Keys of Fury: Typing Action Preview By PixelHunted 🔑👊 @elecorn #IndieGame #GameDev

“Typing Action” as a genre is an acquired taste, but whenever a new entry appears on my radar, I’m always excited. The roots of the genre lie in Sega’s The Typing of the Dead, but have flourished in the indie space with the likes of Western Press, Epistory: Typing Chronicles, and Outshine.

If the extremely entertaining preview build is anything to go by, Keys of Fury: Typing Action could position itself at the top of this pile. It dons the skin and aesthetics of a retro beat-em-up, but instead of bashing out punches and kicks with button presses, you rapidly tap out words below enemies to deliver a blizzard of martial arts mayhem.

The preview covers the first three levels, introducing you to the art of “Key-Fu” and emphasising that success is about accuracy rather than speed. Unlike many other typing action games, Keys of Fury doesn’t test your words-per-minute speed, but on completing words without typos.

Dreamless "Every 25 years, horrifying events occur in a lost town" 😱

Dreamless

Developer – Setone Games

Platforms – PS5, Xbox X/S, PC

“When we are sure that everything develops according to our plans, we should wonder whether there is an invisible thread of the puppeteer stretched over our heads.”

Every 25 years, horrifying events occur in a lost town in the south. For one week, August 1-7, referred to as “death week,” teenagers mysteriously disappear. City officials have long ago given up on the mystery and are simply closing missing persons cases, advising residents to stock up on essential supplies and not to leave their homes. But even such measures don't save the day, and more people go missing every year. Is a serial killer, who has passed his craft from generation to generation, to blame for these terrible disappearances, or ... or ... Is it a curse?

The protagonist is John, a diligent senior year student with a passion for video blogging. On August 1, 2017, exactly one month before his coming of age, a new “week of death” arrives. The townspeople are busy going about their business and seem to have already forgotten about the curse, but John receives a tempting offer from his friend Will: to explore the long-abandoned house of a deceased old lady who once instilled terror in all the residents.

Features:

- Photo-realistic graphics

- Realistic gameplay

- High-quality audio accompaniment, creating an atmosphere of maximum fear

- Unpredictable gameplay: the abandoned house will change as the game progresses, creating new obstacles and puzzles for the player

- Learn the ancient history of a provincial town and solve the mystery of mystical disappearances of children

- Immerse yourself in this fascinating world and find out what lies behind the eerie events of the “death week”.

Time Enforcers – Preview By Britt ⌚ @TimeEnforcers #IndieGame #GameDev

Time Enforcers Website

Available on Steam, iOS App Store, Galaxy Store, Amazon Appstore, Steam, Mac App Store, and itch.io, Time Enforcers casts you as the titular group as they travel through time, thwarting the evil schemes of Chronolith. Chapter 1 is presently available, with more on the way. Set in feudal Japan, this opening chapter focuses on Kaizen, a Samurai warrior who is part of the Time Enforcers. 

A unique blend of fully voiced digital comic, top-down action, and – my favourite part – quiz sections focused on the era in question, Time Enforcers is shaping up to be an ideal fit for mobile devices, with enough variation in the gameplay to keep things fresh as the accessible narrative unfolds. 

The brainchild of Paul Hebert, Sr – Time Enforcers is very much a product of passion that is available on both PC and mobile devices right now.

What you waiting for? get out there and stop Chronolith!

TerrorBytes: The Evolution of Horror Gaming Documentary - Preview by Britt 🔪🩸🧟 @Terrorbytesdoc

An upcoming – and exquisitely titled - five-part series on the history of horror in video games, I was lucky enough to get a peek at the two of the five episodes, and it’s safe to say that horror fans are in for a treat with this deep dive into one of gaming’s most prominent categories, featuring as it does such luminaries of the genre as John Romero, John Carpenter, Akira Yamaoka, as well as various developers, composers and scholars of video game horror to add key context to the on-screen discourse.

Each episode focuses on a specific era of video game horror – the two that we at GF have seen are ‘Enter the Survival Horror’ and ‘Lethal Licenses’, both of which dive into not only the more seminal titles that are the cornerstones of the genre, but also mention underdogs and games that introduced specific mechanics and approaches that may have shaped horror video games somewhat under the radar.

GolfR | PC Game Preview By Rich ⛳️🤖 @GOLFR_the_game #IndieGame #GameDev

I was contacted by GolfR Indie Dev duo Andrew Laing and Karthik Subramanyam about an interesting new game that was described as an indie sci-fi robot golf game. As you can imagine, my socks flew off immediately (would my trousers follow?)

GOLFR is billed as a unique sci-fi golf action game published by Drivehead Games LTD. The game is set in the near future, the game follows a robot scout from Earth that crash-lands on an alien planet filled with ancient relics hidden beneath abandoned golf courses.

The game combines traditional golf mechanics with action elements, allowing you to drive, chip, and putt your way through multiple biomes while engaging in combat with hostile enemies.

The Rogue Prince Of Persia DEMO PC Preview 🪔🧞

 
Rich takes on the demo of The Rogue Prince Of Persia in this quick snapshot of the rogue lite gameplay. More The Rogue POP coverage to follow with a FULL Ten Minute Taster!

Abandonware: The Horror Collection PC Preview 😱 @Fossil_Games #IndieGame #GameDev

Fossil Games’ Abandonware is a collection of retro-styled mini-horror games that pack a great horror punch. The story that connects this collection is quite captivating. 

The development team found an old 3.5-inch internal hard drive, and after cleaning up the hard drive, they found a custom operating system and this collection of mini horror games. After investigating, the team grew concerned and, with the police bringing no help, they released it to the public to see if we could uncover the secrets of the mysterious hard drive. 

SEGA Mega Drive Game Preview – The Viking & the Ninja 📯🥷 @DelayedAgainAB #IndieGame #GameDev

The Viking & The Ninja is an action RPG similar to the Dungeon Explorer series, set in an anachronistic fantasy setting with a lot of humour. The main theme and gameplay centres around cooperation between the two playable characters, but to succeed you also need to explore, fight bravely, and talk to other characters with important information.

Ghostrunner 2 Preview by @PixelHunted "harder, better, faster, stronger than the original" 🥷 @GhostrunnerGame #IndieGames #GameDev

I missed Ghostrunner on its original release, but when a polished next-gen edition landed on PlayStation 5 in 2021 I fell deeply dippy in love with its lightning-quick, lethal and acrobatic combat. Since then there’s been nothing else that’s captured the same sense of dynamic combat, where death you or your opponent’s death is a cyber katana swipe away.

Now, courtesy of a demo courtesy of developers One More Level, that same adrenaline rush is back. What’s immediately apparent is that everything great about Ghostrunner is present in the sequel. This is an evolution rather than a ground-up reworking, to the point where my initial suspicions were that little had fundamentally changed.

How 2 Escape Nintendo Switch Preview 🗝️@JustForGames #EscapeRoom #IndieGames #GameDev

Sometimes I’m very much in the mood for escape room games – and even hidden object adventures, if things get crazy – and so the chance to dive into How 2 Escape, the upcoming co-op room escape game from developer Breakfirst via publisher Just For Games got my trousers in a right old twist!

As mentioned above, this is a co-op title – one player on the PC / console and the other either on PC or mobile using the How 2 Escape companion app.

Thief Simulator 2 | Preview 🦸‍♂️ @ThiefSimulator #IndieGames #GameDev

The next release in the ‘Thief’ (not that one) series, Thief Simulator 2 follows PlayWay S.A. 2018’s Thief Simulator and – my personal favourite - 2022’s American Theft ‘80s.

This 2023 entry sees you again returning to popping into various locations – uninvited - and going out on the nick. Whilst the game does not yet have a solid release date beyond 2023 (PlayWay S.A.’s release schedule is intense), it builds on the illicit thrills of the previous two entries by including various abilities, items and environmental hazards such as police officers, sleep gas, traffic spikes, ATM hacking, drones, dynamite and weather factors such as rain – to hide the thief’s movements.

The series has previously given me a lot of tension-fuelled thrills, and I’m especially a fan of the way in which the games aren’t afraid to have fun with themselves. As far as I’m concerned, this is an underdog series of games that always manages to deliver idiosyncratic fun with a touch of craziness, and I’m looking forward to diving into this next chapter!

Pixelshire PC Demo Ten Minute Taster Gameplay "StardewLike?" 🛖 @KappaBits #IndieGame #GameDev

 

In this Ten Minute Taster video Rich attempts to build the town of Pixelshire and grow the community in a unique RPG sandbox which mixes life sim elements with town building, exploration, and combat.

SteamWorld Build PC Demo Ten-Minute Taster Gameplay "What Is Fertility?" 🤖 @SteamWorldGames #SteamNextFest #NextFest

In SteamWorld Build, you must escape a dying planet by building a mining town to dig up vital long-lost technology. Meet the ever-growing needs of your citizens, trade resources and defend your mine from the creatures that lurk below.

🕹️ Arcade Paradise Preview | Developer – Nosebleed Interactive | Publisher – Wired Productions 🕹️ @WiredP #GameDev #IndieGame

It’s not often I have to pop a disclaimer into my articles, but today is very much one of those days!

The music from my band Recluse is being used in Arcade Paradise and so I don’t feel comfortable in reviewing the completed product, because I’m clearly incredibly emotionally involved, and so one of my esteemed colleagues will handle the final review. HOWEVER – this is my preview article, and so I can espouse my love of it freely, and my editor won’t stop me because he’s an incredibly bribable man, and I’ve sent him a fiver. What he DOESN’T know, is that it’s an old, paper fiver – so I’d better crack on with this before it arrives in the post and he realises that it’s not legal tender.

⚔️ Salt and Sacrifice | Beta | Preview | PS5 Tested | "Salt and Sacrifice will feel very familiar to those who played the preceding title" ⚔️ @transvaalgf @jamezila @iequalshane @skastudios #IndieGame #IndieGameDev

Salt and Sacrifice will feel very familiar to those who played the preceding title - Salt and Sanctuary - as the 2D take on the Dark Souls formula is largely unchanged; it keeps the core mechanics but sprinkles in enough new flavour to keep the game feeling fresh.

🐏 Lambs on the Road: The Beginning | Nintendo Switch | Preview 🐏 @LambsOnTheRoad #IndieGames #GameDev

Lambs on the Road is a 2D platformer with puzzle elements, set sometime after a horrific apocalypse, whereby society has crumbled, food has become scarce and people have turned to murder and cannibalism.

⚔️🛡️🌳 Tunic | Xbox | Demo Preview | "I’ve been a sucker for isometric adventures ever since playing Landstalker" ⚔️🛡️🌳 @dicey #IndieGames #GameDev

I’ve been a sucker for isometric adventures ever since playing Landstalker on the Mega Drive back in 1992 (and I’m still holding out for a proper sequel - I miss you, Nigel!) and more recently, Touryst was a generational highlight for me (with a far likelier sequel on the horizon).

☄️🚀 Everspace 2 | PC | Ten Minute Taster | No Commentary | Early Access ☄️🚀 #Everspace2 #IndieGames #GameDev

In Everspace 2 you will...Discover alien species, unveil mysteries, find hidden treasures, and defend your valuables against outlaw gangs. But don’t get cocky: there will be some high-risk/high-reward areas waiting for you where grabbing that ultra-special gear and getting out alive will require some serious piloting skills and all your talent for improvisation.

🚀☄️🛸 Everspace 2 | Early Access | PC | First Impressions | "A Barrel Rolling Shooter Looter In Space" 🚀☄️🛸 @everspace_game @Rockfishgames #IndieGames #GameDev #Everspace2

EVERSPACE 2 pitches itself as a fast-paced single-player spaceship shooter with deep exploration elements, tons of loot, RPG elements, mining, and crafting. 

The devs, Rockfish Games, have tried to create an experience that is story led with plenty of secrets, puzzles, and enemies to face off against.

I’ve always loved the idea of a space exploration game where you tinker with your ship, do some exploring and follow a story but normally bounce off these games because they are too hard to just pick up and play and require hours of time investment just to learn the basics.

BUT I can safely say that Everspace 2 is for everyone!

🕵️ Gamedec | Preview | ‘cyberpunk’, ‘combat-free’ ‘isometric’ 🕵️ @GamedecTheGame #IndieGames #GameDev

Anshar Studios’ Gamedec was completely unknown to me until I stumbled across it on a press release. After reading briefly about it, some keywords stood out; ‘cyberpunk’, ‘combat-free’ ‘isometric’ all terms that ruffle my hair and feed me good bourbon.