Welcome to GTOGG’s December 2024 edition of Promising Indie Game Releases, where we highlight indie and non-mainstream titles that we believe deserve your attention – in other words, “look at all this potentially cool stuff you might’ve missed otherwise”. That would’ve been too long for a title, though.
In any case, let’s get right down to it.
Ion Shift
Ever wanted to become the alien in a sci-fi horror game? Of course you have. Well, I’m happy to report that Ion Shift will let you live out that exact fantasy: a sci-fi action game taking place in a dark, futuristic world, developer Electro Soul Games’ project will let you become a creepy-crawly alien life form that really wants to eat some brains. Become a perfect organism and destroy anything that comes your way: crawl on walls, take out turrets or turn them against their human masters, lunge at unsuspecting victims and transform every level into your own blood-soaked playground – yup, sounds like a good time to me.
KLETKA
KLETKA introduces its own premise with quite the opening sentence, letting us know that it’s a “horror game about going down in an elevator that is trying to eat you.” You see, in this world, extremely dangerous criminals are forced to descend into the darkest depths of a place called the Gigastructure in order to keep Kletka, the aforementioned elevator, nicely fed with flesh and fuel. Oh, and did I also mention there’s a deadly anomaly out there to kill you? Kletka can protect you from it, but as you’d expect, the elevator demands sustenance… Honestly, this all sounds like a recipe for chaos and disaster, but that only makes KLETKA all the more exciting in my eyes, and is precisely why we’re mentioning it on our list.
Symphonia
Described as a “non-violent and poetic platformer”, Symphonia stars Philemon, a mysterious violinist who undertakes a noble quest: to bring music back to the world. The realm the game takes place in uses music as a source of life, but its founders and their orchestra have gone missing, leaving the world in silence. This is where you come in, using your violin – and your nifty platforming skills – to meet musicians and potentially recruit them to a brand-new orchestra.
Fountains
A pixel art action-RPG with punishing combat, Fountains stars a mysterious hooded warrior who, after being imprisoned by a tyrannical regime, goes on a quest to shed some light on the many mysteries of his war-ravaged land. Players can expect to meet a variety of unique characters and discover heaps of secrets as they put their skills to the test against a host of challenging boss fights reminiscent of the Souls series – which, if you ask me, sounds like a solid, tried-and-true combination.
The Spirit of the Samurai
Inspired by Japanese folklore and mythology, The Spirit of the Samurai will follow the quest of three playable protagonists, the samurai Takeshi, his loyal warrior cat Chisai, and the tiny spirit Kodama as they take up arms against the vicious Oni trying to conquer the lands with his undead army. Naturally, three characters means three different approaches to various situations, from precise katana combat to archery, magical powers and feline platforming – and it’s up to you to master all of them.
CRUDE
CRUDE is a soulslike platformer with metroidvania elements, and it instantly caught my eye with its unique visuals and interesting premise. Starring a New York MMA fighter who gets transported to a cruel, dark fantasy universe, the game features a striking art direction that reminds me of 80s action figures and nostalgic fantasy movies from that same era. Your task? To reach the towers of Doom and find a magical book that could open a portal and lead you back to your home world.
And that’s our list for now! Did you discover a new indie game to look forward to? Well, we hope you did. In any case, don’t forget to check back in about a month for our next episode, where we’ll be taking a look at the indie games of January 2025!
