It’s time again for Indie Insights, a fortnightly (not that one, I promise I will stop this “joke” soon) look at indie games and demos I have played recently.
There’s been a whole lot going on in the indie world. Dark and Darker from the dev team Ironmace was hit by a DMCA takedown from publishers Nexon. The game has since been scrubbed from Steam. The dev team consists of former Nexon employees, and the publisher claims many aspects of the game have been lifted from a scrapped project. Ironmace has since taken to Reddit for a lengthy post with their side of events. On a more positive note, Minecraft is getting Dungeons and Dragons DLC.
I know this isn’t indie news, but it means I might finally play Minecraft. In other news, Nintendo GameCube and Nintendo Wii emulator Dolphin will head to Steam in Q2 of 2023. It will be free in Early Access and offers gamers a way to keep digital copies of their favorite games long after the hardware fails them.
Now, on with the games!
Kana Quest
From Not Dead Designs and published by Whitethorn Games, Kana Quest is a new way to start your Japanese Hiragana learning journey. In this adorably styled match-three game, the idea is to connect all the Kana in a continuous line. Kana is the name of phonetic letters in the Hiragana. As you advance through the levels, you learn more about each one. Connecting the Kana is done by tile swapping and combining tiles with the same sounds. So, for example, Ka and Na go together because of the “A” sound, Su and Nu match because of the “U,” and so on.
Japanese is an extremely hard language to learn. There are two different written forms, Hiragana and Katakana, and you can access both in Kana Quest. In the options menu, you can select Katakana to be on, open all worlds, and change the font. The ability to change the font is a great accessibility feature. The original font is in a pixel style, as is the whole game, and it can be difficult to read. Double-tapping each tile will sound out the Kana displayed on it, and each world introduces more of the alphabet and more difficult mechanics. Not only are you learning the Kana, but you are also using logic to solve the puzzles. It has beautiful, gentle music, a bright 90s aesthetic, and an engaging way to learn.
Kana Quest is available now on Steam and Nintendo Switch.
Lakeburg Legacies – Demo
From Ishtar Games comes resource management, dating, and civilization-building sim Lakeburg Legacies. I have meant to play this demo since Steam Next Fest, and now that I have, I immediately need it to be released fully. Unfortunately, there’s no tutorial, but a few pages of basics explain what to do.
You begin with a single villager. Each villager has a character sheet with strengths, weaknesses, likes, dislikes, and best career fits. They also start homeless, so you must first build them a house. It’s a one-click process that spends resources and money. Then place them in a job by entering a building and dragging their picture into an open slot. As you progress, more buildings will open up to be built, neighbors can be moved in, and more resources can be discovered.
There is also the matchmaking aspect, where you visit the local mystic Tindra. With Tindra, you can select a single villager and find them a match, regardless of gender. You can search through existing villagers at home or look at the surroundings. Compare their likes and dislikes and listen to Tindras’ advice before going on a date where you will have to make decisions that your date will approve of. If it goes well, you can choose to get married. If not, try again. There will also be random events like merchants popping up, your villagers eating magic mushrooms, and nights out at the inn that end in divorce.
For a demo, there is a lot to do. The game has a soft, hand-drawn art style, with gentle medieval music and a wicked sense of humor. It’s completely absorbing, and I see a new addiction-forming. The demo is available on Steam now, and the full game is expected in Q2 of 2023.
Welcome to Elk
Last summer, I bought a bundle of MANY games on itch.io. I do this quite often. Creators on the site frequently put together bundles as a showcase or for charity. Welcome to Elk was part of a small bundle of summer selects titles and hadn’t gotten around to playing until the last two weeks. I regret this because it is wonderful. From developer Triple Topping, Welcome to Elk follows Frigg as she arrives on Elk, a fictional frozen island where Frigg plans to learn carpentry from an old family friend.
On the island, Frigg meets various colorful characters with many a tale to tell. Anything and anyone that stands out in colorful contrast to the stark wintery white of the landscape can be interacted with. Right away, Frigg ends up in the local bar, meeting the islanders, getting into dance-offs, and meeting the local creep. The first in-depth conversation she has is with a character called Anders the next day. Anders believes he is dead. That everyone on the island is dead. Anders lives in a cave with his pet rabbit and spends his time trying to remember his parents’ faces so he can find them in the afterlife.
He enlists Frigg’s help in this via a mini-game. In this mini-game, you must pick facial features that Anders has cut off pictures of different people. Then you must stick these onto balloons which he will attach to his parents’ effigies. When Frigg goes to sleep, she has dreams which feature the island residents. When she wakes up, a new bottle on the dining table contains a story. Welcome to Elk is woven together by stories.
The developers have collected and immortalized stories from real people in the game. You will also meet the real people that told those stories. Welcome to Elk is a beautiful, funny, poignant, and sad game that is a joy to journey through. You can grab Welcome to Elk on Triple Toppings’ page on itch.io
Upcoming Releases
- Exploration side-scroller Curse of The Sea Rats comes out on PS4, PS5, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and PC on April 6. Look for my review ahead of release!
- Action-platformer The Library of Babel releases on PS5, PS5, Xbox, PC, and Nintendo Switch on April 7.
- Tron: Identity, a visual novel game set in the world of Tron, comes out on Mac, PC, and Nintendo Switch on April 11.
- Surreal platformer DE-EXIT – Eternal Matters comes out on PS4, PS5, Xbox, PC, and Nintendo Switch on April 14.
