In today's digest, we tried to gather a few coming indie projects that might have slipped your attention: RPGs, platformers, adventures, and more!
In case you missed it
E3 highlights
AMONG TREES
We’ve seen our fair share of great indie games that talk about animals and forests, however, Among Trees seems a little different. It’s not actually about animal life, but rather about a person living in a secluded place in the woods, building a cabin, cooking stuff and just enjoying a peaceful life. The game promises a very serene experience with gorgeous stylized visuals and will combine survival elements and pure exploration. If you ever dreamed of living in solitude in a magical forest, you might want to add the game to your Steam wishlist. It is not available yet, but we hope we’ll be able to enjoy it very soon.
LITTLE WITCH IN THE WOODS
Are you ready for another take on Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley seasoned with an extra-large portion of magic and adorableness? Well, here it is. The game is called Little Witch in the Woods and surprisingly enough it’s about a little witch, who works as an apprentice in a small village surrounded by a fantasy forest. You can explore the ecosystem, create potions, help develop the local village, talk with different characters, discover their stories, and love-bomb everyone and everything! The game's got punchy animations, very nice soft colors and tidy pixel artwork. Do you feel the urge to try it out after watching the very first seconds of the trailer just like us? You’ll need to wait though. The game comes out in 2020.
CRUMBLE
Crumble is a game about movement. The developer calls it a physics platformer, but we feel that this definition doesn't do it justice. In this game, you control a little blue ball with a quirky face and traverse huge open environments by rolling, jumping and swinging from one object to another with the help of your tongue. It looks incredibly quick and fun to play, especially with a friend (the developer has recently confirmed there will be an online co-op mode). Plus, you have a chance to try it out already now - the demo is available on Steam.
Be sure to check out the game's Twitter account, where the developer Brute Force keeps publishing new updates, and the Crumble dev blog. For example, the most recent post explains the watercolor shader for Unity 3D that looks absolutely gorgeous.
LOW-FI
Cyberpunk is a hot topic these days and there are a bunch of indie games exploring this topic. LOW-FI takes a different approach to it, though. Instead of shooting people you get to drive a futuristic flying car and move around a huge cyberpunk city. Yes, you do get to shoot some people, but that’s not the entire point of it.
The action takes place in Toronto: people spend their days in VR simulations, AI controls everything. Few people cannot merge with the new system and are left living in the boring physical world. These people are called "low-fi". You’re playing as one of those people, a police officer who is sent to a high-crime area to patrol the streets, solve cases, and fight crime. Funnily enough, this is a VR game, so basically you'll play a VR simulation about people who are excluded from a "VR society".
The game looks amazing, and it seems that Dekogon is involved in asset production! If you want to support the developers, head on to their Kickstarter page.
MANDRAGORA
Mandragora is described as an epic, punishing side-scroller in a hopeless, painterly dark fantasy universe. It is basically another great take on souls-like genre set in a 2.5D world with Metroidvania mechanics.
The main focus is said to be on the storyline and character skill system. The game will feature hardcore combat encounters, exploration, character progression, and other cool mechanics for RPG fans.
BLUE KNIGHT
Blue Knight is still a bit of a mystery. It’s a role-playing game from China being developed by Fire Leaf Studio who previously released (in Early Access) a shooting game Second World: Air War S. Blue Knight has got a phenomenal-looking open world with beautiful islands floating in the air and connected with little bridges. There’s lush vegetation, lovely animated enemies, a lot of flashy VFX and gorgeous lighting. We hope to learn more about this project in the future and will keep an eye on its development.