10 games we are looking forward to playing in 2015 (Part 2)

We continue with the list of the 10 games that we are willing to play in this 2015. In this second part we offer the remaining 5 games. All of them indie, not because we want to discard everything else, but because we truly feel close to independent development in every way. Let’s see!

6. Night in the Woods

One of the most praised games on Kickstarter last year. A blast that started with a beautiful trailer created by the already popular Scott Benson, known within the design and illustration community, who has joined forces to Alec Holowka, creator of Aquaria and —at the same time— music composer of some hits like Towerfall. A winning tandem.

Night in the Woods is an adventure of exploration and interaction between animalistic characters in a beautiful environment that is a real pleasure to visit. Fortunately, there are two small playable pieces that have been offered to the players as an advance of what is to come, although they’re fully independent experiments. We recommend playing Lost Constellation.

The texts are full of a subtle but constant sense of humor and irony. The actions to be done are not as bizarre as usual in a point & click adventure, and yet the interest never flags, thanks to the background story and the nature of the characters.

• Developer: Infinite Fall (Alec Holowka + Scott Benson)
• More info: Official site
• Platforms: PC, Mac, Linux & PS4
• Price: pending

7. else Heart.break()

Yes, the title is correct. A quite intriguing game. It caught our attention with its curious art direction and the general cryptic approach. We discovered it through the Erik Svedang’s blog, one of the creators. IGF Finalist in visual excellence. The game puts you in the shoes of Sebastian, a newcomer to Dorisburg, a fictional town where ‘bits have replaced atoms’.

It seems that within the exploration and character interaction approach we’ll find some components of hacking, in a world where everything seems digitally controlled, allowing us to alter our environment. Its creators offer us both the options to go and investigate this splendid and unique world, or just sit in a cafe and enjoy watching what surrounds us. A curious game, indeed, with a sound design that we could define as an electric dream.

We’re really intrigued to see if it will be a game as interesting to play as it is to contemplate.

• Developer: Niklas Akerblad, Erik Svedang & other
• More info: Official site / Devlog
• Platforms: PC, Mac & Linux
• Price: pending

8. Star Guardian

Star Guardian is a new project by Locomalito, a famous Spanish indie creator who we admire since… forever. His personal philosophy, the pure arcade nature of his games, the great finish of all of them and that love for retro —understood as anything that somehow characterized the video game culture in the 80-90s— makes him one of those developers we love to follow every day. Among us there are conflicting views on our preferred Locomalito project, but Maldita Castilla seems to get the upper hand.

Star Guardian is in full production process and there is little information about it. The screens illustrating the post are very preliminary and the final look of the game will probably be quite different. It seems that the protagonist of the game will be Cleonova —the Metal Queen—, whose mission is to help humans settle in a new world threatened by an evil force, having definitely lost planet Earth.

This is a fast paced action game with a bright and saturated science fiction aesthetic and more stylized characters than it is usual in Locomalito’s games. It smells of success. As the same Locomalito has commented, Star Guardian is a shorter game than their more powerful works (Maldita Castilla or Hydorah), but with the same level of finish. Simple, short, vibrant and with a great attention to graphics and sound.

It seems safe to say that it will most likely end up on Android-based consoles, plus PC. In addition, Locomalito has already expressed interest in ending The Curse of Issyos, one of his parked-for-years projects. A great year for the Andalusian developer’s fans.

• Developer: Locomalito
• More info: Star Guardian page at Locomalito.com
• Platforms: PC (and probably Mac, Ouya & Gamestick)
• Price: free

9. Dead Synchronicity

Dead Synchronicity is one of the —increasing in number— Spanish projects that have successfully tackled a Kickstarter campaign. A classic point & click adventure, a genre that still has quite a lot of fans. Dead Synchronicity is presented as an adventure in two parts, being Tomorrow Comes Today the first one. High resolution graphics with a dark and apocalyptic aesthetic and plot.

We had the opportunity to meet several members of Fictiorama Studios at InnGames, the PAD Congress and Gamelab, and besides being good people they seem to be really determined to create a worthy successor to the great classics. They recently signed an agreement with Daedalic, which probably ensures that the game will have the necessary resources to reach the expected level of quality. The demo that Fictiorama offered at the time, helped push the KS campaign and dispel doubts about the overall quality of the game.

Although we played everything LucasArts created around the genre, we lost a bit of interest in the point & click adventure. However, the aesthetics and general approach of Dead Synchronicity, more serious and darker than usual in the genre, are encouraging: space-time distortions, concentration camps, supernatural phenomena, puzzles and some macabre components. Sold!

• Developer: Fictiorama Studios
• More info: Official Dead Synchronicity site
• Platforms: PC, Mac, Linux & iOS devices
• Price: pending

10. Darkest Dungeon

Darkest Dungeon is a Canadian game that was well received on Kickstarter and caught our attention for its visual approach. His characters and scenarios, seem to be taken from a Mignola’s comic book, with strong shadows of absolute black contrasted with few highlights. The game is sometimes defined as a Rogue-like RPG Gothic video game, with a group of heroes to choose from, facing hordes of monstrous enemies that we’ll fight in turns. The psychological factors that come into play seem to be important —and are very welcome, as are a largely untapped resource in the sector—. In fact, the psychological vulnerability of the protagonists is THE major gameplay element to highlight in the project by its creators.

Really nice dubbing and music, created by professionals of the industry with Stuart Chatwood (member of the defunct band The Tea Party) behind it. A dark and potentially highly scalable game that has been shown as a demo at various events and that we are certainly looking forward to playing. In short: dungeons, necromancers, grave robbers, warriors, monsters, hidden dangers, dark forces and the constant need to endure such horror without being caught by madness.

• Developer: Red Hook Studios
• More info: Official site
• Platforms: PC, Mac, Linux, PS4 & PS Vita
• Price: 19,99 $ (Steam early access) – Final price pending

We’ll see what’s in store for us this year. It is curious that among the 10 mentioned games we can find 5 produced in Canada. Definitely a clear reflection of the good moment for the American country in terms of independent development. But we also find 3 Spanish games! Do not underestimate the talent of Spanish developers. To read our previous post with the first 5 games of the selection, click here.

Note: The images that illustrate this post were extracted from various sources related to the mentioned games. Copyright © 2015 Infinite Fall, Niklas Akerblad & Erik Svedang, Locomalito, Fictiorama Studios & Red Hook Studios.