It’s the fourteenth edition of Indie Insights! We all know what that means. I’ve done fourteen of these. I kept up the tropes of this column by getting heat exhaustion and being unwell. I also played some games! Both foundations of the column remain intact. What’s been happening in games over the last few weeks?
Nintendo seems to be gearing up to release the Switch’s follow-up console at the end of 2024, and they also had to deal with a Last of Us ripoff on their online store. PS5 is currently ruling sales, with Diablo 4, FFXVI, and Street Fighter 6 all in the top 3 spots. However, the most important subject of the last fortnight has been Barbenheimer. This is my public plea for someone to make a low-poly Barbenheimer game I can play. I believe in the game dev community. I know you can do this.
Here are some games and demos I have played this fortnight!
Alterium Shift – Steam Early Access
JRPG Alterium Shift, from developer Drattzy Games LLC, is a fun adventure through a land that has at least one giant crab in it. This is essentially the thing that got me to check it out. I saw a screencap that featured a giant crab. Sold. You can play as one of three characters, Pyra, Atlas, and Sage, who are warrior, archer, and mage, respectively. I chose to play as Sage because Sage the Mage was a pleasing combination of words, and I almost always pick magic users.
All three characters are approaching the end of their training. In Sage’s case, they are generally disliked by everyone because they are a sarcastic little jerk. We have so much in common. Sage also has a great affinity with the magical element Alterium. Of course, this means it is time for quests aplenty! It also means frequent trips to the JRPG equivalent to the Upside Down, the same as the world you live in but blue.
A constant and unrelenting slew of puns and jokes when you interact with objects kept me entertained, but as the game stands, it’s a little bit wonky. The story’s pacing is very strange, and it employs an effectively pointless map of the area. There was a lot of aimless wandering. There are also several frame rate issues, the turn-based combat is pretty surface-level, and stories remain unfinished. Obviously, this is an early access of the game, and it has a good backbone to build out from.
Alterium Shift is out now in early access on Steam
Firebird – Steam
In the vein of The Oregon Trail comes Firebird, a beautifully illustrated tale wrapped up in Slavic folklore. Developer Ludogram brings mythology into the present as an indebted cargo hauler Mariska helps the strange young girl Vassilissa from a far-off village return home. Mariska owes the local loan shark money and cannot find contracts to bring in enough cash to appease him. Mariska plans to make a run for it. That is until her friend Ivan brings Vassilissa to her. He found her on the side of the road, but he has a very sick mother and a fresh contract to fulfill, so you agree to help her get home.
The girl seems confused by some aspects of the world around her and says she can offer Mariska a job – transporting food to her village. In return, she will receive highly illegal but extremely profitable bear and white tiger pelts. Your interactions with the people you meet and your choices will affect your story and resources, such as fuel and money. The demo is very short but gives a great window into the full game. Luckily for me, the full game has just been released as I write this, and I will have to pick it up to find out what happens.
Firebird is out now on PC, Mac, and Nintendo Switch.
Battlecakes – Steam
Another RPG, but this time of the adorable variety. BattleCakes comes from developers Volcano Bean and sees you take on the role of the caretaker of sweet town Vanilla Hill. It soon transpires that something strange is happening in the land of Pasteleria, as all the local critters are becoming hostile. The arrival of a pastry-based wizard begins your quest to prevent an ancient evil from destroying the peace.
The currently available is short but sweet and has two separate areas. The first is the town of Vanilla Hill, where you begin your day only to discover random vandalism around the town. You perform some very short quests for the townsfolk before fighting some Gumdroplins (goblins that are gumdrops). The second area is a brief example of a dungeon and introduces a few more enemies and a little taste of the lore.
The full game doesn’t release until the end of October, but this little glimpse is a promising glimpse into a cute and highly customizable world. For example, when customizing your cupcake hero, there is a mobility option where you can choose different things like wheelchairs, scooters, and a cane, so I made a cane-wielding cupcake for realism. Also, it has crabs. Little tiny cupcake crabs. Crabcakes.
BattleCakes is out on October 25, 2023, with a free demo available now on Steam.
Upcoming Releases
- Lo-fi arcade shooter Super Space Club is released for PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X on August 4.
- The real-time auto battler and strategy game Within a Dead City is released for PC on August 7.
- Action-adventure colony sim Gord is released for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X on August 8.
- RPG life sim Mondealy is released for PC on August 9.
- Witchy tarot deck crafting indie The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood is released for PC and Nintendo Switch on August 16.
