks like some pretty flashy hack n' slash combat. In between all the scrapping, you’ve got a “calendar system” and visual novel style interactions where cute anime girls blush and lean back nervously on school furniture. It’s coming in September onSteam.
Again, we’ve known about puzzlerHenry Halfheadfor alittle while now, but some new footage showed off how he goes about his daily routine: with great difficulty. He makes his bed by possessing duvets and pillows, then runs a bath by possessing a rubber duck he’s found in his toilet’s cistern?! Again, no release date for this one, but you can have a peek at itsSteampage for more.
