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The best new indie games out this week, April 11, 2024.
Another week, another slate of great indie games! Last week it was my 37th birthday, and my parents are still buying me video games as gifts. In a final last “irresponsible” gift before we have our child, they were gracious enough to gift me a PlayStation 5 along with Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth, The Last of Us: Part II, and Spider-man: Miles Morales. While I haven’t had a huge amount of time to dive into these games, I am very excited to get reacquainted with the PlayStation system, and I am not going to lie… it is kinda nice to have a hefty console again.
But most of my playtime this week has been spent with Pepper Grinder. I mentioned it in last week’s dispatch, and the folks over at Devolver Digital were kind enough to hook me up with a code for the Switch. It’s a fun little game that demands a lot of platforming prowess, in a similar vein to Super Meat Boy. I like that about it, but there is just… something lacking that I cannot put my finger on.
I will be posting up my thoughts next week, first on Ko-Fi and Patreon, and then a review next week here on Pixels for Breakfast. What I will say though - it looks DELIGHTFUL on the Switch OLED. Makes me wish I had a Steam Deck OLED at this point.
Anyway, let’s get into it!
What came out this week?Planet CrafterDeveloper: Miju Games
Steam rating: Overwhelmingly Positive
Store page
Crafters and good vibes chases will want to check out Planet Crafter this week, as it hits version 1.0 after a stint in Early Access. This space survival simulator throws you onto the surface of an inhospitable planet, and allows up to 10 players to craft and build systems to terraform your new home.
Generate oxygen, warmth, and develop new biospheres as your squad turns the barren planet into a delightful paradise. You will need to build everything from scratch - your tools, your shelter, your base, and your terraforming gadgets. If that sounds overwhelming though, Planet Craft has several difficulty modes from relaxed to hardcore, so you can create an experience you are totally comfortable with.
In a world of hardcore and gritty survival sims, Planet Crafter seems to be leaning a little closer to the colorful whimsy of Astroneer, and I am here for it.
Yellow Taxi Goes VroomDeveloper: Panik Arcade
Steam rating: Very Positive
Store page
If you are one of those sickos that loves games like Banjo-Kazooie and other N64 collectathons, you may want to check out Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom which launched this week.
Despite being control of a car, Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom is a platformer where you actually don’t have a jump button! You will need to string together moves and make use of the environments to reach the far corners of the world to find all the collectibles.
Featuring such loveable characters as Pizza King, Morio, and Ultra Chad, Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom has a bit of a narrative unfolding in the background too, which sounds like some silly fun.
This game has done the rounds at conventions in the past, and has walked away with some nods. If you’re looking for a retro-inspired adventure, this one should be going on your wishlist.
InkboundDeveloper: Shiny Shoe
Steam rating: Very Positive
Store page
The folks behind the wildly successful Monster Train are back at it again, dropping version 1.0 of their turn-based tactical roguelike, Inkbound this week. Featuring co-op and solo play, Inkbound will have you creating unique builds to take on a wide variety of baddies spread out across Antheneum.
Inkbound employs a pretty unique turn-based system where players can move and act simultaneously while playing in multiplayer, and can rapidly use abilities. This allows you to smash through the easy fights, but also allows you to slow down when you need to strategize and consider your actions. I haven’t seen anything quite like this.
Monster Train is right up there as one of the greats, so I am excited to see what Shiny Shoe has created here. It survived Early Access and has dropped with some good buzz in the Steam reviews, so if you are looking for a tactical fix, this could be your jam.
Children of the SunDeveloper: René Rother
Steam rating: Very Positive
Store page
Devolver is at it again, dropping this puzzle-based sniper game Children of the Sun. The gimmick is you have one bullet, one shot, so you need to explore the environment and play your angle before pulling the trigger.
You will need to plan your approach with care, taking into account traps and other factors to make sure that you can take out your targets with your single bullet. Thankfully your bullet can curve around obstacles, accelerate to break through armor, and other powers to make your shot count.
And there is a dark story to uncover as you take down THE CULT, and attempt to take out THE LEADER, while learning more about the atrocities they have committed in the past.
Botany ManorDeveloper: Balloon Studios
Steam rating: Very Positive
Store page
If you planted the seeds of The Witness inside a Victorian home, you would eventually sprout Botany Manor, a puzzle game where you need to figure out the perfect growing habitats for a collection of forgotten flora.
You are Arabella Greene, a botanist who is trying to complete her botanical research book, “Forgotten Flora”. You must explore the gardens and rooms of the manor to learn new clues on how to create the perfect environment to grow those plants, and finish up that book.
The plants that you are growing are slightly fantastical, however the game claims that each one is inspired by real phenomena in nature, and that you will need to think outside the box to make the perfect conditions, and that honestly sounds neat. If you want to literally watch the grass grow, and enjoy a head scratcher, check this one out.
Buckshot RouletteDeveloper: Mike Klubnika
Steam rating: Overwhelmingly Positive
Store page
Look. I kinda don’t really know what to make of this game. It has a HEAVY Inscription vibe, but instead of a deck of cards in a murderous cabin, you have a 12-gauge shotgun and you are playing Russian roulette with a mysterious dealer.
The game is broken up into intense 15-20 minute sessions. You enter the arena, and go three arounds against the dealer. Will you walk away with your life? Or will something unfortunate transpire?
It looks moody and mysterious, and it’s about the same price as a 7Eleven latte (at least in Japan) so I might take a punt on this one. The steam ratings are certainly glowing.
There you have it, another slate of cool indies. Did I miss something that you want to gush about? Please let me know in the comments, I want to know more. Don’t forget to come back next week for some thoughts on Pepper Grinder, and as always please tell a friend about the Dispatch. Let’s get this thing up to 100 readers!
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The best new indie games out this week, April 5, 2024.
Hello everyone, and welcome to another Indie Release Dispatch! As I mentioned in the last dispatch, life has been incredibly busy as I plan for what my day-to-day is going to become, so my gaming time has been scant. However, I did get my hands on a copy of Pepper Grinder and I have to say, the few hours I have thrown into it so far have been incredibly fun. Stay tuned for a review sometime in the next week or so.
Also, thanks to my pal Patrick, I have fallen back down a Company of Heroes rabbit hole. I know, I know. It’s not indie, but the whole strategy genre is fairly new territory for me, so I am going back to play the classics.
Anyway, enough about that, let’s look at the new games.
What came out this week?No Plan BDeveloper: GFX47
Steam rating: Very Positive
Store page
There is something just so satisfying about the concept of a tactical planning map. You’ve seen war generals pushing figures across tables with those funny sticks in movies. No Plan B is capitalizing on this, with a high-stakes tactical plan that comes to life after you queue up your actions and hit the go button.
If you are looking at this trailer and think that it looks like Door Kickers, you aren’t wrong. In fact, one of the creators of Door Kickers 2 was in the Steam Reviews singing its praises and mentioned that they were in contact with GFX47 during the development so it seems everyone is on good terms.
No Plan B features four player factions, each with different skills and missions to work through. You can play not only as a SWAT team, but also some villains as well. Plan to rescue hostages, or plan a bank heist, it’s all on the table.
Featuring a roguelike campaign with branching paths, and daily and weekly skirmish challenges, No Plan B looks like a lot of fun that will challenge fans of tactical action games, and it is getting good review from the community.
Content WarningDeveloper: Skog, Zorro, Wilnyl, Philip, thePetHen
Steam rating: Very Positive
Store page
Content Warning is a super neat co-op game where you and your friends need to film your antics for SpookTube to earn money by going viral. You head into the Old World to find ghosties, monsters, and other spooky artefacts that will cause your heart rate to rise, and hopefully will increase that view count.
If you manage to survive the horrific caverns and get out, it’s time to upload the video to SpookTube, host a watch party, and let the view and rolls in. More views will increase your profits from SpookTube’s ad revenue, which will allow you to upgrade your gear to capture better, and spookier videos.
I am not going to lie - I really dig this commentary of the content creator treadmill, one that I was on for a long time in my life. Even if this game is not exactly saying “HEY THIS IS BAD YOU WILL DIE”, it’s kinda nice to know game devs are starting to think about these things.
Shout out to my buddy Mesmaa who put this one on my radar. Let’s check it out together soon!
From Glory To Goo (Early Access)Developer: Stratagem Blue
Steam rating: Positive
Store page
If you are seeking a classic RTS with some neat twists, From Glory To Goo looks like it could fit that bill. With a retro aesthetic in the same vein as Starcraft, this RTS has you establishing a colony on a hostile world, where you have to defend your scientists against the ever expanding Goo.
Hold back the waves of the purple goo and then rebuild, and increase your defenses so you can keep your colony safe. The game features procedurally generated maps with different biomes to keep things interesting, and a variety of unique captain units that gain experience and level up as the game progresses. With weapons, skills, abilities, and ships to unlock along the way, it seems to already have a lot of content for an Early Access launch. I might have to check this one our myself given my recent strategy kick.
Minishoot’ AdventuresDeveloper: SoulGame Studio
Steam rating: Very Positive
Store page
When I looked this one up I saw a YouTube video titled “What if Legend of Zelda was a bullet hell?” and that got me intrigued. Minishoot’ Adventures sets you on a journey to save the world after diabolical minions have destroyed your village and are taking over the land.
Piloting a lone ship you will be flying through the environments collecting primordial powers to increase your combat and exploration possibilities, and dealing with an ever-increasing army of foes. The animation and art of this game look pretty incredible, and with some glowing reviews, this one looks like a tonne of fun.
Oh, and if you are new to bullet hell games, the devs actively encourage to play at your own pace.
“Whether you like chill exploration or hardcore Bullet Hell, we got you covered with 3 difficulty modes, aiming assistance, auto fire and more accessibility options.”
Bulwark: Falconeer ChroniclesDeveloper: Tomas Sala
Steam Rating: Very Positive
Store page
When I initially saw GIFs of Bulwark: Falconeer Chronicles, I immediately thought it was a new game from the Failbetter Games team. I quickly found out that there is absolutely no relation, and instead was greeted by an open world builder game. What does that mean? I am not entirely sure!
But players will be building sprawling cities with thriving towns, strong fortresses, and spires that will become trade hubs, or a rallying ground for battles. You are tasked with rebuilding after a great war that happened 40 years ago, and to reconnect your settlement to other factions scattered across the waves.
Those other settlements will have powerful Captains and Commanders that can protect your settlement, or aid in your exploration. Or perhaps you will need to amass your own warriors to defend your lands.
Bulwark: Falconeer Chronicles looks pretty incredible. I have definitely thrown it on my ever-expanding Wishlist.
Doronko WankoDeveloper: Bandai Namco Studios Inc.
Steam rating: Overwhelming Positive
Store page
OK, look. I know this is not indie. Bandai Namco are certainly no small team…
BUT LOOK AT THOSE CUTE MUDDY PUPPIES! 🥰
Doronko Wanko is a silly little game where you play as a silly Pomeranian who has been rolling in the mud. Your objective? Make the house as messy as possible.
I don’t really think I need to say anything more about this game, the trailer speaks for itself. But it is currently free on Steam so if you want to get those feel good vibes from a silly game, head on over to download it.
An article about a very old keyboardI posted something I threw together about the Z-Board, the coolest keyboard you probably never heard about, earlier this week. If you missed it, please go give it a read. I kinda want to try and hunt one of these down, but eBay prices are looking pretty prohibitive so I think it will just have to live on in my memory.
Speaking to Mesmaa we worked out he was about 3 years old when I owned this masterpiece, and that was enough to make me turn to dust.
Anyways, thanks for reading. Please share this newsletter with a friend so we can keep the good word spreading, and let me know what you plan on playing this week.
Also feel free to join our community on Discord, and if you want to support with some cash to keep the indie games flowing, we have a Patreon and a Ko-Fi page. Why both? Because Ko-Fi takes %0 but people are more comfortable with Patreon because it has been around longer, or so I am told.
See you next week!
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This was originally posted on the Ko-Fi page.
It was my birthday last week, and after some consultation with my good friend Eighty I decided to take the plunge and purchase the luxurious Wooting HE60 keyboard. I have long been a mechanical keyboard lover, and a firm believer that if you find a board that suits your tactile needs, it certainly can at least create the illusion of better performance. Even if I don’t manage to top frag as a result, I feel better about my connection to the game, as silly as that may sound to some of you.
The Wooting 60HE is no ordinary mechanical keyboard though. It utilizes their own specific analog switches which through their software, can mimic the precise movement of a gamepad analog stick. With a normal keyboard, when you press the W key to move forward, the keyboard is either saying that the switch is ON or OFF. There is no real nuance there; you are either walking or not walking. With the Wooting Lekker analog switch, you get a similar experience to a modern controller; the softer you press the button the slower the character will walk, and if you press the button to its deepest actuation point, you will hit a full-speed run. Using these settings on games like Hitman: World of Assassination and Resident Evil 4 has been a bit of a revelation. I have been able to leave my gamepad sitting on the desk, in favor for my preferred keyboard and mouse option, but still have that precise movement accuracy that I have been looking for.
There are many other features of the Wooting HE60 that I love, such as its rapid trigger keys which has seriously increased my performance in VALORANT ten fold. But ultimately it got me to think about gaming peripherals, and specifically controller interfaces as a whole and how stagnant they have become.
Gaming keyboards for instance are largely all the same between brands. The gaming features tend to be ultra-bright RGB lighting, and MAYBE some claim for faster response time. Each company is starting to use their own proprietary switches that in my opinion, all feel largely the same. But overall these keyboards offer a similar user experience, and you are paying for aesthetics alone. The Wooting HE60 is the first gaming-specific keyboard that I have used in over a decade that actually feels like it is bringing something new to the table, a new feature set that actually changes the way that I think about and interface with my games. That made me think about a keyboard that I had back in 2008 that had a similar effect on me.
The Ideazon Z-BoardThe Z-Board was a weird and wonderful bit of gaming kit that somehow arrived on the store shelves of my local Harvey Norman (think Best Buy, but far worse) in rural Australia. The idea was actually quite ingenious: a gaming-specific layout backed by software that allowed you to create customized profiles for any game, and map them to the ergonomic layout on the left hand-side, while still having access to a standard keyboard layout for chat. Those red butterfly keys still spark joy in my heart, as I think about the countless hours I spent playing Counter-Strike 1.6,** F.E.A.R, and Quake Wars with key layouts that were perhaps the most comfortable I have ever experienced.
But the layout was only a small sliver of the innovation on display. The Z-Board allowed you to take off the entire key layer, and replace it with an entirely new layout. An ingenious clip on the right hand side of the board allowed you to peel off the keys and fold them away as a cube, revealing the black domes underneath that were waiting for you to roll out a new setup. The standard board shipped with its innovative gaming butterfly layout, and a standard QWERTY + num pad set, but the company partnered with a number of popular games of the time to create bespoke layouts for specific games.
The Z-Board featured small rubber domes that the keyboard layouts would slide into, with an interface connector on the top right which made the magic happen.
The DOOM 3 Z-Board packageThese layouts were sold in these neat packages, and the games that jumped onboard this train were significant for the time. Layouts existed for World of Warcraft, Starcraft, DOOM 3, Counter-Strike, Aion, Battlefield 2142, and many more, which bolstered the legitimacy of this keyboard as a genuine player in the gaming space rather than a cheap fad.
And for every game that didn’t manage to make a specific keyboard add-on, the software behind the Z-Board did the heavy lifting. By the time I managed to get my very own Z-Board, Ideazon had been acquired by a small company called SteelSeries, who developed an easy-to-use interface that allowed you to program the butterfly layout to fit any game that you desired.
It may not look like much today, but the Z Engine software puts Razer Synapse to shame. No bloatware. No accounts to be made. Just a quick and simple way to make the keyboard work how you wanted, for the games that you wanted.
The Z-Board seemed to die a quiet death, eventually being replaced by the SteelSeries Merc in 2009, which took the butterfly key concept, and bolted it to the side of a regular keyboard. I never owned one of these, but many people swore by this board. In 2010 SteelSeries then went on to release the SteelSeries Shift, which aimed to copy the best parts of the Z-Board, including resurrecting the idea of bespoke swappable keys.
We have gone from something as innovative and focused as entire keyboard sets dedicated to a single game, to the dominance of RGB-spewing TKL boards and ultra smooth linear switches being the differentiation point. I would be lying if I said it didn’t make me a little sad to think what could have been if we kept going down the Z-Board route.
Insane peripherals that simply don’t make sense are pretty common in the golden generation of video game consoles, but when it comes to the PC we have largely been using the same interfaces for decades now. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but playing with the Wooting HE60 and feeling a different way to interact with my games, sent me down memory lane as I reflected on one of the more interesting pieces of kit I have ever owned.
Have you ever owned a weird piece of kit that is strange to think about now, but was awesome at the time? I would love to hear about it!
We take a look at the coolest indie games out this week, March 29, 2024.
Hello everyone, and welcome to the first Indie Release Dispatch in... wow, it's been a minute, huh?! As what seems to be a constant theme in my life, just as I start to find a groove, some wild and unexpected curveball swings into my life and derails me for a little while. Thankfully, for once, this particular curveball has been a very exciting one - my wife and I are expecting a baby later this year!
When we received the news a few months ago, I needed to hit pause. It was time for me to truly evaluate my priorities and where I wanted to focus my energy. After some deep reflection, I decided that yes, Pixels for Breakfast is still a big priority for me, but it also needs to be able to slot into my life in a sustainable way, especially during those early years with a child in your life.
Can I still make videos? What about all those long-form essays I had in mind? And those streams, what can I do about those? During my reflective moments, I realized that this very initiative, the Indie Release Dispatch, was by far the most sustainable and useful effort that I could regularly contribute moving forward. Because I definitely still need to write. There is a reason that this site has existed for over a decade now in some form, and that's because it is part of who I am. And the Indie Release Dispatch, as small as it is right now, is something that I am truly passionate about and really believe in. So here I am, back at it, ready to drop a weekly newsletter with some fun gaming recommendos.
As for that other content though... it's better to not expect it. That means when it does arrive, it will be a nice surprise, a longer-form content drop out of the blue, and probably something that I am immensely moved by to warrant spending that time. To me, I think that's a net positive, and I hope it will be for you too!So for those who support me on Ko-Fi or Patreon who wish to cancel their pledge due to the lack of the other stuff, I completely understand and encourage you to do so! However, those who perhaps can spend a couple of bucks a month to help me keep the indie games rolling into my library for this newsletter, I truly appreciate it.
With that out of the way, let's take a look at what came out this week.
What came out this week?ManiacDeveloper: Transhuman Design
Steam rating: Very Positive
Store page
If you are somewhere in the 30+ age bracket like I am, chances are that you have fond memories of running your little sprite around in the original Grand Theft Auto, gunning down innocent civilians, driving over rows of dancing Hare Krishnas, and destroying a metric shit tonne of cop cars all in the name of chaotic fun. Don't think about it too hard. Yes, it was kinda messed up. But that game reminds me of a simpler time. It was actually the first time I ever played a game over LAN at a friend's house, which started a life-long love of the LAN party, but that's a story for another time.
Maniac is an action roguelike that cribs heavily from the original Grand Theft Auto, with the ridiculous over-the-top action of Fast & Furious added in. With an ever-changing city that features 11 unique districts and a built-in map editor, you will be able to hijack powerful cars, bulldozers, tanks, and more. With six character to play including a drunken Santa Clause, Maniac looks to be a silly throwback to a simpler time, that is getting some positive buzz on Steam. If you want to switch off and have some stupid fun, this could be worth checking out this weekend.
Open RoadsDeveloper: Open Roads Team
Steam rating: Positive
Store page
The long awaited Open Roads is here! For those who haven't been following along, this is the new project from the developers behind Tacoma and Gone Home. In much the same vein, Open Roads tells a very personal story of Tess and Opal Divine, who discover a treasure trove of letters and records of mysterious family secrets when packing up a relative's house. It's from there that they hit the open roads, exploring the truth to these stories, and spending time with one another.
The art style is absolutely gorgeous, meshing first-person environments with hand-animated character art that really make it looks super fresh and exciting. And the Gone Home and Tacoma connection is strong, with beautifully rendered hand-written notes strewn throughout the game.
This adventure game has had a rather tumultuous development cycle. Originally developed under The Fullbright Company, about one year after the game was announced it was revealed by Polygon that around 15 employees (10 of which were women) across the year of development had left the company due to the behavior of studio lead Steve Gaynor. This lead to Gaynor stepping down from the head of the project, and eventually a new team put in place (mostly former Fullbright employees). To their publisher's credit, Annapurna stayed on board, and now we are finally seeing what the team has put together despite some rather tough circumstances.
Gone Home is one of my all-time favorite games, so I am very excited to check this one out sometime next week.
Pepper GrinderDeveloper: Ahr Ech
Steam rating: Very Positive
Store page
The certified banger list keeps growing over at Devolver Digital with the release of Pepper Grinder this week. This platforming adventure from Ahr Ech is the ultimate love letter to Drilldozer, as you play the role of shipwrecked pirate Pepper, armed with a super-powered drilling device. Robbed of her treasure, Pepper must use her drill to get back what is ritefully hers, and to get some sweet revenge.
The art and animation in Pepper Grinder is truly hypnotic, as everything has this gentle sway as the sprites move across the screen. It's looks like playing a hardcore classic from the SNES era but with all the visuals turned up to 11.
This has had a lot of postive buzz in preview events and some hands-on time from journos and punter alike. So if you like platformers, this one is definitely worth adding to the Wishlist.
CureocityDeveloper: Bread on Board
Steam rating: Overwhelmingly Positive
Store page
OK, this one is a little bit odd, because I cannot find a trailer for it anywhere on YouTube. However the Steam reviews are absolutely glowing, and the game is FREE so I say, let's roll with it!
Cureocity is a turn-based strategy game where you play a party of two- a new adventurer who is fresh to the dungeons and a former mercenary who is now acting as a healer. The two has wildly different personalities and goals, but working together they must divise the best strategy to explore the dungeon depths.
The game is not just about whacking baddies though. Your strategy is materialzied as the numerical values of the items your two heroes are holding at the time. You can swap different weapons or items held in your left and right hands to alter your character's attack and defense stats. You can also change gestures to focus on heavy attacks to land critical blows, or perhaps you need to focus on healing and purification to survive.
The game was created in just 21 days as part of a game jam for Chinese publisher GCORES, with the game being voted as the most popular game of the jam. With a 1.5 - 2 hour run-time, if anything about this strikes your fancy, give it a go. Don't let there chinese text on the trailers on the Steam page scare you, apparently there is English and Japanese support too!
Midnight Ghost HuntDeveloper: Vaulted Sky Games
Steam rating: Very Positive
Store page
Prop Hunt has been a fan favorite for many many years, across multiple games at this point, and Midnight Ghost Hunt wants to bring it to the mainstream with a game dedicated to the premise. After a stint in Early Access, this 4v4 hide-and-seek game has finally hit version 1.0.
For those who perhaps have not played a game like this before, Midnight Ghost Hunt pits two teams against one another. 4 players act as Ghosts, hiding within innocent props waiting to strike with powerful telekinetic attacks. The other 4 players are Ghost Hunters, armed with only the finest of ghost busting apparatuses. If the Ghosts can remain hidden until the clock strikes midnight, that's when the true fun begins, and the Hunters become the hunted.
Much in the same vein as First Class Trouble and other multiplayer madness games, if you have a fun group of friends, Midnight Ghost Hunt could be your next friendly party game.
And that's a wrap. Thanks so much for reading. If you enjoy the newsletter, please consider sharing it with a friend and keep the good times rolling. Let me know in the comments what you are playing this weekend? I haven't had time to play much of anything so I am very open to suggestions right now!
Hello everyone, and welcome to your first Indie Release Dispatch for the year! I hope you all had a restful end to the year, catching up on what I am sure is an ever-growing backlog of certified bangers. 2023 was an incredible year for games, probably the best since 1998. But it was also a year full of layoffs and turmoil for those of us who work in the industry. Here’s hoping that 2024 is kinder to those who make the games that we all love, and let’s start off the new year by throwing down some cash and support behind some great indie games.
Alright, here’s your Indie Release Dispatch for January 19, 2024.
Watch the video podcast!
What came out this week?Project Astra DominiumDeveloper: Snob Entertainment
Steam rating: Positive
Store page
If you have you ever wished that Factorio had just a little bit of They Are Billions inside it’s secret sauce of satisfying automation, perhaps Project Astra Dominium could be what your crave.
This futuristic Tower Defense game combines basebuilding, defense, and automation with a dystopian backdrop to boot. You need to build up your base as a critical supply hub for Earth, who desperately needs rare materials and resources to survive. Why are things so dire? Aliens. It’s always Aliens.
You will be setting up bases on new planets as you extract resources, upgrade your weapons and AI capabilities, and automate a deadly base to safely extract materials and defeat the endless horde.
I dig it’s lo-fi art style, and by the looks of it, this is the first release for this studio. If you are looking for something a little strategic, consider throwing this one on your wishlist.
Immortal LifeDeveloper: YiFang Studios
Steam rating: Very Positive
Store page
Cozy games are all the rage these days, and this week we have Immortal Life, a life sim game that is playing with Chinese mythology. You are tasked with restoring the Guiyun Sect after it was decimated, while trying to achieve immortality through spiritual cultivation. Wow… that’s heavy.
In Immortal Life you will be doing all the things you would expect from a game like this - fishing, cooking, farming, exploring mystical realms and slinging spells. No word on whether you can romance folks in town, I know that’s big for people who play these games.
But it looks so nice! It’s also really rad to see more Chinese games hitting the top charts on Steam, and even moreso, landing in the Pixels for Breakfast press inbox. If you have played Stardew Valley to death and want to try something new, maybe give this one a go!
All Quiet In The Trenches (Early Access)Developer: Totally Not Aliens
Steam rating: Very Positive
Store page
Historical war games are dime-a-dozen, but it does seem we are starting to see some interesting perspective shifts in the genre. Last week War Hospital was released which puts you in charge of a medic team on the Western Front, focusing on saving people rather than destroying your enemies. Today another unique perspective has arrived with All Quiet in the Trenches, a game that puts you in command of a group of German soldiers hunkering down in the trenches during World War I.
This turn-based strategy RPG deals with a lot of heavy themes, focusing not just on the destruction of war, but the mental health of the soldiers who had to endure it. Of course there is fighting, but it’s really nice to see something that shows the emotional fallout after the fact. A line from the trailer really stuck with me:
“Your choices don’t change the war, but they change the lives of your soldiers”
The developers have released a concise roadmap which seems totally achieveable, and I just really love the style of this game. Big shout out to InGameScientist who put this one on my radar.
No Case Should Remain UnsolvedDeveloper: Somi
Steam rating: Positive
Store page
I love me a good mystery, and No Case Should Remain Unsolved seems to be one of those. This two-toned adventure tells the story of Senior Inspector Jeon Gyeong who is pulled out of retirement to revisit one of the cases that she never closed - the disappearance of Seowon. One thing is for certain, everyone surrounding Seowon was lying, and Gyeong must get to the bottom of this whodunnit.
Go through conversations, spot the lies, try to make sense of it all. This looks like a fun and simple piece of interactive fiction that will surely appeal to many. The Steam page seems to say it should take 2-3 hours to complete, so this is a nice and quick mystery for a rainy day.
Sovereign SyndicateDeveloper: Crimson Herring Studios
Steam rating: Positive
Store page
If you have somehow managed to finish Baldur’s Gate 3 (I am starting it tonight, I am so EXCITED!), and Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, and you are jonesing to drop another 753485 hours into a CRPG, then Sovereign Syndicate could be worth a look.
Sovereign Syndicate is a Victorian steampunk CRPG, but instead of using dice it plays out with a tarot deck instead. Explore the tattered streets of steampunkified London, uncovering the motivations of a mysterious cult. If typical RPGs overwhelm you (they certainly do for me), Sovereign Syndicate works with a system that levels up your skills the more you use them, rather than using stat points. Making narrative choices for your characters also will unlock new tarot cards, which expands your ability to make interesting choices in this world.
This one looks pretty neat. I have thrown it on the wishlist to get to when I finish Baldur’s Gate 3 sometime in 2027.
Turnip Boy Robs a BankDeveloper: Snoozy Kazoo
Steam rating: Positive
Store page
I never played it, but Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion was beloved, and it seems that the developers are back with a Enter the Gungeon inspired top-down shooter with Turnip Boy Robs a Bank. I say “inspired” because Turnip Boy Robs a Bank has roguelike elements, and looks a lot like that smooth animation style that Gungeon is renowned for.
Turnip Boy is ready to pull off a wacky heist, but will need to purchase an array of weapons and tools from the dark web to make their way through the sprawling bank. You will be facing off against security guards, the fuzz, and SWAT teams, all while teaming up with the Pickled Gang.
It looks silly and fun, and I probably would like this but did I tell you that I am starting Baldur’s Gate 3 tonight?
The main podcast is returning!The year has officially kicked off, which started out with some meetings with my cohort Blue about our plans for this year. It was decided that we would be restarting the main Pixels for Breakfast podcast on February 1st. For those who have never listened, it is a bi-weekly show where we cover what we think are the most interesting news stories for the period, and then talk about the games we are playing. “Ugh, I don’t need another one of those” I hear you say? Yeah, you probably don’t! But we have been told that our development experience sometimes makes for some interesting insights, and it’s a livestream video so if that’s your thing, maybe you would enjoy it? I am not very good at selling it, but if you are interested you can follow our feed on Spotify here, or search for it with your favorite pod catcher.
We are also working on our first video essay of the year! I won’t tell you the exact angle, but we are taking a look at The Finals, but probably not in the way that you think we would be looking at The Finals. Vague, I know. But this will be my second video essay ever so it might be a little sloppy, but I want to try doing more of these longer form pieces in the future. For those who prefer reading, it will also be posted as a written article!
And as always, if you want to hang out in our community, feel free to join our Discord. And if you want to help us with our server hosting cost, or help pay for an indie game or two, we have a KoFi and Patreon page available too!
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Written by Steve Heller
Boomer Shooters are having a moment right now. Over the past few years we have seen a slew of modern takes on classic Quake II vibes games, from the demonic Prodeus to the campy but action-packed Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun. Seeing games that look like they came from my early teens running at 144 frames per second with advanced movement options really does get my nostalgia flowing. With this renaissance of “new old games”, I have been rather surprised that we haven’t seen more immersive sims in the same vein as Thief or Deus Ex hitting the front pages of Steam. Sure, we have Gloomwood that is currently in Early Access that cribs directly from the Thief bag of tricks, but for the most part developers are sticking to the balls-to-the-wall gameplay motif of id Software’s heyday. Maybe I am just out of the loop, because Blood West completely blindsided me.
Blood West is definitely stealing from Thief (no pun intended) and System Shock in all the right ways, delivering a stealth-focused weird West adventure that melts down Lovecraftian horror and pulpy Western tales into a lumpy gumbo. The result is a rather unforgiving experience that will likely appeal to a very niche audience, and completely demoralize everyone else who isn’t up to the task.
Arise now, ye tarnishedAwakening from the underworld, you are the Undead Gunslinger. Instead of simply leaving this mortal plane like everyone else, you are stuck in the cursed canyons of this hellish Western landscape, tasked with appeasing the ancient gods and ridding the world of the curse that damned the entire population. It’s a simple setup that gets things moving, and while the voice acting is definitely a little B-tier, the lore surrounding everything else is dripping with atmosphere. Every time I found a new item I gleefully opened up my inventory to read the flavor text, especially for the weirder items like monster eyes and severed chicken heads. While it doesn’t come out in the “main story”, there is a lot of great narrative inside of Blood West, and as a tone piece I think the developers have really hit something great here.
The structure is pretty simple: speak to the totem who will give you guidance as to where the next artifact is located and mark it on your map. Trudge your way across the open world to said location. Sneak around, stab some monsters in the face, get the artifact, and return to the totem to offer it up as tribute. Once you have collected enough to satisfy the gods the location of the final encounter will be revealed and at that point you may continue to collect more artifacts spread out to gain more XP and level up your abilities, or you can tackle the beast head on to move onto the next location. The format is fine, but it is the finer details that really made Blood West a pretty hard game for me to enjoy.
Fumbling in the shadowsThe combat was a mixed bag for me. The guns FEEL so good, with chunky feedback when squeezing the trigger and realistic weapon sway which means you really need to take your time and land your shots. But the enemies are just too relentless and too brutal for most encounters to feel rewarding. The game puts a heavy focus on stealth, using a simple sight and hearing bar that lets you know how likely you are to be discovered and promptly surrounded by foes. While this works well in theory, there were far too many times where I thought I was clear to make an approach and take out an enemy with a stealthy knife hit to the head, only to have them immediately change their path, spot me, and kill me in a matter of seconds. Throwing rocks as distractions felt unreliable, because often when trying to create a diversion the wrong move at the wrong time sends everything towards inevitable death. Stealth is fun, but being punished so severely every time something goes awry, not so.
I am all for brutal combat. I love hardcore tactical shooters. I like FROM’s catalog of sadistic games. But Blood West doesn’t feel fair when you are getting constantly slammed for trying to meet the game on its terms, by playing stealthy. The smallest mistake, the smallest transgression often results in a horribly frustrating death. What’s worse is that in the first three or four hours of the game I was ready to give up. The game had frustrated me beyond no end that I was going to simply walk away and never return. I fear that this will sadly be the experience of the majority of players who stumble into this game and that is a real shame because eventually… eventually it clicked for me.
The saving grace of Blood West’s brutality is its comprehensive perk system that allows you to build a specialized hunter who is capable of dealing some serious damage to the monsters who have likely been kicking your ass for hours. The perk tree is tremendous, with so much diversity that I honestly didn’t know where to begin. Want to make a drunk hunter who is a specialist with melee weapons but can’t aim a gun to save their life? That’s a possibility. Want to create a marksman who can headshot a baddy from a mile away, and slow down time briefly when aiming down sights to land a perfect hit? Also a possibility. Once I had overcome massive adversity, I was sneaking through the canyons slaying fools left and right, which was netting me more XP and more perks, and the loop of becoming a powerful hunter was well and truly cemented by the time I made it to the first boss. During those hours, Blood West quickly went from a game I loathed to a game I was obsessing over. That really took me by surprise, and I am so glad that I managed to get over that hump.
Where's all the stuff? But then I came up against another wall. The game features three environments, each it’s own open world as you progress through the story. I really want to commend the developers on this choice because all three environments are strikingly different from each other, offering interesting options to gameplay and new challenges to face. But after a few hours in each of them the fact remained that while challenging and rewarding, Blood West just ultimately felt too empty for me. Most structures such as houses or sheds have a few rooms, many of which are completely empty which discouraged me pretty early on from doing methodical exploration. When I think of the best immersive sims, I imagine opening up every drawer and trashcan I can see to find items or lore to expand my experience. Blood West on the other hand doesn’t have that many intractable elements, and outside of looking for ammo or the occasional chests, exploring most locations leads to a deadly fight with enemies rather than any truly meaningful loot or experiences.
Once you learn the handful of enemies that each of the three environments harbor it quickly becomes stale. I think mostly because there is not that much outside of the combat to really engage you in its world. For me if there were more notes, more things to loot, more spaces to explore, I think that would have struck that perfect balance for me. But there simply isn’t and that led to me ultimately leaving my dusty hat behind for greener pastures. I was tired. Blood West is exhausting. Some people will really like that. I simply didn’t.
ConclusionBlood West is a boomer shooter take on an immersive sim that is dripping with atmosphere and has good writing on the periphery. It’s intense onboarding will be too much for most I feel, and ultimately it’s empty worlds left me wanting for more. But once I did manage to click with its combat powered by a surprisingly diverse and comprehensive perk system, I could see why it has so many fans. I’d love to suit up for a more refined sequel, but if you are looking for an unforgiving stealthy immersive sim that isn’t pulling punches, this might be a sleeper hit for you.
Blood West ****Mid****
*Developer: HyperStrange
Platforms:* PC
Visit the Steam page
Here's your Indie Release Dispatch for December 15, 2023.
Happy Friday everyone! The Game Awards came and went, serving up more memes and ire than I was bracing for. There's a been a few great threads on Bluesky or X that broke down the absolutely abysmal percentage of time awarded to game developers accepting rewards vs. the non-stop thrills of world premieres that Keighly and co. were serving up. Now look, I love a spectacle as much as the next person, and I fully understand that the TGA needs to be a profitable venture. The only reason the show IS so big in the first place is because of all those premieres that they show to build the hype. Your average gamer doesn't care about the industry. They care about the next big thing only. But for those of us connected to the people who make our games, 2023 was a year of massive contrasts. Banger after banger was being served up, delivering what was probably the most landmark year in gaming since 1998, but over 10,000 developers are now jobless while companies are riding record-high profits. To ignore that during a platform that is now the biggest moment of the international gaming calendar with the demise of E3, in favor of selling ad space and dropping hot trailers is pretty shitty. Not as shitty as cutting off Larian studios mid-speech while trying to leave a touching note for developers who passed away during the canonical "best game of 2023" acceptance speech, but still pretty shitty.
But hey, at least Christopher Judge dropped some heat on Activision.
What came out this week?Bahnsen KnightsDeveloper: LCB Game Studio
Steam rating: Positive
Store page
World of Horror took me back to the 2bit days of classic mac games, but this week Bahnsen Knights is taking me back to the EGA-era with it's chunky colors and classic adventure game interface. Set in 1986, you are an undercover agent who is infiltrating a religious cult that is run by a former car salesman turned preacher, as you investigate the disappearance of a fellow agent and close friend. Solve puzzles as you investigate the crime and try to uncover the motivations of the strange cult, and of course, find your pal in the process.
Bahnsen Knights is a standalone game, but it is the third in a series of interactive adventures called Pixel Pulps. You can pick up the whole pack here if you want to experience these inter-connected adventures which all take place in the same universe.
United 1944 (Early Access)Developer: Novarma
Steam rating: Mostly Positive
Store page
OK, so I may have gone on a late night tangent with my wife the other day about the tagline "World War II redefined" in this trailer, but that aside I am super keen to check out United 1944, a World War II extraction shooter that seems to have some interesting ideas for the genre. The game launched into Early Access this week with two game modes. Domination is pretty standard 16 vs 16 territorial control in an urban environment, but unlike Day of Defeat or Battlefield, players can construct their own outposts to build defenses and try to hold off against their enemies. That actually seems pretty fun.
The other mode is what I am really interested in however. Survivor drops 24 players onto a map, and has you vying for survival and precious loot, asking you to extract at the end to keep said loot. I'm a mark for extraction shooters, and Day of Defeat: Source was one of my favorite games growing up, so it's almost like this one was made for me.
There are only three maps right now, but the ratings on Steam are looking good. The publisher actually sent us a few codes, so I will be jumping into this one over the next few weeks for some kind of review. Stay tuned!
Card DetectiveDeveloper: MuccyGames
Steam rating: N/A
Store page
Speaking of being a mark, did you know I am a Netrunner fan? That means I am contractually obliged to be excited about every asymmetrical deckbuilding game in existence, and as it turns out, Card Detective looks to be exactly that. You are Hazel Gong, a reporter who stumbles into a story when investigating a building collapse.
The Steam page claims that the team worked with criminal psychology professionals, and researched a large number of books, which fills me with... curiosity? I have never heard of this team before, but I do love a good detective story, and this looks pretty interesting. It releases tomorrow, so no Steam reviews are available just yet. Approach this one with caution, but be optimistic.
Dungeons of SundariaDeveloper: Industry Games
Steam rating: Mostly Positive
Store page
After a stint in Early Access, classic dungeon slasher Dungeons of Sundaria has hit 1.0 this week, and is sitting high with Mostly Positive reviews on Steam. This looks like a classic early 00's game, but with silky smooth animations, and surprisingly 4-player local split-screen co-op.
It seems there is a lot to explore here, with 7 playable races, and 5 classes, Dungeons of Sundaria has 8 massive dungeosn to explore, hundreds of enemies, and interesting bosses to tackle. If playing couch co-op isn't your jam, the game also supports online play. If Diablo IV just ain't doing it for you, and you prefer a third-person perspective when slashing baddies in the face, this one might be worth checking out.
Ready or NotDeveloper: VOID Interactive
Steam rating: Very Positive
Store page
Controversially dropped by publisher Team17 when the developer announced that there would be a school shooting scenario, VOID Interactive just dropped version 1.0 of their SWAT-team tactical sim, Ready or Not.
Feelings aside about glorification of police brutality aside, VOID Interactive seem completely dedicated to creating a "realistic" tactical breach and clear simulator, rather than the PMC dude bro energy that Tarkov brings to the table, and given the size of the team, I think that is fairly impressive.
Speaking to a few friends who have been playing since the first release, version 1.0 brings new levels, new UI and overall tweaks to the gameplay that make it far more polished. If you grew up playign SWAT 3 back in the day, then this might take you back to those days.
The Finals has some incredible moment-to-moment gameplayThe most wishlisted game on Steam was released during The Game Awards last week, and in what little game time I have had over the past week, I have been completely obsessed. The Finals is the perfection of various competitive shooters on the market right now - the movement of Apex Legends, the destructibility of Battlefield, the fashion and unlocks of Splatoon 3. It takes all of these elements and creates a fast and frenetic combat arena that features some of the most exciting moment-to-moment gameplay that you will find in any online shooter.
A lot of those moments are due to the main game mode, Cashout. In this mode three teams of three competitors launch into the arena, when they are funneled towards a "Vault". When you reach this lockbox, you need to activate and defend the area, and only once it is unlocked, can you pick it up and transport it to the Cashout zone, a metal ATM-like device that takes quite some time to withdraw the cash. Basically there are two hold and defend moments that you need to endure, which is where the action happens.
Because chances are, the other two teams are going to come up and mess with your shit while you are pacing back and forth, trying to get your cash sent out of the arena. If you do manage to hold steady, you want to leap out of your seat in joy, but when you kill a defending team just moments before the cash out happens, steal the objective, and nab the loot for yourself - that is better than any chicken dinner I have experienced in any Battle Royale. Add in the fact that you can literally destroy the walls and floor to make the Cashout zone fall to the basement, and build a quick defendable zone with a combo of Goo Grenades and Barricades, you have some of the most dynamic strategies unfolding in a matter of seconds, every single round of the game.
I am quite smitten with The Finals, and I am actually planning on working on a little bit of a video essay over the holiday break detailing why I love it so much, and where I see it fitting in the current landscape. Now that I have written this down, that means I have to actually do it... right?
Let's get to 50!This newsletter has only been running for a few months, and it has already grown much more than I ever anticipated. Having 30 of you reading every single week is really exciting, and some of you have messaged me to let me know that this little dispatch of cool games is really helpful to cut out the noise of constant Steam releases every single week.
So let's try and get to 50! If you have enjoyed this newsletter, please share it with a friend. This is the only way that the project can grow! We would really appreciate the support.
Sign up for Pixels for Breakfast A collection of game reviews, podcasts, essays, and culture with a focus on indie games. The most important meal of the day.
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See you next week, and as always, let me know what you are playing this weekend!
Hello everyone, and welcome back to the Indie Release Dispatch! There will be no podcast this week - turns out that I holidayed so hard that my body decided that I should immediately get sick as soon as I arrived back in Tokyo. Thankfully it wasn't COVID, but it has been a persistent and annoying head cold that has left me drained, and sounding very croaky. I will save you all that voice, and will return back to the podcast for the next dispatch.
Being on holiday meant that I didn't do much gaming at all. I took my Playdate with me, which was actually the perfect device for this road trip. Playing 10-20 minutes of bite sized games in the back seat while not driving was a treat, and now I need to try and remind myself to make more time for the little yellow bundle of joy, because turns out those games are seriously rad. But I find when sitting at home, I always gravitate towards the Steam Deck or the Switch to get some "serious" gaming done.
But enough about that, let's get to the good stuff.
What came out this week?Against the StormDeveloper: Eremite Games
Steam rating: Overwhelmingly Positive
Store page
City builders are definitely on the rise, but Roguelike City Builders? Those are a little more rare. Against the Storm came onto my radar earlier this year thanks to Snark and Undeadpyxel from our community, and it has been rolling around in my mind ever since. Against the Storm is a dark fantasy city builder where as the Queen's Viceroy, you must lead the various races of in harmony to reclaim the lands as civilization's last surviviors.
Each "mission" has some set goals, as you build out and expand your city in unknown territory. As you expand and clear the fog of war, you will happen upon various resources and random events that can help, or hinder you settlement.
With a whole tech tree of persistent upgrades to unlock, and ever-changing conditions thanks to the relentless storms, Against the Storm has solved my biggest problem with the genre - having an objective and an end point. If you like SimCity, or maybe even classic base building RTS games like the original Warcraft series, you should check it out as it hits 1.0 this week.
SteamWorld BuildDeveloper: The Station
Steam rating: Mostly Positive
Store page
Sticking with the City Builder theme, the latest addition to the ever growing SteamWorld franchise has arrived. SteamWorld Build has you building out an Old West settlement, as you develop a thriving place for your Steambots to live. Staying true to the world of the SteamWorld Dig games, you won't just be building on the surface, but you will also develop underground mines to get resources, and search for ancient technologies. At times you will have to defend the town from varmints that lurk below, which seems like a neat little addition to your standard City Builder fare.
SteamWorld has been a great little series that has released titles in a bevy of genres, and there is no reason to think that it cannot make the jump to a fun City Builder experience. Keen to check this one out when I get my fill with Against the Storm, simply because I really enjoy the SteamWorld franchise.
Svarog's DreamDeveloper: VI Game Forge
Steam rating: Very Positive
Store page
I am always a little surprised when a game pops up on the new release best sellers on Steam that I have zero knowledge of. That's why Svarog's Dream made it to the list. This open world ARPG is heavily influenced by your actions, as you decide which gods or beasts to call your ally, and which ones you nominate as your foe.
You are an aimless soul that is pulled from the Underworld to inhabit a human host, as you take your first steps in this dangerous world. With each death you will revisit the Underworld, only to return as a new character, each with unique backgrounds and talents.
The reviews all praise its fluid combat and detailed collection of items and weaponry. Watching a few streams, it does seem like one of those games you can completely lose yourself in, which could be a nice way to end your 2023.
Blood WestDeveloper: Hyperstrange
Steam rating: Very Positive
Store page
If you want to con me out of $20 all you need to do is make an eldritch horror stealth boomer shooter immersive sim that combines Thief, S.T.A.L.K.E.R, and HUNT: Showdown, which is exactly what Hyperstrange has done with BLOOD WEST.
Stalk your prey across canyons, swamps, and mountains as you explore the three open-ended worlds at your own pace. BLOOD WEST puts you in the soggy boots of an Undead Gunslinger who needs to purge the curse from "them hills". Offering over twenty hours of gameplay, perk-based character progression, and a heavy focus on scavenging and stealth, this is pretty much the game I never knew I wanted, but now I desperately need to play. It seems to have been in Early Access for a while now, and has finally hit 1.0 this week.
A Highland SongDeveloper: inkle Ltd
Steam rating: Positive
Store page
There aren't many studios out there that elicit an instant play from me, but inkle is one of those studios. Masters of interesting narrative, the team is back with a new platforming adventure. Moira McKinnon is fifteen years old, and has never seen the sea. She's lived her entire life on the edge of the Scottish Highlands, and when she received a letter from her Uncle Hamish telling her to come to the coast, she decides to run away.
The Highlands are full of secrets and stories. As you move throughout the hills you will uncover history, mythology, and family secrets, weaving an unforgettable story for you discover. Like many of inkle's games, one playthrough won't be enough to reveal all of its secrets, which means you are likely going to be exploring those hills for a few days after your first steps.
Tell me about your game of the yearDid you know that we have a Discord? We do, and occasionally we have some really lovely folks having fun discussions over there. This year I thought it might be fun to get some Game of the Year nominations from readers, and perhaps share some of them over the next few newsletters as we wrap up the year.
Even though this is an indie-focused publication, feel free to put AAA titles on your lists. I play those too, after all. Here are the categories.
Top 5 Games of the Year (Released in 2023)
Give me your top 5 games, and a paragraph about each of them, and why they earned their spot in your list.
Top 3 Favorite Games You Played This Year (regardless of release year)
I have played a lot of games this year from the early 2000s, and they have eaerned a special place in my heart. So I thought it would be a cool chance to highlight some games from other years that your loved playing this year. Give me your top three, with a paragraph as to why they stand out for you.
Top Newcomer (non-sequel game)
What was your favorite new game this year? A game that was not a sequel, and what a wholly new IP for the year.
Favorite live service game
Most of us probably have one of these in our lives. Let me know which was your favorite for 2023.
Favorite moment in a game (released in 2023)
Did you have a "OH SHIIIII" moment in a game this year? Let me know what it was!
You can email me your answers (press@pixelsforbreakfast.net), you can add it as a comment below, OR you can answer our Discord thread right here.
And that's a wrap folks. Thanks so much for coming back, and don't forget to share the newsletter with a friend. It's the only way we can keep on growing.
Here's your Indie Release Dispatch for November 19, 2023.
Written and hosted by Steve Heller
Hello everyone!
Apologies for the late dispatch this week. Work continues to be a never-ending grind (I know, it typically is for all), and I just did not have time to throw this together on the usual Friday. Next week I am actually going on a proper holiday, so I wanted to get something out now, seeing that there will be no dispatch going out next week.
I did manage to get some gaming done. My beautiful doggo Ani was getting a luxurious bubble bath at the groomers, so I sat in a 7Eleven carpark on the outskirts of Yokohama playing World of Horror on the Steam Deck. First of all, what a great Steam Deck game! It's 2bit color scheme and limited animation means that it hardly drains the battery. Secondly, GO PLAY WORLD OF HORROR! If you like classic adventure games, turn-based combat, and roguelikes, it is a wonderfully unique take on all three genres.
But enough about that, let's take a look at the new releases
What came out this week?The Last FaithDeveloper: Kumi Souls Games
Steam rating: Mostly Positive
Store page
The animation of The Last Faith is what made it stand out to me immediately. The way that the character's hair flows in the wind as they slice and slam their foes with all manner of glorious weaponry is pretty mesmerising. The Last Faith is taking big Castlevania vibes and mixing them with Soulslike elements to deliver their modern take on a gothic adventure, and according to the reviews on Steam, it seems a lot of people are really digging that. The story casts you in the role of Eryk who is in a race against time as his mind and conscience begins to deteriorate. Chasing salvation, you will face off against ancient religions and divinities to save your sould. This one looks pretty neat, and while I don't particularly gel with the genre, it even has me curious to check it out.
Backpack HeroDeveloper: Jaspel
Steam rating: Very Positive
Store page
If you spend hours managing the perfect inventory layout in Resident Evil, then Backpack Hero will most certainly be your jam. This inventory management roguelike has your adorable mouse collecting items as they move throughout the world. It is your job to arrange and pack the backpack optimally, getting bonus power when certain items are places in specific configurations. There is a full story-mode or a run-based Roguelike mode, with full meta-progression and a village to rebuild based on your successes. This one has been in Early Access for a while, but it has hit 1.0 this week and is ready for a new influx of tiny adventurers.
Small SagaDeveloper: Darya Noghani
Steam rating: Very positive
Steam page
Keeping with the mouse theme, turn-based medieval rpg Small Saga finally hits 1.0 this week. This project was launched on Kickstarter 4 years ago, and has hit Steam this week with a great response. Taking place under the streets of London, a kingdom of rate, mice, moles, squirrels and other beasties live amongst each other. They have one cardinal law: never attack a god. But when Verm has his tail stolen by the Yellow God of Death, they set forth on a quest to attack all manner of beasts and titans to get his tail back. It looks like this project was made by just one person, and it definitely has a striking visual style. As a big fan of Fievel goes West growing up, my inner child is reaching out for this game.
LoddlenautDeveloper: Moon Lagoon
Steam rating: Very Positive
Store page
"Loddlenaut". Say it with me. "Loddlenaut". Doesn't it just have good mouth feel? This chirpy eco-friendly adventure takes place on an alien planet called GUP-14. It is your job as a Loddlenaut to explore, clean up the goop under the sea, recycle trash to craft new items and upgrades, and to befriend the friendly Loddles that inhabit the ocean. I am really getting into this PlayStation 1 filter art style that we are seeing in a lot of games now, and I think that Loddlenaut is sharing a really good environementally-focused gameplay message here, which makes it easy to recommend. If you enjoy games like Slime Rancher or Astroneer, this one would be worth considering.
American ArcadiaDeveloper: Out of the Blue Games
Steam rating: Very Positive
Steam page
The folks at Out of the Blue Games make good stuff. Their first release Call of the Sea (my thoughts can be found here) was filled with memorable characters and great lore, so when I found out that they were working on American Arcadia, it immediately shot up on my watch list. After a lengthy silence, the game has hit Steam this week, and tells its tale of Orwell's 1984 meets The Truman Show. You play as every man Trevor Hills, who is simply enjoying his life as a mundane office clerk. However, if you are part of the reality TV show American Arcadia, mundane doesn't make you popular. And there is a penalty for being unpopular in this world- execution. So with the help of Angela Solano, a rogue stage technician, you must get Trevor out of the Arcadia alive, and if possible, bring down the network with it. This one looks super up my alley, and I think for those who enjoy these dystopian stories, it could be your pick of the week.
This week we reviewed The InvincibleThe Invincible is a passable walking sim that has some heady themes that it never really lets you examine too closely. I really wanted to like The Invincible more than I did, and some aspects of it really did strike a chord with me personally, but as a game I find it a little hard to recommend to everyone. If you are curious about this one, please click on through to read the review.
There will be no dispatch next weekI am going to be holiday in Shikoku with friends, and I am going to try and make it a rule to stay off my computer for most of the trip. I'm only packing my Playdate, so I won't be getting much gaming done either. But I really need the break, so please stay tuned for the following week when the dispatch will be returning.
Thanks for reading or listening as always. If you find the newsletter useful, please share it with a friend, it's the only way we can keep on growing. Jump in the comments and let me know what indie games you will be playing this week!
Written by Steve Heller
When you really break down the poorly named Walking Simulator genre to its core, the main pillars which separate the mediocre from the greats come down to environments, characters, and a sense that you are actually in the world. On one end of the spectrum you have Firewatch from Campo Santo, a game that builds one of the most genuine and naturalistic relationships in the industry. It all takes place in a breathtaking living and breathing state park. It deals with live emotions, and you feel as though you are part of the journey. On the other end you have Dear Esther, the game that coined the term Walking Sim, but is nothing more than trudging through environments and listening to a voice reading off letters to the protagonists deceased wife. The environments are dead, static, grey, lifeless. While it was good for its time, I would say it is one of the worst embodiments of the genre these days.
The Invincible is somewhere between the two. It desperately wants to be Firewatch, with the constant banter between Astrobiologist Yasna and her Astrogator chieftain, Novik. But much like Dear Esther, the environments are dead, devoid of any true interest, and while it makes sense in context, it doesn't necessarily make for a terribly exciting endeavour.
Classic novel misses the jump to a new ageThe Invincible is actually a valiant effort at adaptation, taking the 1964 published novel of the same name from famed sci-fi writer Stanisław Lem, and bringing it to a new age. Lem was a prolific "hard sci-fi" writer, writing over a dozen novels and becoming a cultural icon in their homeland of Poland. You may not have heard of The Invincible, but you most certainly have seen Lem's influence in the genre with his most famous work, Solaris, being adapted into movies quite a few times now. The Invincible is often regarded as the first work of fiction to explore the idea of nanobots, artificial swarm intelligence, and smartdust, all of which are hallmarks of so many works of modern sci-fi.
Tackling a work like this must have been hard, and full marks to Starward Industries for having the gumption for doing so. However for a story-focused game with no combat, there sure is a lot of missing pieces to this story that make The Invincible hard to parse, especially during the opening hours of the game.
You play as Dr. Yasna, an Astro-biologist aboard a science vessel for the Commonwealth headed towards an unexplored planet, Regis III. The Alliance is another faction who is fighting against the Commonwealth in a space race. Why? Who’s to say?! All we know is that both factions want to land on Regis III, and we aren't entirely sure why.
That's when the amnesia kicks in. I. know. I can see you rolling your eyes already. But in the case of The Invincible, the amnesia has weight on the plot that is unfolding, and is a unique way to bump you through the story in a non-linear fashion. Dr. Yasna doesn't remember how she got to the surface of the planet, or where her crewmates are, and interacting with objects in the world brings forth those memories, adding new context to proceedings.
Despite the lack of narrative conetext, the first few hours of The Invincible are fairly compelling to explore. The abandoned surface of this desert planet is breathtaking, with aqua blue skies, and the combination of browns, reds, and yellows that create the cliff faces are a stark reminder just how barren Starfield looks in comparison. But before long the beauty of the world fades away, as you settle in for what is a long and linear path where you simply put one foot in front of the other.
Walking and talkingThe movement speed in The Invincible is incredibly slow, which makes traversing the often wide open spaces feel like such a chore. It doesn't help that more often than not there is only one way forward but the game gives you the illusion that you can go anywhere. While tracking down the camp where my comrades were last seen, I hit several invisible walls which looked like viable options for exploration. Over in the distance I saw a little crag path and tried to climb it. "Not this way" the game said. But that rock .03mm to the right? Yeah sure, we will let you climb that. So much time I spent exploring were met with these frustations, not really knowing where the game wanted me to go.
Then there is the talking. I mentioned Firewatch in the opening because it was immediately apparent that the developers were trying to recreate that spark with Henry and Delilah, albeit with a more professional approach. Instead of flirting with each other, Yasna and Novik are avoiding a workplace harassment suit and just focusing on the mission. Except Novik seems to know way more than he should about what happened to you as well as the protocols and intentions of the rival faction. Like... a lot more. Like "MAYBE HE ISN'T SO GOOD OR WHO HE SAYS HE IS?!" vibes that are so strong, it feels like the game is trying to sneakily plant that idea in your head, while wearing a nametag that says "CLEVER WRITER".
That's actually one of my biggest problems with The Invincible - the game never trusts you to marinade in its themes. At it's core, this is a story about Yasna not only surviving and understanding what happened to her and the crew she was with, but exploring the question of whether or not humanity should even expand. Should we seek other homes to invade? Does something alien to us inherently make it alien? Can our limited scope of understanding in this universe actually allow us to have meaningful exploration? Those are all really interesting and soul searching themes. But Yasna will never let you think about them for very long, because she will heavy handedly tell you her exact thoughts, and make sure that you understand what the game wants you to be thinking about.
Welcome to atompunkOne area that The Invincible does stand out is the aestethics. Taking the hard sci-fi influences to heart, each piece of machinery you can interact with feels very tactile. You will often be opening compartments of machinery and robots, and the game will have you press buttons to turn the nobs and flick metal switches, and it FEELS so very good. Move over NASApunk, because Starward Industries has brought atompunk to the table, and it just feels like you are in this alternative 1960s inspired future.
There are various tools throughout the seven hour journey that have a similar tactile feel. Early in the game you gain access to a lifeform scanner, and a sort of x-ray gun that lets you scan the environment, and both feel like the kind of machinery that you would have seen on Buck Rodgers or Space 1999 back in the day, and that goes a long way to what carried me through The Invincible until the end. It feels good to be in this world, but it doesn't feel good to trudge through it, if that makes sense.
And the tools are not used to their full potential. While I don't come to these sorts of games to solve big puzzles, The Invincible has next to no thought provoking progression gates. The tools are used simply to point you in the right direction, which really means that this game is just walking and talking for seven hours, with some occasional driving sections in a lunar rover. If you break up your play sessions like I did over several days, that is an easier pill to swallow. But overall, I just wish there was more to do here. More to see here. More to day dream about.
ConclusionThe Invincible is a passable walking simulator that has a decent story at its core, but doesn't trust you enough to really examine it. It's gorgeous deserts are breathtaking at first, but by the time the credits rolled I was more than happy to leave the surface of Regis III behind. If you are looking for a chill "press the stick forward and listen" game this could be a fun time, especially for sci-fi fans. But for most, this simply isn't worth the asking price or your time, in a year when narrative games are at an all-time high.
The Invincible ****Not recommended****
*Developer: Starward Industries
Platforms:* PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S
Visit the Steam page
Here's your Indie Release Dispatch for November 10, 2023.
Written and hosted by Steve Heller
Hello everyone! This week has been fraught with massive proejcts at the day job. So unfortunately there will be no podcast in the post this week. I will be recording that and releasing it tomorrow, so if you prefer listening/watching, keep an eye on the podcast feed, or our YouTube channel.
Anyway, lets get into it.
What came out this week?JunctionDeveloper: hosomeowa
Itch.io page
While the whole world will sing from the mountain tops that Hades is the best Supergiant Games release, there are dozens of us who are still pining after their sophomore release, Transistor.
Seems like hosomeowa is one of those dozens like me, who wanted to exist just a little longer in that world. That's why they put together Junction, a fan project that emerged from a series of writing exercises that began with a simple premise:
It's 2013, and Supergiant Games is hard at work developing Transistor. But a game with a similar story beats it to market! Now the stakeholders want a new story. How do you craft a new story to fit a game mid-development?
The result is a 45 minute long text adventure, complete with original music, multiple divergent paths, and a thrilling story to uncover. The best part of all this - it's completely free.
Full disclosure here, hosomeowa is a friend of mine, but their writing is incredible and I am genuinely very, very excited to play this on the weekend, and you should be too!
RoboquestDeveloper: RyseUp Studios
Steam rating: Very Positive
Store page
FPS Roguelikes are still fairly untapped, but RyseUp Studios has built a positive following for their comic book art style inspired Roboquest. This frenetic procedurally generated run-based shooter has been doing the work in Early Access for a while now, and after a slew of major updates, has finally arrived at the version 1.0 release this week. Featuring a bunch of player classes, and persistent upgrades for your basecamp, this colorful shooter has a lot of depth based around its movement, and the best thing is that it can be played solo, or with a friend in co-op. John from our staff has mentioned a few times that this one was worth checking out. I guess now is the time.
The InvincibleDeveloper: Starward Industries
Steam rating: Very Positive
Store page
It is not often that we get adaptations of novels in video games, but this new "walking simulator" from Starward Industries is pulling from the novel of the same name written by Stanisław Lem published in 1964. Continuing the trend of adding ~punk to the end of words, this atompunk hard sci-fi tale explores the philosophical conundrums of humanity exploring the stars, as you search for your missing crew on the surface of Regis III. Unlike Stafield, the barren lands in The Invincible make narrative sense, but that certainly won't be for everyone. I am currently reviewing this as we speak and while I can definitely see its appeal, as someone who loves the genre, I am not sure I would recommend it full heartedly. I will say that I am about two hours from the end, and my feelings may change, but if this is of interest to you, I would say watch some videos, or hold off for our review later this week.
Salt and SacrificeDeveloper: Devoured Studios / Ska Studios
Steam rating: Mostly Positive
Store page
The sequel to 2016's highly lauded Salt and Sanctuary is here, serving up more of its punishing Souls-inspired hardcore combat, but on a 2D pixel art plane. I never played that first game, but I heard nothing but amazing things from my masochistic friends who praised its slow, but deliberate combat. It seems like Salt and Sacrifice offers more of the same, but this time you can play the entire game with a friend, and an online PvP mode that sounds kinda intriguing. If you like Souls-likes or Metroidvanias, this could be worth picking up, maybe even with the original game in what Steam is listing as the "Bundle of Salt".
RacineDeveloper: Dark Root Gardeners
Steam rating: Very Positive
Store page
Remember when Auto Chess first hit the scene? It felt like overnight everyone was an expert in DOTA or League of Legends lore, followed by cute pet ownership experts, and then... silence. Dark Root Gardeners wants to take the languishing genre in a new direction with Racine, which is an Autobattler Strategy Roguelike that combines the always-on nature of an Autobattler with strategic opportunities played our with cards from a deck. Buff your hero to vanquish your foes, and survive the onslaught for as long as you can.
Interestingly this one is published by Goblinz Publishing, the same group that published Beneath Oresa which Blue reviewed last month, and had some nice things to say about it. I'm personally not a fan of autobattlers, but I do love me some deckbuilding action, so this is on my radar.
Here's a thing I did this weekNothing. I did nothing. No gaming. No writing. This is the first creative output I really have had this week. But good news is that I am going on holiday soon, and I hopefully will come back and work will have slowed down, and I can then really get to work on some cool fun projects on the horizon. So stay tuned!
Keep well, and let me know what you are playing this weekend. I will be finishing up The Invincible, and putting together a review for the site. At least, that is my plan!
Steve
Here's your Indie Release Dispatch for November 3, 2023.
Written and hosted by Steve Heller
Hello everyone! I hope your week has treated you well. At my day job right now I am currently doing a migration of our project management software, which has meant a lot of overtime and not much time for gaming. I did managed to get a few more levels of Super Mario Bros. Wonder done which was pretty great, and I have been falling into a bit of a VR rabbit hole as I finally charged up my Quest 2 and decided to give it a real good workout. I have always been a fan of VR, but Half-Life: Alyx was my first major game (outside of the two I worked on with my previous employer) and that was kind of a mistake, because nothing else has come close. But that effect has worn off on me a little bit, so I am excited to go back in, with my expectations severely reset.
But enough about that, let's dive into the dispatch!
Prefer to list/watch? Check out the video podcast version of this newsletter!
What came out this week?Alien Hominid HDDeveloper: The Behemoth
Steam rating: Very Positive
Store page
When talking about the classic era of the indie gaming renaissance, you don't get much more successful that The Behemoth. While Castle Crashers may have been their first mainstream hit via Xbox Live Arcade, Alien Hominid was the first release from this small team back in 2004 for the PS2. Now it is here again on Steam, bringing the award-winning 2D side-scroller back some 16 years later with improved visuals, online monthly leaderboards, and Steam achievements. I suspect if you remember this game from your youth, you probably will be excited by this, but if like me you missed this somehow back in the day, it could be a good opportunity to go back and see the beginnings of a foundational studio for the wave of indies that brought unique ideas to console gamers.
This Bed We MadeDeveloper: Lowbirth Games
Steam rating: Very Positive
Store page
I love a good mystery, and that is why This Bed We Made by Lowbirth Games immediately jumped out at me when I spotted it on Steam. Set in the late 50's you play as Sophie - a chambermaid in the Clarington Hotel who stumbles upon a story of glamour and murder as you go about your daily routine. You will be exploring the private lives of the hotel guests, and each action you make will have an impact on how the story unfolds. It is a short game, running at 4-6 hours for a typical playthrough, but it just has this air of intrigue that has me interested.
Thirsty SuitorsDeveloper: Outerloop Games
Steam rating:
Store page
Tony Hawk, Persona, and Venba get thrown into a blender, and out comes the long-awaited Thirsty Suitors from Outerloop Games. This deliciously colorful adventure explores culture, relationships, family pressures, and how express yourself when facing all of those factors. You play as Jala who needs to sort things out with their exes, and repair broken relationships in time for her sister's wedding. All of this takes place via over-the-top turn-based battles that unfold as you traverse the world of Bearfoot Park via some sick skateboarding sections. And to top it all off you get to repair your relationships with action-packed cooking segments while exploring South Asian inspired dishes. There seems to be a lot going on here, but everything I have seen from Thirsty Suitors seems wonderful, and I am very excited to check it out today.
Sands of AuraDeveloper: Chashu Entertainment
Steam rating: Mostly Positive
Store page
This one came on my radar thanks to Rock, Paper, Shotgun's headline "Sands of Aura, out today, is a Soulslike RPG with Wind Waker-style open world sailing". I like Soulslikes. I like Wind Waker. Now after checking out the Steam page for Sands of Aura, I think I might like this too! A pesky cataclysm has unleashed permanent night time on the land of Talamhel, and as a brand new Remnant Knight, you are sailing across the seas of sand in a Grainwake - a fancy sand boat! An open world awaits filled with combat and lore, and an art style that honestly seems pretty fantastic. I have never heard of this game, but it was in Early Access for some time, and it seems that this version 1.0 release is creating some buzz.
LunacidDeveloper: KIRA LLC
Steam rating: Very Positive
Store page
Before Dark Souls, FROM Software was known for their gritty dungeon crawlers like Shadow Tower and King's Field. That is what Lunacid is cribbing from, releasing a retro first-person dungeon crawler that sees you thrown into a great well for crimes unknown. Your only way out is to go deeper into the abyss, and confront the sleeping old one at the bottom. Filled with vicious enemies and many secrets, Lunacid actually looks like a great game that got a strong following in Early Access, and now sees a v1.0 release.
Fish GameDeveloper: A Shell In the Pit Games / Creative Ink Games
Steam rating: Very Positive
Store page
Do you like Fish? Do you sit at home late at night, just wishing that you had a temperature controlled tank filled with the most colorful tropical swimmy pals to keep you company? Well I present to you Fish Game, a highly "soFISHticated" aquarium simulator that will have you crafting tanks, caring for your fish, and dealing with their various needs and personalities. Fishing in games has become such a huge feature, but Fish Game looks to explore the nature of why we like fish in general. Good vibes from this one.
Here's a thing I did this weekI released a Tabletop Simulator modI had a mission - to take the fancy new board game Pagan: Fate of Roanoke that I got from a Kickstarter pledge, and play it with my cohort Blue. Problem is that I live in Japan, and Blue does not live in Japan. What a conundrum.
After over 100 hours playing Tabletop Simulator with friends, I took my first step towards making something for it. While my mod has 0 scripting (the game honestly doesn't require it at all), learning how to scan and import cards and tokens was a super interesting process. I read so many different ways of doing it across the internet, but my trusty Pixel 7, some good lighting, and an overhead phone mount did the trick to scan all the assets. I laughed in glee as I imported a .PNG file and Tabletop Simulator did the hard work of creating a mesh that expertly resembled the limited-edition wooden player tokens I received from the deluxe edition. I felt like some kind of genius, and I didn't even attempt to write any sort of code to make this all just... work.
The interesting thing to me however is just how quickly things on the Steam Workshop gain traction. As it stands in the first two days of the mod existing, there is a 72% adoption rate of people who have seen the mod, and those who subscribe and add it to their collection of games they will probably never play, but they'd like to have.
I made this simply so Blue and I could play the game, but now I already have some updates planned, and eventually some scripting that will need to be done as I add in the expansion content to facilitate deckbuilding. I have never done any scripting before, so this is an exciting little project. I am probably going to write something for the DLC segment of the website, so if this kind of stuff interests you, make sure that you hit the Subscribe button.
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And that's a wrap for this week. Let me know what games have been grabbing your attention this week. What indie gems have we missed that you would like to let the world know about?
Steve
Written and hosted by Steve Heller
Happy Friday folks! This week has been pretty hectic for me. At the day job we are currently switching from one project management tool to another, which all my producer and project managers out there will know, is STRESSFUL. A lot of late night, a lot of documentation, a lot of staring at the screen and wondering why my task list keeps getting bigger, not smaller.
Prefer to listen/watch than read? Get the dispatch here!
As a result, I haven't actually had much time to do any gaming. I grabbed Super Mario Bros. Wonder and have played around five levels in total. Those five though... a great time and I can't wait to get a little deeper into it.
Also I had that moment where something you backed on Kickstarter arrives approximately 902178301 years after you order it, and I am hoping to get a self-learning game of Pagan: Fate of Roanoke in this weekend and see how it fares. Who knows, maybe I will write something about it on the website.
But enough of this. Let's get into the dispatch!
What Came out this week?Dave the DiverDeveloper: Mintrocket
Store page
This is cheating a little bit, but Dave the Diver came out earlier this year on PC, but launched this week for Nintendo Switch. When Dave the Diver launched earlier this year on PC I wasn't writing Indie Release Dispatch. In fact, I was laid up in a hospital bed, getting plates removed from my jaw, and having to deal with the recovery with nothing more than slightly stronger than over-the-counter ibuprofen. For some reason, nautical games were the them of my hospital stay, as I managed to complete the excellent DREDGE, and somehow sink twenty or so hours into the absolutely delightful Dave the Diver.
This colorful masterpiece from "indie" studio Mintrocket (they are funded by Nexon, but technically are playing in the indie space) is part roguelike, part restaurant manager, part farming-sim, and all heart. The titular Dave is a tubby scuba diver who flies out to a mysterious shifting blue lagoon, that has a wide variety of fish, and changes with every dive. You are helping Bancho, a disgraced sushi chef ronin, to create the most unique and memorable sushi restaurant in the world. Problem is that you have no staff, so Dave is going to have to not only source the ingredients on the roguelike dives, but help out behind the counter serving the customers too.
Seriously, we can debate whether this is a true Indie game or not, but regardless I really think you should check it out. One of the more fun games I have played this year, with a fun story, and plenty of secrets to uncover.
Beast (Early Access)Developer: False Prophet
Steam rating: Mostly Positive
Store page
Was Diablo IV lacking in tactical decisions for you? Then you might want to check out Beast, a gridless tactical turn-based game from Polish studio False Prophet. The world is torn apart by constant military conflicts, and a plague is on the loose. You will be making moral choices during these battles, which the developer claim will influence the gameplay. I didn't play it, but I saw this game at Tokyo Game Show a little while ago, and it was looking great then. This is probably my pick of the week, I am going to dive into this one.
Dark EnvoyDeveloper: Event Horizon
Steam rating: Very Positive
Store page
If grimdark doesn't strike your fancy, then perhaps the techno-fantasy world of Dark Envoy might be for you. Billed as a classic RPG with a skill-based combat system built on classes and specializations (because you know, Baldur's Gate 3 ruined the term CRPG for any game that wants to play in that space now), Dark Envoy puts you in the shoes of a party of relic hunters. Set in a Guns N' Sorcery world, this one looks like it would be a lot of fun with friends, and is playing around with the combination of magic and technology which is something that appeals to me personally. I haven't heard of this game, but the developers also made Tower of Time which also has a Very Positive rating on steam, so if you are looking for an RPG with friends, this could be it!
Scene InvestigatorsDeveloper: EQ Studios
Steam rating: Very Positive
Store page
Another game that I saw at TGS hits Steam this week. True Crime aficionados can live out their fantasy in Scene Investigators, a crime scene detective game that will challenge your powers of deduction to solve the case. You will need to investigate the clues in great detail, make calculated assumptions, and really take in the environmental cues to catch your culprit. This doesn't seem like a simple story-based deduction game, the Steam page talks about noticing the size 12 shoe print, and bullet trajectories and all that kind of stuff. I lean more towards games like Case of the Golden Idol personally, but if you want to train for your inevitable murder podcast, then Scene Investigators is waiting for you.
Deepest Chamber ResurrectionDeveloper: Balcony Softworks
Steam rating: Very Positive
Store page
Would it be an Indie Release Radar if we didn't have a deckbuilder? This week's virtual cardboard slinging game is Deepest Chamber Resurrection, a deckbuilder roguelike where you take your party into the depths of a dying city, and slay the baddies with your cards of tremendous power. The aesthetic is a little more gothic than many other fantasy games in this genre, which kinda has me interested. Seems this has been in Early Access for quite some time, and just hit version 1.0 with this release. So if you need more virtual cards in your life, consider checking this one out.
Here's some things we did this weekEl Paso, Elsewhere ReviewMy first video is quite some time went live this week, taking at look at the excellent El Paso, Elsewhere from Strange Scaffold. Remedy Entertainment might be releasing Alan Wake 2 today, but Strange Scaffold may have already released the most "Remedy" game of 2023 with El Paso, Elsewhere. It is a delectable pastiche of everything the Finnish company has done from the twisting lore of Alan Wake, to the warped geometry of Control, and of course the frenetic bullet-time fueled combat of Max Payne. But to discount this low-poly dive into the pits of hell as imitation only would be a major disservice, because while El Paso, Elsewhere is unmistakably cribbing from the smoky noir of Max Payne, it does more than enough to set itself apart as something special on its own.
I gave the game a 4/5, but in my heart this is probably my favourite game of 2023. It won't be for everyone, and I totally understand that. But this game just speaks to my soul. Want to read the review? You can do so here.
DLC contentBlue and I were chatting, and we think it would be kinda cool to have some experiments in our content. As you saw above, I am very heavily into tabletop gaming. I am also deep into music, and photography. Blue... Blue likes things. Lots of things. And he is very smart, and I am sure he can share deep insights into those things that he enjoys.
note to self - you probably should ask Blue what to write in these newsletters before you publish them.
So we were thinking of launching what is tentatively called DLC. A section of the website where we can write and share articles that cover things that aren't exactly indie games, but are adjacent to the things that we love, and hopefully you will love too.
DLC content will be free, but you do have to subscribe to the website to gain access. This is because we want to know how many people we are actually creating this content for, rather than just spewing it out onto the site and diluting the mission.
But let us know, do you think this is cool? A bad move? You don't really care? All feedback is always very welcome.
Until next time friends!
Steve
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Written and hosted by Steve Heller
Remedy Entertainment is on the verge of releasing Alan Wake 2, but indie collective Strange Scaffold may have already released the most "Remedy" game of 2023 with El Paso, Elsewhere. It is a delectable pastiche of everything the Finnish company has done from the twisting lore of Alan Wake, to the warped geometry of Control, and of course the frenetic bullet-time fueled combat of Max Payne. But to discount this low-poly dive into the pits of hell as imitation only would be a major disservice, because while El Paso, Elsewhere is unmistakably cribbing from the smoky noir of Max Payne, it does more than enough to set itself apart as something special on its own.
Watch the review!
Of all the gin joints in all the world…Like all great noir fiction, El Paso, Elsewhere is based around a romantic entanglement. Monster hunting James Savage has followed the trail of his ex-girlfriend to a dusty hotel in El Paso, Texas. Turns out that his ex Draculae is a powerful vampire, and is completing a ritual that aims to bring about the destruction of the world. So James takes an elevator into the upside down to face the demons of his past relationship, and the literal demons that his ex has unleashed into the warped fragments of the hotel.
This event is causing the reality of this tiny hotel to warp and change, much like the Oldest House in Control, which means that James is riding that elevator down for a long, long time. Each stop offers another twisted floor for James to explore, often overrun with ancient Egyptian vampires, demented demon brides, angels, and werewolves. Just when you think you have a grasp of what the hotel will serve up next, it twists the reality to reveal fragments of James and Draculae's relationship, or her dark past as she came to grips with the horror that she was destined to become.
Every moment in El Paso, Elsewhere is arresting. From Savage’s smokey monologue opening the game to the sun-drenched ending seven hours later, this was the entirety of my being for a weekend and still lingers long after those final credits rolled. It seeped into my very being because despite dealing with vampires and demons, the core conceit of Draculae and Savage's strained and abusive relationship is very human. So human in fact that I was able to connect it to a similar past relationship of my own. There I was, driving stakes into the hearts of the blood suckers while remembering some truly horrible years trapped inside my own broken relationship. I don't think that any game I've ever played has felt this personal, but the ridiculous surroundings of mummified vampires, angels, and werewolves also make it feel incredibly surreal. Unlike the lords of the undead, El Paso, Elsewhere has a lot of heart.
James' internal monologue is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. As you run, shoot, dive, and pop pills throughout the levels he does a lot of chatting. And yes, he will make some snarky comments about the enemies he is facing off against, or how good he is at killing monsters. But for the most part James just feels like he is very real, trying to figure shit out in his own head. Reliving past traumas. Doing that thing we all do, where we doubt ourselves and think "if only I had just listened more? Just talked more? Maybe this would be ok." All of that is happening in real time, and these nuggets of narrative are not just there to take up space. All of them are meaningful, and go such a long way to making this relationship, and the consequences that lay ahead feel heavy. Lines like "I was so good at being trapped" or "I miss her. I miss my master" really show us what kind of power Draculae had over James, and alludes to the power that she still has over him as he is seeking her out to end this madness.
But these heavy moments aren't a constant. At times El Paso, Elsewhere is hilarious. Other times, completely bizarre. One minute you are finding answering machine messages that depict a son speaking to his recently deceased father. And the next you are finding radios playing episodes of a radio drama titled Pill Cop. And sometimes, sometimes you find projectors which play back conversations and memories of James' and Draculae's relationship. Some of these memories are filled with delight, and others, others are heart wrenching. But all of these extra moments, they manage to break up that heaviness in interesting ways, and builds out the lore of this strange world.
That strange world is brought to life by striking cinematography that honestly rival Naughty Dog or Santa Monica Studio in design. Strange Scaffold has combined color, shadow, pacing, and peculiar camera angles to make this low-poly adventure feel like something far more grandiose, like a forgotten relic of the early 2000's that was rediscovered on a PlayStation 2 in your grandmother's den twenty years later that somehow slipped through the cracks. This feels more like auteur cinema than it does an indie video game at times, and it makes me wish that more studios were capable of pulling off this magic trick.
Diving in slow motionWow. I've spoken about this much and not yet really touched on gameplay, which is probably very telling, because that is where El Paso, Elsewhere is a little less interesting in my eyes. The gameplay loop is established early - reach a floor of the hotel, rescue the hostages that are spread around the place, kill all the baddies as you then race back to the elevator for an escape. For most of the run time this is the general loop. It's simple. It works. But it's lack of true variety over the fifty levels does start to grate a little towards the closing moments. Thankfully the story was more than enough to keep me heavily invested, but if for some reason that is not your bag, I feel like you will slip off long before the final encounter.
The combat itself is pretty decent. James has a wide variety of classic weapons ranging from dual pistols, to uzi, to hunting rifle, and molotov cocktails at his disposal. The shotgun in particular FEELS CRUNCHY, earning a place among the other greats in good video game shotgun feel. Much like Max Payne, you have a "bullet time" meter that will allow you to slow-mo dive and shoot in the most stylish way possible. This looks incredibly cool, but if I am honest in practice I rarely used it. Because the game just never really demanded a use case. The bullet time works in Max Payne because there are projectiles (namely bullets) flying at you at all times. In El Paso, Elsewehre however, there are only three enemy types who have projectiles, which makes it pretty easy to spot them at a distance and deal with them first. Even when faced with leaping werewolves and these projectile-spewing enemies, James fares much better by using the Roll button which renders him invincible, and ready to shoot immediately after.
So while the slow-mo diving doesn't really earn its stripes in my opinion, the introduction of Stakes is an interesting addition. James can carry up to 5, and with a quick hit of a button he can immediately slay any of the baddies that are in his immediate melee vicinity. Diving into tables and wardrobes to break them to get more stakes, and taking out multiple baddies with a single swipe, now that is pretty satisfying.
Our interview with Strange Scaffold founder, Xalavier Nelson Jr.
I spoke to Strange Scaffold founder Xalavier Nelson Jr. two years ago, and one thing that they mentioned was that Strange Scaffold is striving towards sustainable game development. Knowing that context, it made the asset flips much more palatable to me than perhaps the mainstream gamer. Enemies are often given a stronger version that is colored differently. Environments and assets are reused often and twisted in interesting ways, but ways that definitely makes the game feel quite samey throughout many levels. I only say this because I know that for some people, this will feel lazy. Coming from my game dev perspective though, this is really smart. It is also expertly paced, because every time I started to really notice that I was seeing the same thing over and over, the game changes context or introduces some other kind of wild change that reinvigorated my senses.
Popping pills and dropping beatsAnother thing that completely caught me by surprise was the voice acting. The performance by Xalavier who fills the shoes of James is absolutely on point, a gruff performance that surely required illegal amounts of lemon honey tea, that captures the noir vibes with ease. Draculae played by Emme Montgomery also comes in with a strong performance that feels very authentic, rivaling some of the "heavy hitters" of game voice acting.
And then you hear it. "GET YOUR NUMBERS UP, BOY GET YOUR NUMBERS UP. LAY THOSE BODIES DOWN BOY, GET YOUR NUMBERS UP". Not only does Xalavier pull off performance of the year with James, but they spit absolute fire on a series of trap tracks that fit the carnage on screen so perfectly that it feels like some kind of satanic magic is unfolding on your screen. At key moments throughout the song you will hear the swell of RJ Lake's track crescendo into a beat, and then the rap begins to just tear the place apart. I love soundtracks, but god damn does El Paso, Elsewhere's soundtrack absolutely slap.
ConclusionI cannot overstate how just unexpected this game was. An homage to Max Payne coming from the studio who previously brought us An Airport for Aliens, Currently Run by Dogs and Sunshine Shuffle, my expectations were for a fun 3-4 hour arcade combat experience with some cool bullet time. Yet when I first stepped into that elevator, I knew that this was something different. This was game that had absolute confidence in the tale it was spinning, and trusted you as the player to join them on a weird and twisted ride until the very end. The combat may be lacking. It may be reusing assets. But you will play nothing like El Paso, Elsewhere this year, or likely ever again. If narrative is your jam, I believe this could be your game of the year.
El Paso, Elsewhere ****Recommended****
*Developer: Strange Scaffold
Platforms:* PC, Xbox, PlayStation
Visit the Steam page
Written and hosted by Steve Heller
Hello everyone, and welcome to a very belated Indie Release Dispatch! This weekly newsletter has not been so weekly. I would like to start by apologizing for that. I had some health concerns which took away a lot of my attention, and then Tokyo Game Show was an incredibly busy time. That meant that I had to put this project on the back burner for a short while, but I am incredibly excited to be back. As a way to say sorry, enjoy this amazing cosplay photo I took of the Like a Dragon gang while I was on break from my booth at TGS, and a sneaky box that some of you might recognize.
Majima and the boys!For those who prefer listening rather than reading, make sure you check out the podcast version of this dispatch, which includes the gameplay trailers and is over and done in ten minutes or so. This is a format I think is pretty neat, and you can subscribe to the podcast on all of your favorite providers.
So with that out of the way, let's get into it!
Want to watch/listen instead? Here's the new IRD podcast!
What came out this week?Laika: Aged Through BloodDeveloper: Brainwash Gang
Steam rating: Very Positive
Store page
It may feature anthropomorphic animals, but Laika: Aged Through Blood isn't messing around. This hand-drawn western-inspired Metroidvania tells a brutal story of an oppressed tribe, and the mother who is compelled to take vengeance to reclaim what her people lost. While the story and animation certainly have my attention, it's the fact that you are racing through this world on a motorcycle that really makes it stand out. Imagine if Klei's Shank had a baby with Sons of Anarchy, and peppered in an irresponsible amount of violence, and that seems to be what Laika is going for. Bonus points for the marketing team who cheekily decreed this as the first... MOTORVANIA. Get it? Coz of the bike, you see.
Wizard with a GunDeveloper: Galvanic Games
Steam rating: Very Positive
Store page
Devolver Digital seems to once again have another certified banger on their label, having just pushed out Wizard with a Gun. Much like their last release Gunbrella (check out our review here), the name succinctly describes the vibe of the game. You are a wizard, who happens to have a gun, and you need to survive in the magical wilderness that is filled with arcane mysteries and baddies. Thankfully you can play the entire game with a friend, as you explore, design new weapons, and build a home base. It has some big Don't Starve energy, but with more focus on fluid combat and wizard tricks. The Steam reviews are strong for this one, so if you like co-op survival games, this one might be worth checking out.
World of HorrorDeveloper: panstasz
Steam rating: Very Positive
Store page
I have been following the progress of the monochromatic World of Horror for what feels like a millennia. The Apple II style art style paired with the horrific inspirations of Junji Ito (seriously, if you are into horror look into their work) and H.P Lovecraft's collection of Elder Gods make for some truly inspired art. This roguelite features 14 playable characters, 20 investigations to solve, and a bunch of randomized madness for you to face off against in turn-based battle. What's more is that all the art for the game was drawn in Microsoft Paint! You know, the software you probably drew a lot of coloured squares and stuff in back in the day!
I have wanted to play this for so long, but I was waiting for the full 1.0 to release after a lengthy Early Access. To show my true believer status, here is a backer pledge portrait that my old boss Chris from Fellow Traveller had commissioned back when I was VERY COOL and had a mohawk.
It was a phase...HexarchyDeveloper: Main Tank Software
Steam rating: Very Positive
Store page
Do you like deckbuilders? How about 4X strategy games? Fancy hex-based board games? Well now you can have all three genres mashed into a finely sculpted game that promises a easy to learn but deep strategic experience. Build your deck and use your cards which will help you build cities, raise armies, discover wonders, and develop improvements. Other civilizations and the map are procedurally-generated, which means that no two games will be quite the same. Hexarchy supports up to 10 players, and an entire game plays out in 30-60 minutes according to the Steam page. So if you're busy like me and can't spend an entire weekend playing Civilization with friends, maybe this could work for your group.
Cavern of DreamsDeveloper: Bynine Studio
Steam rating: Postive
Store page
If you are often sitting around on a Saturday morning, you coffee going cold as you try to fill the void in your heart that is left by the absence of a new Croc game, then maybe Cavern of Dreams could tide you over. Said to be a surreal 3D platformer with collect-a-thon elements, created in the style of Nintendo 64-era platforming gems, it is immediately apparent right down to the frame-rate in the trailer what these developers are cribbing. It doesn't look half as polished as Yooka-Laylee, but it could be a nice way to spend a weekend.
Agatha Christie - Murder on the Orient ExpressDeveloper: Microids Studio Lyon
Steam rating: Postive
Store page
Murder on the Orient Express is the only Agatha Christie novel I have read, and it really left an impression on me. I really wish in general we got more detective games that are more than cheap hidden object games, and it looks like Microids Studio Lyon is trying to do that with this modern reimagining of this classic tale.
This time the legendary tale takes place in 2023, and it introduces new elements and characters to proceedings, so even if you have read the book, or seen that movie with Depp (side not, I have not seen it. Let me know in the comments if I should give it a go!), there will be new things for you to discover. There are not many Steam reviews for this game, but they ARE positive, and the trailer does look decent. Maybe I will try and see if I can get a key for this one, and report back next week.
Here's some things we did this weekLaunched a brand new websiteAs I mentioned at the top of the newsletter, life and health have been getting in the way of Pixels for Breakfast, which has made me a little sad because I really do love running this site. I've been talking a lot with my long-time collaborator Blue, and we decided that we want to go back to basics, and make it more sustainable. So I took a look at the server costs, and the bloated Wordpress software, and decided that we were spending too much money for not enough benefit. So we have move the entire site across to Ghost, a platform that is specifically made to host writing.
So now when you visit pixelsforbreakfast.net you will be greeted with a responsive and fast website, that also lets you sign up for weekly newsletters. Ghost actually encourages us to ping you every time we post a new article, but we feel that is a little overkill, and under the new plans we are most likely only posting a new feature every 1-2 weeks, which means we can just include it in this dispatch. So please come and check it out, and subscribe - it's totally free. That also allows you to comment on any article, and start some conversations.
There are still some kinks to work out, and design things to sort out, but it is there and it is running strong!
Beneath Oresa is on top of it's game - ReviewBlue put together a review of deckbuilder Beneath Oresa. I haven't seen that many people talking about this game, but it actually has a lot of really fun ideas. The art is pretty great, and it is the first deckbuilder since Griftlands that I really want to dive into the world and learn more. Check out their review on our brand new website!
Well, that's it for this week. Thanks so much for following this newsletter. If you enjoy it, share it with a friend. Jump in the comments, and let us know what we can do better. We want this to be valuable to you, not just something that we mindlessly push out every week.
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This is a pretty personal piece about my life, it feels kinda weird to share really. I’ve been processing emotions about friends and family passing lately, and I like to write in a journal about my feelings, but for once I felt like talking about it publicly is what I should do. My reaction to […]
The post A piece about loss appeared first on Pixels for Breakfast.
When it was announced that Capcom was going to give Resident Evil 2 a complete re-make, I was totally on board. Many consider RE2 to be the pinnacle of the first wave of survival horror, myself included, and over the years it has suffered the cruel hands of time with its tank controls, and limited playability due to aging systems. It made perfect sense to revisit the classic, if only to bring it to the hands of more players in the current age.
Before the release of Resident Evil 2 (2019), the remake craze was still in its infancy. Sure, we have been dealing with what feels like a never-ending stream of HD remasters for a decade now, but few developers have tried to completely remake a classic game from the ground up in quite the same way. Now that critical acclaim and financial viability has been proven thanks to the likes of the Resident Evil 2 remake and Final Fantasy VII Remake, the flood gates have been opened. Capcom quickly followed up with a remake of Resident Evil 3, and just this year we have seen the remakes of Dead Space and The Last of Us Part 1 command the attention of the AAA space, perhaps due to the drought of certified mainstream bangers, or perhaps because gamers are fueled by nostalgia and want to re-experience their favorite adventures.
The Resident Evil 4 announcement trailer took over all my social feedsBut when Capcom announced that they were remaking Resident Evil 4, many were rightfully skeptical.
Resident Evil 4 is an undisputed landmark moment in gaming. When the original released in 2005, it completely changed the conversation in regards to what an action game could be. While its immediate impact was perhaps not as radical as The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was for the 3D adventure, Resident Evil 4’s influence on game design for the following decade absolutely cannot be understated. On a franchise level, Resident Evil 4 tossed aside many of the series identifying features. Gone were the fixed camera angles, replaced by a fluid third-person camera. The slow and plodding tank controls were replaced with (for the time), far more responsive controls that allowed the player to control Leon S. Kennedy with a deftness that simply did not exist in the series. And while staying firmly in the horror camp, Resident Evil 4 was the campier, brawnier sibling version of horror when compared with its predecessors. It is an overused comparison, but the first three Resident Evil games felt more plodding like Ridley Scott’s Alien, while Resident Evil 4 was a meme-spewing, one-liner machine, akin to James Cameron’s Aliens.
While Resident Evil 4 was just built different, it still contained the same heart that those first three games displayed. Yet it’s more modern approach, and more mainstream action appeal saw the entire series catapult beyond the horror gaming crowd, directly into the living rooms of gamers as a collective across the globe.
The classic trailer is still delightful!Capcom were going to mess with THAT game?
Why a remake could have harmed the franchiseIt was a dangerous prospect, changing the formula of a game that became an industry hallmark. There are thousands of gamers out there who will tell you that Resident Evil 4 is a perfect video game. That not a single thing should ever be changed. We reached perfection in 2005. There was no need to revisit.
But more to the point, Resident Evil 4 was readily accessible. After the initial Gamecube exclusivity window, it was brought to the PlayStation 2 later that year. In 2007 the game was re-released again on the Nintendo Wii, now with motion controls that are still lauded as one of the better implementations on that system.
A HD re-release was then made for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 a few years later, and once again the HD version was made available on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and even a mobile version. Resident Evil 4 was almost as accessible as Skyrim, and what’s more is that it even looked pretty great at this point too.
Resident Evil 2 remake captured the spirit of the original perfectly.The reasons for remaking Resident Evil 2 made a lot more sense. That game was unavailable to most. If you didn’t have an original PlayStation sitting in a garage, playing a legitimate version of the game was not a readily accessible thing. Game design principles, control interfaces, graphical fidelity, all of these reasons made a compelling case for a Resident Evil 2 remake. None of those reasons exist for Resident Evil 4. What’s even more perplexing is that Capcom have not developed a modern remake of the original Resident Evil game, citing the existence of 2002’s Gamecube remake that has since come to PC and other platforms, as the version to play.
The remake I never knew I neededBut now that Resident Evil 4 (2023) is here, I have come to understand why Capcom has charged ahead with such courage. This is the remake I never wanted, but now I cannot live without. The developers have managed to capture the spirit of the classic, while modernizing it in very important ways. Some of those ways are immediately apparent. The controls are even more fluid than the original, allowing you to deal with the various set pieces with finesse. The graphics from the continually improving RE:Engine set a new benchmark for Capcom, and the series. The other improvements come at a much slower pace, with changes to the story and tone, which I for one, think fix some of the wrongs of RE4’s past.
Ashley is a much more present character, with her own motivations in the remakeThe treatment of Ashley in the original game was “very Japanese” at best, misogynistic at worst . This remake however elevates her from damsel in distress to a capable person trying to make sense of the madness unfolding around her. While there are moments in the story that depart from the original, one of the best revamped sequences in this entire remake place you in control of the presidents daughter, with a tension and horror that the original sequence was incapable of delivering, because Ashley was nothing more than a plot device. This reworking of events forces you to see the world from her point of view, if only for a few squeamish moments.
It could have been very easy to play the ridiculousness of Resident Evil 4’s plot entirely straight, but what Capcom has done here is to subtly bring it in-line with the tone that has been set in the modern rebirth of the franchise. Before the release of this remake, the franchise had a wildly varied tone with a the shoestring of connective tissue being carried by the ominous Umbrella Corporation. As a result you had distinctive time periods. Resident Evil was the serious horror adventure, while Resident Evil 2 and 3 felt more like a zombie movie. Resident Evil 4 was an action adventure that played with the occult, while Resident Evil 5 was balls-to-the-wall action with levity provided by your partner in crime.
Even the key art for Resident Evil 6 is cringeworthy. But it was the complete bomb of Resident Evil 6 that saw the franchise hit rock bottom. The one liners, the nonsensical plot, and the lacklustre gameplay meant that after the genocidal controversy of Resident Evil 5 backed by a general falling apart of tone and substance, left the franchise to the wind for many years. Even as a general fan, I completely thought that this was the moment that the long-running franchise would die off.
But the complete departure and surprise of Biohazard: Resident Evil 7 is what started this new adventure. One where the series could play with the camp and the grotesque – the horror anthology with a new direction and zest for life. It was the complete runaway success of RE7 that captured the essence of the very first game, and managed to change it into a masterpiece of horror that laid the foundations for the new wave of survival horror releases.
And that is where these remakes are taking an interesting turn. Because while the essence of each remake so far has remained intact, I do believe that we are seeing the tone and subtext be altered slightly to make the games feel more in-line with the current trajectory of the series. I played the original RE2 and RE4 fairly recently, and while they feature the same main character, they honestly feel disconnected. They stand alone on their own merits, with very different tones, ideas, and even conceits.
A live-stream recap of Resident Evil Village we did. But when you make your way through the recent string of remakes, skipping RE1, RE5, and RE6, and move into the most recent adventures, it feels far more cohesive. Yes, their stories are still largely disconnected, however instead of Umbrella being the connective tissue, we have tone, subtext, and the developer’s reverence for the franchise providing a cohesion that the series has previously lacked.
And that reverence cannot be understated. The Resident Evil 2 remake was spurred on by internal support from Capcom producer, Yoshikai Hirabayashi, who originally took interest from a Resident Evil Facebook page question to the higher-ups in Capcom as proof that the fans wanted this game. Hirabayashi and their peers all grew up at the time that the original RE2 was coming out, which puts the Capcom R&D Division 1 team in a unique position – developers who share the nostalgia that we as fans feel for the source material. As fans of the original games, they intimately know why people are still obsessed with them years after release, which means that they can treat those wants with the respect that they deserve.
Largely, I believe that this is why the string of Resident Evil remakes have not only been successful, but have felt incredibly genuine.
The future of CapcomCapcom is looking very healthy right now.Much like the Resident Evil franchise, Capcom is going through a sort of rebirth itself. After incredible success, particularly in the period that the original RE4 was released as part of the famous Capcom 5 (5 exclusives for the Nintendo Gamecube, all of which were hotly anticipated), the company hit the skids with a series of poorly received releases, declining sales, and financial strife. Rumors were swirling around for years that a company like Microsoft or Nintendo would swoop in and pick them up in a fire sale, and then the juggernaut that was Monster Hunter World became an international phenomenon, that saved the company both critically, and commercially. Since then, the storied developer has been going from strength to strength, releasing what feels like a never-ending stream of killer titles.
So it seems kinda fitting that the Resident Evil 4 remake continues that trend, a knowing nod to the past, while bringing Capcom’s genre-defining franchise into the future. The next interesting thing will be how the company tackles Resident Evil 5? Or perhaps they will simply move on, allowing the less successful titles to languish, without the renewed attention that a remake would bring.
One thing is for absolutely certain – Resident Evil 4 remake could have been a treacherous path, but Capcom has nothing but utmost respect for their games, and now it will be forever the defining version of this tale.
The post Resident Evil 4 Remake confirms Capcom cares about their legacy appeared first on Pixels for Breakfast.
Blizzard just can’t seem to get it together, huh? This week Blue and Steve talk about the announcement that Blizzard is abandoning the proposed PvE story content for Overwatch 2, the main point of difference for the sequel. They also touch on the latest update from the Activision Blizzard acquisition, troubled waters for Roots of Pacha, that Mortal Kombat 1 reveal, and the rebirth of Hawken – yeah, I know right?! Do you remember Hawken?
In the back half of the show they have a spoiler-free discussion about Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Steve confesses his desire to be a Redfall stan and Blue reluctantly agrees that it’s not a bad game. Steve talks a bit about his time with indie game Eastward, and Blue talks about his progress in Final Fantasy XIV.
If you want Life Sucks – A Redfall Podcast to become a reality, make sure you vote on the Spotify poll.
The post Tears of Overwatch’s Kingdom – Podcast appeared first on Pixels for Breakfast.
In this episode of the Pixels for Breakfast podcast, hosts Steve and Blue discuss Markiplier’s new movie adaptation of Iron Lung, the unionization of Sega of America workers, and the latest sales data on Dead Island 2. They also delve into the controversy surrounding Wizards of the Coast’s raid on a YouTuber’s house to take back Magic: The Gathering cards. Additionally, they discuss the Microsoft-Activision acquisition, the upcoming Xbox Games Showcase, and the leak of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Finally, they wrap up the episode by sharing their thoughts on the Street Fighter 6 beta and their recent gaming experiences playing FFXIV Delubrum Reginae Savage and Magic – March of the Machine limited.
The Pixels for Breakfast podcast is streamed live on YouTube very second Thursday! Make sure you subscribe and join us for the next episode!
The post Xbox Dropped The Ball – Podcast appeared first on Pixels for Breakfast.
The first word that came to mind when I booted up Wildfrost was “charm”. It is a charming game, with charming visuals, and charming atmosphere. Less obliquely, Wildfrost is one of those games that knows exactly what kind of experience it wants to provide. Even from the menu you get a feel of the jaunty upbeat tone of the game. The art style is probably what grabs most people’s attention. It’s simple, cartoony, adorable, and chock full of personality. All the elements in the game come together as a cohesive whole to give this impression of thoughtful and intentional design.
Once defeated, the big Bamboozle which takes up both lanes splits into the smaller Bam and Boozle.Which leads to the second word that came to mind as I poked around in the settings menu before my first run: “concern”. Casually situated in the bottom right of the game options are settings for blood (normal or rainbow) and the amount of said blood. “Ah it’s going to be that kind of game” I remember thinking to myself.
The blood effects are mostly subtle. One of my favourite touches is that it splashes onto the cards as units in front take damage.And honestly that’s been a good summary of my experiences with Wildfrost so far. Immediate charm from seeing an enemy followed by concern as a battle slowly but surely slips out of my control.
Wildfrost is set in a post-apocalyptic snowstorm where something has happened to the sun. Your goal is to survive an expedition into the heart of the storm and hopefully figure out what went wrong. There isn’t a ton of lore to be found in the main run of the game (I haven’t beaten the basic scenario yet as of the time of writing), but the setup is good and the presentation is effective. The menus are styled as the journals of the explorers who are attempting to find the heart of the storm and end the eternal winter. Simple, charming, and wait that’s blood on the page…
Wildfrost is upbeat at its core. It’s a fun trip into the wilderness to meet dangerous critters head on. But then you get the menu screen where half of it are the faded names of all the previous owners of the journal. Each and every one an explorer you (very specifically ME in this case) have failed.
Oh poor Kinwell. You deserved better than what I could give you.I adore this. It’s the small and simple things. The page fills organically as you repeat runs and learn. The way the names slowly fade out over time as your churn through explorers. The way the names start to write over the space of the oldest leaders as runs wear on. I think this is also a good spot to mention that I’m not particularly great at Wildfrost. As evidenced by the number of names on this page at only a handful of hours in. I am totally charmed and mildly concerned at how bad I am at keeping expedition leaders alive.
Wildfrost is another entry in the card-based roguelike genre ala Slay the Spire or Monster Train. But something that may not be obvious from just a glance at the game is the speed of it. A standard run is only really about 9 fights long. Between every fight you will have an opportunity to improve your deck in some way. Pick up new cards, new allies, and new charms that augment your cards. At these points you’re hoping to find some synergies fast because the enemies ramp up whether you’re ready for them or not.
This is where I was somewhat surprised by the game. I grew up on big number RPGs like Final Fantasy so whenever I see games that handle small numbers well, I immediately pay attention. Wildfrost knows how powerful increasing (or decreasing) a single number by 1 can be.
Case in point: Turns are somewhat synchronous in nature. After every action by the player, everything on the board ticks down their action counter by 1. If it hits 0, they perform their attack which often has another effect associated with it. This means that unlike most other card-based games you can’t string together a million actions back to back on your turn for powerful swings. You have to always consider the enemies’ state and make a choice on whether you can do something offensive or be forced to play defensive.
There’s an achievement in the game for surviving a hit from King Moko and then winning the battle. Not hard to see why.Managing the life totals of up to 6 friendly units (including the leader who mustn’t die or the run ends) and the abilities and countdown timers of up to 6 enemy units can get a little overwhelming. That big boss monkey sure has a lot of attack. But I have 7 turns before I get destroyed by him. The monkey behind him attacks every turn and gets stronger when it does. The Pepper Witches are all going to buff each other if not dealt with at the same time. Hmmm!
The game’s mechanics are approachable with simple effects and small numbers. That makes it easy to digest individually while also scaling rapidly in complexity when multiple things happen at once. It’s so very charming… but I am also concerned about making it through this fight now.
To offset how quickly fights spiral out of your control, Wildfrost is fairly quick on the reset. There isn’t much in terms of basecamp management to handle like say a Rogue Legacy. In the more traditional roguelike fashion you can’t increase your overall power. To begin with you only have one starter deck available. As time goes on you gain access to 3 possible starter decks represented by 3 different tribes in the world: The Snowdwellers, Shademancers, and Clunkmasters. You can also unlock more items, companions, and charms as you meet challenges that the game sets out for you.
Stare into the face of Kabonker and know that you stare into a face devoid of mercy.These aren’t added to your decks immediately, but rather become things to find in the run. The designs seem conservative and more aimed at enabling new playstyles rather than making you punch harder. Sidegrades galore to support the various mechanics in the game such as freezing the enemy, poisoning the enemy, or strapping bombs to them that explode on hits. While I’ve come close to the end of the game once, I still have a good chunk of unlockables to pursue as I keep churning through runs.
Wildfrost is a very intelligent and purposefully designed game filled to the brim with charm. In my personal case, the aesthetics of the game is a helpful balm to how quickly the game spirals out of my control and I’m forced to start over because of a silly mistake. A standard run looks to be around 9 battles. That number doesn’t seem high, but the pace that the enemies ramp up is almost unforgiving. This particular flavour of card game is all about finding your shtick fast and then making it as effective as possible in a short amount of time. If the RNG fails you, fret not. Just start over and hope to do better. There is a surprising amount of variance in the archetypes you can build in the game for you to mess around with.
The game is the full package of tone perfect aesthetics, fun music, and interesting card-based interaction. This isn’t a full review. I haven’t experienced a few key things in the game (e.g. the standard run’s ending). But even at this point I can see that Wildfrost is a great game and I think if you go in with the right expectations, you’ll have a ton of fun. The universal countdown system that all units on the field share makes the fight decisions sticky and interesting. If that sounds like your jam, I absolutely recommend checking it out.
The post Wildfrost is a an out of control roguelike full of charm appeared first on Pixels for Breakfast.
In this episode of Pixels for Breakfast, Steve and Blue discuss a variety of gaming news and trailers, including the Dead Space Demake, Honkai Star Rail, Destiny 2 Lightfall, and Playdate. They also cover PC Game Pass coming to 40 more countries, Microsoft’s 10-year deal to bring Activision games to a UK mobile network, and Bungie’s claims of a trusted Destiny community member leaking secrets. The hosts then dive into some game discussions, including Hi-Fi Rush, Shardpunk – Verminfall, Against the Storm, Wildfrost, Diablo 3 season 28, and FFXIV savage raid prep. Tune in for all the latest gaming news and insights!
The Pixels for Breakfast podcast is streamed live on YouTube very second Thursday! Make sure you subscribe and join us for the next episode!
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Redemption Reapers borrows a lot from the Fire Emblem brand of tactical RPGs. This makes sense given Masayuki Horikawa has been working on Fire Emblem from Tracia 776 (1999) until 2015’s Fates. Redemption Reapers however discard one of the most notable things about Fire Emblem for me which is the large party.
Even in the smallest scale Fire Emblem games, you quickly amass a party of 10 or more characters. Often, you have so many extra units that you are only picking a fraction of them for a given map.
Redemption Reapers has five party members, you’ll have your full party pretty quickly into the game. Following the Fire Emblem style, the mechanical complexity of these characters isn’t particularly complicated. With most characters only having 2-3 abilities, partnered with a fairly limited number of customisation options, it makes the systems of the game really easy to grasp.
Whenever I play a tactical RPG, I am always worried about the building being overly complicated when what I enjoy more is the actual process of battling. Redemption Reapers seems to agree with me on this too.
Battles are pretty classic tactical RPG stuff, but we have some smart maps that can encourage you to push your resources if you want extra bonuses, balanced in a way that’ll kill you if you are stupid, but reward you for playing smart, letting you kill foes satisfyingly quickly. There are a few main points for combat that really separate this from the very visible Fire Emblem roots.
The first is an emphasis on follow-up attacks. If you attack a foe and another ally is within striking range, they can follow up. These follow-ups cost nothing, which means careful consideration of positioning and ordering of actions can lead to a massive boost in effectiveness.
Second is the action point system. Units can have up to 10 AP stocked at a time, everyone’s basic attack costs six, units can do additional actions providing they have AP, and many environmental interactions like opening chests cost nothing. Over the course of a map as well, units can increase their AP cap, allowing them to sometimes attack twice in a turn, which can make the start and end of a map feel quite different.
The last big game changer is after doing an action, units can spend their remaining movement. This means that possibly in a turn you could attack, move, open a chest along the way, and move again. Which, if you are used to Fire Emblem sounds like some crazy luxury.
These changes combine to give your small party of five a lot of options while keeping a lot of the fairly simple moment-to-moment mechanics that make Fire Emblem distinct and different to things like Tactics Ogre where complicated character building or large verb sets can slow down the game.
Although what does slow it down is the fact it’s not easy, and doesn’t provide a lot of options to alleviate that. You can grind, but those stats won’t carry you that far. It will punish you if you aren’t careful. While there isn’t permanent character death, if anyone does die in the opening half of the map it can feel like you literally don’t have the action economy to keep up. A problem that only gets stronger as the game goes on. Maps also can start to run a little long, which means resetting can feel like a slog, making it only feel more punishing.
I have not finished the game yet so I can’t give a final review. I am enjoying it quite a bit. It takes something I love, clearly understands it and changes it up in a lot of good smart ways. For me, the difficulty mostly works in my favour, although failing a map only to have to restart the 20-minute mission always hurts. The cutscenes often have great direction, and there is sometimes text that implies a story is happening. From what I have played so far if the price is something you can afford, I’d recommend it.
Pixels for Breakfast received a preview code for Redemption Reapers from the developer’s PR team.
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Rinoa and Blue are finally back, after a lot of busy times for both, and a number of delays in even this version coming out, Platforms and Pitfalls is back in a smaller two-game form. We loved covering 5 games and think it often leads to a good exploration of a topic, but that didn’t fit in our lives as much anymore.
So now we have PnP Mini, where we are going to be looking at the role of filler enemies in musou titles like One Piece Pirate Warriors 3 and Killing Floor. Since it’s a new format and we are a little out of practice, feel free to chat with us about the show and help it improve.
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It has been quite a month of news in gaming already, in what is normally a relatively slow time of the year. The monolithic Activision Blizzard King acquisition by Microsoft looms over everyone’s heads. Nintendo has laid its future plans for the foreseeable future down in its latest direct. E3’s relevance is in question as strong rumours indicate that the big players aren’t making an appearance on the show floor.
Through all of this news, most people aren’t paying attention to the competitive eSports scene. DotA 2’s The International and League of Legends’ World Championship are well and truly over by now and haven’t quite ramped back up yet. However, in the fighting game space there have been quite a number of amazing storylines, fantastic top level plays, and an air of anticipation as we sit on the precipice of another generational shift.
Tekken World Tour 2022For me this kicked off on February 4th as the 2022 Tekken World Tour (TWT) kicked off the final event of their competitive circuit in Amsterdam. The 20 top ranking players from sanctioned events over the past year join the 4 winners out of the Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ) tournament in one final bracket. The combined 24 players duked it out to find out who would be crowned King of the Iron Fist, and take their share of the $100,000USD prize pool.
The TWT finals whittle down the field by dividing players up into 4 groups of 6 via a lottery system. One by one, players walk on-stage at the end of the first day (after the LCQ) to be placed into a group, where they will be fighting it out in a round robin style tournament to decide the eight best players advancing to the final bracket.
Immediately, spectators and players alike began to take note of a particular group. Of course every player at this level is a threat and real contender to win the whole event, but Group A in particular was shaping up to be a group worth paying attention to. Arslan Ash from Pakistan is widely regarded as the strongest player in the scene at the moment, and Knee from Korea is one of the greatest Tekken players of all time. Both made it into what was colloquially called the Group of Death. Neither player qualified into Top 8.
Instead, Chikurin from Japan made it out at the top of the group and Ghirlanda, an Italian currently living in Bulgaria slid comfortably into the losers side of the bracket. And Ghirlanda is absolutely one of the stories of this tournament. An unsponsored dad working two full time jobs with only 2 hours of online training per night, they made history as the first European to ever make top 8 in the 4 years of the event’s lifetime.
Ghirlanda on his training regimen (credit: Ghirlanda’s Facebook)Ghirlanda ultimately ended up taking 4th place with the aforementioned Chikurin in 3rd, JeonDDing from South Korea in 2nd, and Atif Butt of Pakistan in 1st. Pakistan is not exactly a country well known for a pedigree of competitive fighting game players. But Arslan Ash changed that when he burst onto the scene at the Evolution Championship Series (EVO) in 2019. Suddenly all eyes were on Pakistan as more and more hidden talent got the opportunity to travel and showcase their skill. Ultimately it was Atif Butt who took home the 2022 TWT trophy and solidified Pakistan’s place as a place to go for the highest level of Tekken.
A truly fantastic event with promises of more to come. The next TWT was announced with Tekken 7 once more being the main game. This leaves Tekken 8 which was announced last year to likely not see a release before the end of the next world circuit. Bandai Namco also released a statement saying that they hope to see the next generation of Tekken released within the fiscal year of 2023, which many fans speculate to be an early 2024 release.
Capcom Cup IXFast forwarding a couple of weeks and dropping a whole dimension back into the side-on view of 2D fighters, Capcom Cup IX kicked off in Los Angeles. This time only 1 winner made it out of the LCQ to join the 47 other top ranked players in the world all vying for their share of the $298,500 USD prize pool. Perhaps more importantly for the history books is the title of the final Street Fighter V Capcom Cup champion with Street Fighter VI slated to launch June 2nd, 2023.
Taking their time and spacing the LCQ and elimination rounds out over a week, the top 16 players competed on February 19th. At this point, spectators have had a chance to see what kind of form the players were in, and many eyes were on the LCQ winner Zhen from China. At only 19 years of age, Zhen was one of the youngest competitors in the event. He reportedly followed his other friends who had qualified for the Cup to Los Angeles to support them and instead ended up with one of the hottest streaks in the whole week.
From the group stages of the LCQ all the way up to top 16, Zhen did not drop a single set giving him a dominant 12 set win-streak. This is truly the storyline that open tournaments are set up to tell – a relative unknown joined an open bracket and tore through the competition. While Zhen has certainly put up results in other Capcom Pro Tour (CPT) events before, the Capcom Cup IX LCQ was easily the most prestigious win in his career. He was a relative nobody, but now he was set up to go all the way.
A grueling and fantastic tournament played out for fans as a great capstone to the Street Fighter V series at Capcom Cup IX. In 3rd place was iDom of America, the winner of Capcom Cup 2019 and up until this tournament, reigning champion of the Cup due to global travel restrictions. 2nd place went to Zhen who stormed the competition and was ultimately only stopped by a single player. The top place at Capcom Cup IX and final champion of Street Fighter V was MenaRD of the Dominican Republic who is currently the only repeat champion of a Capcom Cup (after his first win in 2016).
BANDITS MenaRD holding the Capcom Cup (Photo credit: Photo: Robert Paul)Capcom follows up the close of the competitive season with exciting news for the next event. To support the new Street Fighter game and bolster interest they have announced a 2 million USD prize pool to Capcom Cup X with half of that total going to the winner alone. This is very reminiscent of 2016 when Street Fighter V launched initially. In a very successful bid to drum up support and interest in the game, they put up a prize pool of $350,000 USD, with $230,000 of that pot going to the winner alone. This saw a record number of participants at EVO of that year with over 5,000 competitors since the winner of EVO had a golden ticket into the final tournament without the need to jockey for points on a leaderboard.
Street Fighter 6 Concept ArtEVO 2023Speaking of the “superbowl of fighting games”, EVO announced their mainline game series on February 21st. There are a lot of stories around every single one of the eight games to make the lineup this year. A lot of the usual suspects make the cut with expected titles like Street Fighter VI making its debut, and Tekken 7 returning for its seventh appearance at this event. Kudos and congratulations to every game and the community that made it. It’s shaping up to be a great event.
But with all of that said, what’s the best way to wrap up an article that started with Ghirlanda’s ride through the Tekken World Tour, Atif Butt finally bringing the trophy back to Pakistan, Zhen’s dominance in Capcom Cup IX only to be stopped by the now two-time champion MenaRD? Along with the seven mainline games at EVO which tend to be some of the newer and more popular games, they also run a throwback tournament. Something to rekindle old flames of passion in the community. This is a full mainline event with a minimum of $25,000 USD up for grabs in the prize pool. And this year it will be none other than the incomparable and one of a kind Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. So to answer the age old question of “When’s Mahvel?” this year it is on from August 4th to 6th at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. It would take a long time to explain how much excitement rippled through the community at this announcement, but I think this screenshot of the official MSI Twitter account captures it well:
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YAGER, the studio behind the free-to-play Extraction Shooter The Cycle: Frontier has just outlined a number of new changes ahead of the upcoming Season 3 launch.
One of the major updates is the introduction of MK II weapons, which are found in the battlefields of Fortuna during missions. Rewarding players for exploration, these powerful weapons will broaden the scope for rare weapons, adding to those you can already purchase and craft while back in the hub world.
Another point of focus for the developer is to curb cheating, which has been a problem since The Cycle: Frontier launched last year. In what they call “The War on Cheats”, the developers have introduced a Cheating Victim Compensation system that helps player regain lost items due to confrontations with cheaters. The introduction of a Trusted Status system, and Shielded Matchmaking are all steps towards making the player onboarding much easier for new players looking to land on the surface of Fortuna III, and get to looting.
The Cycle: Frontier Season 3 will be launching on March 29, bringing with it improvements to the matchmaking system, new campaign quests, and a new flying enemy called the Howler, the first of its kind to be introduced into the game.
Chaise, our resident Escape from Tarkov stan even admitted in his impressions that “The Cycle: Frontier has an engaging loop that really draws you in.” It was even the impetus for my video essay on Extraction Shooters, so suffice to say I am looking forward to cramming into a drop pod, and landing on the surface of Fortuna III when the new update arrives.
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Street Fighter 6 rounds out its launch roster in the latest PlayStation State of Play. Zangief, Cammy, and newcomer Lily make their trailer debut to complete the cast of 18 launch characters (2 more than the launch roster for Street Fighter V). In total, there will be 6 brand new characters joining the original 8 World Warriors as well as 4 other fan favourites from across the franchise.
None of this is too much of a surprise following the leak back in June of 2022 that spoiled the roster’s names along with some official artwork. However, it is very exciting to finally get to see these characters in motion. The trailers we had seen so far pointed to a vibrant and colourful world jam packed with that specific Street Fighter 6 energy and these 3 new announcements certainly met those expectations.
Zangief was first up, demonstrating an array of target combo strikes as well as the grabs that are going to terrorize players. The notorious Screw Piledriver (a.k.a the Spinning Piledriver or SPD) is of course back alongside the anti air version introduced in Street Fighter V, the Borscht Dynamite. He also gets a counterhit-throw – the Tundra Storm – to punish anyone trying to sneak in some quick hits. Finally we also got a look at his Super Arts. The Level 2 Cyclone Lariat is a callback to Zangief’s V-Trigger 1 from the previous game. Meanwhile the Level 3 Bolshoi Storm Buster shows that he maybe took more than a few cues from Rainbow Mika when they teamed up and adds a bunch of showmanship to the ever brutal big spinning buster he’s so famous for.
Next was a look at Lily, a young girl who speaks with the spirits of nature. She has big boots to fill as she is a descendant of the Thunderfoot tribe, just like the Super Street Fighter II character T.Hawk. The two share a variety of special moves in name and spirit; Condor Dive, Condor Spire, and Tomahawk Buster all return with an added twist that they can be powered up by utilizing Condor Wind. While much shorter than T.Hawk, she makes up for her lack of natural range with the war clubs she carries into battle – making her one of the few street fighters who actively brawl with weapons.
Last but certainly not least is Cammy. Ms. White’s redesign is particularly striking. Gone are the braids and leotard, but she retains the signature hair tuft out the front of her face and her array of ferocious special attacks. Spiral Arrow, Cannon Spike, and Hooligan Combination all return with updated Street Fighter 6 flair. She even has a throwback to both her Street Fighter IV Cammy Quick Combination (CQC) move that is a parry super with an homage to the 1996 animated movie.
The 3 fighters were also shown off alongside 3 new stages. Zangief flexed his moves to a crowd at Barmeley Steelworks. Lily beat up Blanka in the Thunderfoot Settlement, and Cammy gave us a glimpse at the foggy King Street.
Street Fighter 6 is already available for pre-order with a slated launch date of June 2nd, 2023. The next generation Street Fighter game is looking to expand the traditional fighting game experience across three brand new game modes – Fighting Ground, World Tour, and Battle Hub.
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This episode we talk about the upcoming Team Fortress 2 update, along with Nintendo’s latest direct and pay increases for employees. Then we take a quick look at the Microsoft acquisition of Activision, the increasing pressure from various anti-competitive committees, and some inside baseball information that has come as a result of these court proceedings. Finally Blue gives us an update on Tekken 8 and Capcom Cup, and we hear of some other studio updates from around the web. In the back half of the show we talk about Steve’s playthrough of 2022’s Citizen Sleeper and indie extraction shooter, Zero Sievert. Blue talks more about Forspoken, and his recent return to Hearthstone.
For those who don’t use Spotify, you can access the show from our RSS feed, or your podcatcher or choice. We broadcast the show live on YouTube every second Friday, and you can get notified directly via the events section on our Discord!
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So I made a post about managing a backlog, setting a plan, and how that might help you work through it. Big talk for sure. But… am I following my own advice?
So as some sort of self-reflection, I decided that delivering monthly backlog updates could be neat. As always, feel free to chime in on discord, Twitter, mastodon, or wherever you lurk that we also do these days.
So, my goal game for January was Atelier Ayesha. A Cute alchemy JRPG with a light but present sense of looming deadlines. Did I play it?
No.
So, great start to the year? Maybe it seems like a no, but remember, that whole goal-setting thing is about setting some intents. It’s not about sticking hard to a schedule. So, for the purposes of this series, it’s a good thing. It’s more important to follow your feelings over a schedule if you want to play more of your backlog. But what got me distracted from Atelier Ayesha? Let’s open up that Notion and see what we finished.
I always like to start off the year with a bit of a retro classic I’ve never quite finished. First up was Sin and Punishment, published by Nintendo and developed by Treasure. It’s an over-the-top run-and-gun rail shooter. I’ve always liked it. But despite its short length and owning a physical copy, I had never actually finished it. So I finished up this bizarre piece of work. If you aren’t familiar with it, it’s quite an ambitious 2-3 hour rail shooter. You control both the character and the cursor as opposed to linking the two like in Starfox. There’s a large focus on unique and over-the-top set pieces you wouldn’t expect on the N64. Not only that, but despite being a humble N64 game, it’s entirely voice-acted. Stranger still, all the voice acting was in English but the game was not originally released outside of Japan until the Wii Virtual Console. That alone can’t be why I didn’t play Atelier Ayesha though, can it?
No single game ruined anything, but two derailed me. Muv Luv, a series of visual novels that happens to contain one of the highest-rated of all time in the genre. And Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity, which is not the highest-rated anything. But has Infinity in the title.
I started the Muv Luv saga last year. It is a fascinating series and a rather important one. Coming out from 2003 to 2006, the games Extra, Unlimited and Alternative tell some fascinating stories. They play with the conventions of anime and visual novels in what were for the time, novel ways. But by this point can seem more like it is being cliche as opposed to being one of the pioneers. The first game channels a lot of Love Hina energy, hiding the serious war story that is to come. (but that isn’t a spoiler don’t worry)
The back-of-the-box description for the second game though, is what if the guy in a harem-style visual novel got dropped into a world where life is hard because aliens are wiping out humanity? This genre shift might sound silly. Even at the start of the game, it’s played as a joke by the protagonist. Who comes to understand the horror of the life he’s now living compared to before.
They also have a really unique presentation to them, doubly so for the time. As the text comes on more akin to subtitles, and the positioning and use of the character sprites is a lot more dynamic than even most visual novels today. It comes off feeling incredibly modern, despite the first game turning 20 this year.
Basically, really good stuff. Although it’s important to note before you go and play them that these were originally erotic games. And while the versions you can buy in English have that removed, it’s not like it hides that aspect at all. It just doesn’t show it. I’m currently playing through the third game and looking forward to seeing how it ends. Well worth the schedule change though.
But, a super long series of VNs seems like a lot right? So naturally on a whim and seeing a Kimimi tweet (link) about it, decided to finally go play Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity. You can identify it as a PSP game released during the Monster Hunter craze in Japan that wouldn’t hit western shores until World. You can spot the games trying to ride this wave by being four-player co-op action RPGs with a focus on local multiplayer, almost always getting an expanded version a year later. Sega localized the Phantasy Star Portable 2 but never the Infinity expansion. A lot of people hold both this game and its expansion in high regard. It got a fan patch a few years ago though. So instead of playing that I opted to play in Japanese as a bit of a warm-up for my March goal game, Buddy Mission Bond.
I’ve finished replaying all the base story, and am about to embark on the new content. It upscales nicely, looking good if you are into the PSP aesthetic. The combat is just the right level of involved and considered. Which is something Phantasy Star’s outings have always excelled at. I’ve been surprised how much the story jived with me despite also not thinking it is terribly good.
I did want to knock off a goal game though, so I installed Yoku’s Island Express. The cute pinball gatepunk experience. It’s small, it’s fun. Some of the pinball tables were a little finicky. A few took a little too long for my preference. But I enjoyed it quite a bit as a chill game to play between Muv Luv sessions. I’m glad I set it as a goal game though because it’s just a super nice way to spend a few afternoons.
I also dabbled in some service games. (Flash Party is a fun Smash clone). I got a head start in *Chaos Rings III. Despite it being a single-player offline game it has daily logins so I’m collecting those to smooth out the actual play experience.
And now it’s February! I’m going to keep playing Muv Luv and Phantasy Star but I’m not sure what from the goal game list I’m going to commit to. I really don’t feel I’m in the mood for Ayesha quite yet, but don’t want to knock out all the short games too quickly. I’m thinking that despite what I originally wrote, maybe Sable is the game to play. Something a lot quieter and focusing on atmosphere and player choice should be a nice change of pace to the mindless hack-and-slash or the reams of text I’m currently dealing with.
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Welcome to the relaunch of the Pixels for Breakfast Podcast! This time Blue and I are doing this show live over on our YouTube channel, complete with trailers and our faces! Those who tune in live can interact via chat, and we normally have a segment at the end where we can chat and hang out if time permits! So please, help us out and subscribe and hit that notification bell!
This week we talk shop about the massive controversy that is the Dungeons and Dragons OGL changes, the rumors about all three major platform holders not attending E3, some neat new indie games, and my most recent obsession – 2012’s XCOM: Enemy Unknown. We also touch on Respawn Entertainment’s recent delays and cancellations, and the sunsetting of wrestling battle royale, Rumbleverse.
We will be back in two weeks to talk about the latest news, so until them please consider leaving us a review on Spotify, or your podcasting platform of choice. Seeing as this is a brand new feed, please note that it may take a few days for the show to start appearing in other podcatchers, but we do know that it is currently live on Google, Spotify, and Pocketcasts!
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Indie Horror darlings Frictional Games has just announced a new addition to their lauded franchise, with the reveal of Amnesia: The Bunker, hitting PC, Xbox, and PlayStation on May 16.
Amnesia: The Bunker takes place during the first World War, telling the story of a lone French soldier who is left behind by his battalion, trapped inside an abandoned military bunker. Turns out it is not quite so abandoned, as a deadly creature skulks in the shadows, looking for more prey.
In true Amnesia fashion, the player will navigate the labyrinthine bunker, facing their darkest fears, hopes, dreams, and desires as protagonist Henri tries to confront their situation, and drum up a little hope to survive.
Frictional Games has a long track record of horrific winners, releasing the original Amnesia: The Dark Descent back in 2010, essentially kickstarting an entire genre. They are also the studio behind SOMA, and the Penumbra series, both of which brought unique and interesting narratives to the table.
Typically I stay away from these sorts of puzzle focused horror games, but I have been a fan of the series in the past, and Amnesia: The Bunker feels like an interesting talk in the growing anthology series. I think I may bring the covers close, and give this one a look when it hits platforms this May.
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I’m calling it early – 2023 could be the year of the Tactical RPG, especially with the announcement that Redemption Reapers is launching for PC, PlayStation, and Switch on February 22.
For those who don’t know, Redemption Reapers is a new dark fantasy tactical RPG developed by an all-star collection of Japanese developers. Based on an original story by Hiroyuki Kobayashi (Producer – ENDER LILIES: Quietus of the Knights), other members of the Adglobe team include Masayuki Horikawa (Series Director – Fire Emblem, Planning – Kingdom Hearts III), Tomokazu Fukushima (Scenario – Metal Gear Solid, Freedom Wars), and composer Rei Kondoh (Music – Bayonetta series, Fire Emblem series). When it comes to starting rosters, those are some heavy hitters from a studio that has mostly dealt as a support studio for mobile releases.
Redemption Reapers puts you in control of humanity’s last hope – the Ashen Hawk Brigade as you fight back against the Mort Army using team tactics, positioning, adn the element of surprise. Managing your units to take advantage of melee, stealth, and ranged tactics, you will upgrade each mercenary after the skirmish, and perhaps untangle the personal stories as you move throughout the game.
As someone who is currently dumping an absurd amount of hours into XCOM, I am quite interested in seeing what this team is capable of. You can wishlist the game now on Steam, or pick it up on release day via your storefront of choice.
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Tango Gameworks, the studio founded by the master of horror Shinji Mikami, has surprise dropped a brand new rhythm action game during the Xbox Developer Direct event.
Hi-Fi RUSH is a rhythm game set in a colorful world where every movement is driven by the beat of the music. Unlike most traditional rhythm games, the player has full real-time control, however if they time their combat moves to the beat, their attacks will be amplified along with the music.
In Hi-Fi Rush you play the role of Chai, a young slacker who has some lofty ambitions. When receiving a robotic arm, he finds that his music player has been fused to his power unit. The corporate overlords have labeled him a defect, and have marked him for deactivation, which kicks off the adventure ahead.
The soundtrack of Hi-Fi Rush includes fully licensed tracks from heavyweights such as Nine Inch Nails, and The Black Keys, which will make for a fun jam.
I am definitely getting flashbacks to Jet Set Radio and Sunset Overdrive here, which is definitely a good thing in my books. I am also personally excited to see Tango Gameworks step outside of their comfort zone after the fantastic The Evil Within series, and the less well received Ghostwire: Tokyo. This looks fresh, and fun, and a new challenge for the studio.
Hi-Fi RUSH is available right now via Game Pass on Xbox and PC, along with Steam, the Microsoft Store, and the Epic Games Store.
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Mimimi Games, the tactician wizards behind the highly lauded Shadow Tactics and Desperados III have just announced their brand new game, Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew.
Joining a ghost ship with a living soul, your cursed pirate crew will sail across the seas of the Lost Caribbean. Using your supernatural powers to defy the growing army of the Inquisition of the Burning Maiden, your crew is hunting for the mysterious treasure of the legendary Captain Mordechai.
Alongside the spiffy narrative reveal trailer, the developers also shared a gameplay trailer which discusses where the formula of Shadow Gambit breaks away from their previous successes.
I have always admired the releases from Mimimi Games, and I am definitely going to climbing aboard the ship when Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew leaves the port later in 2023 for Pc, Xbox, and PlayStation.
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Troubled game launches are to be expected these days, however the issues surrounding Fatshark’s latest release Warhammer 40,000: Darktide have been particularly hard to swallow. The developer today released an apology JPEG via email and their social media to address the issues head on.
The community has rife with complaints of server stability, game optimization issues, and general lack of end-game content available for those who have completely leveled up all four classes currently in the game. All of these complaints are well founded, with our own systems here at Pixels for Breakfast being brought to their knees despite running RTX 3080s and current generation AMD CPUs.
The controversy around the launch of Warhammer 40,000: Darktide began back in November when the developer released a closed beta in October 2022, which had many people complaining about stability issues. Not due out until November, the community was steadfast in their belief that Fatshark would have the kinks ironed out for the end of year launch.
The ire of the community stepped up a level when a pay-to-enter beta for those who pre-ordered the game was released in early November, which harbored even more stability issues, constantly crashing servers, and generally unoptimized gameplay. The game launched a few weeks later, with most issues still affecting most users.
Perhaps the biggest kick in the teeth here is that Xbox gamers are facing another undetermined delay for the title, with the developers stating that they will delay all upcoming seasonal content, premium cosmetics, and the console launch of the game.
While it never feels good to be in this position, Fatshark has a good reputation of supporting their games for years into the future, and with such a strong statement out there, we sit here and hope that they can get Darktide back on track.
The post Warhammer 40,000: Darktide developers publicly address launch woes appeared first on Pixels for Breakfast.
Developer Nopopo and indie publishing powerhouse Devolver Digital have revealed that Devolver Tumble Time – their free-to-play physics-based puzzle-matching mobile game will arrive on your pocket device on January 26.
Always the king of satire, Devolver Tumble Time includes “over 14 different types of in-game currency, fancy ads for fictional games, endless upgrade tiers, super special offers, and more“. But the cool thing for Devovler fans is the roster of characters which includes unlocks from Hotline Miami, Shadow Warrior, Reigns, Serious Sam, Enter the Gungeon, GRIS, and more.
Rarely am I swayed by snark, but Devolver Digital rarely miss, so I guess I will be downloading Devovler Tumble Time when it arrives next week.
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Today Indonesian developer Mojiken Studio and the publishers of the caffinated treat that is Coffee Talk have released the heartfelt adventure A Space for the Unbound on PC, Xbox, PlayStation, and Switch today.
Set in rural Indonesia during the 1990s, A Space for the Unbound shares the story of Atma and Raya, two high schoolers take it upon themselves to delve into the anxieties and fears of their community, as they all deal with the looming threat of a comet collision.
Through the power of a magical red book, the duo can dive into the consciouness of the townsfolk, helping them to battle their own internal demons, as the entire community deals with the spreading feelings of despair due to the impending cosmic disaster.
Watching the trailer, I absolutely fell in love with the colors and style that the game is going for, and the potential to explore a place that is so rarely expressed in modern media is really exciting for me. It also pulls on a lot of the same strings as the movie Your Name for me, so that makes me even more excited to dive in.
A Space for the Unbound is out today for all platforms in a variety of languages. You can pick it up on Steam here, or check it out on your platform of choice.
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I, like many terminally online gamers, have what we in the biz call “too many games.” Before I get into this piece, I want to make one thing clear. There isn’t anything wrong with having a lot of games. I never want a backlog that’s “cleared” whatever that actually means.
In fact, I love being able to play the exact game I want to on a whim. Some days I want a queer space wolf visual novel, other days I want to murder a bunch of monsters and wear their skin. That’s totally ok, and I was enjoying it.
But, there was a small problem. I would end up buying a lot of games and then simply not getting to them, or leaving them for 10 years in limbo. I wasn’t happy with that. Despite playing a lot of games, some years felt like I hadn’t played anything. I wasn’t getting what I wanted from my whim-based playing. All while burning more money than I should have been.
The thing about playing games on a whim is that it’s pretty easy to pass by games that might need more initial effort. As someone who cares enough about games to want to write about them, or podcast about them, I needed something better than just my whims. Although I didn’t want to just ignore them either.
I tried a few things. I made big grand lists. In 2020, I did a “no buy” year for games, which… sort of was a success, I bought a few things but not much as the previous year. Yet by 2021, I caught right back up again.
However, mid-way through 2021 I found a system that helped me a great deal. In 2022 I used that system to take 130 games out of my backlog. I want to try and help folks who maybe are similarly dissatisfied with their playing habits. I hope this system works for you.
Step 1) Actually work out what is in your backlog.There are lots of services to help you out here in making a list. You might use a database or spreadsheet, excel or Notion. Or a dedicated website like The Backloggery, Backloggd or even HowLongToBeat. It’s a little daunting to do the initial setup, for your master list. But once you’ve got a list, you’ve now got a pile.
Some of these tools will have a tool to import your games from some services directly. But if you can spare the time in the initial process, I recommend going through and adding games manually.
You want the backlog list you make to be a bit more intentional than just simply “every game you own.” We all have at least a few games gained through bundles that we were never going to play anyway. If you do use a tool, be sure to go through and delete things you’ve already finished or never really plan to play. (you can always add them again later if you change your mind)
Now you should have a “master list” of all the games you own that you intend to finish or at least commit a chunk of time to.
And maybe it’ll terrify you.
Step 2) Make some goalsHow you might want to manage this is very personal and depends a lot based on your free time. But it’s important to set a very manageable amount of games to tackle. Ideally, you will want to focus on games that kept passing you by, but that you were initially very excited to buy. In my 2020 no-buy year, I was so keen to buy Trials of Mana. Every sale I’d see it and be tempted to break my promise. And then when I did buy it, it spent an entire year unplayed.
It might not be the greatest classic, but I had invested a lot of energy into wanting it. It was time to play it even if my whims never lead me to it. So it was one of the first to go onto the list.
I made a list of 10 games. Some of which I’d bought excitedly but never got to. Others were historical classics that I always thought “gee, I should play X.” But never did. I picked 10 as I put a lot of JRPGs in the list and wanted to make sure I didn’t feel pressured to rush.
Of course, this is all games and entertainment. It’s important to set goals that don’t take over your ability to play what you feel like. If you like much shorter games, maybe you can handle more than 10 games. The key is not to go overboard. Setting even two games a month starts to see pressure creeping into your playing enjoyment as you try not to fall behind a goal. It’s all about balance.
Put that list somewhere. If you use a digital calendar or a to-do list app, slot the games onto that. Maybe as tasks that start on the first or last days of their months. Just so you’ll be reminded as you see them.
Step 3) The fresh start trackerYou now have an impossibly big list of games, but you also have a smaller list of achievable goals. This next step might be the most important to the process, which is the fresh start tracker. It needs to start off blank so you don’t get lost in the sea of options. I made mine in the productivity timesink that is known as Notion, but you could use Trello, a to-do list, or anything to track it yourself. You want a flexible system though, as you will be updating this often.
Whenever you play a game for more than an hour, you want to add it to the tracker. I used Notion for this. Notion boards look nice and make me more likely to use the system. I add little pictures to each card and add a little checklist with the chapters in the game. I can easily see how far I am in a game, and get that little endorphin rush of checking a box when I tick off a chapter. Something about seeing how little I have left to go also helps keep finishing feel possible. I also put any guides I’m using into the cards so I can reference them whenever I might want them.
By having this little “blank slate list” you might find yourself being less intimidated than when you view the master list. Or even the infinite void of your Steam library list. Or even realize that X game has been on break for six months and actually you don’t care about it. Making it easier to drop it and move on.
This list also will help you just not forget about things you were playing. And at the end of the year when you are doing your Game Of The Year, you’ll actually have a good list to check through. I like to make it fresh each year.
Step 4) Set up some rules to slow new things coming in.It’s easy to buy a lot of games. It could be just you are always online, hearing about new games. Or that you are more time agnostic and spoilt for infinite good deals on cool games. You’ll need to find a system to help you replace that new game craving with exploring your own library.
For me, I made a small list of rules to follow before buying a new game
1) Look over the games I’ve already started for the year. See if any scratch the same itch.
2) If the game is on a discount, look at a sales tracker like dekudeals or isthereanydeal and see how often it goes on sale. If it is a rare sale, maybe it is worth getting now, but most of the time sales get deeper over time and waiting is always good. This should help get rid of some of that classic fear of missing out (FOMO) that deals tend to rely on.
3) If you are using a PC or a modernish console, you often can sort games by recently played. Go play a game at the bottom of that list for an hour, and decide if it’s something you want to keep playing or to drop before buying a new game.
Step 5) Play games.Once you have all this setup, hopefully, you can start a year with just a little more intentionality to it than you might have in the past. More importantly, you can look back on the year being just a bit more satisfied with what you played.
For 2023, I’ve got 12 goals to hit, a little higher than I recommended but, a few are only going to take a day or two at most. So it’ll be ok if others spill over the month I suspect.
| Month | Game | What is it? | | January | | Gust always makes nice short JRPGs with a unique focus on crafting. I haven’t dived deep into Atelier and always liked the look of the dusk trilogy. | | February | | What if Kiby had just a little more Contra? A nice short action game to put between a JRPG and a big visual novel. | | March | | Did you know Nintendo published a big visual novel about detectives? I’m hoping to get through this as Japanese practice. | | April | | What even is Tokyo RPG Factory doing these days? Of all their odd works, Oninaki has always intrigued me with its focus on death and the afterlife. | | May | | The one that got away. Despite Dynamite Headdy being repackaged often, it’s one of the few Treasure games I’ve yet to play. And a nice short game to buffer between two RPGs. | | June | | You might have figured out by the article on the first game, but I find a lot of Square’s mobile output fascinating. I want to make sure I get to Chaos Rings III before it gets delisted too. Since this is a phone game I’ll probably be working through it in various small commutes and such. | | July | | Sable, the open-world desert game about finding yourself, is inspired by European comics. Frankly rude of me to not have played it yet. | | August | | If your visual novel isn’t about dating cute boys it’s probably about people murdering each other. Well, apparently this one does both plus a time loop so this is exactly my thing. | | September | | It’s a gatepunk (Metroidvania) game based around pinball. Finally, Sonic Spinball’s game design is validated by an indie. | | October | | A remake of the first Utawarerumono game structured as a prequel to the more recent Mask duology. The Mask games were some of the best visual novel strategy RPGs I’ve played, but I got partway through this when it came out, and got distracted. | | November | | Remember Me was one of my favourite games of the PS3 era. I expect Vampyr to be just as rough but hopefully interesting. | | December | | I honestly don’t know much about this game. But literally every Dungeon Master I’ve ever had recommended me this game when it came out. |
That’s my list! Although, let’s see how well I go with it? Share your own in the comments below, or on the discord! Here’s a link to a notion template that might help you get started too! Just click duplicate and go!
Let’s play those games that always passed us by this year!
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