Beat-based dungeon crawlers, card-battling soccer sims and other new indie games worth checking out
Welcome to our latest roundup of what’s happening in the indie games space. As always, we’re bringing you new games this weekend and a preview of some upcoming titles. But first, take a look at indie studio Albatross Interactive’s take on the multiplayer mode of a much-loved blockbuster.
Terminal War is a 4v4 third-person shooter and it seems like the small team of developers is trying to keep things down to earth. Ammunition and supplies are scarce, and the emphasis is on hand-to-hand combat with the promise of “brutal executions.” The action takes place in the late 90s, a few years after a world war, with three factions fighting for control and survival in a collapsed version of the United States.
Albatross Interactive isn’t afraid of the inspiration behind Terminal war. “They canceled The Last of Us Factions 2,“, the team wrote on X. “So we are building it [sic] our version.”
In September 2019, nine months before the game’s final release, Naughty Dog confirmed The Last of Us Part 2 would not have a multiplayer mode. At the time, he told players “you will eventually reap the rewards of our team’s online ambition.”
That still hasn’t exactly happened. The studio officially announced The Last of Us Online in June 2022 and canceled it 18 months later. Thus, the Factions mode of 2014 The Last of Us Remastered for PS4 remains the franchise’s only remaining multiplayer mode.
Albatross Interactive, which says it is under construction Terminal War from scratch, plans to reveal more gameplay soon. The game is expected to be released on Steam in early access this summer.
The team expects Terminal War remain in Early Access for approximately 12 to 18 months, while noting that “we’re a small studio and we’d rather take the time to get it right than rush to a finish line. The timeline will ultimately be shaped by community feedback, the breadth of content we deliver, and the standard of quality we hold ourselves to.” The studio also plans to offer the game on consoles.
New releases
I’m in the current iteration of Acclaim as an independent publisher (although it has plans to revive its own historic franchises). His latest title, GridBeat from Ridiculous Games, is a rhythm-based dungeon crawler in which you try to escape from a corporate network after recovering a trove of valuable data. Malware and security protocols are after you. Navigating mazes, interacting with items, and boss fights are all synchronized to the beat.
GridBeat is available on Steam and Nintendo Switch. It usually costs $20, but there’s a 10% discount on Switch until April 2. That’s a 15% discount on Steam until April 9.
Given the amount of time I’ve spent playing Football manager 26 last year, Nutmeg is right up my alley. Having veteran commentator Jim Rosenthal introduce the football management simulation in the launch trailer certainly doesn’t hurt.
This is a card battle version of football management set in the 80s and 90s. You can start in the lower divisions and work your way up to the top of the English football system. You’ll hire and fire staff, and select your team and lineup before facing an opponent. Completing challenges and succeeding in your training will earn you more packs of cards.
The trailer reminds me of collecting Panini stickers when I was a kid as well as the smell of my friends’ Subbuteo figurines. I would have said my favorite thing about it is that it all takes place in a period-appropriate office with a TV that displays the results and leaderboards in teletext style and an old computer that has retro mini-games that you can play. However, Sumo Sheffield and Publisher Secret Mode donate a small portion of each sale of Nutmeg to charity, which is a nice gesture.
Nutmeg is now available on Steam. It’ll usually cost you $25, but there’s a whopping 40% off until April 2.
Devil Jam is a metal-themed take on the roguelite formula that Vampire Survivors popularized with a hint of Hades-mixed esque characterization. It’s been out on Steam since November and it arrived on consoles this week. It costs $8 on PS5 and Switch, and $7.59 on Xbox Series X/S.
You’ll wield a cursed guitar while battling demonic enemies and bosses. As always in this type of game, it’s all about finding fun and powerful builds by synergizing abilities. You can put them together in a 12-slot gear system. I also love the art style and animation of this game from Rogueside. I particularly like the fact that a character rushes by sliding on his knees.
A few months after its debut on Steam, Space Warlord Baby Trading Simulator landed on Xbox Series X/S for $20 this week. The latest game from the prolific Strange Scaffold studio is a stock market simulator where you speculate on the “simulated life of babies” and whether these alien children will succeed (or not) in the future. It targets real-world prediction markets where people can bet on everything from Time Personality of the year for nuclear testing.
Next
Here’s another game you can check out this weekend, as a playtest is happening on Steam until March 31st. Hi refused is a cooperative construction simulation and tower defense game from Firevolt and publisher Digital Vortex Entertainment.
You can get together with up to three friends to build experimental structures at the behest of a foreman who looks like he came straight from a construction site. Fortress Team 2. You’ll have tools like a gravity gun, foam gun, and jetpacks on hand to help you form these structures, as well as heavy machinery that can move or recycle sections of the construction. Coordination with proximity voice chat can be essential when you and your friends face natural disasters like acid rain and meteor showers.
I’ll almost always be okay with a game focused on chaos, so I’m interested in checking out Hi refused. It should arrive on Steam this fall before landing on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S in 2027.
Someone stole the sun. Getting it back is your goal in Light guywhich comes from solo developer Ramy of Dergham Games. This is an action game in which the lights go out when you move, so you’ll need to determine your approach to each level and how to avoid dangers before moving forward. There’s also a first-person mode here.
Light guy should arrive on Steam this spring. A demo is available now.
Solo developer Mateo Covic (aka ZoroArts) looks to continue the success of Paddle Paddle Paddle with another game between friends. Covic said it only took four weeks to create Cool story bro. Up to four players each have five minutes to write a short story comprising four words. These are chosen at random or from a pool of player suggestions.
Special items appear throughout each round, such as a revolver, which can exclude another player from the game for 10 seconds, and another that swaps each other’s stories. If you are the first player to enter the name of an item, you can use it.
Once everyone has finished writing their story, players take turns reading theirs for the rest of the group. The others vote to see if they liked the story. If you really hate someone else’s news, you can blast them with a rocket launcher. If only I had that option at some of the poetry readings I attended.
It seems fun and silly, and the kind of thing that could easily blow up on Twitch (there’s an integration that lets viewers suggest words). Cool story my brother should arrive on Steam in April.
Fittingly, it’s been a while since Third Shift announced their first project, There is always. Six years, in fact. The game reappeared this week during the Xbox Partner Preview showcase. Publisher Annapurna Interactive is offering it this fall on Xbox Series X/S, PS5, Nintendo Switch 2, Xbox on PC, Steam and Epic Games Store. It will be available on Xbox Game Pass (and Xbox Cloud) from day one.
This is a driving adventure in which you play as Alfred. Following a personal tragedy, he ventures north in his minivan to seek redemption. With an instant camera in hand, Alfred will meet new people and explore forests, deserts and mountains. This is another narrative game from Annapurna, which seems to lean heavily towards nostalgia this year given that Mixtape is only a few weeks away.
