With some overlap from the Summer Game Fest that we’ve already covered, we’ll be skipping the first 27 minutes of this show just to save us the copy-paste. If you’ve been paying attention to the news we’ve been posting this afternoon you’ll have seen a couple of the games from this show already. As usual, the whole show is available above and below will just be the games sans filler. Enjoy.

Axiom Verge 2

Tom Happ’s excellent dark sci-fi metroidvania Axiom Verge is getting a sequel and we’re completely on-board for that. While ranged weapons were the focus of the original game, new character Indra is a melee fighter. Indra can also hack enemies and change their behaviour from a few choices rather than a single pre-set change. Additionally, boss fights will be optional. The game has also been confirmed for PlayStation, in addition to the previously announced PC and Switch.

Toem

Swedish indie developers Something We Made have announced Toem, a mix of three-quarters perspective adventure and first-person photography presented in a clean greyscale style. Players will have to help the world’s inhabitants and complete photography challenges and puzzles.

Phantom Abyss

Ben Marrinan from developer Team Wiby introduced their game, Phantom Abyss, which is a first person rogue-lite where players have to try to snag a relic from procedurally generated temples. The twist is asynchronous multiplayer and only one attempt per temple. When the first player claims the relic, a temple is closed permanently. Phantom Abyss is releasing into Steam Early Access this month.

Garden Story

Garden Story is an adventure game about a young grape who must defend his island home and help the inhabitants by gathering resources and exploring like a fruit-based Link. There’s even a musical element shown in the trailer. Garden Story is coming in Summer 2021.

Soup Pot

Chikon Club’s Soup Pot is a game about cooking. Not just soup but baking, skewering, and presumably other fancier ways of making food that involves not stuffing a sausage in some fire. It looks like a nice chill time, and will have no fail states, which is way better than having to eat charcoal after you forgot a sausage in the fire.

A Musical Story

A Musical Story, from developers Glee-Cheese Studio, is a game about playing music to unlock memories which then play out with some typically European psychedelic art. The story features a young musician struggling with addiction in the 70s as they and their band attempt to play an event called Pinewood. A Musical Story is coming to PC and consoles later this year, a demo is available via Steam right now.

Vokabulantis

Vokabulantis is a stop motion animated adventure game where characters don’t have mouths and there’s a lightbulb-headed robot. Other than extensive stop motion work and it being a puzzle platformer the trailer doesn’t really give us too many clues about what’s going on.

Road 96

Digixart’s upcoming procedurally generated road trip adventure Road 96 has a brand new story trailer that shows us some of what to expect on the harsh trip to escaping a country including an uncomfortable taxi ride with a dinosaur loving cabbie armed with a gun. Thousands of possible endings is a big promise but it looks like there’s some pretty varied adventures to be had along the way.

The Wandering Village

Stray Fawn Studio’s The Wandering Village is a city building game where you create your settlement on the back of a giant wandering creature. Players will have to build in a symbiotic relationship with the creature they live on to survive in the game’s colourful but hostile world. You’ll even be able to build a tower that can give the creature commands to make it stop, run, eat, or sleep but it won’t always listen to you.

Unbeatable

Unbeatable is a rhythm adventure game inspired by anime and set in a world where music is illegal. Controls are two-button and the game features a totally waifu-worthy pink haired protag-chan and her band. You can even choose which songs you play at your illegal concerts.

Death’s Door

David Fenn of Acid Nerve introduces Death’s Door, an action based RPG about a crow that’s also a grim reaper set in a world where nothing naturally dies any more and you have to head out and reap those souls the old fashioned way. With a rad crow sword.

Behind the Frame

Behind the Frame is a point and click narrative puzzle game where players take on the role of an artist trying to make her way in life. Short, simple animated cutscenes accompany some actions. There’s a chonky cat too, so automatic bonus points.

Asobu – Elec Head, Demolition Robots K.K, and Walk

In a segment presented by Asobu (we’ve never heard of them either) we’ve got a look at a few Japanese indie games including; Elec Head, a puzzle-platformer about a robot trying to bring light back to the world. Electricity travels through anything it touches and the head can even be thrown to power mechanisms or get through platforming challenges. Next up is Demolition Robots K.K which is a game about making a whole bunch of money by smashing up buildings. Players compete for top score while Twitch players can influence what’s going on in streamers’ game. Lastly, Walk is inspired by PlayStation era horror classics and is about a school girl trying to return home after dark but she’s pursued by shadowy monsters.

Moonglow Bay

Developers Bunnyhug introduce their slice-of-life fishing RPG Moonglow Bay which is set in a town of people afraid to fish. Moonglow Bay is set during the 1980s on the eastern Canadian coast and with the promise of a mysterious monster. Players will be able to revitalize their town, cook recipes, and stuff fish in a glass prison called an aquarium.

Loot River

“Imagine if Diablo and Tetris had a baby.” is how developer Miro Straka introduces his action rogue-like Loot River. Players will have the ability to shift chunks of the terrain around, potentially splitting up groups of enemies or gaining other advantages. The trailer shows off some great looking water ripples and reflections.

Despelote

Julian Cordero is a man so enthused by the game’s he’s working on he barely manages to introduce it with a dozen mumbled words while struggling to stay awake. Despelote is set in 2001 Ecuador and you’re a kid who just wants to play soccer in the park with their friends. You can even annoy the locals and have your ball ruined by an eager dog. The game is basically a story about how soccer can influence a place.

Last Stop

Last Stop is a third person adventure set in present day London in the midst of a supernatural crisis. The story is told from the viewpoints of three characters; a high schooler, an overworked single dad, and a ruthless professional. The trailer shows a guy with glowing green eyes, a similarly green (and glowy) portal to a desert, and the vague threat of green glowy things perhaps not being healthy. Last Stop is releasing on 22 July 2021 for PC and consoles.

That’s all she wrote for this show – and we’re left wondering why half of these games weren’t front and centre in the earlier show. We’ve seen a solid mix of artsy indie titles with Road 96 and Unbeatable catching our attention the most. Some of the animated segments for Unbeatable has a solid Kill La Kill vibe and while the idea of being musical criminals isn’t new to gaming, it’s still an entertaining prospect. We’ll have more coverage of this year’s shows over the weekend and into next week so keep an eye out for more.