On April 10th; a lot of indie developers with big dreams decided to band together and do what I like to call the 'Anti Game Awards'. Thankfully gone are the celebrities who know next to nothing about the games they are presenting, no commercials not pertaining to the games and no down time between presentations. All killer, no fluff. It was refreshing and it truly showed companies who wanted to buck the existing system. We wanted games, they gave us games.
Over the course of the last couple years and unironically coinciding with me getting my Steam Deck I have found myself more and more getting into the indie scene. Now I've always enjoyed indie games especially during my Xbox360 era when I had access to their indie store. However the PC indie scene has grown to the point where its no longer even feels like a indie game we are playing. The budget might be smaller but the game still has a 'Triple A' feeling hence I feel why they calling it 'Triple I' I believe.
Off the top of my head, some of my favorite games of the last couple years are not in the 'Triple A' space. I skipped titles like the 'Final Fantasy' games, 'Starfield', 'God of War Ragnarok' and other games that got a lot of media coverage, good or bad. Sure 'Elden Ring' might have been my favorite game of 2022 and Fromsoft is definitely in the 'Triple A' space but for every ER, I am also loving 'Darkest Dungeon', 'Risk of Rain', 'Inscryption' and 'Dredge' Most of the RAVES on this very blog are indie games and that I think is not by coincidence. These are the games I enjoy playing the most. Heck, something playing a 'Triple A' gets so daunting for me with all I need to do that even if I enjoy playing it, 'Marvel's Avengers' for example, I stop because I find something else more smaller and more enjoyable to me. It is just how I am wired these days.
So when the guys who makes big indie games like Risk of Rain, Darkest Dungeon, Dead Cells, Slay the Spire and many others decided to band together and do their own presentation I got interested and now I've seen what is coming I am even more interested. Lets chat about some games we will definitely be playing soon. This list is not in order btw.
Darkest Dungeon 2: The Kingdoms update- Right off the bat, lets talk about one of the big names who was a part of putting this all together. Red Hook studios, the sickos behind 'Darkest Dungeon' has being promoting 'Darkest Dungeon 2' for awhile now. First as a Epic Store Exclusive but it had recently came to Steam and with it, it has steadily added new content like new characters (or returning characters like The Crusader class) and patch updates. Their next big update appears to the The Kingdoms, which is a free new mode that changes the game slightly. This might be a good idea because a lot of feedback for Darkest Dungeon 2 was how they changed it a lot from how the original Darkest Dungeon played. This new mode seems more like a return to their roots which might be what the game needs to turn some of the naysayers. Also as a new mode, it does not erase the original concept with the heroes riding the stagecoach but it does give people the option to play DD 2 a different way.
Personally, I've been on the fence with getting DD 2. A bit of trepidation was from the negative word of mouth and reviews and how much it changed the core of the game but some of it is because I am so busy playing other games and 'Learning Anime Fighter' (shameless plug I know). However it has always been on my wishlist and I really wanted to try it out for myself. Right now it is actually on sale and I can pick up the game and its DLC for less than $30 so I think the price combined with the new update coming has convinced its time to dive back into the darkness. I will probably do an impression of Darkest Dungeon 2 after I pick it up and put in some hours.
A sequel I have no qualms picking up tho is 'Slay the Spire 2'. After revolutionizing the deck builder roguelike genre in a way that every other game similar to it since then are called Slay the Spire-likes. The team at Mega Crit have taken their time but I feel it'll be worth the wait. Speaking of waiting, we are going to have to wait till 2025 for this one but the fact that they are making a sequel is reason to celebrate. 'Slay the Spire' was one of the first games that really got me into not only the roguelike genre but the deck-building sub-genre (which happens to be my favorite sub-genre). No gameplay but it is early days but we can already see some familiar faces and some new ones (the sassy skeleton) as well. It will not be here for awhile but I am definitely putting it on my radar and I think I might bite the bullet and just buy the original again but this time for my Steam Deck. I've been seriously thinking of doing it every time its on sale and now it just feels right especially since I barely get on my PS4 (which has my original copy) anymore.
Speaking of Dead Cells, of course you know I am super pumped for the 'Risk of Rain 2' expansion 'Seekers of the Storm'. However to give us a peek into what they have cooking, they are dropping a free update called the 'Devotion update'. This update comes with a Prisoner/ Dead Cells skin for Mercenary (yay), a brand new stage (yay!) and more artifacts (depending on what they do... yay?) and to top it off its coming for all platforms not just PC first which I know the console army is happy about. On one hand this is great news because more Risk of Rain 2 content is always good but this will be the first time RoR2 updates will be completely handled by Gearbox's team and not Hopoo whom has passed the reigns onto them. Sure the Gearbox team helped out a lot with the 'Survivors of the Void' expansion but this is the first time they are doing it all on their own so it'll be interesting if we keep the RoR flavor or if it'll feel different. I optimistically hope for the former. There is no date for this one but I have a feeling it'll be soon so I think its time to jump back into RoR 2 when it drops.
So those are the big ones, however some other games did catch my eye like Kill Knight, Dino Lords and Hyper Light Breaker. All in all, the Initiative really did what it was supposed to do, let us know some big indies were coming and got us all hyped. Stay turned to this space because I know a lot of these games will get the focus once they drop.
* This blog previous mentioned The Rogue Prince of Persia but due to Ubisoft anti-consumer practices, I will no longer talk about nor purchase it. I have not played any Prince of Persia games before and it looks like I never will especially if they stay under Ubisoft.
AV
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