Earlier today, I tweeted explaining that for some mad reason Kotaku had left me alone at the wheel of their website today, and asked my followers for breaking AAA news to fill in the awkward holiday Monday-driven game-world silence. It turns out they don’t know what triple-A means, but what they heck, here’s the breaking indie gaming news from those who replied!
Esse Proxy is a top-down cyberpunk shooter from From South Games. It looks outrageously slick, somewhere between Alien Breed and Hotline Miami, and splendidly gory. It’s due out later this year, created by just one guy, which is just bonkers.
Deepest Chamber is a deckbuilding roguelite, that looks like it’s set in the dungeony undergrounds of Legend Of Grimrock. Of the approximately 3.2 seconds of actual play shown in the trailer, it looks neat! There’s a demo due on June 16th.
Zodiac Legion is an X-COM-inspired tactical-em-up, in a medieval setting. It’s been in development for more than seven years, and its first trailer is appearing next week as part of the Guerilla Collective online games festival. But you can see a brief gif below, to watch a wall asplode.
Talking of X-COM, Slaves Of Magic is a tactical turn-based fantasy RPG, that says it’s inspired by both X-COM and Guild Wars, which are certainly two games I’ve never heard uttered in the same breath! Intrigued. It’s currently in alpha, and is due out some time next year.
Jupiter Moons: Mecha is another roguelite deckbuilder, but this time set in outside space. With mechs! I really love the cartoony style here, and it looks a lot more involved than the standard deckbuilder. Inventory Tetris and all. Its release date is “before next Jovian year,” which means... oh, any time in the next 11.86 Earth years.
Guardians Of Gridvale is going to be a tactical turn-based RPG, which says it has “timing mechanics where the enemies show their moves in advance.” Which is kind of them. It’s aiming for PC, consoles and telephones, but then isn’t everyone? The creator rather splendidly quotes himself saying, “Picture Into the Breach, Fire Emblem and Paper Mario having a threesome with XCOM sitting next to the bed with a camera.” I don’t want to picture that. Please don’t make me.
Exophobia is a “retro-FPS metroidvania”. Yes please. And oh just look at those chunky pixels! This one’s coming to consoles as well as PC, all of them except the PS5 by the looks of it. Oh, and there’s a demo!
Retro FPSs reminds me, there’s also a game jam taking place on Itch right now run by E1M1 magazine. The mag, dedicated to retro and retro-like shooters, is asking people to create five-level retro-styled FPS games with... raytracing? [checks] Yes, with raytracing. All games have to be made using Raycasting GameMaker, with no commercial assets, and entries need to be in by June 3rd. You can play the current entries right here. (They don’t all look entirely safe for work...) It was MK Schmidt’s entry that brought this to my attention, Catacombs Of The Necromancer, which looks slightly less terrifying than others.
Meanwhile, Fuzz Force: Spook Squad is yet another deckbuilder, this time set in “a spooky board game world.” Dice are rolled with what look like in-game physics, and the whole thing looks like complete mayhem. This one’s out of Early Access next week!
Skeleton Crew is a 2D platformer (so not a deckbuilding roguelite or tactical RPG!), to be played either solo or up to 4-player co-op. The animated cutscene in the trailer below is just the best, and the in-game footage looks bloody marvellous.
And last of all, today/tonight is the last chance to play free in the Chivalry 2 open beta, both on PC and consoles. It apparently ends at 11am ET tomorrow. The game proper is coming out June 8 on PC, Xboxes and PlayStations.