Autumn has arrived again this year, a great time to spend a little more time with the cover, cup of hot tea and controller in hand. Also because, as you well know, the news for your videogame collections are always around the corner, and indie studies are no exception. After our advice you found in the special of best indies of August, now it’s time to discover the best indie video games of the month of September! Stay with us to take a closer look at the innovations proposed by independent videogame studios.
5 September Indie Video Games
1. Stray Fawn Studio – The Wandering Village
We begin our selection of September’s indie video games with The Wandering Village, made by Stray Fawn Studio. The Swiss studio launched this city-builder which also incorporates essential and typical elements of Studio Ghibli production. But let’s take a closer look at what we tried on PC.
The game opens with a quite full-bodied tutorial, which helps us learn community management on Onbu, a kind of ancient dinosaur still alive. Only a few hints will remain on the right side of the screen until you are ready to follow them, or you will want to avoid them altogether. Like any self-respecting management system, it presents the classic day-night cycle which, fortunately, does not affect the activities in the village. Among these, we will have to build structures necessary not only for the survival of the inhabitants. We will also be able to interact with the creature that hosts us on its back and try to make it perform some basic commands.
Developer:
Stray Fawn Studio
Price:
22,49 €
The latter was a challenge of no small importance. Rather than avoiding the death of hardship or poisoning of our inhabitants, it was the mission of building a relationship of trust with Onbu that was the most complicated. And not only for narrative reasons, but also for technical limitations. From this last point of view, in fact, the game isn’t perfect, especially for resource management and for the difficulty of navigating the menus. Also there visualization of some moments of the gameplay it is not entirely easy to use, as is the activity priority system, which does not allow us to know when the activities will be completed.
However, we liked the soundtrack and the audio effects of the various activities, which gave us peace of mind. Furthermore, the care of the graphics sector is not excessive, but makes the complex pleasant, even if imperfect due to some bugs. A quiet title, but with some difficulties, which we hope will be resolved with subsequent patches. We remember in fact that it is released in mid-Septembertherefore the developers may need some time to resolve the various issues.
2. Superstring – Acolyte Voice Within
Our second choice for this month fell on Acolyte, a very special and one-of-a-kind title. This is a Superstring narrative experience and available on Steam, which he submits to us a somewhat disturbing mystery to solve. Let’s see the various aspects of this together interactive story.
In Acolyte we lived an experience as realistic as it was interesting, due to a quiet but at the same time mysterious gameplay. Acolyte makes the plot its strong point, as we play the role of an employee in the world of technological innovation. From the very beginning we look closely at the daily life of a developer or tester that is. Our aim is to test the new form of artificial intelligence, called Acolyte and developed by the Nanomax company, where we work.
The gameplay subjects us to task to be completed and conversations with our AI, all displayed on a screen that reproduces that of a smartphone. An even more likely aspect, but in some ways inconvenient to visualize, is the verticality of the same viewjust like a phone. The main activities concern the dialogue with artificial intelligence, reading emails from our colleagues and completing the assigned objectives, mainly.
There is also the customization of the physical aspect of the AI, capable of rendering all even more fun and enjoyable, and interactivity, dictated by calculations to make or search online for information to progress. Involvement is therefore guaranteed, making it very plausible and talking to the AI in an autonomous and personalized way. We can indeed converse through messages that we create freely, but only and exclusively in English. The answers will not always be clear, there could be confusion or a request to repeat what is written.
Developer:
Superstring
Price:
8,99 €
In addition to these peculiarities, we must take care of solving the mystery that thickens above Nanomax and that will lead us to run into bugs, messages in binary code and photos that are not entirely clear. But it will be up to us to choose whether listen to company requests or indications from the AIin a story that seemed really interesting to us and that knows how to stand out for its originality.
3. Cat Shawl Games – Block’Em!
Let’s move on to the next indie video game in September with a very cute and colorful title. This is Block’em !, a party game in 2D very simple in mechanics and allows players to enjoy local or online multiplayer gameplay, up to four players. Let’s find out how our experience went with the game developed by Cat Shawl Games.
In Block’em! there is no story behind the gameplay. All we need to do is take control of a small, beautiful, weird looking cube-shaped monster. We can choose its appearance from a quite varied assortment of presets (but not too much). Once this is done, we can start playing by dedicating ourselves to the levels. When played in single player, the levels are presented randomly with few and easy goals to achieve.
Developer:
Cat Shawl Games
Price:
0
We have to be the first cube to reach the goal, survive the longest as the lava slowly engulfs the screen or put enough blocks. The actions available are classic and limited: jumping, placing blocks and also, cruelly, push our friends into the lava to win more easily. This last move is particularly effective (and very bad) if you temporarily form an alliance in a survival match.
A title therefore very easy and just as fun to try in company, thanks also to few controls to learn. However, these are only displayed very briefly on the loading screen, without further explanation. An entire game easily lasts less than half an hour, so it is enjoyable and optimal for those looking for quick and easy games.
4. Aviary Studios e Paul Raschid – The Gallery
In recent years, the world of video games has seen a lot of mixing with cinema and the presence of real people in it. One title that caught our attention for our selection of September’s indie video games is The Gallery, developed by director Paul Raschid and Aviary Studios. Let’s see together what it was like to live a
Morgan Haynes is an independent art curator who holds exhibitions at Argyle Manor in London. Struggling to make ends meet, Morgan is now on the brink of maintaining the gallery. One of the last chances is over a weekend, when the gallery will present a famous portrait that Morgan acquired through an illicit relationship with the artist.
The evening before the painting arrives, Morgan meets a mysterious portrait painter in the gallery, Dorian, an evocative name that not surprisingly recalls “The portrait of Dorian Gray”. After disarming the curator with charm, Dorian begins to paint a portrait of Morgan. As night falls, Morgan discovers that if he gets up from his chair, a bomb will explode. Time passes, and the situation takes on more and more thriller featuresincluding phone calls in accordance with the demands of Dorian and Morgan who have to contend with demons and family problems.
Developer:
Aviary Studios
Price:
14,99 €
A well-written story, narrated in an equally original and underdeveloped way in the live-action (FMV) game, or interactive film, if you prefer. Not by chance, the game brings with it 150 narrative paths different, which in turn lead us to 18 distinct finals, where our choices clearly have an important effect on the course. The timelines will also be two distinct, but we do not anticipate anything to avoid spoilers. They are not even missing side questswhich depending on the result with which they are completed, in turn influence the developments.
They also convinced us two game modes available, “limited time decisions” to give a more engaging experience, and “paused game decisions” for group games. Finally, the presence of quite renowned actors, such as Anna Popplewell (The Chronicles of Nania) and …