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Ep.191: An Indie Horror Renaissance?
114 Plays6 months ago
Crow Country is a hit. DreadXP created a whole new label for bite sized horror. Critical Reflex is doubling down on the genre. Are we at the precipice of an indie horror renaissance?
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Transcript
Opening & Introductions
00:00:18
Speaker
What the fuck is up, Denny's? Welcome to episode 191 of the 6'1'' Hindi cast. My name is Mike Townrow. Tonight, I'm joined by Kyle Stevenson. I have that grand slam you ordered. Matthew Wright. I'm just imagining you walking into a Denny saying that. And Becca Smith. Do you guys not know that reference? No. What the what?
00:00:41
Speaker
What, what show did I not watch? Hold please. I love that response so much, man. What did I not watch? Tell me there's so much. Yeah.
00:01:00
Speaker
Oh, it's the rock the concert in the Denny's. Yeah. Oh, I remember now. I remember the clip. Oh, shit. Wow. Yeah. Okay. Was that like a big band or no? No. Okay. Yeah. No. But Blink 182 recreated it recently and they played a show out in Denny's. That's awesome. Yeah.
Promotions & Announcements
00:01:21
Speaker
Anyways, you're listening to the six one indie castle, weekly video game podcast, amplifying the indie scene, the smaller games outside the triple A space new episodes drop each and every Monday morning on all major podcast feeds and youtube.com slash six one indie supporters on patreon.com slash six one. And you could tune in live as we record and gain access to clocked out the cast post show. But if money is tight, no worries. You still could share your support with a simple click wherever you're listening. Go ahead and leave this podcast to review.
00:01:44
Speaker
Follow Six What India on socials, subscribe, hit the bell on YouTube and tell your friends all about us. Shout out to members of the coop on Patreon, Brett Griffin, Kobe Cordes, Ellie, JC, Jill Groat, Marcus O'Neill, Nicole Humphrey, Stone Cold ET, Nicholas Johnson, the compound, so can it.
00:02:02
Speaker
and Cole, AKA The Good Sir. Bit of housekeeping for ya. The 6.1 Indie Showcase is happening on September 19th in the year of our Lord 2024. Game Dev Friends, the submissions open up on June 1st, 6.1 day. Speaking of 6.1 day, we have a special episode of the 6.1 Indie cast dropping on June 1st. If you are familiar with one, Jacob McCourt,
00:02:28
Speaker
You'll know what is happening. We might have some other stuff on six one day as well. Haven't confirmed things, but maybe it's just trivia. Maybe there's more shit. Stay tuned.
Summer Game Fest & Bed-sharing
00:02:39
Speaker
Speaking of more shit, Michael Kyle will be going to summer game fest. If you see something, say something, give us a hug. Give us a little smooch. All that good stuff. You've got to stop telling people to smooch you.
00:02:52
Speaker
Smooching, smooching. Why? Smooch. The germs. That's weird. Me and Kyle will be smooching in the West and as we share our king sized bed. Oh no, the fan fiction. Right at cowards. For a long time, let's just know, Mike and I shared a bed during COVID at PAX East when it all started. And Mike, pretty sure had COVID during the whole thing. A hundred percent. I've never been so sick in my life.
00:03:23
Speaker
as I'm talking to like Nintendo executives with my pants all ripped and I'm just actually dying and I'm gray. Yeah, that was not a good shape. God, I don't know why people listen to us. Describe, describing yourself as gray is very gnarly.
Indie Horror Game Segment
00:03:39
Speaker
That's how my wife described me when I got home. That is an image. Anyways, I want to talk about some, some indie games y'all. And specifically I want to talk about the genre of indie, indie horror, because this week,
00:03:53
Speaker
Indie horror, got a bit of a spotlight. Dread XP has announced a new indie label called XP ultra and see our channel from a critical reflex also got some news as well. So talk about critical reflex first critical reflex announced that they are going to be publishing one of my most anticipated games of the year.
00:04:15
Speaker
I'm going to read a bit from the press release that we got the other day, publisher critical reflex has announced a new partnership with indie developer wrong organ. How fish is made to release the first person story during psychological horror game, mouth-washing on PC.
00:04:33
Speaker
the game description, the mouthwashing joins a spine-tiggling lineup of indie horror games under the CR Channel Publishing label, which Critical Reflex announced last year. The collection includes Viral Hit, Buckshot Roulette, the found-footage horror game Teleform, and three upcoming titles, Horror Sim Regular Home Renovation Simulator, Horror Fishing Adventure, Drowned Lake, and Surreal Hand-Painted Adventure, Flawless Abbey.
00:05:00
Speaker
Now this comes off the heels as well with Dread XP, which announced XP Ultra with the game Flathead. So solo developer Oxblood and horror publisher Dread XP are thrilled to announce that Flathead will launch on Steam on May 30th, 2024. So next week ready.
00:05:20
Speaker
Flathead is a short but replayable experience where players participate in a captivating game of over or under with the steepest consequences. Win and gain your freedom, lose or forfeit your life. An ad just played on this website and scared the ever living shit out of me. Serving as the first title of Dread XP's new XP Ultra initiative, Flathead is a small glimpse into the world of Silk Bulb Test, another upcoming horror game from Oxblood. Throughout a single sitting,
00:05:50
Speaker
Players will use various tools and tricks to win enough points to buy their freedom, all while a sense of impending doom perpetually looms in the darkness. The bite-size horror adventure showcases the type of titles that Dread XP is looking to work under XP Ultra. It's kind of carrying the torch from the Dread XP collections.
00:06:13
Speaker
So a lot of exciting stuff in the horror space. First off, I love that XP Ultra is dedicated to like a lot of these bite-sized horror games that we tend to talk about quite a bit. You know, that's kind of a underlying genre or like if you want to say sub-genre of the horror space that we've noticed quite a bit. I do want to ask the question and maybe I feel like this is mostly geared towards Matt because he's my grunge horror brother over here. But for everybody else, of course. Are we?
00:06:43
Speaker
at the precipice of an indie horror renaissance. What it seems like, yeah, because we had, what, the Dread XP show case last October? Yep.
00:06:56
Speaker
and now multiple publishing wings happening? Yes, please. Indie horror on PC has been a thing for a decade, but it's slowly been ballooning up and now it's getting the recognition it deserves. Hell yes, let's go.
00:07:13
Speaker
And games like this that are bite size are so streamable and that's like it's what people want to watch. And so I think that that's why people are kind of flocking to it because especially the ones that you can do in like one, you know, one or two hour live stream, like people eat that up. Yeah, I would love to play this with y'all similar to the finding. What was the dude's name?
00:07:36
Speaker
Finding Larry, let's find Larry. And the fact that this bite-sized game is only two bucks, it's a steal. It just sounds like a good time to watch people play and to also just be in a call with friends as somebody tries their hand at buying their freedom. It sounds like a really cool idea. And I would also argue that Indie Horror has been in a renaissance for a while now, and it just seems like it's going up and up.
Crow Country Success
00:08:05
Speaker
Yeah, I guess like piggybacking off that, I mean, I think I mean by Renaissance, like, is it time that we're finally breaking through to the mainstream a bit more? Cause like buckshot roulette definitely did that. And like to Becca's point, I think buckshot roulette, the one that well, very captivating and polarizing game. But I think a big reason for his virality was the replayability of it where you could do a run in 10, 15 minutes. If that do we think
00:08:34
Speaker
Granted things, you know, are, are in the works for quite some time and then, you know, it takes a long time. Like coincidences happen all the time, but I said time a lot there. Do we think buckshot roulette kind of opened the floodgates a little bit more into like people accepting these bite-sized experiences?
00:08:53
Speaker
It's a good question. It didn't hurt it, but I'm not sure if it opened it because I mean like like if you go on YouTube like you fall and you get wider open. I'll say. Yeah, because it was definitely hot that week like when everyone was playing it and streaming it and showing it off and everything. Yeah. Yeah. Didn't hurt, but I don't know if it's responsible for.
00:09:18
Speaker
pushing it through. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. I think even, you know, like lately or this past week, we saw a crow country get so much praise, so much love, so much, at least critical success. I was digging into the numbers a little bit on steam. At least it looks like it sold approximately like 50 K, which I would argue is pretty damn good for a game like that. I, you know, I know you have console numbers, but you imagine that.
00:09:44
Speaker
did pretty damn well on consoles, just like kind of like reflecting on audiences and whatnot. Um, so yeah, even with how, to be totally honest, like Crow Country, one of the main ninth games, Crow Country was the one game I didn't think was going to break through the pack. And like, thankfully all of the games, like Crow Country, Little Kitty, um,
00:10:04
Speaker
Surmount, well Surmount was a little earlier, but like all of those, Indica, Crip Master, all of them really shared the spotlight quite evenly and all seem to have done pretty well, especially a little kitty, little kitty, I think just surpassed 200K at this point. But for this
Indie vs Triple A Coverage
00:10:22
Speaker
weird PS1 grunge horror, Resi inspired, PS1 inspired game, like did not think that
00:10:31
Speaker
it would be among the conversation, and it really was. Oh, that's like the main course. That's what PC indie horror gamers are always on the lookout for, for that puppet combo. Yeah. I know they're porting another one of their older titles. They are. Glass staircase. Glass staircase, yeah. Which is a way older title from them, but it's been a while since we've seen a new game from them.
00:11:00
Speaker
When that crunchy PS1 horror comes through, people are filling their plates up. I also want to, and please correct me if I'm wrong here, I feel like all the praise heaped on, rightfully so,
00:11:19
Speaker
all the praise heaped on to inscription from everyone on the outside, I think kind of made people outside of the indie horror space.
00:11:33
Speaker
invested and like looking for that same kind of experience. Like when I think buckshot roulette, my first go-to is inscription just because of the way it looks. Yeah. Like the visual aesthetic. And so like I, even though like inscription is way more than just a horror game, um, I definitely think that was the insight. Yeah. That was like the kicking off point to be like, Hey, look at what Indies are doing in this genre and how cool it is and how different it is.
00:12:02
Speaker
Yeah, I guess that's fair. I like I'm trying to think was inscription. I guess the quote unquote first crunchy weird horror that like was that have like this mainstream appeal like granted. I would say outside of like outside of like amnesia back in the day. Sure. I think like I guess in this new wave if you want to call it that. Yeah, because amnesia wasn't crunchy. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:12:31
Speaker
But yeah, and it feels like inscription and kind of like, yeah, allowed people to, I don't know. It became like a thing in my mind. I guess pop culture. Like there's so many people that didn't take that kind of game seriously. Yeah. And hearing people talk nonstop about how effing amazing it is that they wanted to check out. You don't have to bleep yourself. I don't know why I censored myself. Yeah. I opened up the show with what the fuck is up there. Do not know why I just did that. I sent the president.
00:13:00
Speaker
Yeah. So like, I just feel like that really kicked the down the doors for it. Cause as you say that, like I'm trying to think if there was anything before inscription for me, a non horror person.
00:13:12
Speaker
that I thought of when it came to like indie horror games that kind of took the world by storm. And I'm sure there are, I'm sure there's definitely. Oh, there's probably something obvious, but yeah, but like, but yeah, like something that, that, you know, I, you know, it definitely helps that Devolver published that for sure. Like then with marketing budget and then getting in front of people and getting in front of the right people, of course. Um, but yeah, before inscription, I feel like, yeah, the,
00:13:37
Speaker
it was more just kept in the niche. Of course, Dread XP has been doing their thing for quite some time now, and they always put out bangers, but they never really break through the noise. Even if you look at their booth set packs and whatnot, they're always pretty tame and chill compared to what else is going on on the show floor, just because something which we'll talk about later with Becca, something like Sucker for Love. Back then, at least the first game, didn't seem like it had a bunch of
00:14:06
Speaker
wide appeal. Meanwhile, the second game recently did pretty well, again, critically.
00:14:15
Speaker
Yeah. I was just saying before someone yells at me in particular, just because it's not my game. I think I should, we should also mention five nights at Freddy's. Sure. That's like a worldwide phenomenon. It's, it's scary in some ways in shape or form. It's kind of tangently related, but I think the, the Simanski brothers as well are worth mentioning as the folks that are folks that are, you know, doing really well in that bite size genre.
00:14:44
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, earlier this year, it's something I was, I think I brought it up last week. Exiled. Yep. With, uh, yeah, that was one of the pony game. Pony factory. Oh God. Fuck those hallways. Game rocks, dude. Yeah. Uh, yeah. And even with the Samaski brothers, like they dread XB found some, I think they found some pretty decent success with, uh, my friendly neighborhood last year.
00:15:10
Speaker
Yeah. Matt, where are you guys at? Oh, I was just saying. Inscription also did the smart thing of being a card game. I think that's that's hot. Like kids love them card games. So they do. They do like them cards. A new pack of physical cards on sale now. Yeah. They're preorder. Nice. Yeah. Got to get a full set. Oh, yeah. I don't know where my first pack from Pax is. So I they put up series one again. So I, of course, reordered it. I want to I want to frame them.
00:15:41
Speaker
Yeah. Do you have a little shadow box? Yeah, exactly. I think on Etsy there are folks that sell the masks also, like masks in the middle with the cards around it. That'd be cool. That's awesome. Or a gold tooth in the middle or something like that. Oh, yeah. Do you remember? It's far gone now, but somebody did make a physical premium edition of an inscription, like the actual card game with teeth and a little hourglass and all.
00:16:08
Speaker
It was beautiful. It was multiple. It comes with pliers. I think it did. Oh, that's awesome. That's cool. It was multiple hundreds of dollars. So as much as I wanted to pull the trigger, I didn't. But yeah,
Challenges in Indie Publishing
00:16:22
Speaker
I honestly just want to go back to the Crow country, which we'll talk about it more in a bit because I did run through it over the past weekend.
00:16:30
Speaker
Like substantial outlets covered the game and reviewed the game. Like guardian, the gamer, destructoid, softpedia, uh, PC gamer, like
00:16:40
Speaker
Again, not something I totally expected out of Crow Country. And like, shout out to the folks at Neon Hive, like Neon Hive really broke through with us and definitely Screen Rant is on this list. Sports Illustrated, Noisy Pixel, Games Radar, Game Rant. Sports Illustrated. Exactly. Sports Illustrated, man. Yeah, dude. Yeah, dude. It still blows my mind that they're included in the list now. RPS, Kentucky. I do also feel like, I don't know if it's just the past,
00:17:08
Speaker
couple of weeks or it's been longer than that, but it feels like some major outlets are doing more indie coverage in general. I mean, it's hard to ignore in may, right? Exactly. You know? Yeah. And I think like,
00:17:21
Speaker
it's funny like saying the sentence out loud just because obviously like back in the day I was a different type of gamer but like what was the last triple A game that came out like I can't I honestly came in what like this is not a bit yeah hellblade this week yeah rebirth I think was the biggest one yeah rebirth no no for Mario yeah
00:17:47
Speaker
But yeah, even like when there was dropping, there's a long stretch where it was like indie games are carrying for sure. Yeah. And even unfortunately a lot still being overlooked, but like again, yeah, kudos to these, these more tier one, bigger outlets, like actually giving some weird shit a chance.
00:18:05
Speaker
Now they just need to pay their writers. They need to pay their writers and maybe stop with the consolidation and stop laying folks off. It's all going to be one company. It's all your name soon. Also, I, I, it'll be everybody than us on the outside. Like, Hey, hi. Obviously, um, probably worth mentioning. I obviously all the positive vibes and love to everybody who was affected by
00:18:33
Speaker
the layoffs this past week on the media side of things with the IGN's parent company kind of absorbing a bunch of- Ziff Davis. Yeah. Oh, Ziffy. Also worth kind of shouting out also, like,
00:18:47
Speaker
It's not the editor's faults. Like don't attack any of the writers or editors or IGN staff. Like they're all like wonderful people. It's, it, this was not their decision. So freelancers. So yeah, absolutely don't add them. Yeah. This is, this is, has nothing to do with the people working on the ground floor at IGN and a lot of these outlets, please. I guarantee you those editors are not happy either. Well, they're already not happy. Try opening IGN and a web browser without ad block.
00:19:15
Speaker
Oh, yeah, sure. It's broken like within five seconds. You'll do like the your computer is infected. Download make a fee thing. Take over like, yeah, that website broken. But briefly going back to this into your topic, I guess my last question I want to kind of end cap this conversation off with is Matt, you mentioned Papa combo. What do you think this means for labels like Papa combo?
00:19:43
Speaker
only good things. Yeah. Like the existing labels. Like you mentioned buckshot relay, like that game did release on HIO prior to being steam. So like that's where the publisher comes in. That helps them get that way easier put on steam because steam can also be
00:20:01
Speaker
What it is today isn't great, uh, for, uh, for getting your game spotlighted or found even. Um, so it's only good things like public comment has had a huge fan backing on Patreon for years, but if they're able to just like somebody knocks on their door, like, Hey, we want to put all your games on here. Like, cool. Let's, let's talk. Like this is great for indie developers.
Summer Game Fest Predictions
00:20:29
Speaker
Yeah.
00:20:30
Speaker
Cool stuff. Before we move on to what we've been playing, since next week is going to be a special episode, a different episode than usual. I think it's about time we run through Summer Game Fest stuff and maybe do some like top level predictions. Doing predictions on the indie side of things is always tricky because we just like to see cool shit, but worth running through the calendar because goddamn, there's a lot of stuff happening.
00:20:59
Speaker
First and foremost on... And Kyle, we literally just said it internally. June 6th. June 6th is the Gorilla Collective. Of course, our friends at the mix putting on another show. That's the online showcase at 10 AM Pacific time. If you are in LA, you could go play some of the games and meet some of the devs on June 7th. Like us. Like us. We'll be there. If you see something, say something.
00:21:25
Speaker
Go to mediaexchange.com to check out the details for that. It's at the Grammy museum, which is fucking dope. It's cool. It's fucking cool. And then everything else happens. June 7th is of course the main summer game fest show along with, so June 7th, main summer game fest show followed immediately by day of the devs.
00:21:49
Speaker
After Day of the Devs is, of course, Volvie's 15th birthday. That's the Devolver direct. Can't wait. June 8th, first thing in the morning, is the Future of Play direct from our friends at Glitch, then followed by the Wholesome direct from our friends at Wholesome. Can't wait for that.
00:22:07
Speaker
Immediately after that is the Latin American game showcase. Immediately after that is the women led games showcase immediately after that is the future games show. So that's all June 8th. So June 8th, let me repeat glitch, future of play wholesome direct Latin American game showcase, women led games and the future game show.
00:22:27
Speaker
And now June 9th is the X-Box showcase and then the PC gaming show. And then finally on June 12th, our friends at Dames for games is putting on their summer showcase as well. And we've got to assume at some point PlayStation will have something at some point there is a PlayStation game the next two weeks later. Like, Hey. Yeah. At some point there is a Nintendo direct with that Nintendo confirmed that already. It's, it's, there is a June thing.
00:22:54
Speaker
Um, it's a lot to catch up on when we're back, Mike. Yeah. I'm honestly probably not even gonna fucking bother. I'll just find like a round
Upcoming Game Events
00:23:03
Speaker
up or something and just, yeah, I hope somebody God bless the editors that are making up the, the roundups for this. Cause I'm going to rely on that heavily. Um, so yeah, I mean like again, hard to do like solid predictions. It's not like a, you know, a triple A show where we could say like, Oh,
00:23:22
Speaker
Maybe they'll show a Wolverine trailer during a PlayStation. But are there any top level things you would like to see, things you think we'll see, dates you think we'll get? I got a couple right off the gecko. Please tell me about the geckos. The gecko gods? The gecko gods would be cool to see again.
00:23:45
Speaker
Also did off topic real quick limited run. Are they doing a show yet? Oh, they didn't announce yet. I'd imagine. Right. I hope so. Yeah. Give me some Talmud news. Anyway, give me some Gex news. Speaking of geckos. Come on. Where's ghost? Let's see. Where is ghost? We get the plucky squire date.
00:24:06
Speaker
I think finally either at PlayStation show or at Devolver direct, they've been teasing that we hear more concrete details in a few weeks. And that was like two weeks ago. So I'm just very, very eager to play that game. That seems like my jam 1000%. So that one, and then just sticking with Devolver real quick, I was thinking
00:24:31
Speaker
What do you mention, Bobby's birthday? What is the thing that Devolver is going to have people buy this year? Like you bought the t-shirt eBay and I'm thinking, what if it's like a pre-packaged like piece of birthday cake, like a, like a, like a space ice cream deal, but it's like free stride and birthday cake or something like that. Um, but the other like actual real one pie in the sky,
00:24:57
Speaker
probably not going to happen, but it's been a few years since their last game. I want to see drink box. I want to, I want to know what they're working on. It's, it's been two years since nobody saves the worlds. Um, probably too early, but I love drink box so much. I'm excited. What, what new experience they're cooking up. Yeah. Becky, you got any top level thoughts, hopes, dreams?
00:25:20
Speaker
related or not related to video games. That's another conversation. I'm so out of touch with everything. Like, I don't know what's going on, but honestly, like, I actually don't even know if they're even considered indie anymore, but I haven't seen anything big from Double Fine in a while. I would love to see them know. Yeah, they're they're first party Microsoft now. Oh, are they now? But they're in yet hard, at least like they're dirty bastards. They're like the most I would be the first to defend them.
00:25:50
Speaker
I think they're, they're the most indie of the first parties now. They're the studio. I'm most worried about after all this recent stuff with Microsoft, other than the division or initiative that haven't put out a game in hell. Yeah. With a double fine. They did like
00:26:12
Speaker
Didn't something get teased with them like didn't like isn't information about their next game sort of out there. I think they said like they're starting on whatever's next but it wasn't like an official announcement but like there was like a.
00:26:26
Speaker
a design doc or something like some sort of image like was floating around. I think it was part of the, uh, psychonauts. Um, they, yeah, they tweeted something out with a picture of Raz. Um, and they said, there's cool things in store that we'll share when we're ready. Uh, and then expects replied with eyeball emojis. That was, that was like four or five months ago. Um, so it could be time. Could be time. Yeah.
00:26:52
Speaker
Um, anything from the behemoth I usually love. And they were at, they were at packs. Did you guys see them at packs? Yeah. They just put out, um, alien hominid, alien hominid, which I have not played yet invasion invasion. Yeah. The, the multiplayer. Yeah. They're great at multiplayer. Yeah. Yeah. I have, I, we've had that game since pre-launch, like for review and stuff. I have not touched it. We should play it inside baseball. There's a lot of video games y'all.
00:27:23
Speaker
can't play all of them. Sometimes we try. Yeah. Matt, you got anything? Yeah. I'm kind of similar in the same boat as like Becca. Like what, what even is coming out? Like who's working on anything these days? Um, but a yacht club, it's been a minute. Like, um, what, um, what's Mina? It's not Mina. It's not where you at. Yeah.
00:27:47
Speaker
I was trying to think of what the name of the game was. Like, for some reason, I had many the driver. I'm like, Matt, you're just turning a name into a driver. Many the mouse. I wish we we see Mina in a few weeks. I want that game so bad. Where do you think out of all these shows, where do you think we would see Mina? PlayStation. You think that's a PlayStation thing? The PlayStation deal. I would also say.
00:28:14
Speaker
I would argue Nintendo or that. Oh, good call. It'd be either. Got the Shovel Knight lineage. Yeah. The real question. What is going to be the brand deal at S.G.F. Last year. Last year is some little Caesar's action. That was killing it lately, but they really are. Yeah.
00:28:36
Speaker
I know some stuff that I can't talk about that's weirdly related to that, but like nothing like as obnoxious as like a little Caesars. Celsius, baby. God, imagine. Listen. Where is it? I just accidentally smacked myself in the head with that. It's okay. I spilled some out of my mouth as I took a sip. Um,
00:29:05
Speaker
Mina would be great. I think we're due for an update on Mina. I don't think Mina has ever had a mainstream thing. Yeah. No, the only time, the only time it was shown was, um, the, the X play thing, the G4 thing.
00:29:21
Speaker
Oh, really? I think it was that. And then Van Aken did the doc on Mina, which if you haven't watched Game Informers, Alex Van Aken's work on Mina Hollower, there's this fantastic doc on the Game Informer YouTube channel. You should please go check it out. Yeah, but I don't think it's ever had like a proper like mainstream showing yet, which is interesting. So I'd imagine the first and potentially only time we see it during one of these shows would be the talking about the date.
00:29:51
Speaker
Yeah. Cause I, it has to be this year.
00:29:56
Speaker
I don't know if we've ever publicly talked about it, but like when we played it at PAX East last year, Harry and I were there for an appointment and we're like, Oh, we see it's like December of 2023 aim release. And they're like, no, maybe a little while longer hint, hint week, week, wink, wink. So that's guy week, week. I do think 2024 is the year. I hope, because that guy's really good. It's so fucking good.
00:30:24
Speaker
Can't wait like it's man. I got a couple other things with PlayStation. Let's get into the hot things. You know, PlayStation. You see a little devil inside. Yeah. Where's that? They did have to like restart or there's some issues and there was some stuff. Oh, wait. Sorry. Are they like not there? I don't think they're attached to a PlayStation anymore. That was part of that thing. It was weirdly worded.
00:30:53
Speaker
But it like kind of like, it was taking shots at like a big partner. Yeah. Yeah. It's weird. They didn't really like clarify it at all.
00:31:05
Speaker
If you look it up, the first link is still PlayStation. Yeah. But I don't know if it was like maybe internal partners that were part of the team that we're having creative differences with or whatnot, but they did have to restart and like go back to the drawing board a little bit to kind of tighten things up. I think they mentioned. So I will say that latest trailer that they put on our overview. It was so good. It completely turned me around in the game. Yeah. Looks great.
00:31:32
Speaker
I would love if that pops up during like a day of the devs. That would be cool. I could see that. That seems like a day of the devs joint. Let's get the elephant out there. I have another elephant I thought of too, so go for it. Oh my God. So many elephants. That's your elephant though. That's weird. Really? I mean, Hollow Knight is my elephant. Okay. What's that?
00:31:57
Speaker
What is that? It's going to shadow drop and destroy everything you know, Matt. So let's take it step by step. Does it make an appearance during this SGF season? Yes. Almost certainly. I also say yes. Matt is the only know with making an appearance. So out of myself, Becca and Kyle, do we get,
00:32:27
Speaker
A release window. I think it's going to be vague. If we do, it's going to be vague. I think we do. I also think we do. Do we get a firm date? Yes. I'm thinking like late 2025 or something like vague. Oh, you think 2025? I don't think it's coming to come this year. I don't. The, the joke of me is like out now.
00:32:55
Speaker
They just shadow drop it. Realistically, I say October. I think it's one of two things. I think it's either a trailer that ends with the splash screen of 2025 and the internet erupts and we have to suffer for another 365 days plus, or it does shadow drop during Keely.
00:33:25
Speaker
I think it's one of two things. Correctly if I'm wrong, OG Hollow Knight did Shadow Drop during that Nintendo Direct one year as the same Nintendo Direct as Banjo. How can you forget? I feel like they would kind of want to repeat history or maybe, and if Keely is throwing them enough money, maybe they would want to do that as well. Matt, you raised your hand. So in all seriousness, what I think what might happen if it is this year,
00:33:54
Speaker
They either do show up here or they wait a little bit longer, because I feel like the best release window for Hollow Knight, because that's a game you're going to want to only play that. You don't want any other game released being like, hey, well, what about this? I feel like if it is this year, it's August. And I feel like when they do show the trailer, it is a date, and it's going to be soon after they show it. They don't want to do another reveal, and you have to wait a long period of time again.
00:34:20
Speaker
Yeah. I think the last thing they want to do is delay the game again, or like, I guess like technically it never was. Well, I guess sort of, it was delayed with like the Xbox, like here's everything that's coming in the next six months. But, um, yeah, I mean, like the other side of me, like, thanks also, like it goes to the Hades two route. Like they don't need a showcase. This is a game that doesn't need a showcase. They could do their own thing. Like it could be a random ass Tuesday where they drop a tweet and
00:34:49
Speaker
put up a new trailer and say like, Hey, it's coming August 15th or whatever. Maybe. Very true. What was your elephant? Uh, it's, it's again, it's the elephant in the room because I know you guys are a fan of it. Oh, is it the, the play dead? Yeah. The not really indie, but yeah, sure. Yeah. It's just,
00:35:12
Speaker
2020, they announced they were, you know, getting help from Epic with publishing. It's been in the, it was teased in 2017. We're now seven years later. That was 2017. I just looked it up. Yeah. Well, we got what the two images this year. I'm sorry, the what those two images. Wasn't that this year? Yes. Late last year, early this year. Yeah. Recent enough.
00:35:39
Speaker
I can see that making a splash at SGF, even if it's like a small little trailer, nothing huge. That's the thing for, for the Keely show, we know what that means when it comes to Indies, like for something to be on the main stage, it would have to be. And like, I know like it has the Epic publishing deal now, but like it would be a play dead.
00:35:59
Speaker
I think the only thing that has a viable shot at showing at SGF is Playdead. It is Hollow Knight, maybe a new look at Everblade, even though I think it's too early for, not Everblade, Earthblade, but it's probably too early for that because they pushed. Yeah, interesting. Some other quick, easy ones, like Anchorfoot is getting a date.
Surprise Game Successes
00:36:20
Speaker
I think it's time for Anchorfoot to finally get out there from Devolver. That's been,
00:36:26
Speaker
in hibernation for way too long. Um, hopefully God, I hope so. Skate story gets also gets a date as well. I really fucking hope. Um, but yeah, everything else, it's like, it's hard to predict. Like PC game show is always hard to predict wholesome. Like we'll, we'll see some cool stuff. We're going to reveal this game and coming up, what's next after the break.
00:36:51
Speaker
God, remember the citizen sleeper thing. Just casually, like it's not one of the biggest, one of the biggest hits of the year. Jesus. The sleeper also has like something happening in the next couple of weeks. I forget. They, they had shared like, I don't know if it's like a super direct or something, but something like that is coming. That show was something else.
00:37:19
Speaker
It always is Kyle. But yeah, should be a great time. It's going to be a busy weekend. Um, yeah, obviously me and Kyle are going to be in Los Angeles around that time, but, um, we are currently working out the details, but we're going to host a watch parties for all of these, most of these. I look at Matt as he nods. We'll see for
00:37:48
Speaker
for a tentatively a majority of the shows, we will be hosting watch parties in our discord. So if you go to six one, indy.com scroll all the way at the bottom, you'll see a link to our discord. Come join, come hang out. Have a good time. Come see, see if you could spot me, Kyle and Jake and the SGF crowd. Like I said in the bullshit pre pre-show, if you find me, I will gift you a steam code. There you go. If you hear me screaming when the Sonic three trailer drops live on stage,
00:38:17
Speaker
Mike and I have a plan, by the way, if I notice it's happening, I'm just going to find him in the crowd and fill him the entire time. Yeah. Hopefully like a little bit inside baseball. So since I got media access, I was able to get a comp ticket for the showcase. Kyle had to buy his cause he's working SDF, just a little bit clarity there.
00:38:42
Speaker
Comparing seats with media folks, so like I was talking to Jill and Janet from the council, media is just spread out everywhere. I think Jill is in 102, Janet's in 103. We're all over the fucking place. I thought there was going to be an actual media section. And I wasn't thinking we were going to be in the front or anything. I would think they want the paying fans to be in the front, so that makes sense.
00:39:06
Speaker
have people together at least. I think the tentative plan is like, we're going to hope that people are like down for like switching seats. Like maybe like Jill is sitting next to a solo person and like we could just like change, but.
00:39:20
Speaker
Or like if Kyle's sitting next to a solo person, hopefully I can just, yeah. But yeah. Uh, the plan is, uh, Kyle and I lock eyes when the sonic trailer starts. This is all speculation by the way, but God, it's fine happening. Uh, and yeah, he's going to film my reaction. So we have that live react. Okay. Let's move
Current Games Played & Reviews
00:39:43
Speaker
on. Shall we very quickly? Let's talk about what we've been playing. Um, Becca.
00:39:50
Speaker
You haven't been with us in some time. I would like you, I would like you to tell me about Indica first. Okay.
00:39:56
Speaker
Tell me about the nuns. Where are they up to? Oh, those good old nuns. They're doing things. They'd be praying. They do some things. Um, so indica is, so I, um, I touched on this in a different podcast cause we, I played the demo during when it was in next fest. Um, and so it's a third person story driven game. It kind of reminds me of hell blade.
00:40:21
Speaker
Um, you know, it's that kind of dark looking style. It's based in this kind of, um, alternate Russia. Um, and you play as a nun named indica who, um, without spoiling anything, basically she's, she's tasked with delivering a letter outside of the, and it's like one of the first times she's ever been outside of the convent since she was sent to the convent.
00:40:45
Speaker
Um, but the thing that makes the story really intriguing is that she is constantly hearing the voice of the devil inside of her head and he's kind of able to manipulate the world around her. Um, and kind of just like without, you know, for lack of a better phrase really fucks her up. Um, and.
00:41:06
Speaker
Um, it's, it's pretty short. It's only a couple of hours. Um, but I think that that was, uh, I think it was good that it was only a couple of hours. Cause it's, it's, uh, I don't know how to explain without sounding like I hated it. I really love the game, but it's, it has its, it has its problems. Sure.
00:41:30
Speaker
You get stuck a lot if you try to like, cause like me, I like to adventure around and like look for collectibles and stuff like that. So like, you know, there's, it's glitchy and, and you know, there's all that kind of stuff, but it's really stunning. Um, it's really dark.
00:41:46
Speaker
Um, the story is really interesting. Um, and honestly, like the biggest shout out to the marketing team, because the marketing for this game is immaculate. You just like, just from like, you mean immaculate conception.
00:42:03
Speaker
just from scrolling the Steam page. Like you just have no idea what this game is about. I mean, I think updated since, since next Fest, but like during next Fest you play the demo and it's still like you have more questions than answers. Um,
00:42:18
Speaker
But yeah, I think it does a lot of stuff really well. What I found disappointing was that it doesn't kind of utilize that relationship between her and the devil enough, in my opinion. Like he kind of talks to her maybe five or six times, and then there's like two, maybe three puzzles where he's manipulating the world. But... Time out, Matt, what? Yeah.
00:42:48
Speaker
Allen feet are outside and I didn't want any bleed through. So I shut my window. It's like, what is this man doing? Continue. Sorry, Becca. It's okay. Yeah. I mean, like I said, I think it was really good. It was really intriguing, really different. There's a lot of it that's really, really good. There's these kind of gory, like really horrific moments. And then there's these kind of heart wrenching.
00:43:11
Speaker
heartbreaking moments, there's also the uniqueness of the fact that there's some parts, so it's like hyper-realistic at certain parts. And then there's also these short kind of puzzle sections that are pixel art, and the pixel art is also really stunning. And it's so unexpected, and it kind of explains why, when you are in that hyper-realistic version of the world, if you like collect, if you like get a little collectible, you get like a little pixel thing that pops up that's like, doo doo doo, you got some points.
00:43:41
Speaker
Um, but yeah, I did find it, uh, when I finally got to the end, I was like, Oh, that was it. Because it felt like, you know, it didn't really play on what was most unique about it enough. Um, the fact that she's got the devil talking to her and that he's able to kind of manipulate the world around her. And, and I found those puzzles to be the most satisfying to solve. And so there was more of the frustrating puzzles than the creative puzzles and.
00:44:06
Speaker
Um, so yeah, I mean, it's worth a play through definitely. Um, and I think, and I think that the team is, if they continue to make games like this, I think it's only going to get better from here. For sure. We had, um, GEO from digital trends on indie council last week. And he was talking about his time with the Nuka. My favorite thing that he described was the skill tree system.
00:44:32
Speaker
Okay. That there is a skill tree in this game, but it does nothing and it blatantly tells you that the skill tree does nothing. Yeah. Incredible. Yeah. It's, it's good. It's good. He was also describing the, uh, uh, a moment or a scene in the game where you're just pouring water into a bucket and it's like one of the most serene experiences he's ever felt in his life. It takes like 20 fucking minutes. Yeah. I love it.
00:44:56
Speaker
It's good, yeah. There's a lot of stuff that's really unique. It's just, it's the painstaking puzzles. And like, if you think about like Uncharted or The Last of Us, you have a companion that eventually will give you a hint if you're stuck. In this, you get stuck and your character's just like, I don't think that's right. And I'm like, that's not helpful in any way. I really hate that.
00:45:22
Speaker
I do just like maybe not in that regard, but in regard of like the water bucket thing and the skill tree thing. I love a good old game that is cheeky with not respecting the player. Yeah. Like I love a game that disrespects the fuck out of people. It's great. Also the frickin last of us uncharted system. I hate it.
00:45:45
Speaker
You should do this thing. Be more help. Just put the text on my screen. I know. I hate though. Like when they give you the hint too early, like you barely even have 10 seconds to like try to solve the puzzle. But yeah, no, this, this, I was stuck on a particular part for a really long time and he's just like, how does that help us? That's not, that doesn't look right. And I'm like, that's, you're not helping. You said it was a couple hours.
00:46:08
Speaker
Yeah, it was only a couple of hours. It was maybe I'll run through it this weekend, maybe three or four. Yeah. Not long at all. Okay. Yeah. It's definitely like very high on my list as a former Catholic school boy. Kyle peace be with you. And also with you. Lift up your hearts. Lift them up in spirit. Oh, I, for me, it was, uh, for me, it was the bell afterwards. I didn't, I didn't have anything after that. Yeah.
00:46:37
Speaker
They've changed all the wording now. Anyway, I've been to church. It's crazy. The patch notes in the Bible. Kyle, tell me about tails. The kids are.
00:46:50
Speaker
Yeah, so it said EA original. It's not the smallest little thing. It has a lot of backing. But my God, what Surgeon Studios did for their first game is should be applauded and more people should experience this while it's not the flashiest of Metroid manias and the most expansive finding all the hidden things weren't all that difficult.
00:47:16
Speaker
The things that are really strong about Tales of Kinzerazao is the story and, my God, the performances. Some of the best performances of the year. The voice acting is just incredible. It tells a very touching story of a son who is dealing with the passing of his father and
00:47:39
Speaker
his father was writing a story and the main character is reading the story and that is what you are playing. Um, and it's just, it's beautiful. Like, you know, me, I cry all the time. Uh, so this definitely made me well up in tears. Um, and if you're looking for a really solid narrative, beautiful performances, this is
00:48:05
Speaker
one of my favorite things I've played this year so far. It's really good and ps plus subscribers. You get it. It's part of your subscription. So please go check it out. You mean extra extra? Yes. Thank you. Yeah. I was going to make a really dark joke about, I know I, as soon as I said it, I was going to make a really dark joke, but
00:48:29
Speaker
was the same before my dad passed. He was saying, uh, Stan's bar behind Yankee stadium, not writing name. Happy birthday, dad. Tough segue. Easy plaque got in seven and a half hours. So it's not bad. Thank you.
00:48:55
Speaker
I don't know why I found that funny. Cause it was very much like just appease Kyle and say, congrats, you know, like it's not that big of a little shiny fake trophy. Here's your star sticker to put on your star sheet. I did download it the other day cause I forgot I still have PS extra. So I gotta, I gotta run through it at some point. Not for long.
00:49:23
Speaker
Yeah, me and Matt had a nice exchange order with... I got the reminder email about PS Premium. It was like, we're going to charge you $180 in June. I was like, fuck you guys. No, you're not. Right. Because I got a discount when I re-upped it last year. I was like, fuck you. Yeah, it's real dumb how they're doing it. Absolutely not. Just wait till Christmas. They'll put it on sale again. I know. Yeah, exactly. Like maybe I'll keep extra, but like... But you can't stack it anymore. It's so dumb. It's stupid.
00:49:54
Speaker
What's not stupid, it's bad. Before we start recording, I briefly started playing the 33 Immortals Beta. This is from, the team is Thunder Lotus, I believe. These are the folks that did, oh my God, what's that game called about?
00:50:15
Speaker
passing folks over, I just smacked my water ball over, getting folks over to the afterlife. Spiritfarer, thank you. This game is nothing like Spiritfarer. This is a top down action game that is 33 player co-op, like a dungeon crawler. Think Hades, but co-op, like obviously that's kind of the pitch.
00:50:36
Speaker
As you suspect from spirit fair, the game is gorgeous to look at. Um, I only got to do the tutorial and like one proper run with folks, but, um, really dope so far. Who was that? Special guest. Sorry. The kids are home. Who's child is that?
00:50:58
Speaker
Yeah, it's really cool, man. Uh, I, once I got into the actual co-op segment, it was super cool. Just seeing like a bunch of folks running around and like the way they do it, when you drop into the map or like when you enter the gate or whatever and do like your dungeon crawling runs, the, the moments when we gameplay is like, you have to go around and go through these like kind of challenge rooms. I forgot what they're called. They're called torture. I think they're literally called torture chambers. Um,
00:51:23
Speaker
You go through those and beat all the enemies and then the eventual like mini boss in those certain segments, you get rewards. Once you do enough of those, you're able to go take on the actual boss.
00:51:37
Speaker
I really appreciate the way they do it is like it's a big open map and they pretty much put groups. I don't know exactly how many people, but groups of maybe like eight folks surrounded in the map. So it's not all 33 folks in one like contained area. So like everybody's working together at different parts of the map to take out all these chambers. So then eventually you band together to take on the boss. I found that really cool. Cause when,
00:52:05
Speaker
They first announced this concept. I thought it was going to be a little overwhelming with 33 characters swiping around and bopping around for however long the runs last. Yeah, it is. But I think it's a very intelligent design with how much is happening on screen already because you usually take it out like.
00:52:23
Speaker
maybe like 10 enemies on screen at once. So like adding another 33 players to that would be a little chaotic. Um, super impressed with how it runs, super impressed with how it looks. I will say, and this is just like, this is probably not a fair criticism just cause I'm used to Hades at the moment. It doesn't feel like as fluid as a Hades. Like it does feel like, you know, it,
00:52:43
Speaker
The dash is, uh, you know, the, the refresh rate on the dashes isn't as quick and fluid as a Hades. The attack movements are a little more staggering at the moment, but that's just the style of play that has nothing to do with like how the game is running right now. Um,
00:53:00
Speaker
But I'm really interested to play more. Um, like I said, I only did like one ish run. I died. I couldn't get revived. So I didn't get to like, see like what the boss run actually looks like or, or anything really in depth beyond like doing one of these torture chambers, but super cool so far. Um, stupid that it's on Epic game store. Let's just throw that out there. Um, I will be playing on an Xbox when it eventually comes out. Um, yeah, super cool. I'm impressed so far.
00:53:29
Speaker
Becca, tell me about Sucker for Love. OK. This was about a month ago, which might as well be about 10 years ago, but I will do my best. So this is a hot goat mummy. This is it was a dating sim slash visual novel. It's very like anime style. The main mechanic really is you're just kind of like walking through a house and you're performing rituals.
00:53:58
Speaker
Generally it's like, I'm trying to remember the story, the main character is like stuck in a loop basically and there's a hot goat mom that is basically trying to get away from this like crazy cult and
00:54:15
Speaker
You know, that's generally the story, she's really hot. And it takes place over a couple of chapters and each chapter, like you basically the whole thing takes place in the same house. And you basically are just kind of going from room to room and then at some point, and you're gathering materials to perform these rituals. And
00:54:39
Speaker
Yeah, it was it was interesting. It got kind of frustrating at times because it was like you always have a map of the house, so you don't really get lost. But it felt like that one horror game we played on the stream for a while where it was like the monsters all around you and every like you could take the same. You know what I'm talking about in the house that bad. How to navigate me through. Yeah. Oh.
00:55:01
Speaker
Cocoon? No. It reminded me of that. And like the cultists are constantly in the house. And so like you have to slowly open the doors, which is kind of creepy. Like the horror elements were like really surprisingly really good. The atmosphere is really creepy.
00:55:23
Speaker
And, you know, the kind of like 90s anime style is really brilliant. It was weird to me that they called it a dating sim because you don't really date. Yeah. Same with the first game. Yeah, it was weird. So I found that to be a little bit strange. Like obviously you're kind of like.
00:55:43
Speaker
Well, your character's a little bit oblivious to Goat Mommy's flirtations. But you're kind of flirting with her a little bit and stuff like that happens. But yeah, there's not that much. But yeah, the main gameplay is the horror stuff because you're kind of walking around the house. There's jump scares with the cult people following you around. But it is really, really funny. It's written really well. I laughed out loud quite a lot with some of this stuff. And the art style is really good.
00:56:13
Speaker
Um, but yeah, it was, it was fun. It's just, I wouldn't call it a dating Sim. That was the weirdest part about it. That's fair. I guess it's kind of like just something to tie folks to like make that connection to, to the consumer trademark. Yeah. A dating Sim usually would mean that there's dating.
00:56:31
Speaker
And usually there's multiple people to date. It's not just, you know, hot, hot boyfriend. Yeah. Like I would probably default to hot goat mommy anyway, but as we all would. Cool. Yeah. I still need to check it out. I really love the first one. Um, but yeah, I agree. It's not like necessarily dating sim like sure there's elements of it, but yeah, hopefully that doesn't deter folks away from checking it out. It's definitely.
00:57:01
Speaker
I have at least the first one definitely worth the time. Yeah. And generally really creepy at times. Yeah. And like really dark, charming writing and really cool illustrations. Like yeah, that 90s anime aesthetic is fucking killer. It's great. Yeah. Super quickly, I briefly touch venture to the vial. It's great so far, but like I,
00:57:25
Speaker
Didn't play it enough to actually talk about it, so we'll circle back to that in a later episode. And then Little Kitty Big City, I put maybe two-ish hours into it so far. Really fun. It's definitely in the spirit of Character Platformer. The Character Platformer collect-a-thon kind of game. Really charming, really great. Excited to get back more into it.
00:57:55
Speaker
And then what I really wanna talk about is Crow Country. Now, for listeners, Kyle's internet, dead. So Kyle's no longer with us. But Becca and Matt. Yeah. You both need to play Crow Country. Played the demo, loved it. Crow Country is everything we love about Resident Evil. It is so goddamn good. Yeah.
00:58:23
Speaker
I want to play so bad. Do you like I don't know why I totally. I guess I just wasn't really paying attention to the marketing too too much. I didn't realize this game was set didn't realize this game was set in like an abandoned amusement park. I think that's the perfect setting for this kind of game. Definitely. It is bite sized enough where like it doesn't feel too overwhelming. It does that beautiful Resident Evil flow of like
00:58:50
Speaker
Oh, I found this thing, which leads me to this thing, which leads me to the next thing. And I go to the next room, I do this, I do that. The rhythm of this game is so stellar. And man, the setting, the visuals, the creature designs, the characters, it has everything. This game fucking rocks. My one knock against it, like, but this is maybe a me thing.
00:59:17
Speaker
I like to get to like the next biome, like the next area. I didn't realize like I was looking for a key when I already had the tool in hand that like the tool was to solve a different kind of puzzle and I didn't realize that puzzle tool could also open a door. There's like moments like that where like you may get confused as to like
00:59:39
Speaker
the tools and like what you need to do. Exactly. But it's just like a matter of like, just try everything in your pocket and like, hope you hope you're good.
00:59:49
Speaker
But I will say with that in mind, the game has a built in hint system if you need it. Essentially, it's like, you know, like with old school amusement parks, like the one of the attractions or like one of the quote unquote games is like the fortune teller machines. Like there is a fortune teller machine version or a thing like a fortune teller machine like thing in this game that like you have 10 credits throughout your entire game.
01:00:13
Speaker
And you can use your credits to get a little hint as to what you should be doing next. I love that. Yeah, super great. It does affect your rank at the end. So I did use two of them to figure out that I already had the fucking tool for the door. If I didn't do that, I probably would have gotten an S rank, which...
01:00:31
Speaker
bums me out. But man, the game, yeah, like I said, it rocks just from the get go. It totally grabs you with its atmosphere. And it's interesting narrative that's going on. Like it's not to give anything away, but like,
01:00:48
Speaker
you are in this abandoned amusement park, you were trying to get answers about this girl who had this like really gnarly accident in the amusement park. So you're trying to find the owner and there are all these creatures running about and the way the narrative unfolds just through letters and like some of the character interactions and the surprise at the end is like genuinely surprising. Like it was like a, like I was,
01:01:14
Speaker
in the living room alone playing and like I generally had a, oh fuck, like out loud. I said, oh fuck with like the twist. It's great. Bite size, it'll take you, it took me two settings. Like I think my pill runtime was three and a half, four hours, something like that. They just added hard mode today. I kind of want to go back and go for another run. Normal is a bit on the easy side. I did not die once.
01:01:43
Speaker
Um, yeah, which is good. Like it feels like a nice, like approachable PS one resi callback. I feel like this is the, this game in particular does the PS one resi callback better than anyone.
01:01:57
Speaker
Like I can't remember another game that I had this much time. Like I found this much enjoyment out of trying to do this style of game. I think maybe the closest was a tormented souls maybe got pretty close, but even tormented souls I got pretty frustrated with towards middle of that game. And like, I eventually fell off of it. This just like from start to finish, just fucking nailed the assignment.
01:02:25
Speaker
So yeah, both, I urge you both to please check it out. So we have a proper discussion, maybe a spoiler cast on it. Yeah. And it's, um, yeah, it's, it's built for like those speed running, like Resident Evil speed runs too. And yeah, items you can unlock for your next run. And it's really cool.
01:02:45
Speaker
So it turns out Kyle's internet died while I was talking about Crow
Upcoming Releases & Events
01:02:48
Speaker
Country. So I'm popping in here from the future to tell you what's happening this week in Indy and properly wrap up this episode. So without further ado, here is what's happening this week in Indy for the week of May 27th to May 31st.
01:03:02
Speaker
On May 27th, we got Ultimate Godspeed. Ultimate Godspeed is a party racing game. Place items on the track and bring chaos to the race. The goal, create the shortest way for you or the most pain for your opponents. Something we've actually had our eyes on for quite some time. It looks really fun if you're into Mario Kart and want something a little more with that indie flair and like really cool track creator kind of stuff. Check it out. Next up on not October 24th,
01:03:28
Speaker
I think Tuesday, I think on the 28th, Ripout is getting, it's hitting 1.0 on PC. Ripout is an online co-op or FPS that will have players fight their way through procedurally generated derelict ships filled with mutants capable of reconfiguring their alien bodies. That was a mouthful. Survive with your trusty pet and gun companion, collect loot, customize your character to fit your play style.
01:03:56
Speaker
3D Realms joint, worth checking it out. They always put out some FPS bangers. Speaking of bangers, Wednesday, May 29th, I'm assuming Wednesday's the 29th. We'll just roll with it. On May 29th, Nine Souls from Red Candle Games, Nine Souls is a lore-rich, hand-drawn 2D action platformer featuring Sekiro inspired deflection focused combat.
01:04:16
Speaker
embark on a journey of Eastern fantasy, explore the land once home to an ancient alien race and follow a vengeful hero's quest to slay the nine souls formidable rulers of this forsaken realm. Can not wait. There are so many goddamn games I need to catch up with, but similar to what we've been saying with once Elden ring drops, like life is going to stop. That's what's going to happen with nine souls. Banger.
01:04:45
Speaker
Also on May 29th is Questmaster. Questmaster is a dungeon, dungeon? Questmaster is a dungeon maker inspired by the classics that first made us love dungeon crawling. Unleash your imagination alone or in co-op to make dungeons full of puzzles, traps, and monsters. Upload them for others to explore and challenge yourself with other players creations. Butcher that, but you got the gist of it. It's Zelda Maker.
01:05:10
Speaker
Everybody's been clamoring for Zelda maker. Check out quest master. Check out quest master. Uh, next up also on may 29th, we got capes superheroes clash in a term based strategy game, recruit, train, and deploy your team in order to take back the city from the villains, uh, that hold it hostage. Then on may 30th.
01:05:30
Speaker
A new Inti Creates joint, Umbra Claw. Umbra Claw tells the story of Kwon, a house cat who has died in the mortal world after she awakens in the Soul Plane, a realm of the dead. She must challenge the perilous underworld to return home to her owner in this 2D action adventure. That's something we talked about on this episode. Flathead dropping on May 30th.
01:05:56
Speaker
No real description on Steam, but over and under, a simple game of gambling with your life cannot wait. Shout out to Dread XP with this new bite-sized horror label. Can't wait to check it out. I think we talked about it on the episode. It's going to be two bucks. Play it. Please play it. Support the label. Support weird publishers doing weird cool shit.
01:06:15
Speaker
I mean, weird in the most loving way possible. Hunter, don't at me. Also on May 30th, we got Aster, Blade of the Monolith, ripped through hordes of enemies with fury and style. In this fast-paced action RPG, play Aster, play as Aster, a young warrior determined to unveil the secrets behind his creator's unforeseen demise, wield an arsenal of runic weapons to hunt down the evil haunting planet
01:06:42
Speaker
glaze and save it from the impending doom. This is a formerly a versus evil joint. You know, of course, versus evil had some unfortunate circumstances. If you want to call it that over the holidays, the versus evil no longer.
01:07:00
Speaker
Is this anymore? So go check that, check out Aster, support the crew over there. Next up on May 30th also is Tiny Terror's Turbo Trip. Terry wants to launch himself into space using his new car, doing something this cool and Reckless will surely make him the talk of the town. Run, dive.
01:07:20
Speaker
Nope, run, drive, and glide through this small journey of big discoveries as Terry works towards achieving this goal. In the lost recordings, me and Becca mentioned we played it during Nexfest back in, I guess, February. Really dug it. It's really charming, really fun, really quirky. The Nexfest demo didn't have much to it. Being in open world, a lot of things were blocked off, but excited to jump into the full launch. And finally,
01:07:48
Speaker
This also has an old date. I'm assuming 1.0 is coming. Oh, no, I think it's coming to Xbox. I think it's coming to consoles. Hypercharge Unbox is coming to consoles, I believe. Hypercharge is a first and third person shooter action figure game that you've always dreamed of. Grab your friends, compete objectives, defend the hypercore against waves of weaponized toys, and defeat major evil together in the story campaign. Been going around TikTok a lot lately. I've been seeing the devs floating around my feed.
01:08:17
Speaker
It's essentially small soldiers, the video game. So he plays a little soldier. You, you get out of your little packaging and yeah, it's a little shoe to shoe to bang bang, you know.
01:08:26
Speaker
So that is that. Thank you so much for hanging out with us for this episode of the Six One Indiecast. We'll be back next week for our special Six One Indie day of the Indiecast. It is going to be video game trivia with one Jacob McCourt. Can't wait to embarrass ourselves and scream at each other and be all chaotic. Of course, also on Six One Day is the submissions for the Six One Indie Showcase opening up.
01:08:55
Speaker
May have some other like little bits dropping as well, but the main thing there, submissions opening up for the September 19th showcase. And yeah, that might be the final episode before Summer Game Fest. So just a reminder of me and Kyle will be in Los Angeles for Summer Game Fest extended weekend, if you want to call it that. So if you see us, say hi, we'll be hanging around. We'd love to, we'd love to see you. I love the chat video games.
01:09:23
Speaker
Alright gang, we will catch you next week for the 6.1 indie cast. Of course, 6.1indie.com, 6.1 indie on socials everywhere. Give us a follow, give us a sub, give us a like, give us a comment, all that good stuff. Catch you later.