Disclaimer: At the time of writing, I work for the video game PR, marketing, and publishing company Future Friends Games. As such, I will not be covering the following games, which FFG is working on or with in some capacity: Europa, Exo Rally Championship, Gourdlets, Kibu, and Summerhill.
Let’s talk about Not-E3! Starting Wednesday, June 7th through Tuesday, June 13th, we saw over 10 different game showcases, from Access-Ability to Summer Game Fest and everything in between. Geoff’s Big Show was quite the dud for me, but, as per usual, the indies pulled through. Double Fine & iam8bit’s Day of the Devs further cemented itself as a creative powerhouse with its thoughtful blend of developer interviews and gameplay, while Future of Play and Xbox held their positions as must-watch showcases. Guerrilla Collective, the PC Gaming Show, and Wholesome Games continue to suffer from pacing problems as a result of having way too many games to show, but I suppose there are worse problems to have.
I haven’t gone out of my way to demo any of these just yet, so we’re strictly talking about my impressions of them from the showcases, alongside any prior knowledge I may have. That being said, I do intend to try as many of them as possible. If I like them, they’ll make it into my upcoming Demo Roundup, where I’ll be writing about every demo from the first half of 2023 that’s caught my eye.
Oh, and because Patreon doesn't like to embed videos, here's the full playlist of game trailers mentioned below for your convenience.
Angeline Era (Steam)
Anodyne and Sephonie developers Analgesic Productions return for another unique evolution of the PSX era — something they’re proving extremely prolific at. While the trailer for Angeline Era begins as a bit of a riff on the somewhat silly JRPG trailers of yore with PowerPoint-esque overlay text that reads “Revolutionary Bumpslash Combat… …In a world where past and future collide!,” it’s quick to show more of its many-fingered hand. We see short glimpses of the overworld, dungeons with varying environments, a range of athletic bossfights, and of course, some Analgesic Productions brand body horror at the end. I really enjoyed the vibes of Anodyne 2: Return to Dust, but couldn’t quite get into the gameplay myself. Now, if you were to give me a big sword and a more limited exploration experience…
Beastieball (Steam)
It’s no secret that I’ve fallen out of love with Pokémon in the past few years. What disappoints me more, though, than the predictable story of a AAA studio resting on its laurels, is that the many creature collectors we see nowadays do little to innovate on the now-basic and aged formula of the mainline Pokémon games. Beastieball, from the developers of Wandersong and Chicory: A Colorful Tale, feels like a breath of fresh air. Whether or not you knew you knew it, you know that Pokémon is a sports anime. It’s all about getting stronger in the endless pursuit of improvement and recognition, the bonds you forge with your teammates, the rivals and allies you pick up along the way, the road to victory (or Victory Road, as some might say…). Your beasties will become best friends, partners, and rivals as the story goes along, unlocking special moves that only that specific pair can do along the way. Is it time for an indie creature collector that grows with you?
Bloomtown: A Different Story (Steam)
Bloomtown had a really well-done trailer, drawing the viewer in with a deliberately Stardew Valley-esque cadence, albeit with its own fresh art style. There’s an odd blip or two just before it takes a hard turn — introducing not only horror elements, but also JRPG and creature collecting ones. Everything Bloomtown showed looks great, but it’s that heavy dose of small town horror that has me most excited, especially when bolstered by the long-form, coming-of-age mechanics from its JRPG side.
Bossgame finally dropped a much-anticipated announcement at the Access-Ability Summer Showcase — a PC version! Previously mobile-exclusive, Bossgame: The Final Boss is My Heart is a rhythm-infused boss rush starring two devil-hunting girlfriends, who are gay and in love. That was enough to sell me on it, naturally, but its minimalistic style and myriad accessibility options could’ve gotten the job done, too. I’ll definitely be giving this one a go when it hits itch and Steam in July.
COCOON (Steam)
It should be no surprise that the lead gameplay designer of LIMBO and INSIDE has been working on a puzzle-exploration game featuring a little guy in a desolate-looking world, but COCOON seems significantly higher on the sci-fi scale than those prior works. Worlds nest within worlds, lying amidst arthropodic technology in glassy orbs that further expand your puzzle-solving capabilities. Although the bossfight showcased during Day of the Devs was pretty lackluster, the unique world, puzzle, and sound design are nothing to sneeze at, with more than enough storied experience to back them up.
CorpoNation: The Sorting Process (Steam)
I love doing menial, mundane tasks in video games as well as anti-capitalism, so I've had my eye firmly on CorpoNation: The Sorting Process for a while now. Its hellishly dystopic vision of a nationwide company town is brought to life with simulation gameplay, allowing you to work, work, play, work, relax, and work as an employee of the Ringo CorpoNation. Your career is in efficiently and unquestioningly sorting genetic samples, all the while ignoring the words of those who would have you betray your employer. I was always going to be drawn in by a game like this — it's just extremely my thing — but I wanna give a quick shoutout to anyone and everyone at Playtonic/Canteen involved with CorpoNation's trailers, because they're just excellent.
despelote (Steam)
It's nice to see slice-of-life games are seeing a bit of a resurgence after their untimely demise at the hands of the AAA action-adventure and gamers' endless lust for violence. despelote tells the tale of a young Ecuadorian boy in 2001, as the nation made its first-ever qualifying run for the FIFA World Cup. I can't even imagine what the energy was like there at the time, especially from the perspective of a football-loving eight-year-old, but despelote thankfully seeks to tell us. I love the dreamlike quality of the black-and-white paper dolls living in a 1-bit monochrome world, like a dollhouse made of grainy GameBoy Camera photos.
Everdeep Aurora (Steam)
Could I ever grow tired of pixelated indies with stunning, limited color palettes and evocative piano melodies? Not likely. Everdeep Aurora's pathmaking focus on 2D exploration is an intriguing one, especially considering the need to platform back out after you've descended, and the pathways you could potentially be cutting off if you're not considerate. It bears repeating that this game is beautiful in both sight and sound, with cute and creepy character designs alike. It looks like there'll be a good amount of interaction with those characters outside of standard quests and dialogue, if the handful of minigames shown throughout the trailer are anything to go by.
Henry Halfhead (Steam)
I'm a huge fan of the surreal 2017 puzzle-adventure game Everything where you can become, well, everything, so suffice it to say Henry Halfhead's shapeshifting escapades had my firm interest back in the March 2023 MIX Showcase. What they showed this weekend only further impressed me; this isn't just about possessing an object or two and completing a simple task, but there are complex chains of interaction to discover. Become an apple and put yourself on a table. Become a knife to cut the apple, then the seed that came out of the apple slice, and bury yourself in the ground. Become the spout that fills the watering can, and become the watering can to water the apple seed and grow an apple tree. It's unclear this early on if Henry Halfhead will have a more cohesive overarching narrative or if its focus is more on providing an emergent and creative gameplay experience, but I want it regardless.
Hermit and Pig (Steam)
There's another guy with a funny hat who loves mushrooms storming onto the video game scene, but this one's got a truffle-hunting sidekick, social anxiety out the wazoo, and is actually starring in an RPG in 2023. The nearby villagers are all in a tizzy, as it seems some corporate nonsense has totally disrupted their lives. Hermit and Pig has a unique and ridiculous pixel art style that I can't help but fall in love with, especially for the matching beanie and glasses of our dynamic duo. The trailer also showcased a plethora of enemy designs, including a very goofy-looking bear that I'm obsessed with. Hopefully Hermit can defend himself (and Pig) from the rogue critters and corpos alike, and maybe learn to love a little bit of social interaction along the way. The mushroom economy will never be the same.
I Am A Caterpillar (Steam)
Being a caterpillar must be tough, considering their place in the food chain and the impending self-liquefaction they face as young butterflies. I Am A Caterpillar begs the question: what if you didn’t want to digest yourself, actually, and just stay a caterpillar? It’s nice to see a platformer interested in clinging to surfaces from all sorts of angles, while still preserving the ability to jump and dash around. I can’t help but think of Super Mario Galaxy — specifically its Honeyhive levels — when that’s on offer. The glimpses of story present in the trailer and their transformative leanings are pretty intriguing too, so color me interested.
Jusant (Steam)
Is it any surprise that I, Sable GOTY-haver, am interested in the sci-fi climbing game where you scale cliffsides to visit the villages carved therein? As immediately as it drew me in based on those surface-level similarities, Jusant quickly set itself apart with its focus on climbing mechanics. Not only are there anchor points, safety lines, and pitons to worry about, but it looks like you’ve also got to control your arms independently of one another, instead of just holding “forward,” like most games. There’s also an ugly little alien sidekick who I find myself alternatingly loving (because ugly) and hating (because mascot-ready sidekick à la Disney) every moment.
Let’s! Revolution! (Steam)
Usually when I see an animated trailer for an upcoming game, I’m immediately disappointed. I’d much rather the game’s actual visuals be showcased. The nice thing about Let’s! Revolution! is that it actually looks like that. Gorgeous art aside, it appears to be a sort of roguelite-puzzle hybrid; simultaneously a roguelite, a board game, and Minesweeper. I’ve long sung the praises of roguelite-shmup-Minesweeper hybrid Metavaxx, so this is a pretty easy day one for me.
Magical Delicacy (Steam)
Cooking minigames are fun and all, but they can become stale quickly if there isn't more to the story than "read recipe, get ingredients, combine ingredients." Magical Delicacy comes out the gate with flavor profiles and mechanics for my most envied of chef skills — the ability to change a recipe on the fly, using different ingredients to rebalance flavors. There are 2D platforming elements, too, which is a fun twist I haven't really seen before, and a great way to explore more fantastical spaces like the gravity-defying harbor town the game seems to take place in.
Psychroma (Steam)
Across a sea of video games and many hours of showcases, Psychroma caught my eye — or rather, my ear — with its spirit box-esque use of SAM, the creepy 1982 speech synthesizer you may recognize from Airdorf’s FAITH series. I was further drawn in by its willingness to actually include the -punk part of cyberpunk; to be weird and fucked up and diverse, to mire itself in ugly things like housing crises and trauma and genuine horror. Great look, great premise, and at least one lesbian. Three checks from me.
Saltsea Chronicles (Steam)
Die Gute Fabrik returns with the excellently named Saltsea Chronicles, once again flexing their beautiful soft, lineless art style and singular use of color. In addition to the overall style, there are some recurring themes from Mutazione as well: the exploration of islands in a world after disaster and the complex relationships (and of course, drama) resulting from an ensemble cast all living in close proximity to one another. Saltsea Chronicles seems to have much more variance in its narrative than its predecessors, with a larger cast, wider world, and many more decisions to make. Meet new friends and enemies across the Saltsea as you track down your missing captain and discover some of the secrets of this world (or maybe the one that preceded it).
Sulfur (Steam)
While Sulfur may appear at first glance to be a straightforward boomer shooter/ultraviolent FPS, it’s a bit more complicated than that. Although it walks the well-trod ground of Satanic drama and sensual shotgun reload animations, the trailers show clear RPG elements, and more than a suggestion that this is a roguelike. Its unique, cartoonish visuals have really gripped me, particularly in its bright and expressive enemy design. The Steam page hints at a lot of mystery and lore to uncover, too, complete with a whole poem at the end.
Tiny Bookshop (Steam)
Video games are often cited as an important method of escapism and wish fulfillment, and whomst amongst us hasn't wanted to run a cute little hobby store in a nice community where everyone knows your name? Tiny Bookshop promises that wonderful kind of mundane fantasy, where you meticulously decorate your pop-up trailer shop and hope for the best as you buy boxes of books secondhand for your growing customer base. Among the other information in the trailer, there's snippets of a storyline where you play host to a local band, so I'm hopeful that there'll be an emphasis on community building in the final release.
Tiny Terry’s Turbo Trip (Steam)
The undeniable winner of my Not-E3 2023 Silly Goofy Award, Tiny Terry’s Turbo Trip is a delightfully bright, summery, open world adventure. The announcement trailer shows off the extremely charming and densely-packed resort town alongside some very hectic driving and paragliding. Looks like there’s plenty to do, from collecting insects and hats to upgrading your car and meeting the many odd denizens of Sprankelwater.
Viewfinder (Steam)
I try to avoid really simple descriptors when talking about games, but what would one call Viewfinder except a mindfuck? This is a perspective puzzler that makes The Witness and even Superliminal look grounded in reality, at least from what we’ve seen so far. Images become 3D, tactile pieces of the environment when viewed from the right angle, allowing entire structures to materialize out of thin air instantly after being placed. How did they do it? Magic?
Familiar Faces
Not one, not two, but three games featured in my 23 (Indie) PC Games Coming in 2023 video dropped some pretty big news at Not-E3, which I'm very happy to share with y'all. Their presence on that list should make it clear how excited you should be! Just as well, there's some update news from another great game I've featured a couple times before.
Frogsong (Steam)
And just like that, Frogsong is out! It was surprise released at the top of the Wholesome Games Direct, finally bringing that sweet, accessible, froggy adventure goodness to a PC near you.
My Friendly Neighborhood (Steam)
Puppet-evading survival horror game My Friendly Neighborhood now has a release date: July 18th, 2023! I played the original demo quite some time ago now, but it’s stayed in my thoughts all this time. Its paradoxical (and parodic) mix of The Muppets/Sesame Street and Resident Evil is both fun and funny, and I really enjoy how much it leans into its humor.
Smushi Come Home (Steam)
Frogsong was in good company during the Wholesome Games Direct with the simultaneous shadowdrop of Smushi Come Home! Previously known as Shumi Come Home, but changed due to copyright reasons, this game follows the borrowers-sized tale of a young shroom lost in the woods. As a play cousin to Mail Time, cottagecore fans and little guy enthusiasts should be getting their hands on this one immediately.
The Wandering Village (Steam)
Citybuilding world turtle simulator The Wandering Village is about traversing strange environments in an apocalyptic world, all while maintaining a symbiotic-enough relationship with the giant creature you live on, Onbu. It released in Early Access late last year, and is bringing us a huge slew of changes as part of the Oceans Update. An oceanic biome alongside associated resources, buildings, events, locations, and of course, a heaping helping of bug fixes, balance changes, and other improvements. If you haven't already heard it from me, The Wandering Village is a really lovely game that deserves your attention. A big update is always a good time to jump in, so why not give it a try? The Oceans Update is already live on the testing branch, which means it'll be available in the full build before long.