Last night, Kinda Funny held an indie showcase event at E3. Amongst all the jokes they managed to cram an impressive amount of indie games into fifty minutes. Keep reading to find out more:
Cel-shaded and bloody, Bloodroots is a top-down action game where perfection and speed is the name of the game. Also, you play a character that’s just as adept murdering with a giant carrot as he is with a giant scythe. Any game that lets you beat your opponents to death with a vegetable is a-ok in our book. The demo is available on the game’s official site.
Imagine Kung-Fu Panda, but with a tiny hamster and beating the snot out of giant evil looking rats and other anthropomorphised animals. Sadly there’s not much information but the game is expected to release between mid June and mid July.
This one’s actually been out since last year, but Kinda Funny showcased a new gameplay trailer for the speedy, momentum based platformer/brawler. A new update to the game apparently landed alongside the trailer, but we sadly couldn’t find any info.
Aiming to release in Q1 2020, Wave Break is a modern take on skating games like Tony Hawk’s but with boats piloted by cute animal mascot type characters. A modern retro style permeates the design with synthwave music and lots of neon pink in the UI.
This top-down polygonal shooter is reminiscent of classic space shooter Asteroids but you’ll be taking on missions and other ships as you set out to become the top ranked defender of the galaxy. Expect the game later this year.
Published on itch.io, this skill testing lo-fi indie looks like it’ll push your hand-eye coordination to the limits with levels reminiscent of an Atari 2600 game made up of chunky lines and blocks.
Already in Steam Early Access, Trackher is a twin-stick shooter with a twist – you’re controlling two ships, one on each half of the screen. It looks like an absolute nightmare of attention splitting and its store page even features a huge disclaimer in bold capitals about its difficulty.
Another game already on Early Access. Looking For Heals asks “what if a healer took charge”, then gives them minions and enemies comprised of huge sprites to smash and lets you loose in that very scenario.
One Night Stand is an animated visual novel about what follows a one night stand. Do you successfully navigate the intricacies of meeting a potential partner, or do you cock it up? The game’s been out on PC for 3 years, but is coming to Playstation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One this summer.
Another game that’s already out on PC but coming to consoles in summer. The Inner Friend launches you into an adventure of psychological horror where you must face your childhood fears.
Your ship has crashed, you and a few other victims are stranded on an island. What follows is a 2D survival/crafting game in the vein of Starbound. Colourful lo-fi graphics and a rideable dragon make this Early Access game stand out. Fancy Fish Games are aiming for a full release in 2020.
Refactor is a twist on the Metroidvania style of game, you can change the map, literally moving parts to forge your own path to new areas. You also play a cube rolling around and doing whatever a cube does. Expect a release in 2020.
Released last year on PC, Pig Eat Ball is a top-down action game where you travel through space stations full of vicious creatures and puzzles eating (and barfing) to progress. Expect console releases Summer 2019.
Though a couple of years old now, Standby still stands out with its sharply contrasting visuals and crazy fast platforming. You’ll smash barriers, wall slide, air dash, and bounce your way through a super challenging series of 54 levels.
Moving on to VR territory we’ve got Demagnete a game where you manipulate magnetic blocks to solve numerous puzzles. The game will be launching on all VR platforms sometime this year.
This VR game has you raising a falcon. The falcon can dab. That either sold you or made you cringe. Seriously though, this adventure will have you hunting and fighting alongside your adorable falcon buddy.
It’s not international talk like a pirate day for a few months yet but Battlewake will throw you into the boots of a salty sea dog with your own ship in a fantasy world of naval battles and you can do what every 10 year old has always wanted to: unleash the kraken! Battlewake will be releasing for PC and PSVR Summer 2019.
Back in the good ol’ days of IRC slapping someone with a trout was a thing. Soon it will be again thanks to RAWMEN. This crazy cartoony food fight sees tasty dishes turned into deadly weapons for a slapstick battle. Expect RAWMEN to release in Summer 2019.
You’re dead, so is your best friend, and you’re both thrust into hell. But all is not lost – if you can drink Satan under the table you can get your ticket back to Earth and avoid an eternity of suffering. Time to go on a colourful drunken bender for the fate of your eternal soul.
Social engineering is a form of hacking where you manipulate people to gain access to things you shouldn’t have. Solace State puts you in the role of a social hacker facing off against a surveillance state. Topical!
In this side scrolling shoot-em-up you play as a rocket powered middle finger taking on the enemies of freedom. You can shoot down waves of oncoming enemies, or give them the finger and steal their weapons for your own purposes. It also sports some impressive talent like Aesop Rock, Nolan North, and John DiMaggio.
Currently on Kickstarter, this top-down adventure game casts you as a cute frog solving puzzles and battling enemies in a Legend Of Zelda: Link To The Past style game. A demo is available already, which you can pick up from their Kickstarter page.
This narrative adventure will see you playing as a stranger passing through a frontier town in the old-west. Stylish chunky graphics and a lovely washed out colour palette featuring all the shades of your grandma’s wallpaper give it a very distinct look.
This perception bending adventure platformer plonks you into an almost Escher-like world of floating platforms you’ll run along, up, and around from all angles. Expect a release for all platforms on 18 July 2019.
Imagine a painfully cute bird on a skateboard doing sweet kickflips and riding the pipes in a miniature skate park. Then imagine it hilariously wiping out. Congratulations, you’ve just pictured Skatebird. The game is releasing in 2020, but you can try an alpha demo here.
This surreal adventure has you manipulating the flow of time to solve puzzles in imaginative diorama-esque levels. The Gardens Between is already out on PC, but will be making its way to Switch soon.
Renaine is a fast paced, difficult platformer with an old-school aesthetic reminiscent of the Master System and Commodore 64 simultaneously. You’ll take on the role of Aine, the Phoenix Knight, on her quest to get even with a dragon that did wrong by her. Expect the game to release sometime later this year.
This one is a bizarre mix of musical rythm action game (think Guitar Hero) and going on a rampage as a giant disembodied human hand. Yes, you read that right, a giant human hand.
Starfall Studios have smashed together Mario style platforming and Mark Of The Ninja style stealth and gadget play in this game where you take on the role of a blob-shaped ninja going up against the equally blob like samurai.
Undermine is a rogue-lite action game where you delve into a mine and do typical rogue-like type things like gathering items, murdering loads of enemies, dying a bunch, and unlocking upgrades to make future runs more palatable.
A sequel to the witty Monster Prom will bring back some of the lovable monster waifus/husbandos of the original as well as adding in more lovely partners to the mix. Expect the game to release sometime in 2020.
You’ve got a wooden car and want to check out summer. Time for a road trip! Your travels will take you through lands comprised of beautiful art, mystical creatures, and being chased by a bear on a bulldozer. Summer Catchers is releasing in July 2019.
Lovecraftian horror and detective adventure meet in a twisted version of 1920s USA. Keeping a hold of your sanity in dingy, flooded streets and in the face of unknowable cosmic horror sounds like an excellent adventure to us. The Sinking City launches on 27 June 2019.
This kooky cooperative 3D platformer has two spherical animals tied together by a length of rope – it’s your task to share a controller with a friend and navigate the many perils of its colourful, lighthearted world. Fling To The Finish is on Kickstarter.
Cyberpunk volleyball with guns. I sincerely hope we don’t have to spell out just how incredibly batshit insane and awesome that is. There’s a guy with a huge pompadour and some great background art in a style that echoes the great adventure games of the Amiga. Release platforms aren’t announced yet, but expect it to arrive somewhere in mid 2020.
Bombfest was released on PC in January, but is making its way to consoles as well as receiving a new DLC this month. But what is the game? Sumo wrestling with explosives. You’ll play adorable little block people battling it out in tiny arenas in this party game.
Despite having a name that suggests a depressing jaunt through the mountains, Lonely Mountains: Downhill is actually a polygonal downhill biking game in the style of extreme BMXing. Expect a release later this year.
Despite a brief segment where the narrator just reads the Steam store synopsis we’re here to tell you a bit more. StarCrossed is a cooperative action game where you and a partner pick magical girls and do battle with scores of enemies in space, destroying them with a star bouncing between the two of you. Imagine Pong with cute girls as the paddles and you’re close.
Step into the shoes of a police officer in this top-down action game where you’ll have to follow procedure. You’ll have to conserve ammo, not murder suspects, and try to survive while navigating random enemy and evidence spawns. Police Stories will be playable either solo or cooperatively and is releasing on 19 September 2019.
This Castlevania-esque platformer is created by Kayin, the evil genius behind I Wanna Be The Guy. It’s been in development for five years now and we’re still hungry for a release date.
Labs Works is bringing even more awesome pixel art in this action adventure platformer where you’ll play three characters each with their own stats and skills as they battle their way to the top of a mystical tower. Astalon is expected to release this year.
Coming Summer 2019, a mash-up of belt-scrolling beat-em-up a la Double Dragon, RPG, and turn-based battle systems in Treachery In Beatdown City. No, we can’t picture how that’ll play either but it looks like it’ll be a good laugh.
This 3D platformer puts you in the fluffy body of a tamarin to bounce and romp about splatting bugs and doing general acrobatic tamarin stuff. Expect a release on PC and Playstation 4 in Summer 2019.
Stoneshard has you in the boots of a medieval mercenary exploring a procedurally generated world while managing your caravan, dealing with wounds, and trying not to lose your mind. Stoneshard will be coming to Steam Early Access in 2019.
The latest entry in the Stronghold series takes on an asian flavour but retains that classic castle and fort sieging gameplay the series is known for. Stronghold: Warlords will be releasing sometime in 2020.
Take on the role of a digital exorcist in Lucifer Within Us. In this game you’ll have to solve mysteries with your own wits, examine the evidence and timeline for clues to who’s possessed and then purge the demon from them.
Colourful, particle spewing graphics reminiscent of Geometry Wars give this colour changing, top-down arcade style twin-stick shooter a unique look. #Funtime is expected to launch later this year.
If your only experience with romantic comedy is Adam Sandler movies, you may want to give Half Past Fate a look to restore your faith in the genre. This narrative focused adventure game explores three different relationships that form over different spans of time.
This mind bending first-person perspective puzzler will see you manipulating the world and objects via your own perception of them. This is a tough one to describe, so we suggest skipping ahead to 36:06 in the embed above to take a look.
In Undying you’ll play a mother protecting her son in the zombie apocalypse. You’ll shoot, explode, and slash the undead to pieces to keep your offspring intact. Not that he’s totally helpless, we saw him taking shots at a zombie right alongside his mom in the trailer. Now that’s quality family bonding. Undying is aiming to release early 2020.
The sequel to the excellent Castle Storm will be a mix of hex-grid turn based strategy and real-time 2D battles where you’ll take command of your forces and a powerful ballistae to lay waste to the enemy castle. Castle Storm 2 will be exclusive to the Epic Games Store when it releases on PC sometime in 2019.
This adventure strategy game looks like a fancy board game, playing out on book pages with actions dictated by cards and characters in battle represented by chunky poker-chip style tokens. Trials Of Fire is already available in Steam Early Access.
Mare is a VR adventure for Oculus headsets where you direct a girl and her mechanical bird, and influence the world with where you look. With a graphical style that echoes Team ICO’s haunting landscapes, and that’s because Rui Guerreiro (The Last Guardian) is working on it.
In Deliver Us The Moon you’ll take on the weighty task of investigating a Lunar energy plant that’s gone silent years earlier as Earth’s last astronaut. Humanity’s fate rests on your space shoulders. Deliver Us The Moon is landing on 28 September 2019.
In Recompile you take on the role of a semi-sapient program aiming to escape deletion. To achieve your goal and survive you’ll have to deal with battling enemies, hacking the environment, and platforming challenges. Expect Recompile to launch sometime in 2020.
This 2D action platformer drops you into a post-war world as an Arbiter, a powerful combatant that must use her acrobatics and weapons to overcome deadly corrupted creatures. Foregone is set to launch in Winter 2019.
Relic Hunters Legend will be a looter-shooter style three-quarters perspective action RPG. It’ll also be free to play when it launches sometime in Q1 2020.
This game will put you incommand of an army of mecha for turn-based battles on a hex grid map where units clash in an Advance Wars style. There’ll be four playable unique commanders, and a load of cool anime inspired mecha when the game launches in 2020.
Wolves, fish, hummingbirds, wombats, and tropical birds all seem to be playable, but the mysterious trailer gives little away beyond the beautiful wildlife and a glowing orb seemingly leading the way for our furry/feathered pals.
Lastly we have Adams Ascending: The trailer opens with a child escaping an exploding space station amidst what looks like an alien invasion. You’ll take on the role of Adam as he grows older and goes searching for his missing father in this third person adventure.
Renaine stole the show for me with fantastic artwork I can only describe as a mash up of Master System and Commodore 64, and incredibly slick gameplay. Summer Catchers background art was on a level all its own but the gameplay looked like it might be lacking. Brave Earth and Astalon both hit the Castlevania 3 vibe incredibly strongly and provided a much needed mid-show morale boost. Cramming 60 games into 48 minutes with jokes between segments felt like a disservice to some of the games, like those mentioned here, that could’ve done with more time in the spotlight. That said, Kinda Funny managed to put together a fantastic but frantic show that managed to show off some well deserved indies that might otherwise have been relegated to obscurity.
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