- By Ash
- in Indie Games
[Update]: If you're craving for even more destruction, Sea of Craft is a Besiege inspired physics-based sandbox where you get to build a variety of wacky ships.
After spending around five years in Steam Early Access, the somewhat medieval, physics-based sandbox game Besiege has now been released in full. So if you're in the mood for creating truly terrifying weapons of mass destruction, only to have them inevitably fail and collapse in on themselves, Besiege is well worth checking out!
Besides an assortment of bug fixes and general quality-of-life changes, the launch version has also brought with it the final chapter of Besiege's singleplayer campaign. As you would expect, this final island is littered with nasty fortresses, a variety of new enemies to mow down, as well as "secret magics to unravel" on your journey to the final battle.
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
[Update #2]: 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!
[Update]: After nearly three years in Early Access, the full version of World of Horror will be launching for PC, PlayStation and Switch in Summer 2023.
When games go retro, they usually opt to go for either 8-bit or 16-bit graphics, primarily inspired by the old Nintendo consoles. However, the upcoming World of Horror has decided to take things even further back by utilizing a rather striking 1-bit art style. An unusual choice, but I have to admit, it works really well with the whole horror aesthetic!
As for the actual gameplay, World of Horror is a roguelite adventure game that will have you investigate a variety of unusual and often super-natural occurrences, all in an effort to prevent one of the Old Gods from rising and devouring all of humanity in the process. You'll need to figure out who you can trust, which places to visit and which places to avoid, manage your resources including health and sanity, as well as figure out how to deal with cultists using kitchen utensils when you run out of places to hide.
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
It has only been a short amount of time since Mutant Year Zero's expansion Seed of Evil arrived, and already the developers have released a brand new strategy game. However, instead of a fantasy world brimming with bizarre and unique characters, the freshly launched Corruption 2029 is set in a near-future dystopia that's about as bleak as it possibly gets.
In terms of actual gameplay, Corruption 2029 is fairly similar to its predecessor. It's a challenging, XCOM inspired turn-based strategy with a bit of stealth combat thrown in for good measure. In order to succeed you'll need to first sneak in, take out a few of the outlying guards, and only go guns-blazing once you've secured a serious advantage over your enemies. Needless to say, expect your team to die a fair few times before the whole ordeal is over.
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
Audiosurf released all the way back in 2008, and to my knowledge, was one of the first highly popular rhythm-racing games. It was a fairly simple concept, just racing along tracks created from your own music, but sometimes simplicity is all you really need to have a thoroughly engaging experience.
However, the reason I'm bringing up Audisurf in 2020 isn't to simply reminisce about how fun it is, but rather because it has suddenly received a brand new update! First and foremost, widescreen scaling has been greatly improved across the board. This will be the most noticeable on ultrawide monitors, though even 16:9 screens will see some minor positive changes. And if you're in the mood for something completely different, you can now also play in 'narrowscreen' as well.
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
After the surprisingly good 20XX, Batterystaple Games have now announced that they're giving the concept another try. Much like its predecessor, 30XX will be a roguelite action-platformer primarily inspired by the look and feel of games like Mega Man X.
If you're wondering just what exactly I mean by that, you should check out the recently posted announcement trailer as it'll give you a pretty good idea of just what 30XX is trying to be. Have a little peek:
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
After spending around four years in Steam Early Access, the Diablo inspired Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem has now been released in full. As you would imagine from its inspiration, Wolcen brings with it a whole boatload of monsters to hack and slash your way through, a variety of abilities and builds to experiment with, and naturally, more loot than one could ever hope to carry back to town.
You can get a pretty good idea of what to expect from Wolcen in terms of gameplay, as well as what the story is about, through the recently posted launch trailer. Have a gander:
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
DUSK is a truly awesome retro shooter, and one of the main reasons why the genre is having such a resurgence these days. But if that alone simply isn't enough, DUSK has just become even better through the addition of official modding support!
The whole system is still in alpha so it's not fully fleshed out just yet, but there are already quite a few mods available to toy around with. As you might expect, most are currently just texture or audio replacements, though there are a surprising number of community-made levels as well. You can check them out over at the DUSK modding website.
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
[Update]: After years in development, Door Kickers 2 has now entered Steam Early Access.
Door Kickers 2 was originally supposed to release in 2016, a mere two years after the original, though KillHouse Games ended up delaying its launch to 2017 in order to get everything nice and polished up. As you might imagine, the new release date didn't end up working out either. And as 2017 rolled over to 2018, new information about Door Kickers 2 became incredibly sparse, to the point that I simply wasn't even sure if it's actually in development anymore.
Thankfully, it would appear that my concerns were unfounded as KillHouse Games have just announced that not only is Door Kickers 2 still alive and kicking, but that it will be released onto Steam Early Access this year! The exact release date hasn't been revealed just yet, but you can expect to see it at some point in the second quarter of 2020.
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
After successfully getting Northgard through Steam Early Access, Shiro Games are now attempting to do the same with Darksburg. However, while Northgard is a strategy game through and through, Darksburg is a co-op focused hack & slash with both a classic PvE mode and a Left 4 Dead inspired PvP mode.
You can get a bit of an idea of what Darksburg looks like, as well as what the actual combat is about, through the recently posted launch trailer. Have a gander, it's a fairly short one:
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
[Update]: Besiege has now been released in full, and you'll be happy to hear that the developers are already looking towards adding some nifty post-launch content.
Besiege has spent around five years in Steam Early Access, during which it has received an absolute ton of content updates and improvements. Things will soon be getting even more interesting, however, as the developers have now announced that Besiege will finally be getting released on February 18th alongside yet another major new update.
The aptly named Patch 1.0 will add the final island for Besiege's singleplayer campaign, bringing with it a variety of lovely environments and highly challenging levels. There will be new enemies to slaughter, fortresses to endlessly smash your patchwork devices against, as well as "secret magics to unravel" as you slowly work your way across the island.