12 Indie Games From Summer Game Fest Showcases
*Claws out from under at least 200 indie game trailers, gasping for breath
Wow, hi, the weekend and beginning of the week have been a lot of (amazing, wonderful) games showcases. I’m going to share some that caught my interest as well as link where you can find a list of every game showcased (so scroll to the bottom for that). Because, as always, my tastes tend to skew action/adventure, RPG, or comfy/low-stress management games—and that might not be to your interests! Here are 12 indie games that caught my eye.
Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector (Jump Over The Age)
I adored the first Citizen Sleeper and frankly need to replay it just to break down the prose style and study it for my own writing skillset practice. The dice mechanics were well balanced, the RPG choices gave me very chewy topics. I can’t wait to see what the sequel is like since it seems to be more spaceship specific and less singular station specific.
The release date is simply 2025 for now.
Neva (Nomada Studio)
While I haven’t played Gris, I’ve heard good things and I really want to pet this wolf friend and probably cry. The trailer alone gave me big emotions and I am all about that. It looks to be a platformer puzzler-y game similar to Gris (which, again, really need to play now).
The release date is listed as “2024” on Steam.
The Crush House (Nerial)
Drama TV messiness with some “what is going on at night” mystery and intrigue? Sign me up. I need to know more. Set in 1999, there’s going to be a lot of fun retro vibes as well as crushing (get it) commentary on influencer nonsense and rampant commodification of our personal lives!
Release date is August 9, 2024.
Battle Suit Aces (Trinket Studios)
I am a millenial who grew up on Toonami and adored Gundam Wing. I also enjoy card/deckbuilder games. Battle Suit Aces was made for me, I can’t wait to play it. Intriguingly, this is the same developer behind Battle Chef Brigade, which I also enjoyed.
Release date is TBA.
Abyss X Zero (Studio Pixel Punk)
This is in a similar “millenial growing up on Toonami and definitely enjoyed Kill la Kill and is also absolutely not straight” category. Everything about the trailer, from the badass metal soundtrack to the women exuding sapphic energy while they tried to murder each other, was perfect. “Retro” starting at PS1 graphics, however, really making me feel a little ancient now. This is a metroidvania/action-adventure game with RPG elements, it seems.
Release date is “coming soon” on Steam.
All Systems Dance (Mighty Yell Studios Inc.)
I love rhythm games, so an anti-capitalism rhythm game is perfect and I have no further notes. “The revolution will not be choreographed” is an amazing tagline, by the way.
Release date is TBA.
Tiny Bookshop (neoludic games)
Look, I’m a writer and a book gremlin. I have a simple escapist fantasy and it is owning a bookstore. Many book gremlins have this desire, probably with a coffee or tea shop attached. It is a beautiful want, and this game taps into that relaxing need to share the joy of books.
Release is TBA.
Desvelado (Valentín Zacarías, Pablo Cuello, Joaquín Calvo)
I mentioned in previous posts that I think this is the year of platformers for me and this appealing to me holds to that trend. It’s also just a cute premise and I like it. Like, the lil guy just wants to turn off all the lights and go to sleep. Relatable goals.
Release date is just “2024.”
Screenbound (Crescent Moon Games, Those Dang Games)
The premise for this one, a 2D platformer that affects your 3D environment and progression, is both nostalgic (as it looks like you’re playing a Game Boy) and a bit mindboggling (howmst does 2D and 3D interact like that). Definitely want to try it out, even if I might not make it very far.
Release date is TBA.
Mixtape (Beethoven and Dinosaur)
From the devs that made The Artful Escape, which I greatly enjoyed, this one goes on the list for that alone. It feels very 90s nostalgia, which I am in fact old enough to have been around for! Yay…?
Release date is 2025.
Sandara: City of a Thousand Eclipses (Studio Malosi)
Again, I’m weak for deckbuilders and the trailer had pretty music. Sometimes that’s all it takes. The art style is also gorgeous and it seems narrative focused and almost reminds me of a solo TTRPG based around card deck mechanics (this could also be because I just looked into a fair few of those and is simply an ADHD brain connecting two things).
Release date is “coming soon.”
Despelote (Julián Cordero, Sebastian Valbuena)
I was lucky enough to get to play an exclusive demo of despelote. While I haven’t played much soccer, the 2001 nostalgia and getting to experience Julián’s child perspective of “I don’t care about anything except soccer, let me go play now, thanks” was so real. For me it was volleyball and video games and writing fanfic, but the all-consuming need to engage in that special interest is still a relatable energy. There’s also a hint of chaos as you can absolutely kick this ball anywhere and steal other soccer balls from people too. It’s great.
Release date is “2025.”
And that’s it! There were many, many more but these were the ones I kept coming back to. And, as always, I likely glossed over a ton of amazing games, especially since there was so many trailers back-to-back and I haven’t had time (or energy) to play many of the demos, so go check out links below for full lists. I tried to pour over most of the games, but I’m but one chronically fatigued cryptid of a person and the weather has been giving me migraines lately. I very likely missed something.
(If you want to tell me what I missed, feel free to email or comment on this public post on Patreon (you have to be at least a free member)—this is my haphazard way of curating comments. Because having open comments on a blog post is not my idea of fun, forgive me, the internet is a scary place.)
I took part in what we’ve come to call the “Co-Co-Co-Co-stream” with fellow indie game streamers and dear friends WirelessRiot and stephenjoys! We streamed four hours of showcases: Future of Play, Wholesome Direct, and Latin American Games Showcase. As always, Hey Glitch’s Future of Play is one of my favorites, the folks running there are wonderful and listen and care. Similar for both Wholesome Games and Latin American Games Showcase folks. Getting to work, even a little, with developers and organizers who legitimately care about indie games and community? It’s part of why I love streaming and being in indie games.
The showcases I watched and pulled these from all have lists of all the games showcased on their websites so please go check all that out below!
Overall Summer Game Fest website, with their links to their YouTube streams for most of the showcases below
Access-Ability Showcase (Access-Ability) (not on Summer Game Fest website but frankly deserves more recognition)
If you look at this and go “Val, where’s the Xbox Showcase and Ubisoft Forward” well fear not, I feel anything showcased there is broadly AAA and will get its own post soon. I will flail about Dragon Age: The Veilguard somewhere, but I wanted to prioritize a list of indie games and where to find them.
Anyway, as evident by the list of 9 showcases above, 12 games barely scratches the surface but I wanted to keep this a little more brief than the time I attempted to link somewhere around 50 games. My sanity demands I scale down this time.
Shoutout to anyone doing this for game news outlets, this is so many games. And they all honestly seem fairly impressive. If anyone ever tells you there aren’t many good games being made nowadays, tell them to branch into indie games more. There’s so much creativity on display right now, and I can’t wait to play all these when they release over the next year or two (or maybe three, if life happens and deadlines shift, it’s fine).
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