indie games

Game publisher Versus Evil has announced that it will shut down its operations just days before the Christmas holidays. The game publisher which focuses on indie games including The Banner Saga and Pillars of Eternity II, said in a post on X it is shutting its doors.Elevate Your Tech Prowess with High-Value Skill CoursesOffering CollegeCourseWebsiteIndian School of BusinessISB Digital TransformationVisitNorthwestern UniversityKellogg Post Graduate Certificate in Product ManagementVisitIIM KozhikodeIIMK Advanced Data…

Kinmoku Growing up, I routinely did the very thing adults begged me not to do: I talked to a lot of strangers. That was thanks to the World Wide Web, which was a digital wild west during my formative years in the late 1990s and into the 2000s. As a small-town nerd who couldn’t always find friends with the same passions as me, I spent many days in online communities. Long before writing professionally, I’d cut my teeth in criticism on IGN’s forums, crafting weekly reviews of Super Smash Bros. Brawl reveals. I’d…

I play just about every genre of video game, but I especially love a great puzzle game. While I enjoy high-skill experiences that require fast reflexes, I appreciate any cleverly designed game that can test my brain just as much. Titles like The Witness and Portal 2 rank high on my list of all-time favorites, sitting comfortably next to canonical action classics like Mass Effect 2 and The Last of Us. As someone who follows the genre closely, let me tell you: 2023 was one hell of a year for puzzlers. That’s thanks…

I’m probably not alone when I say that I can’t get enough Dead Cells. The excellent roguelike has been a mainstay on my PC and Switch since it released. I even have an arcade cabinet in my apartment that runs it. Whether I’m jumping in for a random run or checking out its excellent Return to Castlevania DLC, I’m always down for more of its 2D action formula. Of course, there’s only so much of it I can play, especially as developer Motion Twin gets to work on its next game, Windblown. Luckily, there’s an easy way to…

Forget Christmas; last week, we got a second Summer Game Fest thanks to a few days of high-profile announcements. That includes the first trailer for Grand Theft Auto VI and a three-and-a-half hour Game Awards broadcast that revealed upcoming titles like Monster Hunter Wilds and Arkane’s Blade. I wouldn’t blame anyone who wasn’t able to keep track of every single announcement offered up in the span of three days. There’s one showcase, though, that’s worth revisiting. Day of the Devs, a live broadcast that routinely…

Digital Trends You could have spent the entirety of 2023 keeping up with new games and you still wouldn’t have played a fraction of the excellent games released this year. That’s especially true for the independent scene, which produced some fantastic works of art in-between gargantuan releases like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. I can’t blame anyone for missing a few — I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface myself — but you shouldn’t leave 2023 without a handful of indies in your backlog. Some of…

Another edition of Day of the Devs, a regular indie game live stream, took place ahead of this year’s Game Awards ceremony. The show highlighted 20 indie games, including surprise sequels to Genesis Noir and Kind Words. Day of the Devs usually runs a live stream every year alongside Summer Game Fest. This year, the indie showcase put on a second, hourlong event ahead of The Game Awards. While it largely highlighted some previously announced games like Braid: Anniversary Edition, it brought several new announcements…

With a mercilessly busy 2023 winding down, you’d think that I’d be ready for a break from video games. And trust me, I am, but I still can’t help but look forward to what’s on the horizon in 2024. I already know that games like Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth and Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth are bound to consume me, but there’s one indie game that I especially have my eye on: Ultros. The ultrastylish Metroidvania left a strong impression on me at this May’s PlayStation Showcase. That was largely thanks to its…

A Highland Song MSRP $18.00 “A Highland Song successfully brings the awe-inspiring freedom of Breath of the Wild to the Scottish Highlands.” Pros Painterly art style Freeform climbing Creative "run" structure Excellent music Cons Players can get stuck…

Xbox may be about as corporate a brand as you can find, but it’s been a surprisingly vital platform for independent developers. That dates back to the Xbox Live Arcade days of old, when small developers were given a place to easily publish their projects on consoles. Rather than pulling away from those days, Xbox has only doubled down on its relationship to indies in the years since through initiatives like ID@Xbox and a Developer Acceleration Program designed to help underrepresented developers get their games out.…