Old-School Bullet Hell ‘Super Crome: Bullet Purgatory’ Heading for Early Access in 2019

With the amount of wars in the year 30XX and - as is the case with Super Crome: Bullet Purgatory - 40XX, it's almost a relief to think how I will be long gone by then. But only almost, as I do like me some fast-paced old-school bullet hell, and this one certainly seems like a worthwhile genre entry, ship leveling and all.
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‘Tis the Season: MAGS December’s “Christmas” Theme is Rather Festive (and Timely)

While everyone's likely busy shopping for Christmas - or will be, soon enough! - don't even think about ignoring this month's MAGS, as it is very much in that same spirit. What? No, not shopping - Christmas! 'Tis the season, holy night, Santa kissing someone's mom, and so on. That said, MAGS December won't end until the 31st, in spite of its theme kinda saying otherwise. Weird stuff.
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‘Equilinox’ Puts You in Charge of Entire Ecosystems, Evolving Animal and Plant Alike

Wielding the powers of a god, in charge of an entire world, creating and shaping everything, can be an amazing experience - in a video game that is. You know, like Populous let us experience back in the day? But that was then, this is now, and on top of looking incredibly stylish, recently released Equilinox lets you micromanage entire ecosystems, planting, (re)shaping and evolving however you see fit.
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‘The Haunted Island, a Frog Detective Game’ Awaits With a Ghastly Mystery

Something supernatural is going on. Something involving ghosts. It's scaring the crap out of a poor sloth, who decides to call none other but The Detective! Who? Why, the protagonist in The Haunted Island, a Frog Detective Game of course, and you better believe this guy is serious about his job. Well, more or less. Oh and he's a frog.
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‘Degrees of Separation’ Aims to Prove That Even the Most Contrasting Souls Can Coexist

Hot and cold. Ember and Rime. The two could not be more different, and yet, these poor contrasting souls... are going to work together somehow. Degrees of Separation is full of environmental obstacles after all, all of which require one or the other to overcome - once the puzzle of figuring out how to even reach said roadblock has been dealt with. Truly a tale of fire and ice.
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Manipulate Body Fluids With Surgical Precision in ‘Spitkiss’ to Convey… Emoji?

Show of hands, who loves the craziness of emojis? Yeah, that's what I thought. Now, how about the art of spitting? Oh. Decidely fewer. That's a shame, because Spitkiss is all about combining the two. Kinda. I mean, there's a love story somewhere too, but the main thing is that... you travel by way of spitball. An intriguingly strange concept, to say the least.
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Interplanetary Survival ‘Astroneer’ Leaving Early Access With Brand New Planets… Soon

Survival games are a dime a dozen these days, and while I do have a personal favorite, 7 Days to Die is kinda missing something (not zombies, that's for sure). Something another genre entry by the name of Astroneer has in spades: the ability to visit other planets and... do space stuff! Oh, and it's almost ready to ditch Early Access, bringing with it even more planets. Groovy.
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Par for the Course is Decided in ‘Resort Boss: Golf’ as You Build and Manage a Golf Club

Early 2019, the likes of La Quinta and Rosewood are going to get some serious competition. Wait, no. That'd only be the case if they were virtual golf clubs, and somehow set in the same world as Resort Boss: Golf. Which they aren't. Right. Anyway, my point still stands, as this upcoming resort builder is already looking mighty spiffy with its accessible interface and lovely art style.
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Amnesia-Struck Hunter Struggles Against Unspeakable Horrors to Get Paid in ‘HellSign’

Hunting is supposed to be a simple affair, if a brutal one: pick a weapon, an area, decide on your prey, and... well, go for the kill(s). Barbaric? In our world, without a doubt; but for the protagonist in HellSign, it's how the bills get paid. That and, you know, hopefully it'll help in figuring out why remembering anything is so darn difficult. But while no one likes being amnesia-struck, going up against unspeakable horrors on a daily basis is arguably worse.
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Inclusive and Diversity-Focused ‘Queer Games Bundle 2’ Heavily Discounted… For Now

It's not often I cover bundles these days, and there's honestly a proper good reason for that: they simply aren't overly interesting anymore. There are exceptions though... like Queer Games Bundle 2, as curated by Midboss.
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‘Screencheat: Unplugged’ Overhauls Chaotic Split-Screen Party Shooter for Switch Port

It's one thing to try and hit other players in a first-person shooter craze, but... what if everyone's actually invisible? As in, completely hidden from sight, no silly gadgets or vague outline to discern your target from the environment. Yeah. Crazy? Probably, and yet that's the core component in upcoming Switch title, Screencheat: Unplugged, a multiplayer shooter which requires players to screencheat (get it?) to spot their adversaries and blast them. Before they do the same, preferably.
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Discord Nitro ‘Adult Swim’ Additions Mixes Food With Ducks and Too Many Bullets

Here we go! No less than four Adult Swim titles have found their way into the ever-growing Discord Nitro library, joining Super House of Dead Ninjas, a fairly recent addition. Good stuff all-round, and games I've been itching to play for quite some time now.
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‘Washed Up!’ Twists ‘Tetris’ With a Top-Down Beach Perspective to Fight Pollution

No one likes a polluted beach, although in the case of Washed Up!, the pentominoes that keep washing onto land... can be removed rather easily (suck it, pentominoes): all you have to do is arrange the lot into squares of 3x3 - or bigger - to trigger a glorious elimination of blocks. Gotta be quick about it though, for the sea is a merciless beast.
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Easy as Alpha, Beta: Early Access Now a Thing on the Discord Store

Unsurprisingly, Discord's own store front recently added a Early Access section. Not a bad idea, really. I mean, Steam, GOG.com, itch.io - they all have it in one form or other, and in spite of having already seen more than a handful of games that were, well, abandoned, it is still a neat inclusion. Oh, and Discord launched theirs with a 'First on Discord' (translation: 'time limited exclusivity') title, because why not?
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Go Clubbing by Playing the Right Cards to Puzzle Through ‘Golf Peaks’

Ever play golf? Minigolf? Mountain-climbing golf? I mean, really, if you haven't experienced that last one, you owe it to yourself to at least consider Golf Peaks, as that's what it's all about there, climbing mountains by playing golf. Oh, and the ball is moved by way of cards, rather than a club. Intriguing stuff.
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The Power of Three Goes Portable as Frozenbyte’s ‘Trine’ Trilogy Arrives on Switch

Remember how much fun it was to swap between characters in The Lost Vikings, using their unique abilities to overcome obstacles and/or enemies in that classic platformer? Well, even if you don't, that's quite alright. It's just that this very mechanic sits at the core of the Trine trilogy, the wizard, knight and thief each bringing a unique set of tools to its puzzle-filled worlds - in a really fun way.
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Discord Nitro Adds ‘Project Highrise’, ‘Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion’, ‘Tyranny’

While not all defineable strictly as indie games, yesterday's trio of additions to the Discord Nitro platform are still undeniably groovy: skyscraper management in Project Highrise, an intergalactic civil war in Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion, and Tyranny lets you walk the line between good and evil (maybe even cross it every so often?).
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Experience the Mystical World of Kynseed Over the Course of Several Generations

In just about every game I've played where the protagonist actually aged, growing old meant he/she was nearing the end of the road for... well, everything. No continuing, second chances at life, and certainly no more tales to tell. That isn't quite the case in Kynseed, as a mysterous acorn enables you to pass down both skills and powers to the next generation. Undeniably a good thing, as this world holds far too many wonders (and obstacles) for a single lifetime.
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Dinosaurs in Top Hats and Tutu Skirts Fight Aliens as They ‘Roarr!’ and Cause Mayhem

Meet Rex. Rex is a dinosaur, and probably mankind's last line of defense against alien invaders, starring in his own very game, wearing a top hat and... a tutu skirt? Oh boy. This is a weird one, isn't it? Well, whatever the case, there are aliens - and cities - to demolish, and you can even bring friends (Rex clones, surely) to help with the mayhem. Don't forget to Roarr!
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‘ZeroRanger’ Brings an Endless Cycle of SHMUP Life and Death… in Eight Colors

Things are looking mighty grim, GREEN ORANGE having begun its invasion and all. Mighty grim indeed. So much that the only hope that remains is that you, the player, will jump into one of two so-called 'secondary fighters' and... blast this threat to smithereens. Maybe figure out just what is going on in ZeroRanger while you're out there anyway, eh?
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Keep Changing the Color of Your Alien in ‘Joggernauts’ to Ensure Everyone’s Survival

It's time to conga... in space. As colorful aliens. Plural. Because even if only one person is playing, there'll still be two aliens to manage. At the same time. In a conga line. Did I mention the conga bit? Right. Anyway, in Joggernauts, it's all about making sure the appropriate alien is always at the front; by which I mean, match the color of an upcoming obstacle or face terrible consequences. In space.
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Frag the 90s: Gloriously Old-School Inspired ‘DUSK’ Is Almost Out of Early Access

We may be in 2018, but that doesn't mean proper groovy FPS classics like Quake, Blood, Doom, Heretic, etc. aren't worth a damn still. Heck, I still fire up Quake from time to time, and you know what? Still great! Apparently the creator of DUSK feels the same, as so much of that game is straight out of the 1996 shooter... and that's a good thing.
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Gamedev of the Dead: itch.io Adds Devlog Postmortem Support

It's taken a while but your game's out the door and... is not all that popular. What do you do, aside from trying to figure out why and - hopefully - fixing the cause? Well, most would probably move onto something else, admitting defeat. But before you do that, why not write a postmortem, detailing the development process, what went right/wrong and such? Especially if your project is on itch.io, as they recently added devlog support for these!
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Level Up: Kongregate Indie Gaming Platform/Store Kartridge Open Beta Launched

Another competitor for our hard-earned time (and money) enters the fray, Kongregate having recently launched its own indie-centric gaming platform/store, Kartridge, in open beta. But unlike its competitors, this is more than yet another place to pick up and play games - not all of which carry a price tag either, I might add - as a degree of gamification has been applied: earn XP and level up... by playing games!
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MAGS November Ain’t Afraid of no Birds With its “Scarecrows” Theme

Halloween may have come and gone for 2018, but that apparently won't stop this month's MAGS from tasking aspiring adventure game creators from coming up with something featuring, well, a scarecrow. Perhaps even an iteration of the same-named Batman villain? Who knows. Also, it doesn't have to be a game set strictly in the horror genre, so long as it features something that will scare crows.
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