Gamers Need to Circle April 10 on Their Calendars

28.03.2024 - 20:55 / gamerant.com / Tim Schafer / John Bonelli / Indie Games

Evil Empire, the studio responsible for the 2018 hit indie title Dead Cells, has revealed the Triple-I Initiative showcase ready to go live next month. The new event plans to highlight upcoming games from over 30 indie studios and publishers, many of which are well known for past hits and have dedicated followings.

Showcases held exclusively for AA and indie-sized video games have become ever more prevalent over the past several years. Some longstanding annual events like PC Gamer's PC Games Show, the Devolver Digital Direct, and Tim Schafer's Day of the Devs opened the door for newer annual indie showcases like Future Games Show, Wholesome Direct, Guerilla Collective, Annapurna Interactive Showcase, and more to crop up. While many of these yearly shows sufficiently and succinctly highlight their games in a quick manner, many of the larger AAA-centric shows like Summer Game Fest, Opening Night Live, and others still draw criticism for being overtly long and padded out.

Now, Evil Empire has taken it upon itself to orchestrate a massive new indie event, the Triple-I Initiative showcase. Going live on April 10 at 10AM PT and 1PM ET, gamers can tune in on YouTube, Twitch, and Steam to catch a tight, 45 minute flow of new reveals and gameplay demos coming from some of the most celebrated independent studios in the industry. Developers like A44, Extremely OK Games, Heart Machine, and Thunder Lotus populate the long list of game makers involved. COO of Evil Empire Benjamin Laulan adds that there will be «No hosting segments, no advertising, no sponsorships, no extra fluff, just games.»

It seems the Triple-I Interactive showcase will feature a bit of a more AA splash, with appearances from Focus Entertainment, known for publishing Asobo Studios' Plague Tale games and Don't Nod's Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden, and Gearbox Software, the Borderlands company. Evil Empire's marketing director, Berenger Dupre, playfully mentioned that the show is looking to have somewhat of a focus on what he calls «Triple-I» games: games from independent studios that feature AA or even AAA production values. In that case, it makes sense for a studio like A44 to appear with its third-person action game Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn, as it perfectly fits the description of a «Triple-I» game.

No hosting segments, no advertising, no sponsorships, no extra fluff, just games

Many of the studios that'll show up at the Triple-I Interactive showcase have already announced highly anticipated games on the horizon. Extremely OK Games, the team behind 2018's Game of the Year-nominated indie darling Celeste, will likely be showing off some of its next game, Earthblade. Heart Machine, responsible for highly praised titles like Hyper Light Drifter and