Steam Game Festival Autumn Edition
4 of the Best Indie Games
The Steam Game Festival returned with an Autumn Edition to help highlight indie games from around the world. From October 7th to the 13th, a trove of indie games was available for all to play. Today, I’ll be breaking down 4 of those games that caught my attention.
If a game stands out to you, go to the end of this article for links and additional information.
Now, in no specific order, let’s dive in.
Backbone developed by EggNut and published by Raw Fury
Enter a dystopian noir world filled with anthropomorphic animals and plenty of mystery. Become the raccoon private eye, Howard Lotor, as he travels the city collecting evidence and building relationships for potential leads. You’ll come across drug rings, broken relationships, runaways, and murder.
This was an enjoyable point and click game with a lot of engaging elements and an in-depth story with a lot of twists. The conversations were rich and the choices you made had an impact on what happened next. With several options of what your character could say and the strong responses received by other characters, this game shows it can have a lot of re-playability purely based on conversations alone.
And when your words couldn’t get you through a situation, sometimes your physical actions were the next best thing. There were times where you’d need to sneak around a location, while using distraction tactics, to gather intel. Other times, you’d be solving nicely layered puzzles in order to gather important elements such as door codes.
Overall, the demo, which was a prologue, did a nice job of introducing core mechanics, introducing the many different personalities of the city, and a story-ending that made you want to know more.
Haven by The Game Bakers
A lost mysterious planet, two lovers looking to escape their past for a better future together, and plenty of exploration. Take this and mix it with third-person adventure action, light survival, and RPG elements, as well as a bit of visual novel and you, have a very engrossing game. You’ll play has both Yu and Kay, where you’ll be able to actively switch between the two during exploration and play as both at the same time during Final Fantasy-Esque battles.
At first, I wasn’t sure what I was about to experience but I’m glad I took the chance to jump into it. The overall art style was vibrant and energetic, where it inspired exploration. The conversations were simple but gave a clear sense of each character and their relationship with one another. Traveling the planet with boots that keep you hovering, and gliding was unique, smooth, and a lot of fun. Also, this game has one of the best soundtracks I’ve heard in a while, as well as one of the coolest intros.
More information will be gliding our way by the end of this year.
Hellish Quart by Kubold
Step into the 17th century with this physics-based, realistic, 3D sword dueling game. Take on a single-player campaign, an arcade mode, or local multiplayer and let the swords clash. The developer is using motion-captured fencing animations, 3D scanned graphics and all damage is calculated with real-time physics in mind.
During this pre-early access demo, you were able to play 3 of 5 core characters and choose between two different maps. The details in this game are already looking nice with characters showing different facial expressions (depending on the action that just took place), fluid movements of fabric from the character’s clothing, and even dismemberment — you have to hand it to the developer on that. Beyond sword-swinging, you’re able to push your opponent’s weapon hand away (to open them up for an attack) or even enter a grapple before striking a killing blow.
This game keeps you on your toes and shows a lot of potential. You can check it out for yourself this December.
Chinatown Detective Agency by General Interactive Co.
In this Cyber-noir point and click adventure, be prepared to run your own detective agency within Singapore 2032. You’ll be placed in the shoes of Amira Darma, an ex-Interpol agent now private investigator looking to bring a semblance of justice to the citizens.
Chinatown Detective Agency brought in an interesting blend of puzzles through systems like hacking and message deciphering. It also involved real-world research where you’d click on a “Web” button within the game which brought up your browser. You’d search for vital pieces of information, such as the author of a book based on a quote, in order to make progress in your investigation. This was all tied together with a few timed live-action moments like shootouts and some light resource management as you kept track of endurance and important timeframes.
The several different mechanics within this game create a very interesting experience with a lot of potential. We’ll be able to learn more in early 2021.
