- By Ash
- in Indie Games
[Update]: It took a while, but Dredge has now launched its very first expansion - The Pale Reach!
In order to help tide everyone over until the first big DLC arrives later this year, the Lovecraftian fishing game Dredge has now launched a small update containing a highly requested feature - the ability to customize your boat's appearance! You can also look forward to a couple of new mutated crabs, a rebalance of crab pots as a whole, as well as a bunch of new shipwrecks to loot throughout the world.
As for the customization options, those can be unlocked once you've acquired the dredge crane as a part of the main story, so fairly early on. Once you have it a brand new NPC situated at Little Marrow will offer you a limited selection of paint options to mess around with, while more and more stuff will become available as you explore the world.
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
[Update]: Broken Roads has been delayed until early 2024 in order to ensure it launches as well polished as it can be.
If Baldur's Gate 3 has gotten you into a bit of an RPG mood, you might want to keep an eye on the upcoming Fallout inspired and narrative driven RPG called Broken Roads. As you might imagine given its inspiration, Broken Roads will have you chat up a variety of unique and interesting characters, undertake lengthy quests all across a post-apocalyptic version of Australia, solve dilemmas based on your character's philosophical leanings, and naturally, fight against all sorts of enemies in turn-based combat while looting everything that isn't nailed down particularly well!
What all of this looks like in action, as well as what sort of tone Broken Roads is going for, that you can check out through one of the trailers below. Have a gander:
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
[Update]: Slay the Princess has now arrived, and I'm pleased to say it's looking quite good!
Following in the footsteps of games like The Stanley Parable, Slay the Princess is a comedy/horror adventure where you simply have to slay the princess in order to save the world. Naturally, things don't remain very simple for very long as the story quickly spirals into a myriad of different directions, time loops and utterly bizarre series of events.
Trying to talk about all of this through words alone is basically impossible, so instead allow me to share with you the recently posted trailer. It should give you a pretty good idea of what Slay the Princess looks like and what it's trying to achieve. Have a gander:
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
In order to help spice things up and improve replayability, the Darkest Dungeon 2 team has now released a small content update. You can expect to see two new mini-bosses, six new champion-tier enemies, a bunch of tweaks to the Torch and Infernal Flames system, and most importantly of all, full gamepad and Steam Deck support!
I won't spoil what exactly the new enemies are like, but what I will say is that one of the mini-bosses is a fan-favorite from the original game while the other is a brand new creation made through the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Furthermore, all of them, and this includes the Champion enemies, can appear in any region. As such, chances are good you'll be able to see at least a couple during your next run!
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
[Update]: Vampire Survivors is soon getting a sizable, Among Us inspired DLC - Emergency Meeting.
While the pace of Vampire Survivors' updates has slowed down due to it being on a bunch of different platforms, their quality has thankfully not changed. With that in mind, I'm happy to say that Update 1.6 has now not only brought in a whole bunch of bug fixes, but also the often-requested local co-op mode and the full switch to a new engine!
The co-op mode supports four players in total, with each player being visible on the same screen at the same time and sharing the same experiencing bar. There are no special levels or achievements exclusive to co-op, though there is a new Friendship Amulet item that gives everyone a single weapon upgrade. Similarly, there is no versus mode or anything competitive like that, though if you want to annoying the hell out of your friends you can still do that by picking up items like Gatti Amari!
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
In order to give Broforce the sendoff it truly deserves, an overly muscular and explosive one, Free Lives studio have now released one final update - nearly a decade after the original launch! Broforce Forever brings with it an improved and expanded campaign, six ridiculous new Bros inspired by pop culture icons, four new challenge levels, a couple of new enemies to smash, and naturally, a whole bunch of bug fixes!
Who these new characters are, as well as what sort of madness Broforce Forever is even all about, that you can check out through two of the recent trailers. Have a gander, starting with the highly patriotic musical and ending with the gameplay preview:
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
[Update]: Trine 5 has now added crossplay between all the different versions.
A fair few years have gone by since the last Trine game, so if you're currently itching for some more co-op focused puzzle-platformer action I'm happy to say I bring good news. According to a recent developer update, Trine 5: A Clockwork Conspiracy will be making its way onto PC, PlayStation, Xbox and Switch in a mere couple of weeks, on August 31st!
In terms of improvements, Trine 5 will come with a brand new combat system and much trickier boss fights, the ability to level up and customize each character's abilities, as well as an adaptive difficulty system for both the combat and the puzzles. How exactly that last part will work, I'm afraid I don't currently know. I can only hope it'll give us the option to crank up the difficulty in order to really highlight what makes Trine so special - the utter madness that comes from three people desperately trying to solve a single problem in three different ways at the same time!
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
[Update]: Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor is a surprisingly challenging roguelite auto-shooter spin-off.
In order to give everyone an excuse to stay at home and avoid the scorching heat, the Deep Rock Galactic team has now launched the Space Beach Party 2023 event. Much like its predecessor the event brings with it a bunch of summer themed decorations (including water balloons!) for the Space Rig, a couple of silly hats to acquire, as well as doubled seasonal experience points to help you speed through the entirely free Battle Pass.
Speaking of hats, you can grab the Great White Delight pictured above by completing a simple seasonal assignment before the whole event goes away on August 17th. And if you missed last year's festivities, worry not as those hats are also up for grabs through the extra "Last Year’s Fashion" assignment. So if you always wanted to run around with a pink flamingo on your head, consider this your lucky day!
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
Following in the footsteps of games like Slay the Spire, Oaken is a turn-based, card-slinging roguelike set in a world inhabited by all sorts of cutesy nature spirits. Each run will have start by choosing your basic loadout and abilities, after which you'll be let loose to explore the world, fight an assortment of enemies with a combination of spells and spirits, and naturally, upgrade the power level of your cards to the point of absurdity.
What all of this looks like in action, as well as how adorable the art style really is, that you can check out through the recently posted trailer. Have a little peek:
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
[Update]: Turbo Overkill's Version 1.0 has now arrived, and as I've detailed throughout my review, it's a ton of fun!
If you're like me and you were looking forward to blasting all sorts of fleshy abominations in Turbo Overkill's long-awaited final chapter, I'm afraid I have some bad news to deliver. According to the latest developer update, Turbo Overkill's full release has been postponed for a couple of weeks in order to polish things up just a bit more. The new launch date has now been set for August 11th.
“In short, the game is complete from start to finish,” reads the brief announcement. “We technically could release now, but we felt we need a little more time to resolve a lot of other things. We are not 100% there with some of the optimization and level flow. The multiplayer suite is still a little rusty (needs more options) and the amount of bugs I've encountered in the campaign I feel are a little much.”