Welcome to Indie Insights for the fifteenth time, sort of in a row. Another fortnight, another load of games that I have played! All anyone has been talking about for the last two weeks is the hilarious downfall of the annoying orange man, but frankly, all I have been paying attention to is a steady stream of wonderful games. For the most part, anyway.
This fortnight I’ve gone in-depth about criminals, singing Gods, and the beginnings of social media, but I have also played EVEN MORE GAMES. Behold, my fortnights’ work in the form of creature catching, regal resource management, and pondering the power of punk rock.
Adore – Nintendo Switch
Creature-catching DPS fest Adore from Cadabra Games made its way out into the world recently. My love of collecting weird little guys demanded that I play it. In Adore, you play as a young “Adorer” Lukha. “Adorer” is the title of those that catch creatures and befriend/battle with them. In this case, Lukha is also the host to the ancient spirit of Draknar, the God of Creatures, and now that he is awake, it’s up to Lukha to resurrect him and fight the impending darkness.
As for gameplay, you run dungeons and collect creatures you can summon to fight for you. As is always the case, the creatures have different types. You can also create synergies between creatures of different types that will up their fighting style. It’s a little DOTA/League of Legends in play style, which isn’t for me. However, it is a well-put-together game with beautiful artwork that will undoubtedly appeal to a large swathe of creature-collecting fans.
Adore is out now on Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
Yes, Your Grace – Nintendo Switch
My recent hyper-fixation on the Kingdom series of games led to the inevitable algorithmic recommendation of Yes, Your Grace from Brave At Night. As the ruler of a kingdom in disrepair and under threat, it is your job to balance the books, gather resources, and keep your family together. The game shares the pixel art aesthetic of the Kingdom series and obviously shares the same regal themes, but Yes, Your Grace is a more nuanced game where you have to balance not only resources but the feelings of those around you. The story begins with a brief tutorial that takes place one year in the future, which ends as the kingdom comes under attack. From there, you return to a year earlier. You know what is coming; how can you lead your people to victory?
Every week you must take petitions from your subjects and decide which you fulfill. Filling requests will use up your gold and materials and affect your subjects’ feelings toward you. The game is designed to have tough choices, and there isn’t really a way to make everyone happy. You have to accept that you can’t please everyone, and as long as you have resources left at the end of the week, your reign will continue.
Yes, Your Grace is out now on Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Mac, and PC.
Dead Pets Unleashed Demo – Steam
In the seventh edition of this column, I covered Welcome to Elk from developers Triple Topping. Dead Pets Unleashed is the newest game from the small team and follows the struggles of a hardcore punk band. Described by the devs as “a feminist, management-lite, minigame-heavy, slice-of-life, narrative game; about music, friendship, and maturing.” Dead Pets Unleashed has the DIY feel of a true punk band. There’s also a 90s teen movie feel with its still-frame character explainers and aesthetic.
Dead Pets Unleashed is full of different minigames like working a shift in the diner, rhythm games, and cleaning up. It’s a bit like WarioWare in Hell. Did I mention it’s set in a demon-filled Hell dimension? Well, it is, and it also has some excellent music on the soundtrack, with the titular band Dead Pets sounding like Bikini Kill and Tsunami Bomb. The demo features episodes one and two, and I had an absolute blast playing it and can’t wait for the full release, currently TBD.
The demo for Dead Pets Unleashed is available on Steam now.
Baladins Demo – Steam
Adorably styled DnD RPG adventure Baladins isn’t due until next year, but you can enjoy a short Steam game teaser now. Baladins looks like it’s made of stickers and claymation and has four characters you can play as. As in any RPG, each character has different strengths and weaknesses like strength, stealth, accuracy, etc. I went for the chunky purple tank Dancer, who looked like Ursula from The Little Mermaid if she was adorable and deadlifted 300lbs.
The demo itself is short, just long enough to showcase the basic mechanics. Like a classic tabletop RPG, you take turns and move around the map. You have set amounts of movement and action points per turn, and various options will be available at locations. You can follow your quest or perform actions to upgrade specific traits. It is extremely cute and a very authentic TTRPG experience. Very importantly, there is a character called Bungus which is an excellent and hilarious name. Hopefully, the full release will stay true to the short demo.
The demo for Baladins is available now on Steam
Upcoming Releases
- Management strategy game Jumplight Odyssey releases on PC in Early Access on August 21.
- RPG Virgo Versus the Zodiac releases on PC, PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X on August 23.
- Narrative adventure Blue Wednesday releases on PC on August 28.
- RPG Adventure Sea of Stars releases on PC, Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X on August 29.
