Andre's Indie Game Chosen Ones Issue #3
Issue #3 features The Riftbreaker, Into the Loop, Midnight Protocol, Evertried, Rebel Inc: Escalation, Age of Darkness: Final Stand, Ætheris, Stray, Alfred Hitchcock - Vertigo, A Little Golf Journey
Welcome to Issue #3 of Andre’s Indie Game Chosen Ones!
This is a reminder that anything below that is underlined is a clickable link.
Not every section will be included in every issue. My Indie Game Discovery Roundup will always be included! This is explained in the About section.
I’m being very selective with media embedded videos in order to make this newsletter as e-mail friendly as possible for readers using mobile devices.
ENJOY!
Indie Game Discovery Roundup #52
If you read my Gaming Odds & Ends launch issue, you’ll recognize a few of these games.
The Riftbreaker
(PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC, Xbox Game Pass)
The Riftbreaker, developed by EXOR Studios, is a base-building ARPG that I’ve been interested in for most of this year. You are a commando that operates inside a mech robot that collects resources and researches tech for survival. I played a little bit of the game on Xbox Game Pass and it’s a very interesting and different kind of ARPG experience. In some ways it feels like a tower defense game. The visuals are excellent, and the game has interesting resource gathering, crafting, and tech research systems. I’m definitely going to play more of it and you should check it out also.
Release Date: October 13, 2021 (OUT NOW)
The Riftbreaker on Steam
Midnight Protocol
(PC)
Midnight Protocol, developed by LuGus Studios, is a game centered around hacking that I wrote about in my Demo Thoughts in the previous issue. It’s a narrative-driven RPG that uses text commands and action points in a turn-based format as the gameplay loop. Think of the text commands like spells, as they have different effects on the systems they are trying to hack into or get to. You get to decide what commands to include in your limited list. I recommend playing the demo still available on their Steam page. I’m definitely interested in playing this at some point.
Release Date: October 13, 2021 (OUT NOW)
Midnight Protocol on Steam
Midnight Protocol - OUT NOW trailer
Into the Loop
(PC)
Into the Loop, developed by Creational Labs, is another game I covered in my Demo Thoughts last issue. It’s a physics-based game about using momentum inside loops to send a small little ball to other loops. As you progress to each new level more objects will be in your way to either avoid or use to advance forward. I enjoyed my experience with the demo and I really like this the concept of this game. I will likely play more of it in the future because I found the demo very addicting.
Release Date: October 14, 2021 (OUT NOW)
Into the Loop on Steam
Into the Loop Steam Trailer
Evertried
(PC, Switch, PS4, Xbox One)
Evertried, developed by Lunci Games, is another game I recently played the demo of. It’s a tactical rogue-lite where you have to climb a tower in the fastest way possible. When your character moves, the enemy moves, so you have to be smart by avoiding enemy attacks. There’s also a focus meter that builds up during actions, which is why you need to be fast. I was dying a lot when I played the demo, but I definitely found this game to be interesting enough to include in my roundup. The demo is still available on the Steam page.
Release Date: October 21, 2021
Evertried on Steam
Evertried - Announcement Trailer
Rebel Inc: Escalation
(PC)
Rebel Inc: Escalation, developed by Ndemic Creations, is a strategy simulation game about balancing civilian and military priorities to gain trust from the people in a war-torn country, while also trying to fight off an insurgency from gaining power. The culture and socio-political landscape of Afghanistan influenced the development of the game.
H.E. Said T. Jawad, Ambassador of Afghanistan to the UK has praised the game saying:
Rebel Inc. is sophisticated and engaging. It shows the complexity of war and insurgency with interesting options to achieve success through stability and peace.I’m definitely interested in trying this game at some point, not only because of the subject matter, but it also has single player and multiplayer modes. Don’t overlook this one.
Release Date: October 13, 2021 (OUT NOW)
Rebel Inc: Escalation on Steam
Steam Early Access Report: Age of Darkness: Final Stand (Launch)
Disclosure:
This Age of Darkness: Final Stand Steam Early Access Report is based off of a copy of the game provide for free.
Age of Darkness: Final Stand, developed by PlaySide. recently entered Steam Early Access and I had no real expectations of what the experience was going to be. This is a survival RTS strategy game that is certainly different than any other RTS I've played. The goal is to defend your Keep from waves of Nightmares (enemies) in large quantities by building your base's defenses and controlling a hero and building an army in a day/night cycle. You have to survive the Death Night, which is the phase after a certain amount of in-game day/night cycles until darkness sets in and the Nightmares start attacking. Unlike RTS games like Age of Empires or StarCraft, you don't control the villagers or workers directly. Instead, you command villagers through each building's interface to use or gather resources for the building selected. One of the more confusing aspects of Age of Darkness that I'm trying to get used to is how to manage supply and food, as the systems used in the game are a little different than the traditional RTS. A disappointing omission is that it currently doesn't have a walkthrough tutorial and only a text tutorial in the menu. A lot of me learning the game was trial and error, but I did get better as I played more.
The game is a rogue-like experience because each map is randomly generated and one of the more frustrating experiences is how tight your starting position is, especially for a new player. The game is always requiring new buildings to tech up, but also just naturally to survive by building walls and towers. The problem is the buildings take up way too much space, so expanding early and having a plan is the best choice. The hero is probably one of the more interesting elements of this game so far, but right now in Early Access only one hero is available, Edwin, Wielder of the Flame. Two more heroes will eventually be available. I really like that the heroes level up and get skill points to put in a skill tree with choices of how to mold your character. Edwin is a melee hero, so one of his abilities that unlocks at a certain level is one that adds fire to his sword for a period of time. The game really does a great job of making heroes feel powerful and incentivizes you to keep them alive, otherwise you have to wait a while to resurrect or pay a price. Each Death Night gives a buff to the enemies of some kind, but if you survive the wave of Nightmares you get a Blessing that you can choose out of three choices that buffs you in similar way for that current match. Each set of days brings harder enemies and in much larger quantities. The farthest I got in my experience so far was day 15, when I failed holding off 2,000 Nightmares and I got destroyed.
Each game that I played felt different because I was learning the systems, but also the map layouts were not the same, The game's best features right now are probably the dark visuals and some of the sound effects. I can definitely see myself playing a lot more of this because this is just the beginning of something much bigger.
PlaySide has a Steam Early Access road map on the store page that you can check out.
Age of Darkness: Final Stand is expected to be in Steam Early Access for at least a year.
My Version 1.0 Wishlist:
A Walkthrough Tutorial
More Space in Starting Positions
Age of Darkness: Final Stand on Steam
Kickstarter Spotlight: Ætheris
Ætheris, developed by Wild Wits, is in my spotlight this week because the game immediately grabbed my attention because it’s a tactical rogue-lite RPG that’s visually beautiful. I’m intrigued by the combination of a tactical game that can influence story decisions. There’s a lot of passion behind this game. Take a look and judge for yourself.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wild-wits-games/aetheris-the-game/
As of this writing: $15,254 pledged of $34,799 goal
Ends Thu, November 4 2021 2:42 AM EDT.
Disclaimer: This is not an endorsement of the Kickstarter, nor am I affiliated with the developers. Pledge at your own risk.
Mini-Review
Twelve Minutes (PC)
Twelve Minutes, developed by Luis Antonio, is an interactive thriller about a cop that barges into your apartment to arrest your wife for murder and beating the husband (you) to death. The game features Willem Dafoe voicing the cop, Daisy Ridley as the wife, and James McAvoy as the husband. Playing as the husband, it’s your job to change the outcome within the twelve minute loop, otherwise the night starts over again. Twelve Minutes was one of my most anticipated games of 2021, and after finishing it I’m still somewhat agnostic about it.
First of all, this is a very difficult game to discuss without giving spoilers due to how story-driven the game is and the game mechanics involved. Changing the outcome of events in Twelve Minutes is a very interesting trial and error process at first, but as soon as you figure out the beginning of the process it can turn methodical and frustrating if you can’t figure out the next step. Luckily the game has a fast forward option, but it doesn’t ease the repetitive annoyance enough. What really saves Twelve Minutes is the voice acting of all three characters, especially Willem Dafoe as the cop. His performance carries the game, as you get an acting demo of different ranges of emotion from the beginning to the conclusion. Playing as the husband, the gameplay mechanics aren’t that difficult, as the rooms you can walk into and interact with are very small, both in size and quantity. Having to avoid spoilers here, one of my main issues with the game is that it does so well with spatial sound design in a lot of ways, but then it doesn’t in other ways when interacting with certain objects in proximity of other characters.
You’ll see a lot of repeated death and violence while playing Twelve Minutes, including one outcome that even by video game standards is incredibly violent and chilling that was tough to watch. Four to five hours later the game should be solved, but the ending is a bit strange. If you have Xbox Game Pass you should definitely try it out, but if you buy it remember you’re paying for a short gaming experience with good acting.
Trailer Impressions
Stray
Stray - Gameplay Walkthrough
Stray is about a lost cat in a cybercity that needs to find a way back home. This gameplay walkthrough shows how the cat interacts with both the environment and people. The cat animations and movements look very realistic, and even the cat platforming appears within the realm of reality, because if you own a cat you know! I can’t wait to learn more about this as we get closer to the release date.
Release Date: Early 2022 (PS5, PS4, PC)
Stray on Steam
Alfred Hitchock - Vertigo
Alfred Hitchock - Vertigo | Story Trailer
This story trailer for Alfred Hitchock - Vertigo shows off some of the voice acting, visuals, and soundtrack in this psychological thrilling experience that I’m very excited to play. It’s important to note that the game is inspired by Alfred Hitchock’s Vertigo and is NOT a 1:1 adaptation. There’s very little that we know, except that you experience the story through the vision of three different characters. I’m very curious to see how this game turns out to be because the trailers have been very catchy.
Release Date: December 16, 2021 (PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series S|X, PS4, PS5, Switch)
Alfred Hitchock - Vertigo on Steam
Review
A Little Golf Journey Review (PC) - October 14, 2021
EXCERPT
…The key part of A Little Golf Journey’s game design that I like the most is that it gives the player the tools and options to play and enjoy the game how they want. Shooting the ball in the game is done by holding a mouse button and pulling your mouse, but sometimes it can get jumpy. When aiming your shot the normal settings have your aim start swaying after a few seconds, which is interesting in practice because sometimes the sway can give you unpredictable and even helpful results. Adjusting the camera each course isn’t necessarily hard, but starts to become annoying after a while. Luckily, the game design options allowed me to remove the golf sway, add undo for each shot, and that helped make my experience far more enjoyable and less frustrating. Even with the options I turned on I still felt like I got the full experience. The later biome worlds required a lot of precision and patience to complete even with all assist help I turned on, . There is no way I would have completed or enjoyed the game without the assist options. For challenges, you can unlock some within the actual course levels, but they are timed and luckily can turn off the timer. As much as I wanted to complete the challenges with the timer, the camera kept resetting while doing challenges so it was impossible to do…
Upcoming Content
What to Expect in Issue #4:
Indie Game Discovery Roundup (5 Games)
Kickstarter Spotlight
Trailer Impressions
Steam Early Access Report
Thanks for reading! I decided to go back to the standard black & white background for the web version to create less variables for losing potential readers. Yes, this issue was a few days later due to feeling sick, but Issue #5 is still on track for this Friday!
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-Andre, Editor-in-Chief of GameReviewPad
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