10 Indie Games to Wishlist!

Ludipe, a developer I follow on Twitter, who’s responsible for the amazing “Missing Translation” made a Twitter thread recommending unreleased Indie games to wishlist on Steam… So, I decided to do the same.

But Twitter’s letter limit sucks and you can treat that thread I made as a “TLDR” if you wanna… this one’s the longer version!

OPUS: Prism Peak

The OPUS games created by Taiwan-based SIGONO Games are a series of heartfelt experiences that made me feel many emotions, from joy to sadness. They’re pretty amazing in what they do.

I absolutely loved OPUS: Echoes of Starsong and really enjoyed the other two games that came before EoS and thus, one could argue that I’m a fan of the series.

OPUS: Prism Peak is a narrative adventure where your choices lead to divergent endings. You play as a photographer lost in an ethereal realm, and you use camera to find a way home.

I was asked a while ago to talk about the release but I haven’t been able to do so just yet, sadly, due to the fact that I honestly know little to nothing else about this title. SIGONO is keeping secrets to really not spoil anything. They know that their games speak for themselves and that’s almost magical. I really adore the work they put in and hence figured this would be a great entry to start this post with.

Routine

Developed by Lunar Software and published by Raw Fury, Routine is a title I’ve been excited about for a while now… and by that, I mean that the first trailer I saw was back in 2016-ish but this gameplay trailer is from 9 years ago!!!!

It’s a First-Person Sci-Fi Horror game set on an abandoned lunar base designed around an 80’s vision of the future.

Personally, I’m a huge fan of Clarke and other “older” Sci-Fi authors and really love how they envisioned the future to look like, especially since Clarke (and others) kind of predicted stuff that we have now…

But back to the topic of this game, it’s a curious exploration turned into survival with a lunar base that goes completely quiet. As you search for answers, you come face to face with a robot menace and have to immerse yourself into this new environment with minimal UI and full body awareness…

And yes, I hate Horror… I’m really bad with the spooks… but I’m still excited for this, especially as Raw Fury does an amazing job stirring games into the right direction via Player Feedback and other stuff.

Relic Hunters Legend

This one’s developed by Rogue Snail and published by Gearbox Publishing.

Relic Hunters Legend is the Co-Op Looter Shooter sequel (or spiritual successor?) of Relic Hunter Zero, a game I used to play A LOT in the past.

It’s fast, fluid, and fun. With up to three friends, you gear up and save the Galaxy from villains that stole the past…?

Honestly, the trailers just looked incredibly fun and I’m looking forward to playing it eventually once it’s out!

We Stay Behind

This one’s a title that was formerly known as “Resort” which is developed by the Germany-based studio, Backwoods Entertainment, whose developers aren’t actually living too far away from me… and it’s published by Application Systems Heidelberg (or ASHGames for short).

In this Single-Player Third-Person Mystery game, you interview the inhabitants of Laburnum Creek that refuse to leave their hometown despite a comet being on course to destroy it.

It’s a Mystery game between dreams and reality, with exploration and adventure aspects. The demo is pretty nice if you wanna give that a try.

More than anything, I’m just incredibly excited about this as its developers are among the first that I ever interviewed! Super excited for the full release!

Acid Knife

Acid Knife is a game I don’t actually know all that much about, apart from the fact that it’s stylish… and that it’s developed by Powerhoof, the studio behind Crawl!

So, it’s a 2D Action-Platformer where you battle death centipedes and other critters in a very slow but more intentional combat system.

The trailers looked incredibly stylish with you throwing knives and picking them up and trying to improvise on the spot and it’s definitely something I’d love to play.

DREDGE

We played Black Salt Games’ DREDGE a while ago already… or rather, the demo. It’s published by Team17 and is essentially a fishing adventure game with a sinister and ominous, almost eldritch, undertone.

You sell your catch, upgrade your boat, dredge the depths for secrets, and uncover mysteries, much akin to what Sunless Sea and Sunless Skies do.

And it just left me with such a big impression that I really wanna recommend this to people because… it’s a fishing game (so it’s great) but it left me with goosebumps even though it’s so cute and sorta wholesome.

Amazing.

OTXO

When it comes to Roguelikes, I’m really looking forward to playing OTXO, which we covered a while back on here and which is developed by Lateralis and published by Super Rare Originals.

In this game, you’re stranded on some mysterious island with a villa that holds countless enemies as well as your first love. Why are you here? Why are you looking for your first love? Who are you? Who are they? – Questions like that are not revealed at first and thus, I hope that there will be some answers to those questions…

OTXO (pronounced “ot-cho”) is a top-down shooter with roguelike elements that is heavily stylized with a black and white aesthetic much akin to 12 is better than 6 – with the only bits of colour being added through your enemies’ blood which paints the environment as you move through.

It’s fast-paced and fun with satisfying roguelike elements. I really loved how it just felt as if you’re some stampede rolling through, much like in Hotline Miami… and yet, it was challenging and at times almost tactical, which is a great thing for a title like this.

The Darkest Files

There are many Indies coming out soon and I wanted to talk about more unknown once in this post… but at the same time, I just had to include The Darkest Files by Germany-based Paintbucket Games as I just love the work the developers put in to make their games historically accurate and to not just teach about the atmosphere at the time and historical facts of the darkest chapters of Germany… but to also provide engaging experiences!

Paintbucket Games is a studio that I talked to previously during 2019’s Gamescom for their game Through the Darkest of Times, as well as at last year’s Gamescom for this upcoming title, The Darkest Files. I’d highly recommend giving this last interview a read if you wanna know more about TDF… but I guess the abridged version would be:

The Darkest Files is a historical investigation and courtroom game where you investigate cold cases, search for clues, relive memories and try to bring the perpetrators of true crimes of the Nazi era to justice. You play as a fictional character, Esther Katz, who’s a young prosecutor that just joined Hesse’s Attorney General Fritz Bauer who recently established a special unit of young, unencumbered public prosecutors.

After the second world war ended, after all, there were many crimes that have gone unnoticed and a lot of the Nazis that can still be found in high-ranking positions across Germany still need to get put to justice!

The demo I played for this game let me play the first case and it was honestly incredibly immersive with great voice acting, an interesting style, as well as a very engaging story. But then again, I loved what they did for Beholder 3, so obviously, I couldn’t wait to play this one for myself. So excited about the full release!

Townseek

Coming from Portugal-based developer Whales And Games, Townseek promises all the things that I love about merchant-based gameplay loops!

It’s been ages since I played Merchant of the Skies, but this game is really giving me similar vibes.

Townseek is a relaxing exploration-based trading game where you fly around the world, gather resources and trade with different towns to make a name for yourself.

As you journey across the world of Explora and discover the lost legacy of Sir Reginald Sharkingston, you get to meet incredibly adorable characters, catch fish, mine for ores, farm plants, and just manage the heck out of your playthroughs – all the fun stuff!

Honestly, I’m a simple man. I see cute games, I hit the wishlist button – and Townseek just hits all the right buttons for me which is why I can’t wait to play it for myself once it releases! It’s gorgeous with a hand-drawn world and it promises to let you play the game at your own pace as you uncover various locations, and as you fill your journal with memories of your own travels… I’ve been so hyped for this for ages now!

ENDLESS Dungeon

Last but certainly not least, ENDLESS Dungeon is the spiritual successor of one of my all-time favourite Indies, Dungeon of the Endless. Coming from the same studio as the original, as well as the other ENDLESS game, I have high hopes for this studio… and yes, I know, AMPLITUDE was bought by SEGA and thus may not be considered Indie anymore… but screw those details. Like, who cares? I’m excited for ENDLESS Dungeon and so should you be!

In ENDLESS Dungeon, you play as a wide cast of convicts that are stranded on a mysterious space-station, unable to escape from this place. Death… is not an option. Dying on your escape attempts just brings you back to the beginnings, the bar, where you can plan your next attempt.

The station is overrun with aliens which is why you have to use rogue-like mechanics and lots of tactics to strategically place turrets, defend key positions, and wager different decisions: Do I open this room and risk another horde or do I book it for now? Hmmm….

The playtest I got into was amazing, and long-term readers may still know about my 2020 post on this game… People that know my streams or are friends with me may know how often I recommend this game… some of my closest friends may remember how I basically bought the game for every friend of mine back in 2016 since the four-pack was on sale… My point is: I love the original game and even if this reimagining is more modern, doesn’t feature Pixel Art, and is on top of that Isometric with a bigger focus on real-time action… I’m excited.

I even have an interview in the drafts that I did with a person from AMPLITUDE but they repeatedly tell me to wait until they ask their higher-ups if they said anything that they weren’t supposed to say and then I wait for the answer and send them another check-in, they just keep stalling and I may just publish it soon since they’d tell me off if they had said any forbidden or top-secret things about the game. Right?

Anyway, super excited! Can’t wait to play these games!

This post was originally written by Dan Dicere from Indiecator.

If you see this article anywhere else other than Indiecator.org… then this article has been stolen. Please let me know of this via E-Mail. Other than that, feel free to stop by my Twitch streams!