We’ve got another new show this year – the Tribeca Games Spotlight that aired as part of IGN’s segment of the show. The usual rules apply – full stream above and individual games minus fluff below. Let’s dive in and see what’s interesting:

Signalis

Actually announced a year ago, it’s nice to see the wonderful pixel art and retro-sci-fi aesthetic of Signalis again. We also get a good look at some gameplay, wandering around the facility, picking up items and weapons, and fighting an aggressive monster. We also get a brief flash of the female protagonist without her helmet looking dark and alien. This is looking like one survival horror adventure we definitely want to play.

Kena: Bridge of Spirits

Kena: Bridge of Spirits is a game about a spirit guide trying to save a village haunted by restless souls. The CG trailer shows our young protagonist turning her staff into a magical bow and, after a brief talk about the studio’s other work, a little gameplay of her exploring the woods and fighting enemies called Rot with magical abilities. The Rot are also cute little black creatures when not being monsters.

NORCO

We got another look at the announcement trailer from four months ago. The game is a sci-fi Southern Gothic style point and click adventure set in South Louisiana’s industrial swamps. Expect plenty of surreal stuff, a fugitive cyborg, and a heavy focus on details and a unique combat system that mixes light puzzle and timing elements.

Harold Halibut

Harold Halibut is a game where a 1970s space ship full of 1970s people escaping communism crashes into an alien ocean and the ship becomes a city forever stuck in the 1970s. The whole game is literally hand crafted by the developers and stop motion animators for a striking look. The game’s about the titular Harold, a lab assistant who works for a scientist trying to find a way for the ship to leave its watery resting place.

Sable

We’ve got our second look at Shedworks’ sandy adventure Sable. The stand-out art style still feels at odds with the jerky animations for us but the intriguing desert world has us eager to see more. The game’s about a young woman’s journey to decide what she wants to be, exploring and meeting other people along the way.

Lost in Random

Gothic fairytale Lost in Random has resurfaced with another look at its weird world. The story is about a young girl called Even who befriends a living dice inventively called Dicey, and their journey to rescue Even’s sister Odd. Dicey also doubles as a weapon for Even, with the ability to roll him in combat for various magical effects.

12 Minutes

12 Minutes is a thriller about a man trapped in a twelve minute time loop in his apartment. We’ve all been there, most of us call it “Sunday afternoon.” Of course, there’s more to it; the central hook is that while enjoying the evening with your wife, a cop shows up and accuses her of murder and you get beat while trying to stop the arrest. Armed with knowledge of the future you can then say and do different things in subsequent loops to influence events. There’s also the voice talents of James McAvoy (Professor Xavier in modern X-Men movies) and Daisy Ridley (Rey from Star Wars) as the protagonist and his wife.

The Big Con

The Big Con from developers Mighty Yell, is a coming of age adventure about a teen in the ’90s who goes on a trip to hustle their way across America and save their mom’s video store. If only they had a time machine to see how futile that would turn out to be. On the way you’ll wear disguises, pick pockets, and talk your way in and out of trouble.

That’s it for the show. We’ve seen some games that’ve surfaced previously and it’s good to see they’re still in development; 12 Minutes in particular looks like it’s gunning for more than a few awards. For us, Signalis is definitely most appealing – the sci-fi survival horror setting that looks like it borrowed a few neat tricks from adventures of yore. We can call the DOS days “yore” like they’re the medieval times, right? Stay tuned for more E3 coverage over the rest of the weekend.