- By Ash
- in Indie Games
[Update]: Right on cue, Oaken has now been unleashed from Early Access!
Oaken is a card-slinging, turn-based roguelike set in a randomly generated world inhabited by all sorts of nature spirits, both friendly and otherwise. True to its genre, Oaken's gameplay is all about navigating the world Slay the Spire style and weighing the possible risks and rewards of each branching path, fighting tricksy enemies with a combination of spells and spirits, and naturally, managing your deck and making your spirits as obscenely powerful as possible.
After spending about a year in Early Access, Oaken is now just about ready to be released in full. To be more specific, you can expect to see it leave Early Access and land onto PC, PlayStation, Xbox and Switch this July 20th.
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
[Update #2]: Vampire Survivors is soon getting a sizable, Among Us inspired DLC - Emergency Meeting.
[Update]: Update 1.6 has now arrived with local co-op and a brand new engine, as well as a couple of little teasers for upcoming content!
Despite it being nearly two years since Vampire Survivors first landed onto Steam, the quality of its updates doesn't appear to be dropping. If anything, each new one is even more impressive than the last!
This goes doubly so for the upcoming August 17th update as not only will it be adding a local co-op mode, but it'll also fully transition Vampire Survivors to a brand new engine. Best of all, the co-op update and all of its contents will be entirely free for everyone to mess around with.
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
[Update #2]: It took a while, but Dredge has now launched its very first expansion - The Pale Reach!
[Update]: Dredge's third update has added the often requested boat customization and 'craberrations'.
In order to help tide players over before the first DLC arrives at some point later this year, the Black Salt Games team has just unleashed the second update for their Lovecraftian fishing game Dredge. First and foremost, Update 2 has brought with it the ability to photograph the wildlife and the various Eldritch horrors that lurk in the depths, along with a brand new NPC to help you along on your journey of cataloging the local fauna.
If you don't feel like dealing with all of the spooky things trying to nibble on your boat, Update 2 has also added a Passive Mode that works exactly like you would expect. As long as it's turned on, enemies will simply ignore you and swim around you, thus giving you the perfect chance to photograph them.
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
[Update #2]: Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor is a surprisingly challenging roguelite auto-shooter spin-off.
[Update]: Deep Rock Galactic's Space Beach Party event has arrived with festive decorations, silly hats and doubled Battle Pass experience.
After a surprisingly long stretch of teasers and previews, Deep Rock Galactic's much-anticipated Season 4: Critical Corruption has now finally arrived. The free update brings with it a wide assortment of new enemies to shred into tiny little pieces, both variations of existing ones and entirely new creatures. You can also look forward to a gnarly new boss, an arcade cabinet loaded with the classic Jetty Boot game, a whole bunch of improvements and balance tweaks, and most importantly, Jet Boots!
Before you get too excited, it's important to mention that these Jet Boots are only temporary and not a part of anyone's regular equipment. To use them you'll first need to locate a special crate somewhere in a mission, hack it by playing the completely original Jetty Boot mini-game, and then slap them on. Once you've done that you'll be able to fly around to your heart's content throughout that entire mission, and even burn enemies by flying over them!
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
[Update]: I've now reviewed World of Horror's version 1.0 and I'm happy to say that, despite some issues, it's a highly enjoyable roguelike!
After spending a surprising amount of time in Early Access, the Junji Ito inspired horror-adventure World of Horror has now finally received a release date! You can expect to see the full version launch onto PC, Switch and PlayStation on October 19th, 2023. No further details have been shared just yet, but I can only imagine the launch version will come alongside a sizable update, and a price increase.
For now, however, allow me to share with you the recently posted trailer showing off the unique visual style and some of the gameplay. Have a peek:
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
In an effort to shake up the usual formula, Frictional Games have made the freshly released Amnesia: The Bunker a non-linear experience with a focus on emergent gameplay and replayability. In other words, Amnesia: The Bunker brings with it a semi-open world to explore, a fair bit of randomization to keep things interesting, multiple solutions to many puzzles, and most importantly of all, a seemingly Alien: Isolation inspired monster that will actively try to hunt you down!
Since trying to describe a horror game through words alone is a futile effort, allow me to share with you the launch trailer. That one should give you a pretty good idea of what sort of atmosphere Amnesia: The Bunker is going for, as well as what the gameplay's like. Have a little peek:
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
[Update]: PowerWash Simulator has unleashed a Warhammer 40,000 crossover DLC filled with heavy machinery.
It would appear that the success of the Lara Croft and Final Fantasy VII crossovers has really encouraged the PowerWash Simulator team to try to go for bigger and more ambitious additions. As such, not only is PowerWash Simulator getting the previously announced SpongeBob SquarePants crossover at some point this year, but also a Warhammer 40,000 themed update!
Whether this is going to be a free update like the first two crossovers or a paid DLC like SpongeBob, I'm afraid nobody outside of FuturLab currently knows. That said, since the crossover was announced during the Skulls 2023 event celebrating 40 years of Warhammer, I'm definitely expecting the whole thing to be a bit more bombastic than the usual update, so it's quite likely it'll be a piece of paid content. That is purely speculation on my part, however, so it's still entirely possible we'll be able to spray down an Imperial Knight without reaching for our wallets.
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
Doom is all about a ridiculously angry space marine carving his way through hordes upon hordes of demons. Warhammer 40,000 also happens to heavily feature superhuman Space Marines fighting an endless war against demonkind. So what happens when you combine the two?
Well, the answer is a sprite-based boomer shooter by the name of Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun! As you would expect from that description alone, Boltgun is all about shooting, melting, exploding or simply chainswordin' your way through legions of pixely and surprisingly adorable enemies spanning everything from the lowly Chaos cultists to more impressive beasties like the Plague Toads of Nurgle or Tzeentch's Lords of Change!
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
[Update #2]: PowerWash Simulator has unleashed a Warhammer 40,000 crossover DLC filled with heavy machinery.
[Update]: PowerWash Simulator is getting a VR version and Warhammer 40k crossover in 2023.
After getting their feet wet with the Lara Croft and Final Fantasy VII themed crossover updates, it looks like the PowerWash Simulator team has now decided they're finally ready to try out a proper DLC. And naturally, what better place to start than at the bottom of the ocean in Bikini Bottom!
The overly wordy "PowerWash Simulator SpongeBob SquarePants Special Pack" will bring with it a mini-campaign consisting of six levels featuring iconic locations and objects like: Conch Street, The Bikini Bottom Bus, The Krusty Krab; The Patty Wagon; The Invisible Boatmobile and The Mermalair. Unlike the previous few updates, the SpongeBob crossover will also come with a redesigned player character and equally thematic powerwashing gear. After all, what would a DLC set deep underwater be without immersion?
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
[Update #2]: Deep Rock Galactic's Space Beach Party 2023 event has arrived with festive decorations, silly hats and doubled Battle Pass experience.
[Update]: Deep Rock Galactic's Season 4 has arrived with new enemies, boss, jet boots, and an arcade cabinet.
After a lengthy series of cryptic teasers, the Deep Rock Galactic team has now finally revealed the first bit of concrete information about Season 4: Critical Corruption - the release date! You can expect to see the PC version arrive on June 15th, while the console players will be able to dive in a week later, on June 22nd.
While the exact list of new features and additions has not been announced just yet, allow me to give you a brief rundown of everything that has been teased so far, as well as what I think it might actually be. Without further ado, let's dive in: