This month, indie game developers are swinging for the fences. Incredible visuals, inventive game mechanics, audio delights, and chaotic fun are all being showcased with this month’s six Indie Selects.
Each of these games couldn’t be any more different. Need something really special for you and your kiddos? Check! Something to curb your monster-like rage? Check! Does your eclectic music taste need a treat? Check! Are you so confident about your wordsmithing ability you would bet your afterlife on it? Check! Here’s what we’ve got for you this month (in no particular order):
The Plucky Squire is a magical adventure game featuring Jot and his friends, who discover their world exists within a storybook. Jot must leap between the 2D storybook and the 3D artist’s table, solving puzzles, boxing badgers, and engaging in mini-games to save his kingdom. Firstly, the game’s art is stunning, just check out the gameplay trailer. In an all-ages story, Jot and his friends battle the wizard Humgrump with the help of DJing Gandalf figure, Moonbeard. The combat is simple, akin to a 2D Zelda game, but frequently interspersed with new puzzles and challenges requiring exploration in 3D on the artist’s desk.
Though single-player, it’s ideal for playing with a child, offering many accessibility options, including the option to skip mini-games and enable puzzle hints from a mini-Wizard. Another standout feature is the ability to collect art scrolls scattered throughout the world, providing insights into the game’s development process, including draft art and design elements that were cut. It’s a visual showcase of the non-linear nature of video game creation, where ideas are created, iterated and sometimes discarded. What better message could you have in a game, all about art, creativity and how media can inspire a lifetime of creativity?
The Plucky Squire
Devolver Digital
☆☆☆☆☆
52
★★★★★
$29.99
The Plucky Squire follows the magical adventures of Jot and his friends – storybook characters who discover a three-dimensional world outside the pages of their book.
When the malevolent Humgrump realizes he’s the villain of the book – destined to lose his battle against the forces of good for all eternity – he kicks the heroic Jot out of its pages and changes the story forever.
Jot must face challenges, unlike anything he’s ever seen if he is to save his friends from Humgrump’s dark forces and restore the book’s happy ending.
Jump between 2D and 3D worlds in this charming action-adventure – solving puzzles, boxing badgers, flying with a jetpack, and enjoying many more delightful and surprising mini-challenges as you become the hero of a living storybook.
This game is not for the faint of heart. Survive the onslaught of enemies in a constantly evolving arena and get rewarded for your aggression and precision with powerful equipment, special abilities and new arenas for slaughter. It’s safe to say, this will not be going in our cozy collection, ladies and gentleman. Kill Knight is an addictive, violent, adrenaline-charged rampage that is incredibly satisfying. Each run is fast, chaotic, and fun as hell.
Your character build is made up of your primary weapons, a secondary weapon, a sword, armor, and a relic which will provide some sort of boost to your stats, all of which can be upgraded by unlocking new weapons and equipment. Collecting red orbs, dropped by the enemies you kill, increases your damage, but can also be used to charge your secondary weapon’s special attack, which causes enemies to drop healing orbs to restore your health. This combat mechanic creates a really fun gameplay loop where you end up utilizing enemies as resources that you must maintain a balance between healing and damage.
The game has high replayability with a ton of thoughtful mechanics, a wide variety of enemies, and painful environmental challenges. Individually, none of these elements necessarily reinvent the genre, but when these ingredients are carefully plated together, it creates one hell of a murder salad.
KILL KNIGHT
PlaySide
☆☆☆☆☆
36
★★★★★
$14.99
Once a loyal knight, betrayed, and banished to the Abyss. A desecrated corpse inside reanimated armor. You rise to an eternal death. Branded KILL KNIGHT, you have one purpose – KILL THE LAST ANGEL.
FIVE ELDRITCH LAYERS
KILL, OR BE KILLED
MASTER THE DEMON WITHIN
Dance with death in the Abyss, and unveil intricate layers of gameplay lurking beneath the surface. Exploit enemy weaknesses, enact brutal executions, weave through your arsenal to tactically manage resources, and unleash destructive wrath blasts to turn the tide. Every encounter is testament to your mastery.
BEAUTY IN DECAY
KILL KNIGHT’s polished, minimalist aesthetic, and retro visuals pay homage to the neon-soaked arcades and shooters of the 90’s. Set across five relentless, hand-crafted eldritch arenas, KILL KNIGHT embraces lo-fi brutalism and revels in the dread and dream-like ruins that surround your descent into the Abyss.
ETERNAL DAMNATION
Survive the otherworldly onslaught and complete challenges to unlock powerful new equipment for your Knight’s Arsenal, and evolve your unique playstyle. Learn to harness the special abilities and fire-modes of KILL KNIGHT’s array of pistols, heavy weapons, swords, and armor. Take your fight to the global leaderboards against friends and foes alike. Enter if you dare, Knight, and revel in the carnage.
FEATURES
– Fast and visceral top-down, push forward combat that rewards aggression and precision
– An immersive otherworld dripping in corrosive atmosphere with a retro-inspired aesthetic
– Descend through five fatal layers, each more deadly than the last
– Choose your challenge, with four distinct difficulty settings to overcome
– Survive long enough to raise your Kill Power, increasing speed and damage
– Complete challenges to unlock your Knight’s Arsenal, and evolve your playstyle
– Dive into Sever Mode, combining all five layers into one extended arena challenge
– Ascend the global leaderboards, and compete with friends for high-score supremacy
Join the community on Discord!
On this planet, music is illegal. So, naturally, it’s time to do crimes. Keylocker is a Cyberpunk music-themed turn-based RPG where the power of your attack is based on the real-time execution of moves in rhythm. You are Bobo, a lady ready to rage against the machine and bring freedom to her world. The game allows you to choose between 4 different classes revolved around how offensive or defensive you want to play it: Juggernaut, Hacker, Samurai, and Sequencer.
The turn-based combat system takes place on a hexagonal grid where you’ll need to time your hits to the exact moment needed, whether you are attacking or defending. Placement is also critical to this game, so planning out your movements will make a huge difference whether you avoid attacks or receive special buffs and debuffs. You can also plan counters, charge your electricity points or even steal electricity from your opponent. There’s definitely a learning curve with some of these opponents, but some trial and error can lead to some incredibly satisfying moments of clearing the board.
Keylocker is a visually stunning and fun turn-based RPG that excels in combining a fresh combat system with a variety of mini-games and boss fights to keep the playthrough exciting. Also, the music is *chef’s kiss* perfect.
Keylocker
Serenity Forge
☆☆☆☆☆
3
★★★★★
$19.99
Keylocker is a Cyberpunk turn-based rhythm JRPG. Play as the singer and songwriter, B0B0. Fuel your moves with the electric power of music on this unforgiving planet by using real-time execution of moves in rhythm game style! Choose a unique class, battle the authorities, unlock the secrets of Saturn, play in your own bands’ concerts, and hack into the network to bring an end to this corrupt system, for better or worse.
Story:
| Saturn, Anno 801. |
| Music is banned for 141 years now. |
B0B0 is one of the Doppelgangers, twins born as perfect human beings fit to obey the purpose of the caste they were assigned to. Her purpose is to serve in the lowest caste for the prosperity of Saturn, but B0B0 doesn’t quite agree to that. Amidst a revolution against the Saturnian Satellites, the ultimate form of law, B0B0 hears news of a newfound music robot that’ll fit right in her illegal band as a drummer. Rebelling against the corrupt system using music is the only thing she knows how to do well and she only needed a drummer to join her pack of misfits. With every piece in place, she’s out to break some laws, and discover the truth behind the essence of music: the Keylocker.
Sticks and stones… well those won’t hurt you nearly as much as the words in this game. In Cryptmaster, words control everything. You can either type words or even use voice recognition to command your character, uncover lost abilities, fight enemies, and solve baffling riddles. This may require some adjustment at first as it’s not a typical way you would usually traverse a dungeon, but there’s a ton of accessibility options available if you find yourself limited.
You’ll have 4 heroes to command, each with unique playstyles, and as you progress, you’ll need to help them find their forgotten powers. This is one of the strangest and most original titles I’ve played in a while with a very creepy aesthetic, memorable side characters, a great story with a surprisingly funny undertone, and one-of-a-kind mechanics. If you are a collector of the strange and rare, boy do I have a gem for you!
Cryptmaster
Akupara Games
☆☆☆☆☆
9
★★★★★
$24.99
SAY ANYTHING in this bizarre dungeon adventure where words control everything. Fill in the blanks with text or voice to uncover lost abilities, embark on strange quests, and solve mindbending riddles. Can you conquer the crypt and uncover the mystery at the heart of CRYPTMASTER?
In the ancient past, four brave heroes banded together to destroy a terrible evil, giving their lives to save countless others. But now their eternal rest has been disturbed by the Cryptmaster, a capricious necromancer in whose thrall they must ascend through the buried strata of the city above them – the gloomy Bonehouses, mysterious Sunken Sea and freakish Downwood.
With the enigmatic Soulstone in hand, the four adventurers must recover their memories, solve whimsical puzzles and defeat outlandish enemies. From fishing and card games to bardic rap battles, finding the right word is the key to success. Who knows, maybe you’ll even remember a little more than you bargained for…
Beyond Galaxyland is a gorgeous side-scrolling RPG that seeks to dig into the classic space adventure genre and give it a spark of humor and depth. The story focuses on Doug, whose life abruptly changes one day when a cataclysmic event “destroys” the Earth and Doug is transported to the other side of the galaxy together with his adorable guinea pig friend Boom Boom. From there, their adventure begins, and the duo journey through various planets, each with their own unique aesthetic and characters, with the goal of finding out what happened to their home.
The combat system respects the classic turn-based formula and builds on it by adding new members to the party as your progress and even a “catch” mechanic where you can catch various enemies and summon them in future fights. Overall, the game offers a great balance of things to explore, characters to meet, enemies to fight and mysteries to solve and it is astonishing that it was basically done by one person.
Beyond Galaxyland
United Label
☆☆☆☆☆
26
★★★★★
$17.99
Inspired by classic sci-fi movies, Beyond Galaxyland is an intergalactic, 2.5D adventure-RPG set among the stars. Step into the sneakers of high-schooler Doug, as he’s whisked away to ‘Galaxyland’ – a zoo-like solar system of planets – on an epic quest to save Earth itself.
An all-new take on the beloved RPG adventures of old, prepare for a journey like no other, skyrocketing through teeming jungles, neon-lit cities, and cybernetic casinos, with each new planet brimming with intriguing characters, fiendish adversaries, and many other surprises.
Accompanied by Doug’s pet guinea pig – the pistol-wielding Boom Boom – and a sentient robot called MartyBot, together you must defend the world against an all-powerful entity known only as ‘The End’, before it conquers the Universe itself…
No pressure.
A Bold New Take on the Classic Sci-Fi Caper!
Experience firsthand all the thrills and spills of a retro sci-fi adventure, in an all-new take on the fish-out-of-water tale that sticks you right in the centre of the action! Laughter, loss, peril and friendship, Beyond Galaxyland has it all and then some, dipped in a dazzling layer of neon-tastic pixels.
Explore a Solar System of Extraordinary Worlds
From the blizzard-swept planes of Arcos to the tropical jungle ravines of Erros, the neon-buzzing cities of Neo to the arid sand dunes of Xalm, explore a cosmic cluster of unique worlds, each with its own quests, environmental puzzles, and out-of-this-world characters.
Overcome Cosmic Foes in Tactical Turn-Based Combat
Engage in strategic turn-based battles against a vast range of galactic nemeses, with time-responsive defensive gameplay to minimise damage. Each party member has a range of unique abilities at their disposal, but for an additional tactical advantage, sneakily scan your enemy pre-battle to discover their strengths and weaknesses.
Experience Epic Boss Battles
Each planet boasts its own distinct perils, but none more so than the epic bosses you’ll encounter throughout your extraterrestrial travels, including colossal space dragons, flesh eating flowers, and the all-knowing bionic behemoth that is Mother Brain.
Capture Enemies to Use in Battle
Successfully capture the many weird and wonderful creatures you encounter, to later unleash them in battle, with each possessing a number of exclusive abilities. Will you acquire every last one?
Set in the same universe as the 1997 cult classic film, Starship Troopers: Extermination is a co-op first-person shooter with some twists to set it apart from the rest of the genre. You’ll join the Deep Space Vanguard, an elite Special Forces branch of the Mobile Infantry, as you battle against the Bug menace in an effort to claim victory for humanity.
Each match features 16 players joining forces to build a base, all while fending off wave after wave of skittering enemies. One innovative feature the game sports is that enemy corpses pile up on the battlefield, obstructing your line of sight while giving the next wave of enemies something to help them scale your base’s walls. Starship Troopers: Extermination is a refreshing blast of emergent gameplay, so there’s only one more question: Are you doing your part?
Starship Troopers: Extermination
Knights Peak
☆☆☆☆☆
132
★★★★★
$49.99
Insectoid creatures known as Arachnids crawl from the bowels of Federation planets, with their endless, bloodthirsty hordes threatening humanity’s very existence. The United Citizen Federation needs YOU to put an end to this invasion. Join the Deep Space Vanguard as an elite Trooper and do your part — for freedom, for humanity, for the Federation!
Welcome to Starship Troopers: Extermination, a 16-player online co-op first-person shooter set in the cult classic Starship Troopers universe.
A GALAXY AT WAR
Your mission: scour expansive planets and warzones while battling relentless hordes of Bugs. With hundreds of Arachnids and carapaces swarming your screen at a time, you Troopers are the only ones holding back the tide in this immense planetary struggle!
DO YOUR PART
Take orders from the legendary General Johnny Rico (voiced by Casper Van Dien) in an all-new single-player mode. Squad up for the full 16-player co-op experience and fight together to crush Bug incursions across the galaxy. The battlefield expands in the Galactic Front, where you can join a Company, push for collective goals and special rewards, and influence the ongoing story.
WELCOME TO THE NEW VANGUARD
Choose from six classes to suit your playstyle and support your squad. Attack with the Ranger, squash Bugs at range with the Sniper, deal devastation with the Demolisher, cover your team with the Guardian, fortify positions with the Engineer, and save lives with the Medic. Progress with each class to unlock new weapons, equipment, perks, and customization options. Do your part AND look the part!
THE ONLY GOOD BUG…
Increasing threat levels beckon bigger, more dangerous Bugs… so you’re going to need to hunker down to stand a chance. Retake and rebuild bases, and construct refineries, towers, machine-gun turrets, and more to wrest control of planets away from the Bug menace. Get your defenses ready, then aim for the weak spots on Drones, Warriors, Gunners, Plasma Grenadiers, Tanker Bugs, and many more ugly varieties of Arachnid bastards!