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The best indies from the Summer Games Fest show floor in LAAdmin! Shadows! Making a friend out of spare bones and organs!
Admin! Shadows! Making a friend out of spare bones and organs!
I was in LA forSummer Geoff Festand I played a whole bunch of games. No, not lots of blockbusters – mainly because there weren’t too many of those about - but lots of indies, instead. In fact, out of all the games I saw or played or glanced at while I dashed between appointments, it was the indies that really stood out.
Our Eight Favourite Games From Not E3 2022Watch on YouTube
Our Eight Favourite Games From Not E3 2022
Given the nature of appointments at events like Geoff Fest, a lot of my time with these games were speed dates: elevator pitches, a quick twiddle of the thumbsticks, a round of musical chairs as I shifted to another sofa and another game. So, in that same chaotic vein, I thought I’d round-up my faves from the show floor. Please don’t get too comfortable, we don’t have much time.
Vice NDRCVR
It’s early 1980’s Miami and the drug trade is thriving. It employs Computer Operators who conduct business from their offices using the dark web and, as a cop, you go undercover as one of these operators and attempt to crack their drug trade from the inside.Vice NDRCVRa bitPapers Pleasein its presentation, but far more involved in its admin.
You pilot a computer that runs on Amigo OS, with all the limited memory and time constraints that 80s technology brings. It’s brilliant. Cops and crooks call you to pilfer info or scan databases or reply to emails, which you must carry out within a time limit. The magic lies inhowyou carry it out.
Amigo OS can’t support lots of tabs being open, so you need to manage what you’re running. Apps and tools take time to buffer or complete transactions, so you’ve got to be speedy on the mouse clicks. Eventually, you’ll be able to upgrade your PC to better support features like these and make your rummaging a little easier. The game makes admin a proper thrill, let me tell you. You can find it onSteam.
Schim
Image credit:Extra Nice/Playism
A standout atThe Day Of The Devs 2022showcase,Schimsees you play a little creature that lives inside a person’s shadow. Unfortunately, you get lost and need to reunite with your shadow person. So you must hop between shadows of people and benches and umbrellas to get back home.
The game is super fun! The music is bouncy and the colourblock aesthetics are gorgeous. Hopping between shadows is a neat environmental puzzle that makes mundane things a godsend. Never before have I been so grateful to runners or dudes pacing around as they talk on their phones. You get into this hitch-hopping rhythm sometimes too, which is glorious. It’s due onSteamat some point in the future.
Birth
Birthis a point-and-click adventure from solo dev Madison Karrh about experiencing the loneliness of living in a large city. It’s got this slightly unnerving bones and crispy, brown leaves thing going on. Again, I got hands-on with this one and found its physics-based puzzling a huge amount of fun. I’m normally someone who can’t deal with puzzles and point-and-click games, but I genuinely got into a flow state with Birth’s newts in jars and eyeball lollipops.
Time Flies
From what I played, the game was okay! It’s sense of humour was top-tier, with plodding music backing my buzzing about. Exploring the house was exciting the first few times, but after a while it got a bit tiresome. Maybe there’s going to be more stages at release, or maybe I’m missing the metaphor on life, death, and stuff. Who knows. There’s no release date yet, but it’s onSteamfor you to keep tabs on.
Animal Well
Animal Wellis a metroidvania from solo dev Shared Memories, a.k.a Billy Basso, where you control a pixellated spud with legs and steer them through a dangerous world filled with scary cats and the like. The demo I played featured some platforming, exploration, and evasion. The water effects were lovely and I kept bringing this up while Basso handled my gushing with tact and patience.
Desta: The Memories Between
A Little To The Left
Image credit:Secret Mode
Glitchbusters: Stuck On You!
I bang on aboutGlitchbusters: Stuck On You!in our vid embedded at the top of this article. It’s a 4-player co-op third-person shooter where you and your colourful little Glitch Busters fight viruses with your guns and magnetic legs. It’s colourful, playful, and oozes class. Like, seriously, you can snap on top of each other to reach new heights; latch onto surfaces to climb up them; whizz around platforms to rotate them, or use the momentum you’ve built up to smash into enemies and knock their protective helmets off. 2D sections see you extend or duck to avoid obstacles. Cor, what a time I had. Sadly, no release date yet for this one either, but you can follow it onSteam.
Not E3 2022 is in full-swing - see everything in ourE3 2022 hub, as well as our complete round-up ofeverything announced at Summer Game Fest 2022. Many more big game showcases and streams are still to come this summer, so make sure you stay up to date with oursummer games stream schedule.
