When thousands of developers descend on one place, you know there are going to be some great games to check out. That was certainly the case this past week. We’re attending the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, and in addition to watching press conferences and attending talks, we’ve also had plenty of opportunities to interact with some intriguing indie games. And there’s plenty to be excited about — so we’ve rounded up our favorites (in no particular order) right here. Most of these will be released later in 2023, so plan your free time accordingly.
Fae Farm
Cozy games are all the rage right now, and Fae Farm looks like mixing that space with dungeon crawling a bit. It’s a cute farming game — imagine Stardew Valley o Harvest Moon — but with magical elements thrown in. So in addition to doing useful things like farming, fishing, and dating, you’ll also get to go on adventures that involve going through dungeons in a fairy world where you’ll move around to finding magic keys and fighting enemies that include the sentient violin.
It’s not a particularly original premise, but from the short demo I played it looks lovely and feels full of things to do. Plus, it has a great character creator and a coziness system so you can design the perfect hygge home. It launches later this year on Switch, and includes co-op support for up to four players.—Wow
Omega Strikers
I know, I know, another free-to-play competitive multiplayer game. We are drowning in them. But Omega Strikers it feels like it can carve out space in a crowded field. It’s like a mashup of soccer and Overwatch, a 3v3 game where you play on a handful of futuristic maps, with the goal of outscoring your opponent. Simple things. The twist is the hero characters you control, each of which has unique characteristics and a special move that can change the course of the game if used correctly. The composition of the team becomes a big part of the strategy.
I wasn’t able to get in there in the number of matches I played, and yet I still enjoyed it. The battles were fast and dramatic, and I even scored a few goals. A lot goes into making this type of game a lasting success, but Omega Strikers at least make a good first impression. It launches on Switch, PC, and mobile on April 27th.—Wow
Cart Life
A decade ago, a game was called Cart Life won the grand prize at the Independent Games Festival — then promptly disappeared. Its developer, Richard Hofmeier, pulled the game from Steam and eventually left the games industry altogether. Now Cart Life is getting a second chance, after Hofmeier partnered with Adhoc Studio to finalize and publish it. The story of how the game came back is fascinating — you can check it out this great recap on Wired — but so is the game itself.
Cart Life has players experiencing the lives of three different people struggling to make it as street vendors. I played in one section as a Ukrainian immigrant who took over a newsstand, trying to earn enough just to stay in a rundown hotel with his cat. Like Papers o What’s Left of Edith Finch, Cart Life uses its gameplay as an empathy tool, and it’s remarkably effective. The tedious folding and stacking of newspapers, and the stress of seeing the line lengthen as you try to cash out customers as quickly as possible, brought me back to my old jobs delivering newspapers and working of the cash register. I felt my cheeks flush as I fumbled for coins, and for just a short time in the game I connected with the character.
I missed it Cart Life for the first time, but I’m excited to have another chance to experience it when it launches on PC later this year.—Wow
A Highland Song
Inkle is known for its narrative games, such as globe-trotting 80 Days or the archeological adventure Heaven’s Vaultbut the studio’s next release goes in a different direction. A Highland Song is a side-scrolling game about a girl exploring the Scottish Highlands. It still has the choice-driven gameplay that the studio is known for, as you choose different paths through the mountains. But it also has surprising elements like a simple survival system, because you have to stay warm and dry and find shelter at night. At certain points, it’s a rhythm game as you run across the landscape in time to the music.
From what I played it was both thrilling and mysterious, with a dose of magical realism mixed with Scottish mythology. It also looks incredible, like a Cartoon Saloon movie you can explore. A Highland Song doesn’t have a release date, but it’s coming to both Steam and Switch.—Wow
Naiad
Naiad is a game that you can really relax. You play as a little water nymph swimming in a gorgeous, tranquil lake, completing small tasks along the way. Movement is continuous; it’s so satisfying to just move around, even without a goal or destination in mind. And while there are small environmental puzzles to solve, the game isn’t pushy about it, letting you discover things at your own pace.
There are no checklists to complete or glowing arrows pointing you in the right direction. You swim, find things to do, and then do them if you want. In my short time with the game I helped reunite some ducks and got a frog back to its home on its lily pad. It’s just so chill. Naiad will be coming to PC and consoles later this year.—Wow
The Wandering Village
At its simplest, The Wandering Village — which actually came out today as an early access title on Steam — is a pretty standard city builder. You harvest resources, use them to build and upgrade your town, and try your best to balance the needs of your growing population. The twist is that you build that city on the back of a giant roaming creature.
This is not just an aesthetic choice (although it seems very cool), but it also affects the game itself. The animal roams through different environments, so things like the weather are constantly changing, forcing you to adapt. At one point in my demo of the Xbox version, which comes out this year, the creature ventures into a toxic forest, forcing me to race to stop the spores from infecting my crops and other plants. It’s a fun twist on an old genre, and it’s also surprisingly well adapted to an Xbox gamepad.—Wow
Venba
Venba is more than just a cooking game. In it, you must use your intuition and cooking skills to help repair a damaged family recipe book. Through trial and error, you try to recreate the comfort food that will help Venba and his family maintain their connections to their culture and former country as they adjust to a new life in Canada. Venba with rich art and intuitive yet challenging design. I failed several times in making idli in the game demo. Through my failures, I understood that even though idil is a relatively uncomplicated steamed dumpling, Venba’s way of making it is unique to him and his family and that is what makes the food special. It’s coming to Steam and the Switch later this year.—AP
5 Force Fighters
Black people love it Dragon Ball Z – this is a (near) scientific fact. And one of the ways that love is shown is through video games made by Black people. 5 Force Fighters is a fighting game inspired by Budokai Tenkaichis and the Dragon Ball MUGEN fan games of the world.
Created by a pair of first-time game developer brothers, 5 Force Fighters seeping, both subtly and openly, with Black culture. The character designs and animations remind me of Huey and Riley from Aaron McGruder The Boondocks. I enjoyed the text before a fight replacing the usual “FIGHT” message with “THROW HANDS.” The pre-fight match up screen features graffiti’d train doors in homage to the brothers roaming the Portland subway, and at the end of a match, instead of prompting for a rematch, it asks, ” RUN IT BACK” — a neat little send-up to fighting game commentary.
It’s also a game that’s easy to pick up and play but is shrouded in so much technical depth that even the most specific laborer will enjoy it. 5 Force Fighters is coming to Steam.—AP
El Paso Elsewhere
The latest Strange Scaffold game, El Paso Elsewhere, is a thrilling tribute to Max Payne and his penchant for slow-motion shooting dives. It’s a third-person noir shooter where you have to break into a run down motel infested with all kinds of supernatural beasties to stop your vampire ex-girlfriend from destroying the world. You can approach it as a straightforward run and gun or, if you want to have fun, you can take advantage of the game’s slow down feature which will have you dive-shooting all over ala Neo in The matrix.
If only that El Paso Elsewhere is, then it will be a good love letter to games like LA Noire. But In a different place is also a beautifully haunting tale of love, loss, and redemption with stunning cinematography and a bumpin’ soundtrack featuring the musical stylings of Strange Scaffold founder Xalavier Nelson Jr. It’s coming to PC later this year.—AP