Indie News, Tips, Tricks & Ideas

Vlambeer, developers of Nuclear Throne, Luftrausers and Super Crate Box, among others, called it quits back in 2020, so that co-founders Jan Willem Nijman and Rami Ismail could work separately on other projects.

2024 has kicked off with a list of bangers ranging from Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth to Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth, and as excellent as those games are, I'm growing increasingly desperate for more bite-sized titles to maintain a varied gaming diet. And Castaway, an upcoming indie that bills itself as a "short and sweet adventure" and looks like a perfect tribute to The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, feels like just the thing.

GamesRadar+ is thrilled to confirm that our biggest digital showcase event of 2024, the Future Games Show Summer Showcase, will be broadcast on Saturday June 8.

Hellblade director and Ninja Theory co-founder Tameem Antoniades is no longer at the Microsoft-owned studio.

'The Wild Bastards' is about the best name I've heard for a gang of alien outlaws in a space-western, good enough that let's skip past the fact that the game was announced last year and we've only just noticed. Wild Bastards is the follow-up to Void Bastards, 2019's roguelikelike first-person shooter about a prisoner in a corporate nightmare forced to raid derelict spaceships on a wild goose chase. This time, it's leaning into crime, jaunting across the galaxy to resurrect a game of legendary outlaws, the Wild Bastards. Allow me to repeat that name: the Wild Bastards. Alright, now come watch the gameplay trailer.

Palworld developer PocketPair has released a big new update for its breakaway hit, bringing with it the game's first raid boss.

Tropes aren't actually bad, right? Like, I'm not actually mad that a lot of games use 'the world is ending and you have to save it' as an inciting incident. When people complain about something being 'tropey' I think often what they're complaining about is that the work isn't putting any kind of interesting spin on the tropes. Great God Grove is a weirdo puzzle game where you have to stop the world from ending, and the only way you can communicate is by sucking up things people say to you and then firing them back out of your news cannon. It's coming to PC in 2024. Jolly good.

Pocketpair have released a new Palworld update, Steam version v0.2.0.6, which introduces the monster-catching survival game's first Raid Boss, a gloating Gothy squid-lady by the name of Bellanoir. She'll be available to conjure by using slabs at new Summoning Altars. Be prepared for a tough fight, especially if you opt for the "extreme" version of the boss. Bellanoir can't be captured, but she does drop a Pal Egg on defeat.

Content Warning — the viral co-op horror hit from the team behind Totally Accurate Battle Simulator — has just received its first patch. And alongside a first batch of bug fixes, it brings a bunch of new toys to play with in the depths, including party poppers and a reporter mic.

Earlier today Tom Betts - founder of Nullpointer and former lead programmer at The Signal From Tolva developers Big Robot - emailed me about his new game The Horror At Highrook. In the space of a single, rollercoaster paragraph, Betts earned my curiosity by describing himself as a fellow Soul Reaver enthusiast, lost it again by criticising Soul Reaver’s camera - such insolence! - and earned it swiftly back by mentioning that he’s from Yorkshire. Then, he upgraded my curiosity into attention by describing The Horror At Highrook as a “clockwork narrative” horror experience that takes inspiration from Poe, Stoker and Lovecraft on the one hand, and from boardgames, wiki-hunting and escape rooms on the other.

How do you follow up something like Dead Cells?

It's a fond hope, a fool's hope, but perhaps 2024 will be remembered not as the year of Yet More Layoffs, but the year of Unexpected Hits. Surprise record-setters like Palworld, which I don't especially like, Helldivers 2, which I rather enjoy, and now Content Warning, which I'm still figuring out. If you missed it, the co-op horror game released on Monday with a temporary free promotion, and racked up a 200,000-player Steam concurrency last night. Published by Totally Accurate Battle Simulator outfit Landfall, it's sort of like Lethal Company in being about venturing into horrible places as a wibbly-wobbly defenceless explorer, but rather than gathering scrap for resale, you're filming yourself and the monsters in a bid to publish a viral "SpookTube" video, with tuber celebrity translating into cash for new equipment.

"It almost feels like proof-of-concept for a first-person Prince of Persia game, with an ever-so-gentle dusting of Portal," our Edwin said after playing free first-person platformer Grimhook when it launched in December. It's a cracking little game, parkouring about with the help of supernatural powers and a grappling hook, but ends right as it feels like it's getting started. I'd certainly be up for three hours of this, so how splendid to hear that the developers are planning to make a "complete" and fancier experience.

I have spent most of my working life looking at efforts to breach the FPS event horizon, and going 'OMG who cares, they literally all look the same?'. People like our hardware editor James then point and laugh at me, as an objectively wrong person. But according to a small study highlighted by the Guardian, I might have been right too! Turns out there's evidence that we might all see life at different FPS. That player might not be cheating, he might just experience Fortnite at a speed you don't.

Evil Empire, the studio responsible for the previous five or so years of updates to Motion Twin’s roguelite metroidvania game Dead Cells, are set to release a new roguelite set in the Prince of Persia universe “later this year.”

Smash-hit co-op horror game Content Warning is now a certified viral mega-hit, with over 6.2 million players claiming the game for free at launch.

Microsoft have announced April's new arrivals for the Game Pass subscription service, and it includes a cute game about being an alligator, a cute game about gardening, a cute game about fleeing a doomed planet in search of a new home among the stars, and also EA Sports PGA Tour, I guess.

Dave the Diver team Mintrocket has today announced the PS5 and PS4 versions of its 2023 indie hit will release on 16th April 2024, and they'll be available straight away via PS Plus Extra also. Current members of Sony's subscription service will be able to download and play the game without charge, granting them access to the original experience and a bit of Godzilla-themed DLC in May.

Hollow Knight: Silksong was announced more than five years ago, and it feels like we're not much closer to the hotly anticipated indie game's release. Fans have been clamouring for something, anything about this side-scrolling Metroidvania action title all these years, and while we've had one or two trailers and some other clues, Team Cherry remains tight lipped about exactly when it'll finally be ready. Our latest hint of movement is a new product page, this time on Xbox's store.

Sony has revealed that not only is Dave the Diver coming to PS Plus Extra on its release date of 16th April 2024, but so too is the upcoming Metroidvania title Tales of Kenzera: ZAU. Launching under the EA Originals banner, the promising indie platformer is coming out on 23rd April 2024 for PS5, and PS Plus Extra members gain access that very same day.

Young Horses, the studio behind the PS5 launch title Bugsnax, has announced it's turning the indie hit into a card game. The developer requires $15,000 of funding on Kickstarter to make it a reality, with orders currently being accepted from the USA. The team plans to begin shipping the card game in October 2024 for those supporting the campaign, and then international orders will be accepted roughly one month later.

Following its well-received Prince of Persia revival early this year, Ubisoft is reportedly readying a further series outing for a 2024 release — this time in the form of a Prince of Persia rogue-like from Evil Empire, the studio responsible for Dead Cells' impressive post-launch support.

Content Warning, the latest internet sensation to surge up the Steam charts, is struggling with server issues as its developer confirms the co-operative horror romp has now been downloaded over 6.2m times since launching yesterday.

Microsoft has revealed the titles they’ll be adding to Xbox Game Pass on PC and consoles in early-to-mid April, and there are some solid things to dip your toes into. Subscribers can look forward to Lego 2K Drive, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, the new-release indie Harold Halibut, and more.

Friday the 13th the game was one that many people loved, that gives off a lot of the same vibes as Dead by Daylight. However, the game was canceled and shut down back in November 2020, which was due to a licenesing problem with Victor Miller, who is the franchise creator. While the servers were then shut down for a total of 3 years after that, it wasn’t until 2023 that the game was delisted because of the licenses expiring all together according to GameRant.

A new free-to-play RPG is up for grabs on Android. Titled Home, Planet & Hunters, it’s the creation of Black Pearl Games. This indie game developer is known for titles like Brutal Street, Pirate Gunner, Aero Vacation and Infinite Combo.

Hey, do you like going shoulder-to-shoulder with a pal to battle in same-screen local multiplayer games? Follow-up question: do you enjoy deceiving your pal while trying to uncover their own deceit? Last question: do you want to throw knives at your pal's face? If so, check out Neon Knives, a fun free same-screen game for two players where you must both try to blend into a crowd of NPCs while identifying and assassinating your mate.

I like horror, I like bunnies, I like cool little games. Hey, y'here that, Rental? You're alright, kid. It's a free (free!) little game originally made for 2022's 32bit jam that takes about 20 minutes to play through, wherein you play a child rabbit who has arrived at a holiday cabin with her family. You're the first to head inside and, oop, the door locks behind you. Classic twist. A further twist is that, while Rental is entirely free to download and play, you can buy a supporter zine as DLC to kick some funds to the devs. Noice.

Renee Gittins started mixing the ingredients together for Potions: A Curious Tale nearly 10 years ago, documenting the highs and lows of game development in vlogs on her YouTube channel, which she produced throughout the making of Potions. She did this as a means to inspire other girls interested in game development, which she also did through her former work as an executive director of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA). She told Polygon in a recent interview that she “wanted to share the experience with others so they could see what the journey would be like if they pursued it themselves.”

Both Dave the Diver and Tales of Kenzera: ZAU will launch for PlayStation 5 this month, and both will included in PlayStation Plus Premium and Extra’s Game Catalog from day one.

You have until 5pm UK time to get your hands on Content Warning — the Lethal Company-style co-op horror game that tasks players with filming their friends doing scary things to «become SpöökTube famous» — for free.

Microsoft recently held a virtual press showcase to flaunt four intriguing indie games coming to Xbox (and in several cases, other platforms too) in the near future, including Still Wakes the Deep, the long-awaited next project from Everybody's Gone to the Rapture developer The Chinese Room.

Xbox has announced the games coming to Game Pass this April, led by Lego 2K Drive.

Tales of Kenzera: Zau is coming to Sony's PlayStation Plus subscription on day one of its release.

While indie video games from smaller developers tend to get more attention on platforms like Steam or Nintendo Switch, that isn’t for a lack of trying on Xbox’s part. Since 2013, it has run the ID@Xbox program to help fund and highlight games from independent developers all around the world. While some Xbox fans feel uncertain about the platform’s future because of Microsoft’s multiplatform push, Microsoft reaffirmed its efforts to uplift indie game developers at this year’s Game Developers Conference by highlighting some of its upcoming ID@Xbox titles.

I was scrolling on TikTok the other night when I discovered a new thing to worry about. Is Wordle about to run out words? Well, it's complicated. And also: no. But it's also interesting!

There is a Bugsnax card game on the cards.

Hollow Knight Silksong launched an Xbox Store page on the worst day possible.

If you're partial to the grim delights of Phasmophobia and not averse to the sicko enjoyments of Lethal Company, you might like new horror game Content Warning, which kind of blends the two and has the additional virtue of being free on Steam till 9am PT/5pm UK on 2nd April.

Terraria is apparently entering the “final stretch” of updates for the 2D crafting and exploration game (though whether this will actually be it remains to be seen), and it looks like developers Re-Logic are seeing off their 2D Minecraft-a-like in style. Emphasis on the ssssstyle.

Keeping track of all the latest video games coming out is an increasingly complex task, what with multiple PC storefronts, Xbox One, PS4, Switch, mobile, and more to keep track of, but don’t worry, I’m here to help. Every month I'll be running down the games you need to be keeping an eye on, from the big triple-A headliners, to the indies you might otherwise overlook.

AutoForge is the newest indie game on Steam to mash together two hyper-popular ideas, mixing Terraria's side-scrolling exploration with Factorio's intense management.

We're living in a post-E3 world, and that means basically everyone is having a crack at putting together video game showcases. The latest of these is the Triple-i Initiative, organised by some of the minds behind Slay the Spire, Dead Cells, and Darkest Dungeon, among others.

It looks as though the plump pockets of big corporations like Epic and Microsoft are beginning to empty, and it's putting some smaller studios in an awkward position. After offering funds in exchange for exclusivity or availability on Game Pass, many indie devs have come to rely on these deals to finance their projects. However, it seems those deals are becoming harder to lock down, and they're worth less than they used to be.

The PS Plus Essential monthly games lineup for April has now been officially confirmed by Sony, offering up yet another trio of treats for subscribers. The titles on offer will be available to claim from Tuesday 2nd April. Here's what you can look forward to in the latest lineup:

I still think of Rain World as the beautiful, brutally hard game about accidentally going down tunnels butt-first and being crushed to death by weather, but it's grown and expanded a lot since its release almost seven years ago. It's about to grow again with a new DLC: The Watcher.

It’s been close to three years since Celeste and TowerFall developers Extremely OK Games revealed their next project, the similarly gorgeous-looking and sumptuous-sounding 2D exploration platformer Earthblade. While the studio didn’t give any indication of a release date at the time, we now know not to expect Earthblade until 2025 at the earliest.

Earthblade, the next project from Celeste developer Extremely OK Games, won't be out in 2024, but progress is being made.

A collaboration of developers have announced The Triple-i Initiative, a 45-minute showcase event featuring world premieres, exclusive gameplay, demos, and drops from some of the top independent creators in games. It will take place on April 10 at 10:00 a.m. PT / 1:00 p.m. ET. You will be able to watch it on YouTube, Twitch, bilibili, IGN, and Steam.

You know me and Soulslikes. We're not particularly best buddies most of the time. We've had a couple of successful outings over the years with the likes of Death's Door and Hollow Knight and company, but anything with pure FromSoft blood running through its veins has always left me cold. Void Sols, however, is an upcoming Soulslike that feels like it might be able to satisfy both sides of the 'git gud' camp, appealing to nervous dodge-rollers like myself while also giving hardened Elden Ringers a run for their money. It's all down to its plentiful supply of approachable customisation options, allowing you to ratchet up the difficulty if you're finding things a bit easy, or knock it down, reapply your stat points, and even create whole new loadouts - each with their own individual stat combinations - to win the day. It's all wonderfully considerate, and having played the free demo that's just launched on Steam, I'd strongly recommend giving it a go if you're feeling in need of a little training ahead of Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree coming out.

The developer of indie hit Celeste has revealed its next game is no longer releasing in 2024 but is still "making progress."

Stardew Valley, one of our favourite RPGs despite coming out almost a decade ago, still has an attentive steward in the form of developer Eric Barone. After the recent 1.6 mega-update to the game, which added a whole bunch of stuff, Barone (better known in his developer form as ConcernedApe) Xeeted out a list of fixes in the now-available 1.6.3 update. This makes tweaks to things arising from 1.6 (many of them addressing moss, a new foraging item) and fixes bugs, one of which was causing 'excess trash' to be fished.

Chymicalia is an adventure game and/or visual novel "about causing chaos in a small Yorkshire town with unlicensed alchemy". Hey, I'm from a small Yorkshire town originally! I recognise that chip shop with the palsied neon sign! And hey, that looks like the underpass they told us kids to stay away from! And the textile mill they eventually turned into an old folks home! And the teleporting sentient potion shop where we used to hang out and play pogs! Wait, scratch the last one.

Extremely OK Games, the indie team behind TowerFall and Celeste, announced pixel art sidescrolling action platformer Earthblade in 2021, before announcing the following year that the game would be releasing sometime in 2024. Now, in a recently published update, the studio’s founder, Maddy Thorson, has announced that the game won’t be coming out this year. A new release window hasn’t been shared.

Europa, the absolutely lovely looking Ghibli-inspired exploration adventure from developer Helder Pinto, has been delayed — and will now likely launch for PC this «summer».

Earlier this year, Thunderful Group announced amidst financial struggles that, in addition to laying off a sizeable portion of its workforce, it was also looking to divest some of its assets in order to raise funds. Now, the company has announced the sale of one of its publishing labels.

Europa, the utterly enchanting open-world indie game that looks like the love child of The Legend of Zelda and Studio Ghibli, has been delayed.

A rare, original copy of the first game developed by the legendary husband and wife team of Ken and Roberta Williams has just hit eBay, and despite being little more than a floppy disk and a slip of paper inside a plastic bag, it's already set to fetch thousands of dollars after just one day on the auction site.

Sometimes, it takes a tragedy to connect with your family.

There's a hidden Indiana Jones Easter egg tucked away in one of Star Wars's most divisive movies, and we're betting you didn't notice it. 

Tomas Sala's Falconeer series will be a trilogy, the developer has announced.

Orbital, the 27th major update to No Man's Sky, will arrive today and revamp the game's space stations.

Creature collecting RPG Cassette Beasts will receive a multiplayer update in May, plus it's heading to mobile devices this year.

I approve of the recent trend towards making building games as relaxing as possible (e.g. Summerhouse). Today sees the release of a new one on Steam, this one a teeny medieval city builder called Le Château that gives you strict limitations for building a castle. You can have a go of the demo for free - I like it a bunch.

Is there a developer more fiendishly dedicated to giving fans endless returns on their initial investment than No Man’s Sky studio Hello Games? It’s not a competition, mind, but they’d surely be a strong contender if it were. Despite dropping the Omega update just last month, and unveiling fantasy survival game Light No Fire at last year’s Geoffies, the Horsham team are back once more with the Orbital update. It looks to be a sizeable one too, with ship customisation and a “complete space station overhaul” among the new features. You can read the full patch notes here. I hope it includes a note about how much sleep they’re all getting, because I’m starting to worry.

Following up yesterday’s news on Ghost Ship Games’ upcoming Judas, courtesy of the Ian Games Network, another interview with the Friends Per Second podcast, via SkillUp on YouTube, has shed light aplenty on the upcoming Bioshock-ian FPS game. The hosts played the game for 5 hours at Ghost Ship Games in Boston, then interviewed director Ken Levine. Here’s a crunchy chipstick of a take to kick things off with; Judas is, says Ralph of SkillUp, “Definitely not Bioshock in space”. I...haven't played it, have I, so I'll put my cynicism in its horrible little cage for a bit. Aesthetically, at least, Judas does look to have a lot going for it.

Fallen London and Sunless Skies developers Failbetter Games have blogged about the dark art of running a sustainable business, while sharing a tiny bit more about their next, unannounced game. Said game is apparently a change of genre from Failbetter's previous, exceedingly narrative-driven open world titles and free-to-play RPGs. It'll also be a little less oppressive, aiming for a feeling of "fireside menace" - that is, "an awareness of the world's dangers, but also warmth and comfort", which certainly feels like an appropriate mood for a time of mass layoffs and game cancellations, to say nothing of recent conspiracy-fuelled harassment campaigns.

Fantasy craft-o-building survival sandbox game Enshrouded today launched its first big content update, two months after entering early access. You can now enter the Hollow Halls, a series of challenging dungeons scattered around the world with new enemies and rewards. Or at the opposite end of the intensity spectrum, you can now decorate your home with loads of lovely potted plants then sit down on a chair to admire them. Come watch this video showing off these changes and many more.

Good news for people who don’t cringe violently every time they encounter the phrase “Narrative Legos”! We’ve finally got some more details about the extremely Bioshock-adjacent Judas, courtesy of the Ian Games Network, who spent six hours playing the game and chatting to Levine at Ghost Story Games in Boston. It’s a massive interview, but very broadly, it's an FPS game that gives you guns in your right hand and “various organic powers” in your left. It’s got a big focus on story and choosing your own path through character interaction, and it also has roguelike elements. “The ship is different every time you die and come back, the ship layout can be different," says Levine.

Fancy playing shrink for a day? You might want to check out Psychiatrist Simulator 2 by the indie developer Eathrabaria. A bit of a crazy game, it follows in the footsteps of Psychiatrist Simulator, the prequel, where you interact with virtual patients to understand their complex mental states and figure out the best treatment plans.

It's been 10 years since BioShock Infinite, and creator Ken Levine is still not done with follow-up project Judas. But the game is inching closer, evidenced recently by its appearance in trailers and now, a marketing beat where select people such as Game Awards host Geoff Keighley have now played it for several hours.

This upcoming city sim from a former Stardew Valley developer will have an aquarium they hope is as fun as the one in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

Recently Pocket Gamer Connects celebrated its tenth anniversary as part of the annual flagship event Pocket Gamer Connects London. However, we're not stopping there, as next up is The Very Big Indie Pitch at Pocket Gamer Connects San Francisco 2024.

Journey developer thatgamecompany have announced the PC early access release date for their social MMO Sky: Children Of The Light. Having already built up a substantial community on both mobile and consoles, PC players will now be able to join in on April 10th on Steam. There will be some special PC-themed goodies available to celebrate the occasion, too, including a Companion Cube prop from Portal, a Journey cosmetic pack, and double rewards for sending Heart gifts to other players.

Palia, a cute-looking life sim MMO inspired by e.g. Stardew Valley, has been in beta since last year, but now it's officially out on Steam, where many more people can download and play it. With this launch comes a pretty substantial update - Patch 0.178, full notes here - which adds a new questline and Temple to explore, new furniture, and a bunch of new spring flowers and trees to grow in your garden. There is also a giant plushi frog, listed under 'Adjustments'. The patch notes say simply "What does he want? Does he come in peace?" which makes him sound way more sinister than I think he is, but as you can see from the screenshot, he isn't not sinister.

"Xbox is in real trouble as a hardware manufacturer," GamesIndustry.biz head Chris Dring said. "That's the thing that came out of [the Game Developer Conference] for me."

For those of you who like to collect and battle with creatures, you must’ve heard of (and played) Cassette Beasts on PC or consoles already. The good news is that you’ll soon be able to play Cassette Beasts on Android. The indie developer of the game, Bytten Studio just dropped this awesome news. So, keep reading to know more!

Back in January, the indie horror game The Night is Grey released after a grueling seven-year development process that just barely survived the dedication to frame-by-frame character animation, and despite positive reviews, it's still struggling to find an audience at the time of publication.

Remember when Ark: Survival Evolved was announced to be getting an animated series with a star-studded cast including the likes of Michelle Yeoh, Russell Crowe, Elliot Page, David Tennant and Malcolm-bloody-McDowell? I sure didn’t! That was over three years ago during the heights of a worldwide pandemic, though, so I think we can forgive ourselves a little. Anyway, Ark: The Animated Series has now arrived out of the blue, dropping its first six episodes on streaming service Paramount+.