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!

I don’t know what the hell Beta Decay is, but I’m sold on it Though it doesn't happen often, every once in a while I'll spot a gameplay trailer for a game and immediately be sold on the concept, right off the bat. The latest example of that being the case for me is Beta Decay , an indie horror RPG dystopia with PSX-era graphics. No, no, you read that right: Beta Decay is deliberately styled after games from the original PlayStation era. The bit that elevates it beyond merely attempting to ape that old, beloved aesthetic is the classic Cyberpunk-style soundtrack and the premise itself. Though you might think this is "just" another attempt at doing something similar to what Forever Winter is doing judging by gameplay alone , that couldn't be further from the truth. Apparently there's space-ship building, engineering, and faction-leading in-between all the brutal gunfire, if you can believe that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfG9D8hJVeA Beta Decay is the unlikely PSX Phantom Pain follow-up nobody saw coming For starters, Beta Decay is seemingly a dedicated single-player game set in a far future where humanity colonized an entirely different star system. Predictably, clashes between mega-corps, micro-governments, and various smaller factions spin out into open warfare, and the player character is one of the colonists living on this brave new frontier. "Be an engineer, repairing shuttles in space, to a syndicate leader, executing raids deep within a labyrinthic neon city," promises the Steam page, and the gameplay trailers shown off so far definitely deliver. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHrWsZwAK0g The vibes of Beta Decay are nothing if not immaculate, though I have to admit the sheer scope of the project has me grabbing a pinch of salt, just in case. Beta Decay supports both first and third-person perspectives, seems to have a FEAR -style bullet time mechanic, features Metal Gear Solid: Phantom Pain style combat and movement gameplay, maps ranging from BLAME! -type superstructures to swamps that wouldn't look out of place in Chronobyl, a player-driven EVE Online kind of economy, starship-building and mecha-controlling, and it's a roguelite on top of all of that. Are you out of breath yet? I sure am. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P17xVqnWoL8 The best bit, though, is just how good Beta Decay looks in motion. Sure, all we've got for now is cherry-picked footage, but the low-fi graphics really do wonders for the kind of speedy, brutal gameplay this game is all about. It's impressive in a way similar to Project TH , and it's curious that this game, too, is aping a classic stealth title of the yesteryear. I'm all for it, though. Once again, however, I recommend being at least somewhat skeevy of Beta Decay until the developer Rotoscope Studios shows us something tangible. For one, the game is supposed to launch in Steam Early Access sometime in 2025, so it shouldn't be that long of a wait now. Regardless of anything else, I'm crossing all of my fingers for Beta Decay to deliver on all of its promises because it looks phenomenal. Can an indie dev really incorporate all the elements of roguelite games, survival titles, slick shooters, and economy sims into one comprehensive whole? I don't have the answer yet, but I am oh-so-hoping that it is positive, in the end. You can learn more about Beta Decay and Rotoscope Studios on the project's official website , and if you too are as enamored with the concept as I am, you're going to want to stay tuned. We're just months away from the game's Early Access launch, now. The post I don’t know what the hell Beta Decay is, but I’m sold on it appeared first on Destructoid .

Indie Archives – DestructoidMar 24

Mount & Blade 2’s new War Sails DLC is the paradigm shift Bannerlord desperately needs In a suprising turn of events, TaleWorlds Entertainment has announced the first full-featured expansion pack for Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord . Titled War Sails , this new DLC is supposed to introduce a whole new dimension of warfare to the sandbox strategy/RPG hybrid, but is it going to work out? Mount & Blade 2 has gone through a very long and arduous development process. It only launched in Steam Early Access back in March 2020, with a subsequent mild 1.0 release in October 2022, and there's not been much happening on that front ever since. With almost three years having gone by in a breeze, nobody really expected TaleWorlds to suddenly announce a huge new DLC, but here we are, with War Sails in tow. Though the Viking aesthetic commands the announcement trailer, there's much more to War Sails than just that, and it is poised to revitalize Bannerlord 's tired old gameplay loop. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fIAHUNsLg4 Can the War Sails DLC rejuvenate Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord? Bannerlord: War Sails is due to release on June 17, 2025, and its feature list is nothing if not impressive: The introduction of series-first naval warfare and maritime exploration. Map expansion featuring the Northern Kingdom and the Nord faction/race. Full integration with Bannerlord 's base gameplay loop. 18 unique ship types. Nordic/Viking gear, weapons, and aesthetic items (hairstyles, beards, etc.). Mariner combat units. Mediterranean and Nordic music and soundscapes, depending on the region one is traveling through. Crucially, naval combat is supposed to be fully physics-driven, with the behavior of the sea and wind greatly affecting the vessels' performance in combat. Ramming will be a thing, too, with dynamic boarding parties and other related features coming into their own in close-quarters combat. Frankly, War Sails sounds much more promising and exhaustive than I'd have dared to expect from a Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord DLC. Make no mistake: this is a genuinely good game with a thriving modding community, it's just that it's a kind of a reinvention of the original Mount & Blade games rather than its own thing. War Sails is the first time we're seeing something genuinely novel and exciting from TaleWorlds, and though there's every chance the expansion pack ends up falling flat on its face, the alternative is that it finally elevates the game to a whole new level. Of course, War Sails ' more-or-less imminent release means that all of our Mount & Blade 2 modlists are about to get broken. To that end, if you're looking to experience the game anew in mid-June with the DLC in tow, I recommend wiping your modlist clean and maybe even reinstalling the whole thing just to be safe. This may well be the Big Thing Mount & Blade 2 fans have been waiting for, so I've got my fingers crossed for TaleWorlds this time around. The post Mount & Blade 2’s new War Sails DLC is the paradigm shift Bannerlord desperately needs appeared first on Destructoid .

Indie Archives – DestructoidMar 21

HASTE is a fast-paced platformer Sonic the Hedgehog wishes he could be in The HASTE demo is an exhilarating platformer that feels fast-paced and relies on your reflexes. You have to time your jumps and landings at the right moments, creating tension as you propel yourself forward. HASTE: Broken Worlds, so far, makes you wish Sonic the Hedgehog would take some notes and keep fans of the platforming genre on their feet. Screenshot by Destructoid The HASTE demo is spectacular Momentum is both your friend and enemy as you try to avoid obstacles at breakneck speed and move fast enough to avoid the curse throttling behind you. You're leaping off hills and trying to land in a perfect downward position to get a speed boost of and progress the stage. If you land on the wrong side of a slope, you'll get hurt and/or you'll slow down. You have to pay close attention and try to survive as you avoid trees, rocks, and other obstacles like rockets from a nearby turret. It's almost like an endless runner, but every level ends with a portal that leads you to the next room or level. It also implements a rogue-like system similar to Slay the Spire , in which you pick the rooms you want to go to. There is a shop that lets you use in-game currency to buy upgrades like increased health or energy that propels you forward. Additionally, there are event spaces that give you additional health or levels in which you have to survive against an onslaught of attacks. There's also a dangerous lava level where you have to find the portal to escape within a time limit. Because of how tough the demo was, I was only able to experience one boss throughout my time with the game. You go up against a robot called the Jumper that launches fire all across the stage, which is difficult to dodge as it rushes through the grassland area. It also creates a wave of flame which is hard to avoid, especially if you're trying to find a hill to jump off quickly. The boss is well-designed and does challenge you as you try to hit its exterior pipework four times to win. The game is procedurally generated, but with a second run of this demo, however, I began to see similar obstacles and level design appear. Hopefully, the game doesn't get repetitive when it fully launches. If you run out of the three lives you have, you have to start from scratch with the biome you choose. Screenshot by Destructoid A pretty game HASTE: Broken Worlds , despite this being a Steam Next Fest demo, is highly polished. Despite all the chaos happening on screen like pillars of flames and giant bullets being shot in the sky, the game runs at a smooth 60 frames per second. The colors really pop as you explore these vibrant levels, and when it wants to create a tense atmosphere, the darker aesthetic works well. Unfortunately, the music lets down the game a bit. It does keep you pumped up at points with its dubstep-like soundtrack. However, it can get monotonous, especially when the chasing curse from behind tries to take you over if you're too slow to outrun it. The music gets reverberated, making it annoying to listen to. It's effective at causing distress, but at the same time, it would be nice to turn off this feature. Overall, HASTE: Broken Worlds has plenty of potential, especially with the different biomes the hub world promises. It could become repetitive, but right now, the demo succeeds in gaining my interest. If Sega ever decides to hire this team to make a Sonic the Hedgehog variant of this game, I'd be oh so interested. The post HASTE is a fast-paced platformer Sonic the Hedgehog wishes he could be in appeared first on Destructoid .

Indie Archives – DestructoidMar 18

Eyes Never Wake: the indie horror game where you have to hide under your actual desk There are several ways a horror game can put you in a constant state of peril. Some developers employ clever tactics that break the fourth wall, such as listening to your microphone, and the upcoming Eyes Never Wake definitely falls under that category. Developed by Allan Hedlund, this is an indie horror title that – as the description on Steam says – blurs the "line between game and reality." Essentially, Eyes Never Awake gets its kicks by allowing a pursuing monster to actually see you through your webcam, as seen in the footage below. https://twitter.com/Hederlunden/status/1899879190687514806 In the teaser, we see the player (presumably the developer), actually ducking behind their desk as some sort of monstrosity seeks them out. We also see how the game scans your face through your camera. Hedlund describes the project as a "strange game" that's "not meant to be played." What else will it see you doing via your webcam, I wonder... For those who have concerns about privacy – given that the crux of the gameplay is in having access to your webcam – Hedlund tries to alleviate worries about intrusiveness. In a response to someone on X , they write the following: ...just know that the game simply uses OpenCV and OpenCV for Unity for face recognition which uses pre-trained models. Everything runs locally - nothing gets sent to any server or anything like that. And you can always turn the mechanic off at any time. Additionally, in order to dissuade people from cheating by simply holding something up to the camera, the game will also check for "large uniform objects and other things." But, then again, if you're playing a game where the object is to physically hide from something that sees you through your webcam, what would be the point in cheating? Eyes Never Wake doesn't have a release date yet, but as a horror fan myself, I'll be following progress on this one pretty closely. Maybe it's just a gimmick, but I like that indie developers are at least trying new ways to be immersive. The post Eyes Never Wake: the indie horror game where you have to hide under your actual desk appeared first on Destructoid .

Indie Archives – DestructoidMar 13

Odinfall Early Access ReviewOdinfall is a cyberpunk-Viking shooter set in a post-Ragnarök apocalypse. With incredible music, great pixel art, and the vibe of old arcade shooters, this game is ready to impress even in its Early Access state. That being said, players may find the difficulty and progression in the game’s current Early Access launch to be in […] The post Odinfall Early Access Review appeared first on Try Hard Guides .

Game Reviews – Try Hard GuidesMar 11

FragPunk Review — Could Do With a Bit More PunkHero shooters usually aren’t my cup of tea, and Tactical FPS games like Counter-Strike or Valorant tend to rank even lower on my list. However, when a tactical hero shooter bursts onto the scene with undeniable personality, I inevitably cave and give it a shot—despite knowing these games rarely hold my attention for long. FragPunk […] The post FragPunk Review — Could Do With a Bit More Punk appeared first on Try Hard Guides .

Game Reviews – Try Hard GuidesMar 7

Slime Heroes Review — The Slimes are the HeroesSlime Heroes is the Dark Souls of cute little slimes. By that, I mean that Slime Heroes is a soulslike ARPG starring adorable little slime blob creatures—ones that look like they would be utterly delicious if you ate them, kind of like a fruit gusher. This platforming-heavy action game combines its charming characters with genuinely […] The post Slime Heroes Review — The Slimes are the Heroes appeared first on Try Hard Guides .

Game Reviews – Try Hard GuidesMar 6

Dragonkin: The Banished Early Access ReviewI’m a big fan of ARPG titles like Path of Exile and Diablo. The top-down camera angle and ability-based combat system create flashy, powerful-feeling mechanics. When combined with big hordes of enemies, deadly boss fights, and satisfying looting, they make for a great game. That being said, I’m often picky when it comes to this […] The post Dragonkin: The Banished Early Access Review appeared first on Try Hard Guides .

Game Reviews – Try Hard GuidesMar 6

Chernobylite 2: Exclusion Zone Early Access ReviewMy experience with Chernobylite 2: Exclusion Zone was interesting. Though I found myself mostly having criticisms of the game, I felt as though I really wanted to like it. There are clearly passionate developers working on this title, and while I think the game has a long way to go before I would openly recommend […] The post Chernobylite 2: Exclusion Zone Early Access Review appeared first on Try Hard Guides .

Game Reviews – Try Hard GuidesMar 4

Everhood 2 Review — Psycho-DelicEverhood 2 is something of a psychedelic nightmare; this unique take on the rhythm game genre is packed full of striking visuals, techno beats, and downright strangeness, leading me to believe that I must have been microdosed on something just before I launched the game. Everhood 2 is an incredibly creative title, displaying an outright […] The post Everhood 2 Review — Psycho-Delic appeared first on Try Hard Guides .

Game Reviews – Try Hard GuidesMar 3