indies

3DRealms is known for its many, many retro first-person shooters, and though Wrath: Aeon of Ruin doesn’t necessarily stand out in this respect, it’s a marquee example of the niche regardless. It’s pretty exciting, then, that its 1.0 version has now launched from Early Access. Described as a “great mixture of old and new” back in 2019, Wrath: Aeon of Ruin is a strange and enticing combination of the first Quake and Turok, of all things. It’s a rapid-fire boomer-shooter, not unlike DUSK, but with a bit of additional pizazz…

Danish studio Die Gute Fabrik, responsible for indie titles such as the excellently unique indie Mutazione, has announced that the company is halting production of current projects. The studio points to the current “challenging funding and investment scene” in games as the big reason behind the decision. We’re sad to share that we're halting production at @gutefabrik due to the challenging funding & investment scene in games right now. We downed tools earlier this month & have been doing our best to support the…

I realized a long time ago I was probably never going to be good at poker. It’s not that I’m bad at assessing risk; worse, I just don’t care. When I used to play casual games in-between classes in school, I’d go all-in on bad hands. I’d swap cards for a flush that probably wouldn’t show up. So imagine my surprise when Balatro, a deckbuilding poker roguelite, asked me to lean into those bad habits. Developed by LocalThunk and published by Playstack, Balatro made a bit of a splash during the recent Steam Next Fest. So when…

Deep space exploration, spaceship customization, and good ‘ol dude-bashing card games don’t seem like they go together, but after playing the demo for Breachway, I can confidently say this actually makes a perfect trio.  Breachway combines roguelike elements with deckbuilding to create a run-based space exploration game presenting new challenges in every star system. The basic hook has you exploring a large region of space while searching for new ship components and thus adding cards to the deck you’ll use in combat.…

Atlus Microsoft unveiled the next batch of new Xbox Game Pass titles, which are dropping between January 18 and February 8. Of the seven new titles coming to the video game subscription service over that time span, four are new games being added on the day of their release. The most noteworthy of those games is Persona 3 Reload, Atlus’ highly anticipated remake of an RPG classic. Persona 3 was first released for the PlayStation 2 in Japan in 2006 and came to North America just a year later. While its sequels would go…

It’s always the ones you don’t expect, right? In a year full of AAA powerhouses competing for the top spot, I’m actually not too surprised that Lethal Company managed to sneak in and steal hearts. Thousands of them, even. It was actually a narrow competition this year for our newly founded indie game category. Intended as a way to get more independent games involved in the conversations we have at the end of every year, we wound up with an intriguing mix of games. Chained Echoes was a holdover from last December, but…

“Morbidcore” isn’t an established subgenre, but it’s not hard to imagine what falls into this category. These are games exploring life’s darker moments. Not for the sake of simply disturbing an audience, but instead, they’re stories communicating the more unsettling aspects of humanity — the parts we shy away from or refuse to acknowledge. Grief, depression, trauma, and pain are all prevailing themes in these narratives, and while they don’t aim to shock, they inevitably do. Indies aren’t the only titles that attempt…

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.…

At this point, you have to know Taika Waiti is gonna Taika Waititi—especially since it’s been long known he isn’t coming back for a potential Thor 5. But the director’s self-deprecating appearance on the SmartLess Podcast, hosted by comedic actors Will Arnett, Sean Hayes, and Jason Bateman, has left some Marvel fans flummoxed and angry. The Secret to Taika Waititi’s SuccessWhen discussing why he joined Thor: Ragnarok, Waititi gave an answer describing his Marvel Studios experience in a way that’s been taken as somewhat…

IND vs WI 2nd test live: India's Tour of West Indies has begun strongly with a convincing win against the Windies in the 1st test. This was the first encounter in the new World Test Championship cycle after the Men in Blue lost against Australia in the WTC 2023 final. After a month-long break, the Indian team will play several Tests, ODIs and T20s against West Indies, with the last match scheduled for August 13. Yashaswi Jaiswal, who made his international debut in the 1st test, played a starring role in the match with a…