Niche & Indie Game News

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Discover the hidden gems of the gaming world with Niche & Indie Game News. Get the latest updates, reviews, and insights on unique and innovative games from independent developers. Explore the road less traveled in gaming!

Neva Review: A Howling Good TimeWolf among us. The post Neva Review: A Howling Good Time first appeared on Kakuchopurei .

Indie | KakuchopureiOct 14

Starship Troopers: Extermination Review — BuggyWhen I reviewed the Starship Troopers: Extermination Early Access build, there was nothing else quite like it on the market: an actual Starship Troopers shooter, set in the universe of the movies and putting you directly in the shoes of the mobile infantry. Die-hard fans of the series (of which there is still a surprising […] The post Starship Troopers: Extermination Review — Buggy appeared first on Try Hard Guides .

Game Reviews – Try Hard GuidesOct 14

Windblown Early Access Preview: The Sky’s The LimitLeaping lizards. And gerbils. The post Windblown Early Access Preview: The Sky’s The Limit first appeared on Kakuchopurei .

Indie | KakuchopureiOct 14

Europa Review — Garden MoonTry as you might, you’d be hard-pressed to find another game that encapsulates the feeling of a Studio Ghibli movie as well as Europa does. Set on the titular moon of Jupiter, Europa follows our young protagonist as he follows in the footsteps of his late father, a colonist from Earth who fled the dying […] The post Europa Review — Garden Moon appeared first on Try Hard Guides .

Game Reviews – Try Hard GuidesOct 11

Review: Europa Europa is a beautiful indie gem with its illustrious visuals and environmental storytelling. While the gameplay might be lacking in some parts, the narrative journey certainly makes up for this aspect. This game tells an emotional story with stellar voice acting from the narrator Earl Fisher, who plays the kid protagonist's father. As we continue through the game, we get more information about the lore by picking up notes, and the plot has a great flow with twists and turns towards the end. It also tells an environmental message but it doesn't strike at the heart enough to be effective. Europa ( PC [Reviewed] , Switch ) Developer: Helder Pinto, Chozabu (Alex PB), Novadust Entertainment Publisher: Future Friends Games Released: October 11, 2024 MSRP: $14.99 Flying through the air is bliss in Europa. You get a real thrust of power from the jetpack, letting you leap high distances. It controls very well too. You'll be able to get collectible crystals from the top of wrecked buildings in the environment and find other secrets around each level with the jetpack. Image via Future Friends Games Image via Future Friends Games Most of the game involves you collecting objects like a flicker of light energy or interacting with mechanisms in each area to move forward. They're fairly easy to spot most of the time, but it still feels rewarding to spot everything you require, especially with the exhilarating flying mechanic. Fun, yet easy puzzles in Europa There are some puzzles here and there. There's a fun, albeit easy, puzzle, which has you rotate blocks in a clockwise manner to reach three areas of the map. Additionally, there are platforming challenges that involve blocks disappearing after each second jump. Europa won't challenge you, but they're rewarding to complete just like finding each object in the levels. I'm not usually a fan of puzzles in games, but even I have to admit, it would have been great to have more difficulty in Europa. https://youtu.be/FBhkG9lD11s One of the weakest parts of Europa is its enemies. They seem thrown in as the main character only gets dazed, not knocked out by his foes. There are turrets that fire projectiles at you but they're fairly easy to dodge. Whenever they do occasionally land a shot, it feels so weird when a huge projectile hits the child and it barely phases him. Some stingrays shock you and do nothing else other than being a mild inconvenience. The enemies are just annoying and ruin the flow of the gameplay. It gets repetitive too and can be quite annoying to get interrupted when you're trying to push an object into the correct place. While the enemies do get repetitive, the game's environments do manage to change up the formula when you head into a new biome. There's enough added to the mechanics to keep Europa fresh for its 3-4 hour playtime. A stunning game through and through The game runs surprisingly smooth, and throughout its 3-4 hour length, Europa didn't have any noticeable bugs, framerate drops, or any other graphical issues. There are big environments with little pop in here and there, and some particle effects hang around the character's jetpack that pop on screen. Europa does something very similar to Journey , in which you can see the end goal, the human civilization on a floating island, on almost every level. As you proceed through the story, it gets closer and closer, leading you up to the wintry top of the mountain. Europa is gorgeous. The visuals are bright, the torn architecture and robots that remain from a war years ago stand out, and the artistry of the game's skylines like the Northern Lights-esque night are breathtaking. There are some wonderful set pieces as well like seeing the island of Europa in the distance, flying sections with a colossal robotic creature, and visages of a war gone by. It certainly gives the fantastical vibes to Studio Ghibli's work, especially Castle in the Sky . Screenshot by Destructoid While not as compelling as Austin Wintory's Journey soundtrack, Europa has a stirring score to complement the beautiful visuals. The piano-led music leads to how you're supposed to feel in the moment, and towards the end, it genuinely gave me goosebumps in my arms. Europa is a delightful work Overall, Europa is a wonderful indie title that is a breath of fresh air from the triple-A fare of this busy season. The art style is striking, the storyline is intriguing, and moving around in the sky is satisfying. While the game can be repetitive at times with its annoying enemies (that only stun your character), Europa is worth your time if you want to take your gaming slow for a few hours. It is fairly short at 3-4 hours, but there are collectibles you can try to find that can extend your playtime. [This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.] The post Review: Europa appeared first on Destructoid .

Indie Archives – DestructoidOct 11

Thronefall Review — Tower Defense (With a Lot of Twists)If you’ve been reading my reviews, you’ll know by now that I’m a big fan of games with wave survival mechanics. I’m particularly fond of city-building games where you have to defend your town against monsters (see Cataclismo or Diplomacy Is Not an Option for recent examples). I’m also not opposed to occasionally indulging in […] The post Thronefall Review — Tower Defense (With a Lot of Twists) appeared first on Try Hard Guides .

Game Reviews – Try Hard GuidesOct 11

De-Shrekify Shrek’s legendary swamp and cabin in new PowerWash Simulator DLC PowerWash Simulator lives in a niche all of its own, and it sure manages to dominate regardless . Over the past couple of years, FuturLab's surprisingly engaging wash 'em up has played host to all manner of wild DLC, but the new Shrek DLC may well top it all. "Playtime is ogre," says FuturLab's latest Steam announcement . Featuring pixie-dust cleaners, fa erie soap, and the good old-fashioned mops, PowerWash Simulator's new Shrek Special DLC pack takes players on a romp through a classic fantasy franchise. The gist of it all is still much the same, of course, but who could say no to an opportunity to power-wash Shrek's Swamp? Image via FuturLab Clean up Shrek's swamp in PowerWash Simulator... for $7,99 Priced at $7,99 , Shrek Special is actually seemingly quite loaded with content. There are five maps to clean up in total: Duloc Hansel's Honeymoon Hideaway Shrek's Swamp Fairy Godmother's Potion Factory Dragon's Lair Of course, included is the aforementioned roster of magical cleaning tools and supplies, which puts this DLC at roughly the same ratio of content-per-dollar as all the other PowerWash Simulator DLCs. Content-wise, it seems pretty solid, but there are some problems to keep in mind for the time being. As of October 10, the current build of the game will apparently lock up and make it impossible to do much of anything in-game if you try to actually clean up any of Shrek's unlikely mud palaces. Even entering menus becomes impossible, so it may pay off to wait until the developer can patch things up. FuturLab has historically been quite good with these matters, so it won't take long before the problems are properly sorted out. Once that's all been sorted out, though, I've no doubt that Shrek Special will take its rightful place as a worthy alternative to the prior Warhammer 40K , SpongeBob SquarePants , and Tomb Raider DLCs, just to list a few. The post De-Shrekify Shrek’s legendary swamp and cabin in new PowerWash Simulator DLC appeared first on Destructoid .

Indie Archives – DestructoidOct 10

This Upcoming Indonesian-Made Isometric Adventure Uses The Power Of Dance To Win FightsTo the rhythm of the night. The post This Upcoming Indonesian-Made Isometric Adventure Uses The Power Of Dance To Win Fights first appeared on Kakuchopurei .

Indie | KakuchopureiOct 9

Shady Knight Review — Parkour and Slaying HordesCombining fast-paced action and fluid parkour platforming, Shady Knight is a fun and creative little indie game that quickly makes a good impression. Built using its solid mechanics as a foundation and avoiding grindy or otherwise unnecessary mechanics, Shady Knight is sure to make a splash with fans of fast-paced platforming, even if this reviewer […] The post Shady Knight Review — Parkour and Slaying Hordes appeared first on Try Hard Guides .

Game Reviews – Try Hard GuidesOct 9

Door Kickers 2 dev issues a new update on 1.0 progress, and it’s good news Whereas Anger Foot might've cornered one sub-sub- sub -genre of door-kicking games, the venerable Early Access hit Door Kickers 2: Task Force North is going in a wholly different direction. While the developer KillHouse Games might not have had an update in a year, a new blog claims 1.0 is coming still. Door Kickers 2 is a known quantity in the turn-based/timeline-based tactical gaming circles. Already enjoying some stellar reviews even in its Early Access form, Task Force North hadn't received any meaningful content updates in about a year now, which might've eaten away at some fans' goodwill. Thankfully, KillHouse Games' delightful new blog post on Steam claims not only that the development is progressing well, but also that Door Kickers 2 will "feel like a new game once released." Image via KillHouse Games Door Kickers 2 1.0 is going to be loaded with content, Steam Deck support confirmed According to KillHouse Games, Door Kickers 2 is due to launch from Early Access in the relatively near future: "We can't commit in advance to a certain release date - quality is paramount so it will be done when it will be done," says the studio's latest blog post, adding that "we're definitely not far now!" The reason why we haven't had a meaningful content update in so long makes sense, too: "We [reckoned] it would be more efficient to have one release instead of countless cycles of building, testing, announcements, bug fixing, and so on." While I'm not all that good at Door Kickers , I have spent a whole lot of time playing the original title and the Early Access sequel already. I can personally vouch for the game's quality, and even if you somehow manage to burn through Door Kickers 2 's content in a short time, there's over 7,500 maps available on the Steam Workshop. To say nothing of other similar titles, such as No Plan B . I'm bringing this up because we're still almost certainly months away from the 1.0 release: KillHouse Games hasn't mentioned that the game is coming out in 2024, so early 2025 at the earliest is a safe bet. If you're intrigued by the prospect of Task Force North , it's still worth jumping in while Early Access is up. On the flip side, the 1.0 build of the game is bringing with it a truly impressive roster of goodness: 6 total Campaigns 2 Tours of Duty: procedurally-generated campaigns 4 Operations: hand-crafted narrative campaigns Doctrine progression system Unique Battle Honor gear unlocks (exotic firearms, etc.) At least 90 one-off Single Missions 5 different enemy Factions Full modding support (no longer limited to maps only, will support weapons, units, etc.) Native Mac support Custom Steam Deck control scheme, touchscreen support, and more Over 80 Steam achievements New music New gear, weapons, tweaks, etc. KillHouse Games claims that "the new content is mostly finished, what remains is mostly tweaks, recording new voices and translating the game to other languages," which certainly tracks with the studio's belief that the 1.0 release isn't too far in the future. The post Door Kickers 2 dev issues a new update on 1.0 progress, and it’s good news appeared first on Destructoid .

Indie Archives – DestructoidOct 8