It’s been a wild year, hasn’t it?
Just when we thought a world-ending public health crisis was about as bad as it could get, 2021 started off with a bang when the diet white supremacist frog worshipers did what they said they were going to do and stormed the Capitol.
What’s that you say? White supremacy groups are domestic terrorists? Shocker.
Thankfully we’re halfway through the year now and the world seems to be slowly but surely pulling itself back from the brink. At any rate, the creativity we see from indie games gives us a much-needed glimmer of light in the enveloping darkness.
Here are the indie games I’m most excited about for 2021.
I was already predisposed to like Neurodeck because the lead developer is my good friend and colleague Tavrox, who I’ve interviewed on the blog before. It also won brownie points right off the gate for being a deck-builder about wellness and mental health, because mental health issues are close to my heart.
But what really made me get excited about Neurodeck was the trailer.
Look at that expression. Look at the torment on that woman’s face as she’s literally fighting her inner demons. Just the trailer is enough to tell you that this is a game with a heart and a soul.
I reviewed Neurodeck last year while it was still in early access and praised it for its unique visual style, fun, addicting gameplay, and for tackling a sensitive subject with tact and empathy.
I’ve played updated versions of the build since then – they’ve updated the art for a more clean, crisp visual look and retooled the gameplay so that it’s much more accessible.
Overall, Neurodeck is fun, highly addicting, and tugs at some soft spots in my heart. The art is beautiful, and some of the card concepts really hit home for me.
This is one you don’t want to miss. You can play the demo and wishlist on the Neurodeck Steam page, and while you’re at it, be sure to give the devs a follow on Twitter.
Rose & Locket
Rose & Locket has an engaging and captivating story and is heart-achingly beautiful, fast-paced, and has one of the most strikingly unique visual styles I’ve seen in an indie game in recent years.
This is a challenging game though. It requires hair-trigger reflexes to be much good at it. The different guns add variety to the gameplay, and the Wild West underworld setting makes for a unique backdrop that draws me in the more I look at it.
Plus, the developers are New Zealanders. I like Kiwis.
Support Whistling Wizard by downloading the alpha demo on Itch.Io and following the devs on Twitter.
Guinea Pig Parkour
I’ve talked about Guinea Pig Parkour before in my post on indie games to follow on Instagram.
Guinea Pig Parkour is a solo project by cartoonist Jeff Mumm and has an insane level of detail with fluid, seamless motion in every frame. The quirky noighn-tees aesthetic reminds you of the Saturday morning cartoons you used to love as a kid. It’s a fresh and original feel that’s just fun to watch – it’s like watching a webcomic come to life.
And after all: who doesn’t like guinea pigs?
You can support Guinea Pig Parkour by playing the demo and wishlist it on Steam. You can also join its legion of followers on Twitter and Instagram, and you can even watch Jeff Mumm animate Guinea Pig Parkour live on his YouTube channel.
Kingdoms of the Dump
This game stinks. Literally.
Literally in the sense that Kingdoms of the Dump is a game about trash. Figuratively as well, in that when this game first came on my radar via Instagram I anticipated a tongue-in-cheek, offbeat 16-bit RPG like Earthbound, then explored its landing page and discovered this game actually takes itself seriously.
Kingdoms of the Dump has some solid marketing behind it, including a trailer with music and airships that remind me of Final Fantasy III, and lovingly detailed character art that looks like it could have come out of a Dragon Quest instruction booklet.
This game has a quirky and off-beat setting alright, but the trailer and the landing page copy promise an epic, Kingdom-spanning adventure between good and evil.
Kingdom of the Dump’s marketing subverted my expectations and the trailer made me excited for a game about literal trash. Plus the art is nice.
You can follow the game’s progress on Twitter or Instagram, and can sign up for their mailing list (sorry, junk-mailing list har har) on their website.
No Place for Bravery
No Place for Bravery is one of the most metal games I have ever seen. That statement is inclusive of Brütal Legend, an actual game about heavy metal.
I mean my god. Just listen to that trailer. Listen to that soundtrack.
That music gives me the brown note. And the blue note. And the black note. And all the notes in between.
It rustles my jimmies like my jimmies have never been rustled before. Just listening to that Mongolian throat singing makes my balls feel bigger.
Watching this trailer makes me want to carry a sword the size of a lampost, cleave a sheep in twain, and spit-roasting it over a roaring bonfire, and then wash it down with a gallon of mead. I want to bury an ax in the forehead of my enemy, and pillage his worldly belongings, set his house on fire, and plow the next fair-hair maiden I see.
No Place for Bravery is developed by Glitch Factory, a devteam based in Brazil. I wish I saw more games made by South American studios. The story puts you in the place of Thorn, a grizzled, battle-hardened but old and washed-up warrior on a redemption quest to find their missing daughter. The game examines the role of parental figures raising children in a doomed, broken world on its way to ruin.
I’ve played through the demo several times. It’s bloody. It’s gory. It’s bleak. It’s oppressively dark. And I love it.
You can download the demo and wishlist No Place for Bravery on Steam. Be sure to also follow the devs on Twitter.
There Is No Light
A lot of indie games with the prettiest art also seem to be the most grimdark. Why is that?
What can I say, I have some very morbid sensibilities, and I love me some Lovecraftian themes.
There Is No Light is a souls-like dungeon crawler made by Hypertrain Digital, who have also made Tunche, Tower Princess I’ve Come For You, and Desolate.
There Is No Light is relentlessly grim in its messaging, which is fitting for the times we live in what with world-ending climate catastrophe being just around the corner. It also features eye-popping, jaw-dropping environments and character models.
The closest comparison I can make in terms of visual style is Bloodborne. It’s a horrific and gory game where blood and ooze and flesh and woobly-wobbly bits jut out at every corner. And I can’t get enough of it.
There Is No Light is slated for release in Q3 of 2021. You can wishlist it on Steam and you can follow the game’s progress on Twitter. You should do it. Those GIFs are really cool.
I didn’t think any new IP could breathe new life into a genre as hackneyed and tired as zombie horror, but by George, Undying has done just that.
This is a game that I anticipate will make me roll on the floor, try not to cry, fail to try not to cry, and then cry a lot. Undying tells the story of a mother infected by a zombie bite who has to teach their son to fend for himself before they turn and lose their humanity. How poignant is that?
In a genre that’s so oversaturated as zombie horror, it’s so refreshing to see a game that does something new with the concept. It reminds me of how This War of Mine subverted the tropes of the war shooter genre to make it about the victims of war.
Undying’s trailer and promotional materials make it feel so intense and gripping. I can’t wait to see what they do with it.
You can download the demo and wishlist Undying on their Steam page, and follow the game’s progress on Twitter.
Mongrel is another game I’ve talked about on the blog before. I was sold on it when the Kickstarter copy advertised it as a game inspired by Conker’s Bad Fur Day. Conker’s Bad Fur Day is one of my favorite games of all time, and I wish more people still talked about it.
I tried out the Mongrel demo a while ago. It’s a fun platformer with an oddball sense of humor that involves scat jokes and dadaist sensibilities. It’s awkward and weird and tasteless, but that’s what I like about it. The voice acting is stilted and off-kilter, but that just enhances the experience rather than takes away from it.
There’s something about Mongrel that makes it stand out amongst the deluge of pixel art roguelikes I see on Twitter regularly.
Mongrel is due for release in June. Support it by wishlisting it on Steam, following the devs on Twitter, or joining their Discord.
This is a game that I’m excited about just for the animation alone.
Potionomics was another game I covered in my Twitter roundup alongside Mongrel. I said that years from now, gamedevs will be trying to pick apart Potionomics’ social media strategy to try and figure out what they did right, and I stand by that claim.
This is like if Recettear were produced and animated by Pixar. It looks really pretty, and it looks like an absolute gas to play. The whimsical fantasy music you get from the teaser adds a nice touch as well, but what really hooks me about this game is the character animations.
Each character in Potionomics constantly changes expressions and they never look the same way twice, each frame showing a different emotion. I suspect the reason why they’ve gotten such a respectable following is through their eye-catching GIFs that make you instantly grok the unique characters and their personalities.
Support the game by following Potionomics on Twitter or subscribing to their mailing list.
This is one you don’t want to miss. Potionomics ho!
AWAY: The Survival Series
You get to be a flying squirrel. That’s all I need to know about it. I like games where you can fly. See my Banjo-Kazooie retrospective.
And those are the indie games coming out this year I’m most excited about!
What are the indie games you’re most excited to see launched in 2021? Tell me about them in the comments!
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