Which games will be the next indie hits?
What upcoming indie games might be a success and are worth following? A few titles caught my eye during the last Steam Next Fest. Read what makes them unique.
The Children of the Sun is a very stylish game about sniping cultists. On every level, you use only one bullet. Seems hard? Thankfully, you can control it. You start with the ability to re-aim after shooting somebody, but you gradually gain more methods of controlling the path of the bullets.
It’s a rare mix of puzzle and shooter, reminiscent of the ingenious Superhot. Besides being mechanically original, it also boasts an avant-garde, unsettling art style – both retro and contemporary. It's already impressive work, especially since this is a solo-developer game ( @primaerfunktion made it). It's something worth waiting for, trust me.
Backpack Battles was one of the most popular demos during the festival, and at first glance, it was difficult to see why. Rough UI, no tutorial, no single-player mode. I went straight to play, and after a couple of fights and visits to the store, I found myself completely sucked in.
It’s the game about what is the most pleasurable part of a roguelike deckbuilder - shopping and equipping your character with new shiny stuff. Instead of fighting by yourself, you are just observing the results (it reminded me that people were crazy about autobattlers a couple of years ago – it’s crazy how quickly some trends disappear). The game also uses the idea of backpack tetris known from Diablo or RE series and makes it really engaging by providing a lot of synergies coming from the proximity of items. Discovering synergies and organizing the backpack gives a lot of fun, especially when you get quick feedback by observing the next battle. Backpack Battles has some issues with randomness and displaying crucial information, but once you get hooked, it's hard to tear yourself away.
Millennia is another contender for the throne of the 4X genre, temporarily abandoned by Firaxis, which has not yet announced the successor to Civilization VI, released over 7 (!) years ago. The game from C Prompt Games is quite similar to the Civ series but has enough fresh ideas to be an interesting proposition for fans of the genre. I got particularly intrigued when I learned that after the Age of Bronze, I might not only progress to the typical Age of Iron but also to the Age of Blood due to being too aggressive in the early game, or the Age of Heroes because of discovering many unique landmarks. Alternating historical timelines sounds like a great idea for replayability and adds mid-game goals that you might want to achieve.
Millennia appears to emphasize recognizing your playstyle: your actions within the game directly affect different domains, such as Government, Warfare, and Exploration, earning you points in each. Once enough points have been accumulated, they can be utilized to activate corresponding abilities. It's a clever system that reinforces various strategies; for instance, engaging in combat yields points to summon additional units. The entire system is more complex, involving Nation Spirits and Culture—it certainly holds great potential for being highly replayable. You can find more information about it here.
News Tower is about running a newspaper company in 1930s New York. It pays attention to details that make this experience believable despite a somewhat cartoonish art style. There is a surprising spatial aspect - from sending reporters to different places, through building your office to conquering the NYC map by enhancing your distribution. Time pressure to finish another edition of the newspaper by the end of the week creates a great loop. And I just love the feeling of choosing what should be on the front page since I played Lucas Pope’s (@dukope) little gem called The Republia Times. I have always been convinced this feature deserves a full game focused on it. Fingers crossed for News Tower, as it goes to Early Access—go check it out!