While you were out getting wasted at the New Years office party trying to work up the courage to approach Janice from HR there were lots of people who had bravely left behind the world of steady employment to follow their passions and make their dream games reality.
Through sheer force of will along with whatever money they could scrape together from Kickstarter and People Like You! these creative souls prove that you don't need a multimillion dollar budget to produce the Next Great Thing in video gaming.
In this post I'm going to talk about a smattering of some Hot New Indie stuff I'm personally looking forward to this year. It's by no means comprehensive regarding what all is coming out this year because in case you haven't noticed indies are still exploding and show no signs of stopping any time soon.
Suffice it to say these games represent the cream of the crop because in addition to being an all around awesome dude I have also happen to have excellent taste in video games.
I swear you aren't ready for this action but it's comin' at ya anyway!
In no particular order:
Chasm - Website
From the description on the site: "Chasm is a procedurally-generated RPG Platformer currently in development for PC (Win, Mac, & Linux) and Playstation 4. Taking equal inspiration from hack 'n slash dungeon crawlers and Metroidvania-style platformers, it will immerse you in a procedurally-generated fantasy world full of exciting treasure, deadly enemies, and abundant secrets."
Yeah I like all that stuff! Dig that music in the video as well. Look for Chasm sometime this summer.
Cuphead - Website
Holy crap it's like Tex Avery made a video game! Now I feel old because there probably aren't any kids out there these days who know who Tex Avery was. He made cartoons back when cartoons were all drawn and animated by hand! Come on, people!
Cuphead is being made in Unity by Studio MDHR. They didn't have a presser that I could find during my cursory googling but I did find their developer blog in which they have a post up handily titled: What kind of game is Cuphead? From that post:
"Cuphead is a classic run and gun that centers around 1-on-1 fights (2-on-1 in two player mode).
With Cuphead, we aim to evolve the genre by adding new features such as: super arts, infinite lives, a playable world map and hidden secrets. In addition to that, we will have refined controls, additional boss patterns on harder modes and balanced weapons to equip (that you don’t lose!). We plan to release 10-15 bosses per episode and end up with over 30 bosses. If all goes as planned, we will defeat the current “Guinness World Record for Most Boss Battles in a Run and Gun Game”[25 total])."
Look for Cuphead sometime this year!
Mighty No. 9 - Website
The video says it all really. This is a new not-Mega Man game by Keiji Inafune and other Capcom veterans that was recently funded through Kickstarter. This game is pretty much classic Japanese side-scrolling action with some new twists added in to keep things fresh.
Look for it sometime this year.
Firewatch - Website
This looks pretty interesting! Firewatch is a game where you, as Henry, keep watch over the Wyoming wilderness with only your radio contact, Delilah, to keep you company. As you can tell from the audio there's a bit more going on between Henry and Delilah than meets the eye, and maybe even something strange going on with the wilderness itself. It's all very mysterious!
And gorgeous looking! As you can see it's a first person game with apparently survival elements to it as well as you need to traverse the wilderness. Also apparently the choices you make during the course of the game will effect how Delilah reacts to you. Anyway, from the presser:
"Firewatch is a mystery set in the Wyoming wilderness, where your only emotional lifeline is the person on the other end of a handheld radio
In Firewatch you play as a man named Henry who has retreated
from his messy life to work as a fire lookout in the Wyoming wilderness.
Perched high atop a mountain, it’s your job to look for smoke and keep
the wilderness safe. An especially hot, dry summer has everyone on edge.
Your supervisor, a woman named Delilah, is available to you at all
times over a small, handheld radio —
and is your only contact with the world you've left behind.
But when something strange draws you out of your lookout tower and into the world, you’ll explore a wild and unknown environment, facing questions and making interpersonal choices that can build or destroy the only meaningful relationship you have."
Firewatch will be coming to PC sometime this year.
Rime - Website
Rime, from Tequila Works, is an upcoming PS4 exclusive indie game that has been described as a cross between Ico, Journey and The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. You play as a boy who explores a fantastical world.
It's an open world game about exploration and discovery and, very interestingly, there is No Combat. Tequila Works promises "plenty of action" but they make it clear that there is no traditional combat or fighting like in most other games. It seems conflict comes more in the form of gaining mastery over your environment and discovering the game's secrets.
Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number - Website
Hotline Miami is a game after my own heart. It's a top down action game soaked in psychedelic '80s nostalgia and features lurid violence and a really kick ass soundtrack. From the website for developer Dennaton Games's latest masterpiece:
"A brutal conclusion to the gruesome saga, Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number follows the escalating level of violence through multiple factions born from the events of the original game and driven by uncertain motivations. Step into the murderous mind of several distinct characters - each with their own motivations and methods of execution – as storylines intersect and reality slips away into a haze of neon and carnage. Blistering combat, an unmistakable visual style, and a powerfully intense soundtrack will once again push you to the limit and questioning your own thirst for blood."
Axiom Verge - Website
Axiom Verge is a five-years-in-the-making labor of love by Tom Happ. I had a chance to play a demo of the game at a PS4 kiosk at GameStop recently and it sucked me right in. The game is basically Super Metroid but with slicker controls and a focus on sequence-breaking as part of the main game mechanics. From Happ's website:
"Axiom Verge is a side-scrolling action/adventure for PS4 and Vita that applies a fresh take on classic 8-bit games by using glitches as an important game mechanic. It is expected to release in early 2015. All graphics, design, music, and programming were created solely by Tom Happ on his laptop."
So in Super Metroid people eventually found out ways to break the game in order to complete it faster, right? This usually meant figuring out how to skip certain parts of the game in order to reach other parts a lot sooner than you were supposed to, essentially playing the game "out of sequence" which is where the term "sequence breaking" comes from. Well, Happ has designed the game from the start with this kind of playstyle in mind so it should be interesting to see how it pans out.
That and it just looks lovely and plays swimmingly. It will release on Windows PC sometime after it's available for PS4.
Titan Souls - Website
Titan Souls is a game from Acid Nerve and it's got a neat hook to it. Basically you play as a little dude with one health point and just a single arrow for your bow and you are tasked with taking down roughly twenty or so Titans. You fire your arrow, pick it back up and try not to get hit.
It has a visual palette inspired by Shadow of the Colossus and was originally a product of a three day game jam. You can still play the early prototype here. Look for this game early this year.
Hyper Light Drifter - Website
Hyper Light Drifter from Heart Machine is another beautiful action rpg with rouge-like elements to it. From the website:
"Visions for this game have been fluttering in my skull for ages; something dark and fantastic, with giant forests to navigate, huge floating structures to explore, deep crumbling ruins to loot, massive throngs of enemies to rend, and behemoths both flesh and mechanical to overcome. I want it all to be as beautiful as possible, forging color with the dark and eerie wastes and intimidating landscapes. It plays like the best parts of A Link to the Past and Diablo, evolved: lightning fast combat, more mobility, an array of tactical options, more numerous and intelligent enemies, and a larger world with a twisted past to do it all in."
Hell yes.
No Man's Sky - Website
No Man's Sky, from Hello Games, is a procedurally generated universe you explore with other people. The whole game is truly open, if you can see it you can go there. You can stand on the surface of a planet, catalog an alien species that is unique to that planet, then hop in a space ship and fly to another planet and explore it.
Every star in the sky is a sun that you can visit and every discovery you make is logged in the game's central serve which is connected to every other players game, so the whole thing is a kind of collaborative effort at exploring the universe. There's space stations and even ship to ship combat to partake in as well. No Man's Sky is hugely ambitious and wholly unique and like everything else on this list I can't wait to play it this year.
Well, that's all for now. There are a lot of other cool indie and not-indie games coming out this year. Maybe I'll get around to talking about them sometime! In the meantime these will have to do. Check them all out at your leisure and let me know if there's anything special coming out this year that you're really looking forward to!
This post brought to you by Ministry.
Thanks for reading.
But when something strange draws you out of your lookout tower and into the world, you’ll explore a wild and unknown environment, facing questions and making interpersonal choices that can build or destroy the only meaningful relationship you have."
Firewatch will be coming to PC sometime this year.
Rime - Website
It's an open world game about exploration and discovery and, very interestingly, there is No Combat. Tequila Works promises "plenty of action" but they make it clear that there is no traditional combat or fighting like in most other games. It seems conflict comes more in the form of gaining mastery over your environment and discovering the game's secrets.
Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number - Website
Hotline Miami is a game after my own heart. It's a top down action game soaked in psychedelic '80s nostalgia and features lurid violence and a really kick ass soundtrack. From the website for developer Dennaton Games's latest masterpiece:
"A brutal conclusion to the gruesome saga, Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number follows the escalating level of violence through multiple factions born from the events of the original game and driven by uncertain motivations. Step into the murderous mind of several distinct characters - each with their own motivations and methods of execution – as storylines intersect and reality slips away into a haze of neon and carnage. Blistering combat, an unmistakable visual style, and a powerfully intense soundtrack will once again push you to the limit and questioning your own thirst for blood."
Axiom Verge - Website
Axiom Verge is a five-years-in-the-making labor of love by Tom Happ. I had a chance to play a demo of the game at a PS4 kiosk at GameStop recently and it sucked me right in. The game is basically Super Metroid but with slicker controls and a focus on sequence-breaking as part of the main game mechanics. From Happ's website:
"Axiom Verge is a side-scrolling action/adventure for PS4 and Vita that applies a fresh take on classic 8-bit games by using glitches as an important game mechanic. It is expected to release in early 2015. All graphics, design, music, and programming were created solely by Tom Happ on his laptop."
So in Super Metroid people eventually found out ways to break the game in order to complete it faster, right? This usually meant figuring out how to skip certain parts of the game in order to reach other parts a lot sooner than you were supposed to, essentially playing the game "out of sequence" which is where the term "sequence breaking" comes from. Well, Happ has designed the game from the start with this kind of playstyle in mind so it should be interesting to see how it pans out.
That and it just looks lovely and plays swimmingly. It will release on Windows PC sometime after it's available for PS4.
Titan Souls - Website
Titan Souls is a game from Acid Nerve and it's got a neat hook to it. Basically you play as a little dude with one health point and just a single arrow for your bow and you are tasked with taking down roughly twenty or so Titans. You fire your arrow, pick it back up and try not to get hit.
It has a visual palette inspired by Shadow of the Colossus and was originally a product of a three day game jam. You can still play the early prototype here. Look for this game early this year.
Hyper Light Drifter - Website
Hyper Light Drifter from Heart Machine is another beautiful action rpg with rouge-like elements to it. From the website:
"Visions for this game have been fluttering in my skull for ages; something dark and fantastic, with giant forests to navigate, huge floating structures to explore, deep crumbling ruins to loot, massive throngs of enemies to rend, and behemoths both flesh and mechanical to overcome. I want it all to be as beautiful as possible, forging color with the dark and eerie wastes and intimidating landscapes. It plays like the best parts of A Link to the Past and Diablo, evolved: lightning fast combat, more mobility, an array of tactical options, more numerous and intelligent enemies, and a larger world with a twisted past to do it all in."
Hell yes.
No Man's Sky - Website
No Man's Sky, from Hello Games, is a procedurally generated universe you explore with other people. The whole game is truly open, if you can see it you can go there. You can stand on the surface of a planet, catalog an alien species that is unique to that planet, then hop in a space ship and fly to another planet and explore it.
Every star in the sky is a sun that you can visit and every discovery you make is logged in the game's central serve which is connected to every other players game, so the whole thing is a kind of collaborative effort at exploring the universe. There's space stations and even ship to ship combat to partake in as well. No Man's Sky is hugely ambitious and wholly unique and like everything else on this list I can't wait to play it this year.
Well, that's all for now. There are a lot of other cool indie and not-indie games coming out this year. Maybe I'll get around to talking about them sometime! In the meantime these will have to do. Check them all out at your leisure and let me know if there's anything special coming out this year that you're really looking forward to!
This post brought to you by Ministry.
Thanks for reading.
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