Games
March is set to be a strong month for blockbuster releases, but make sure you don’t let these great recent indies pass you by.
With a number of huge titles coming our way, it’s easy to miss the wonderful indie releases hitting screens, right under our noses. We’re here to give you a heads-up of the great indies you may have missed this past month.
Night in the Woods (PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC)
Night in the Woods has, of course, been available to play for a while now. Yet while PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC users have had the chance to savour the beautifully written, subtly moving and downright stunning adventure from developers Infinite Fall, Nintendo fans have been made to bide their time. Now, however, the game has been released on Switch, opening up the world of college dropout Mae to an even greater audience.
The game follows Mae as she returns to her hometown, where something strange is going on that she must investigate. To say any more would be to give up some of the game’s immersive, surreal and brilliantly realised world – something we wouldn’t dare to spoil. For a game featuring talking cats, Night in the Woods is hugely ambitious, spinning a yarn as weird and evocative as it is gripping. For those Nintendo users yet to sample its charms, now’s the time.
Aegis Defenders (PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, PC, Mac)
Metroidvania games may be everywhere these days, but GUTS Departments’ gorgeous, Kickstarter-funded Aegis Defenders offers more than enough ingenuity to warrant your time. The game tells the story of different factions fighting for control of ancient technology in a fantasy Dark Age, where you must search for Aegis – a weapon that can help save your village.
If this sounds like the perfect recipe for a 2D platform slash-em-up, well, it is, but Aegis Defenders also includes tower defence elements. This means that would-be headstrong heroes will need to learn to build and shore up their defences, placing an emphasis on traps and turrets rather than swords and spears. Key to this is positioning, and so you can thankfully switch between multiple protagonists to ensure you’re best placed to defend your way to victory.
That said, the game is best enjoyed with a friend, and through co-op, the platforming/defence mechanics are an absolute joy to play. For fans of building, jumping, or both – we’d definitely recommend giving this a look, so long as you bring some chums.
Dandara (PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC, Mac, Linux)
Another Metroidvania with a twist, Dandara sees you occupy the role of the titular Brazilian heroine, tasked with bringing light to the world of Salt. The game comes from Brazilian developers Long Hat House, and actually takes inspiration from the country’s folklore. While this may be enough to attract the interest of many players, eager to see how such a story translates to 2D jumping and blasting, the game offers far more to make the journey worthwhile.
With gorgeous 16-bit art and a truly ‘directionless’ approach – gravity is toyed with and Dandara is adaptable to any surface – players can blast and leap their way across walls and ceilings to bring the world of Salt back from the brink of collapse. With an intriguing backdrop, lovingly crafted visuals and action-driven gameplay, Dandara may be just the thing for you Metroidvania-heads.
A Case of Distrust (PC, Mac)
Set in San Francisco in the 1920s, A Case of Distrust is a brilliantly enjoyable noir adventure which delivers where it matters – the story. Your ex-cop private detective is tasked with solving a crime mystery after a client comes calling. The game positively revels in its noir clichés and archetypes, from its down-at-heel characters, including sleazy bootleggers, to a soundtrack that wouldn’t be out of place in the movie Chinatown. It also looks fantastic, with characters appearing as silhouettes and the entire game looking like it was dragged from a Saul Bass poster.
The game isn’t all style over substance, however. What unravels is an intriguing narrative with a heroine as savvy as she is persistent. The game doesn’t shy away from the big topics, either, touching upon sexism, poverty and racism in pre-Depression-era America. At around three-hours long, the game is short but sweet, and for anyone looking for a slink through a noir treat, you can’t go far wrong with A Case of Distrust.
Owlboy (PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC)
Owlboy isn't exactly a new release given its arrival on PC in 2016, but thankfully the brilliant pixel art platformer has finally winged its way to consoles. The adorable adventures of Otus, the clumsy protagonist, and his reliable team of idiosyncratic characters are now available to enjoy for users of all platforms. This is good news, because the game really is excellent – offering a varied roster of enemies, a huge number of different weapons and as many dungeons teeming with baddies that you can shake a stick at.
Mixing retro 2D platforming with Metroidvania-style combat, the game is compulsively addictive and, with its beautifully told story, emotionally involving, too. While PC users have had the last two years to sample the joys of Owlboy, console gamers now have the chance to get stuck into one of the best indies of recent years, and its release on the Switch and brilliant use of the Joy-Con controllers offers a whole new way of experiencing the adventure.
Attack of the Earthlings (PC)
Not unlike the brilliant recent indie Skelattack, Attack of the Earthlings takes a well-known video game trope (this time defending your planet from invasion) and flips the perspective on its head. In Skelattack, you play as a, well, skeleton, defending your dungeon from human invaders, while in Attack of the Earthlings, you inhabit the role of the Swarmers, an alien race tasked with wiping out humans before they can loot your planet of its valuable resources.
The turn-based tactical game differs from XCOM and the like by being more individually-focused, having you navigate maps alone with a stealthy approach, commanding underlings to do some of your dirty work. What’s interesting, however, is that you’re actually more dangerous than protagonists usually are in games of this ilk. You’re large enough to single-handedly devour humans whole, but not large enough to fit in nooks and crannies to hide. And while humans have weapons that can do some serious damage, they should be more frightened of you, than you be should of them.
What results is a game that feels different enough from its genre forebears to be truly worth a look, while its rich vein of humour keeps the enjoyably silly premise fresh throughout, and the story is a surprisingly sharp jab at corporate greed. If you’re looking for a witty, amusing and not-too-deep tactical experience, Attack of the Earthlings may just be for you.
