With over 100 indies demos to try from now until Monday, February 28th, it could be pretty overwhelming. But fret not, here are some of our picks of titles that we tried and feel would be interesting, keeping tabs on, and well worth your time.
Neon White
There’s something cool about the FPS smooth running on the ground, especially with what appears to be gliding on the water surface to speed things up. A platform runner that has similar elements of Portal-like puzzle level designs and a deck of weapon cards that serve as both shootings or discarded to gain an extra boost of double jump, bombs, dash, or stomp as means to quickly run through the enemies as quickly as possible before reaching the goals. This is definitely a gem worth looking out for on Nintendo Switch and PC in Early 2022.
Source: Annapurna Interactive
All interactions take place in an anime visual novel style, where the player navigates around heaven and converses with other NPCs, which are all decently voiced.
Replaying levels gain extra insights to the maps for secret routes and trophies as means to advance to other levels. In addition, some levels have hidden placed gifts to boost trust between members and NPCs if the player chooses to do so. This adds more layers of fun to replay the levels.
Onde
A delightful music puzzler that pleases my ears and eyes as I amplify sounds – creating ripple shapes that extend around a crystal environment, while I ride along the ripples. The sound chimes my spine while I navigate around the ripple to avoid hitting hard crystal structures while I am sound-surfing. That’s all there is to say for such a simple therapeutic meditative experience, suffice to say this resonates with me.
Onde is coming to PC on March 17th, 2022, followed by Nintendo and IOS later in 2022.
Source: Mixtvision Games
Jack Move
This is one of the unique JRPG reminiscent designs of Mega Man Battle Network, with good-looking animated pixel art in a cyberpunk setting. Although the demo is short, it gave me enough to be excited about it with fluid turn-based combat with options to install skills. Accompanied with Tron-like music as well as the environment briefly lights up as you punch your foes. Jack Move is notably unique and is coming to Nintendo Switch and PC in 2022.
Ever wondered why Jack Move looks so fancy?! Well, it's secretly 3D! ?#pixelart #gamedev #indiedev
? Wishlist Jack Move on @steam! https://t.co/G7JfTthxEm pic.twitter.com/fyBo61yvIv— Edd Parris | So Romantic (@empika) February 23, 2022
Silt
As the saying goes, if you like Limbo, you’ll like Silt. And man, I really dig it as not only does it feature a deep dive of 2D atmospheric underwater platformer but also the ability to possess a fish to do my puzzle bidding, be it cutting ropes or ramming obstacles. The sketchy hand-drawn underwater world may be quiet, but tense harrowing moments will feature some horrifying tunes – making you wish you could swim even faster!.
Silt will be diving on PC release in Spring 2022.
Source: Sold Out Games
Card Shark
One of my favorite things is memory mini-games, and in this case, a series of minigames that used card tricks to cheat out anyone’s money during the 18th century in France. Learn over the strategies to perform card tricks such as deck switching, card marking, signaling, or even simply leaning over pouring a drink to get a glimpse of the opponent’s cards in this ornate visual world. Shuffle your way to victory as Card Shark comes to PC in 2022.
Source: DevolverDigital
You can pet the dog in Card Shark pic.twitter.com/HR7FMbETFr
— Can You Pet the Dog? (@CanYouPetTheDog) February 22, 2022
Gibbon: Beyond the Trees
If you like the motion of swinging without a care in the world like a monkey, do try out Gibbon. Even without directional controls, I am still enjoying the autorunning and swinging by holding one button at a time, releasing the button will trigger a jump.
In this hand-drawn world, swing, build momentum and search for what may be lost forever due to deforestation, poaching, and climate change. As Gibbon portrays the monkeys as voiceless and with no text, everything is conveyed visually in the background.
Source: Broken Rules
Beacon Pines
Beacon Pines’ has beautiful artwork, the main reason I do enjoy it as a whole is that it has a unique spin on the point-and-click genre by altering the story branching path by changing the words aka charms on the easily accessible storybook!. Charms can be picked up by exploring the world by interacting with objects or speaking with an NPC. In addition, this cute, scary, and strange world is accompanied by lighthearted piano pieces running in the background. Reminding me vividly of Netflix’s Stranger Things, Beacon Pines will be heading to PC and Nintendo Switch in 2022.
Source: Hiding Spot
