Indie Titles You Should Keep An Eye On From SGF Like The Last Caretaker And OFF

Summer Game Fest has come and gone, and there's a lot to talk about if you're a fan of Resident Evil, Marvel Cosmic Invasion, or Crimson Desert but there was also an incredible presence of indie games like Petal Runner, Aether & Iron, and Fractured Bloom. I wanted to round up a number of the titles that I got to experience at The MIX, an indie and small publisher focused mixer event where I got to get hands-on with half a dozen titles.

Be sure also to check out our separate coverage on several other Indie titles, including Dosa Divas, Relooted, Reach, and more.

At the Mix, I got to check out the following games. I've listed them not only with their name, but also their genre in case you're wanting to look through to find something you're specifically interested in.

Captain Wayne - Vacation Desperation

Boomer Shooter
Developed by Ciaran Games LLC and published by Silver Lining Interactive

The first game I got buried into was Captain Wayne - Vacation Desperation. Picking up the controls, I was off with a sprint, making my way through a building and out to a dock, dodging the oncoming attacks of strange boxing cat-like creatures.

You could attack physically, use the shotgun built into the main character's arm (if you hadn't already used up all of the ammo), and perform flying kicks that would ramp up your character's momentum.

After a brief linear section, I'd reach an arena only to be absolutely swarmed by enemies, but coming close time and time again, I was always ready to hop right back into action. Each death I'd learn a bit more, become a bit faster, and more accurate as I took out waves of enemies.

While not traditionally my cup of tea, I can imagine that those who are fans of the genre would get a kick out of the action and comedy behind Captain Wayne. You can also play the demo right now on Steam if you're interested to learn more.

Death Howl

Soulslike Deck Builder
Developed by The Outer Zone and published by 11 bit studios

In Death Howl, you are a grieving woman trying try chase after her child, who she believes was turned into a deer and escaped. To do so, you'll need to make it through a dangerous forest, defeating enemies, collecting resources, and powering yourself up to take on ever-growing challenges.

When I first read the genre match up I wasn't quite sure about it, but I immediately saw the potential after reaching my first battle.

Stepping towards an enemy a grid will slowly appear, stepping into it combat will initiate. Each site takes turns moving a performing actions. For the player there is a set limit of actions you can take, playing cards from your hand has a certain cost, as does moving. Once you pass the turn the relatively simple AI of the monsters will then take theirs.

This game isn't just about the tactical knowledge of your own cards, but also understanding the way that the AI will work. In my second battle, an enemy bird that I learned can only attack at a distance was positioned near a wall. I was able to use my movement to trap it in a corner, meaning it couldn't attack.

Between battles, there's an overworld to explore and larger enemies to encounter, but returning to the Death Howl equivalent of a Bonfire will let you spend souls for upgrades, craft new cards, but also cause all enemies to respawn.

If you're after a tough tactical combat game with deckbuilding mechanics that might scratch the Soulslike itch, then I couldn't recommend Death Howl more. Check out the Demo now on Steam, I know our very own Don Parsons enjoyed it too

ANIMO Stars Arena

Arena Mech Shooter
Developed and Published by ANIMO Industries, Inc

ANIMO Stars Arena is an arena shooter that borrows the ideas of cute animals as well as mecha inspired combat games like Gundam or Armored Core. Sure you're going into a competitive battle as a chicken in a tank, but each part of that tank can be customized.

Adjust the way you move, the defenses you have, and what types of weapons you're armed with to create a build that best fits your playstyle, or have a few prepared to swap between during battle.

The demo that I got to play of ANIMO Stars Arena was definitely early on, but they already have a number of interesting features in place (including cool customizable merch).

This demo is also available on Steam.

Prison of Husks

PS2-Inspired Soulslike
Developed and Published by Glass Head Dolls

I'm really not much of a Soulslike person, but I couldn't help but stop in front of Prison of Husks, a game where everything about the gothic castle setting, to blocky PS2 models just screamed at me to play it. We're not talking late PS2 either, this is like launch-title PS2 blockyness.

You play as a pale doll that has come to life to try to explore or escape the castle.

The gameplay was quick fast paced and filled with all of the standard soulslike faire. Recharging stamina that you'll need to keep an eye on, a parry mechanic, and all kinds of secrets hidden around to stumble into.

While it looks like a PS2 title, there's no need to fear, the controls are incredibly fluid and it runs fantastically.

The demo is available on Steam to play now!

The Last Caretaker

Survival
Developed and published by Channel37 Ltd

On a world where Humankind needed to leave earth it was discovered that in space it wasn't possible for new humans to be born. The solution to this was to gestate humans on earth with robot caretakers and send them up into space. In The Last Caretaker, you take on the role of a Caretaker who woke up long after the others all went offline… for some reason.

It's your goal to discover what happened as you explore the large open world, and also recover new means to create humans and send them up into space.

The Last Caretaker was a survival game that really blew me away but the sheer number of Quality of Life features. Crafting that automatically pulls from inventory and nearby storage, schedule components to be built to reduce repetitive tasks, and process junk from the world for new materials.

It's clear that this development team has spent hundreds of hours pouring through survival games, understanding what makes them clunky, and then finding a resolution for that.

With a manually crafted world (no procedural generation) and a story and upgrade system that will push you to continue exploring this will likely become the new Subnautica that everyone is talking about.

While there's no demo the game will be releasing in Early Access, what that Early Access will consist of has been outlined on their Steam page.

Gunstoppable

Boomer Shooter
Developed and Published by CAGE Studios

Having tried one Boomer Shooter it made sense that I should try another one. Gunstoppable is an interesting indie shooter where momentum is key to everything. The faster you're moving at any given time the more powerful your weapons become.

To compliment this there are not only a variety of different weapon options — Katana, Pistol, and Rocket Launcher for each hand — but there's also a wide variety of movement options at your disposal for speeding up.

Wires around arenas will let you grind, nearly any surface is wallrideable, and there's also a grappling hook to help you reach those elevated spaces. There's a really natural feeling magnetism to different movement opportunities that allows you to just 'know' you'll end up landing on the rail so you can focus on looking the other direction and shooting at your enemies.

Another very nice touch on the rails is that your speed there is based on how you're holding the control stick, as opposed to being based on the momentum you mounted the rail with. This means that at any point it's incredibly easy to reverse direction while staying on the rail.

You can get more information about Gunstoppable on their Steam page.

OFF

RPG
Developed by Mortis Ghost and Fangamer and published by Fangamer

OFF is an interesting addition to the list as it's not technically a new game. Released in 2008 on RPG Maker 2003, it was released in Belgian before getting a fan translation in 2011. Following the strange Batter character, this game takes players through four interesting zones that are uniquely themed with turn-based combat.

The portion of the game that I got to play had be navigating through a theme park area including a swan boat ride that functioned like a Pokemon tile puzzle, and having to push a statue of the boss of the theme park onto a rollercoaster, to ride the ride and receive the souvenir photo to then be able to convince people that the boss and I are friendly enough to ride rollercoasters together.

This is the definition of the kind of strange indie game that would have been shared around the internet and become a cult classic at your school back in the day.

With art resembling Earthbound and Undertale (to use a more recent example even though it was released after) it's clear that OFF will become a very popular title.

An interesting addition for the remaster is that it includes original tracks from Toby Fox, among a variety of other artists.

You can download a prologue demo for OFF from Steam, and the game will fully release on August 15th for Steam as well as Nintendo Switch.

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All of the above games were previewed at The MIX at Summer Game Fest.