Indie Game Roundup: Spooky NES Adventures, Classic Platformer Updates, and Fresh Demos I have reluctantly pulled myself away from the addictive grind of Ball x Pit to bring you the latest from the indie game scene. There is a lot to cover, from spooky new releases to exciting upcoming titles and a notable update for a classic game. Steam Next Fest is currently underway, offering a huge selection of game demos until Monday. While my time has been monopolized by one particular game, I have managed to sample a few. I have been a fan of Aerial_Knight’s Never Yield, and after last year’s sequel, it is great to see developer Neil Jones trying something completely new. Aerial_Knight’s DropShot is a skydiving first-person shooter with finger guns and dragons. It is a stylish, fast-paced single-player game where you race to the ground while taking out opponents. I am looking forward to the full release. My typing skills, crucial for my job, were not enough to secure a victory in the Final Sentence demo. This is a 100-player battle royale where you are at a typewriter, racing to type out sentences before your opponents. If you are too slow, make too many mistakes, or do not win, a masked figure executes you. It is a clever and tense experience, and watching streamers play has been very entertaining. Final Sentence is coming to Steam later this year. There are several other Next Fest demos I hope to try this weekend, including Crashout Crew, which offers Overcooked-style co-op chaos with forklifts; Reanimal, a co-op horror title from some of the team behind Little Nightmares; the slot-machine roguelite Slots & Daggers; the sci-fi survival game The Last Caretaker; and Goodnight Universe, which we will discuss later. While I have been eagerly awaiting Skate Story, I will skip its demo. I am already sold and can wait a few more months for the full experience. Looking ahead, there are a couple of showcases next week. DreadXP’s indie horror showcase is on October 23 at 1PM ET on their YouTube channel. Two hours later, the Galaxies Autumn showcase will feature over 50 games, including world premieres and updates on titles like PowerWash Simulator 2, Mouse: PI For Hire, and Denshattack. New Releases Mister Scary is a delightful NES-style homebrew platformer from Calgames. You play as a weird little guy who can stomp enemies or freeze and burn them after a snack. A particularly charming feature is that he becomes immune to damage when he ducks for a nap. Mister Scary is available for ten dollars on Itch, and you will need a NES emulator to play the ROM. Fans of the classic freeware platformer N have a great reason to revisit N++. To celebrate the game’s tenth anniversary on PS4, Metanet Software is releasing a free update called TEN++. It includes new levels described as the developer’s most challenging yet. The update is live on Steam and coming to consoles soon. The Cabin Factory is an anomaly-hunting horror game similar to The Exit 8. You inspect horror-themed cabins for any supernatural irregularities, and if you spot one, you need to escape immediately. This three-dollar walking sim from International Cat Studios and Future Friends Games is now available on PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch, just in time for Halloween. Upcoming Games Just when I thought I should take a break from roguelites, a new game from legendary developer Ron Gilbert, Death by Scrolling, gets a release date. Your goal is to collect gold to pay a ferryman and escape purgatory, all while outrunning a wall of fire and avoiding an unkillable grim reaper. Death by Scrolling arrives on Steam on October 28 from Terrible Toybox and MicroProse Software. Silly Polly Beast is a genre-blending shooter with survival horror, puzzles, stealth, and even skateboarding segments. The story follows Polly as she escapes a hellish orphanage only to find herself in the underworld. Developed by Andrei Chernyshov and published by Top Hat Studios, it comes to Steam, PlayStation, Xbox, and Switch on October 28. Also arriving on Steam on October 28 is As Long As You’re Here from Autoscopia Interactive. This first-person game is designed to be played in one sitting and puts you in the role of a woman with Alzheimer’s, where her memories blend with the present. It started as a student project to better understand the experience of memory loss. Finally, a new trailer has been released for Goodnight Universe, a cinematic adventure where you play as a psychic six-month-old baby named Isaac. Using your device’s camera to control the game, you help Isaac seek familial love while a tech company pursues him. From the developers of the acclaimed Before Your Eyes, Goodnight Universe is coming to Steam, Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and Nintendo Switch platforms on November 11.
