7 Awesome Upcoming Indie Games For PC

Now that the indie scene has become such a massive, competitive industry, it can be difficult to pick out the roses from the weeds. This is an important task however, as indie games are proving time and time again that they can deliver some of the most innovative and inspiring games at prices that AAA publishers simply cannot compete with. So here are Leviathyn’s recommendations for some of the most interesting upcoming indie games arriving soon that you need to keep on your watchlist!

Crypt of the Necrodancer

Being able to use the player’s own music collection has become a popular gimmick recently, especially in indie games. Disappointingly, many of these games that claim to generate gameplay based on the unique composition of a song tend to turn out to be basic puzzle games that just happen to have your music playing in the background. Crypt of the Necromancer by Brace Yourself Games takes advantage of the unique beat pattern of your music as an integral part of the gameplay. It’s a Dungeons of Dredmor style dungeon-crawler that doesn’t give you all the time in the world to sit and ponder your next move. You are forced to keep a fast pace and move in time with the beat of your music, testing your rhythm and ability to make quick decisions. The best way to get an idea of how it works is to check out some gameplay videos to see how smoothly the two concepts are combined.

Crypt of the Necromancer is aiming to release as an early access game in November on Steam, or you can pre-order on their website for $13.49 (around £8.50). It will be available for Windows and Mac.

Lilly Looking Through

Lilly Looking Through by Geeta Games is another project that has survived the grueling Kickstarter process (achieving $33,500, a whopping 180% of it’s target), as well as Steam’s Greenlight. It’s a classic point-and-click adventure game that hits the mark with a mix of ridiculously beautiful background art and incredible cute characters. The young protagonist, Lilly, gives the game a fresh feeling of innocence and curiosity as you interact with the peculiar yet vibrant world around you. But don’t take my word for it, check out the demo on Steam, available for Windows, Mac and Linux. It also boasts awards for best art design and best adventure/roleplaying game at the Intel® Level Up 2013 Game Demo Contest.

While the game doesn’t seem to have a price yet, it will be released on Steam on the 1st of November.

Pixeljunk Inc.

The best thing about Pixeljunk Inc. is the depth – there are so many things going on at once. You have to plan and build your own soup making facility, and then explore the destructible sandbox world to look for ingredients. As the game goes on and you expand, you also have to start managing your workers and defending your factory from the wildlife whose home you’ve just destroyed. It’s an epic challenge in multi-tasking, platforming, tower defense and RTS mechanics. The game also features Q-Games’ iconic color scheme and cute design. It even boasts the ability to host 4-player co-op games, adding a new layer to the game as you gain the ability to allocate jobs to each player and focus on different aspects of your soup-making empire.

Pixeljunk Inc. will be available for Windows, Mac and Linux, and the estimated date is sometime in late 2013. In the meantime, you can keep track of it’s progress on the Pixeljunk Inc. developer blog!

Starbound

Fleeing from the destruction of your homeworld, you crash land on planet far away. It’s then up to you to explore the vast reach of space and find a place to settle down. The gameplay revolves around exploring the Terraria-like environment in each randomly-generated area, filled with interesting creatures, climates and constructs. The main appeal of the game comes from the sheer amount of variety that is continuously being added to. Starbound’s website is constantly being updated with screenshots and information about the latest NPC, boss or mechanic. This is helped by the amazing number of pre-orders the game has received, earning a massive $1,700,000 and counting to help improve the quality of the game. If that’s not enough, the game features co-operative play and the ability to share the co-ordinates of any planet in the game with others online so they can explore it!

The game has no release date at the moment other than that it will be during 2013, but you can join the other 78,000 people who have already booked their copy for at least $15 (around £10). Chucklefish are releasing Starbound for for Windows, Mac and Linux!

Apotheon

Greek mythology in general is quite a popular topic, so it’s strange that not all that many games have taken advantage of the culture and style that it hands out on a platter (at least not successfully anyway). Alientrap, creators of Capsized and Nexuiz, are breathing a new life back into the concept with pottery-inspired Apotheon, set in the beautifully imagined Mount Olympus. It’s a 2-D side-scrolling game with a focus on a strong narrative and combat, but the Greek style seeps into everything from the weaponry, story and creatures that you face. The game will also include deathmatch and team-based online multiplayer modes. Overall there hasn’t been a whole lot of information released about the game but it certainly received a lot of good feedback by testers at Pax this year.

Apotheon is aiming for Steam release sometime in 2013, for Windows and hopefully Mac.

Shaman: Shadows of the Last Immortal

From Greece to Ancient China comes Shaman: Shadows of the Last Immortal by High Iron Studios. It already seems to be a very polished game with tonnes of interesting features and mechanics, including an innovative magic battle system that takes inspiration from traditional Chinese medicinal elements. As a shaman you must explore the lands for spell components, set out in a unique comic-like layout to better appreciate the attractive environments, and then use your crafted spells to purge the evil from your enemies. It’s rather hard to explain the depth and effort that has gone into creating the atmosphere and gameplay so check it out yourself!

The game is aiming to launch a Kickstarter appeal in the next couple of months to determine how quickly it can be finished, and is aiming for a Steam release.

R é publique

A list of indie games wouldn’t be complete without a meaningful title trying to make a political statement! République is set in a totalitarian state in which technology is used to maintain strict surveillance and control over everybody. You play as a hacker who helps the character Hope escape this nightmare by switching off cameras, summoning lifts and other commands, turning the game into a stealth thriller. The game has a strong following due to the inclusion of some of the developers behind games like Halo and Metal Gear Solid, however Camouflaj + Logan have run into many problems since their successful kickstarter in early 2012, pushing back the release date.

République was initially designed as an iPhone game, which will be released first, followed by a special PC edition for Windows and Mac. The release date is still aimed for 2013.



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