Indie Selects for July: Cool Indie Games That You Deserve for Your Hot Gamer Summer
Need recommendations for new indie games? We have six Indie Selects this month handpicked by us, the ID@Xbox team, and we think they are pretty dang great (excuse my language, the boss is not around). Whether you’re into trekking your way through the darkest dungeons with your ragtag crew, finding secrets on the moon, or grapple-shooting in all directions, July’s Indie Selects has a little something for everybody. Here’s the list (in no particular order):
Darkest Dungeon II
Darkest Dungeon II is a brutal-but-fair roguelike, turn-based, strategy game. True to its roguelike nature, every decision matters. The path you pick, the heroes you take with you, the powers and items you use; all of these build up your own unique run. Managing heroes’ stress, HP, relationships, and the currency used to upgrade and advance – to name just a few of the variables you will face and manage – also adds personality and flavor that you can rarely see in other games. Tough to conquer, nothing is more rewarding than defeating your enemies with a perfect line-up that you worked tens of hours to create and master.
Darkest Dungeon II
Red Hook Studios
$39.99
Darkest Dungeon II is a roguelike road trip of the damned. Form a party, equip your stagecoach, and set off across the decaying landscape on a last gasp quest to avert the apocalypse. The greatest dangers you face, however, may come from within…
Gather your courage and ride out into the chaos of a world undone.
Four heroes and a stagecoach are all that stand between darkness and salvation.
Roguelike Runs; Even Failure Moves You Forward
Each expedition is less than 5 hours, and progress you make opens up new hero abilities, items, and stagecoach upgrades that can be used on your next journey.
The Affinity System
As travels progress, heroes bond with each other or grate on each others’ nerves, leading to desperately needed combat synergies or journey-ending dysfunction. Manage their stress and interaction to keep the team together until the bitter end.
Face Your Failures
Uncover and experience the tragic origin stories of each hero and unlock their full potential.
Nightmarish Environs
From the burning Sprawl to the diseased Foetor, the road will challenge your strategies and your endurance.
Lifeless Moon
From the very beginning you can tell that Lifeless Moon is much more than your standard 3D platformer. The premise is that you are part of a small team of astronauts in the ’70s, and quickly learn of something that has happened on this moon that defies explanation. The paranormal time jumps are reminiscent of a horror film, and that feeling that something isn’t right ramps up the very quickly. Reading the clues left behind by the folks no longer around just adds to the sense of dread as you try to unravel the mystery of what happened here. Serenity Forge have turned themselves into masters of eerie storytelling and this title sits perfectly within their portfolio. If you are a fan of mystery and rich narrative, this is a game worth checking out.
Lifeless Moon
Serenity Forge
$12.99
Lifeless Moon, the spiritual successor to the popular 2014 indie title Lifeless Planet, is a 3D platformer that puts you in the center of a mysterious Moon expedition. This new adventure, inspired by classic science fiction, plays as an Apollo-era astronaut who finds themself in the aftermath of an old 1970s experiment: an oddly familiar desert town… on the moon.
Explore Anomalies
Secrets in the desolate moon city soon unlock mysteries on a much grander scale… Equipped with a jetpack and your sense of survival, search for the truth through landscapes one could hardly fathom.
Collect Documents
You’ll need perseverance and wit to uncover this mystery. Record your thoughts and find clues from the past to unravel the dark secrets residing on this celestial body.
Utilize The Technology
If you want to understand the forces at hand, you’ll need to use them to your advantage. Solve puzzles and work with strange technology to create a path forward.
Unearth The Mystery
In a land where objects materialize from nothing and time flows unexpectedly, relive the experiences and traumas of the scientists that came before you. After all, following their footsteps might be the only way to return home.
Poppy Playtime: Chapter 1
Explore a long-abandoned toy factory where staff have mysteriously disappeared and nostalgic VHS tapes are needed to piece together the mystery. I knew about Poppy Playtime long before I had the opportunity to play on my Xbox. The Huggy Wuggy character has massively resonated with my kids, to the point that our house is filled with Huggy Wuggy Halloween costumes, stuffed animals and toys. When the moment came to play the game on Xbox, I jumped at the chance to check it out and was not disappointed. The team at Mob Entertainment masterfully captured the essence of an era when toys were a child’s closest companion, but have distorted that sense of comfort by making the toys the source of fear. The looming sense of dread perforated what was obviously once a beacon of childhood innocence and fun. The puzzles were satisfying and had a clear sense of progression, but the atmosphere is really what makes this game shine. This is the first chapter of the series, with more to come – I’m ready for more.
Poppy Playtime: Chapter 1
Mob Entertainment
$4.99
You must stay alive in this horror/puzzle adventure. Try to survive the vengeful toys waiting for you in the abandoned toy factory. Use your GrabPack to hack electrical circuits or nab items from afar. Explore the mysterious facility… and don’t get caught.
Welcome to Playtime Co.!
Playtime Co. was once the king of the toy manufacturing industry… until everybody inside of the factory one day disappeared into thin air. Now, years later, you must explore the factory and uncover the truth.
The Toys
The toys of Playtime Co. are a lively bunch! We have Boogie Bot, Huggy Wuggy, Catbee, Poppy, and more! As long as you’re here, why not pay the toys a little visit? You might just make a few new friends…
The GrabPack
This amazing GrabPack is a wearable backpack, accompanied by 2 artificial hands attached via a steel wire. With this handy, state-of-the-art tool, there’s no limit to what Playtime Co. employees can accomplish! The following list of features should help to show you what the GrabPack has to offer:
• The hands’ powerful grip allows for movement of heavy objects with ease!
• A lengthy and flexible wire gives any employee the ability to reach whatever they may need!
• The steel wire makes conducting electricity a breeze!
Won’t you stick around? There’s a lot of fun in store for you. It’s almost Playtime…
Times & Galaxy
In this narrative adventure, you’re a robot. Correction: You’re the first ever Times & Galaxy robot intern. You have a lot to prove before people start taking you seriously as a reporter. Time to head into the field, investigate the scene, and get the latest scoop. You only get one chance to talk to people, and the right or wrong question could send the story from complete gossip rag fare to hard-hitting journalism. Once you have uncovered a story, head back to your ship to piece together the headline, the lead, the nut graph, a key quote, and a bit of color to shape your news report. The information you gather and the way you present it will establish your reputation and cultivate your following. You’re a robot reporter. Correction: You’re the robot reporter.
Times and Galaxy
Fellow Traveller
$19.99
Embark on an interplanetary adventure as the first robo reporter for the Times & Galaxy, the solar system’s most trusted holopaper. You’re just an intern, but if you can get the scoop, write great stories, and impress your colleagues, maybe you’ll get to keep your job!
We’re assigning you stories that put the hyper in hyper-local news! On any given cycle choose to cover shuttle crashes, intersolar cat shows, even space ghost funerals. It’s up to you!
Between assignments, you’ll have the chance to get to explore the Scanner and get to know a diverse and colorful cast of friends and rivals, including your fellow reporters, the editorial staff, pilots and ship’s crew.
Key Features
• Get the Scoop – Blast off on assignment, interview sources, dig up clues, and investigate the scene. The more information you gather, the more material you’ll have to work with.
• Write Your Own Story – At the end of each assignment, use the Build-a-Story™ tool to construct your article using all that info you gathered, choosing what to include and how to frame the story.
• Influence Editorial Direction – Your choices impact the quality and tone of the story and how both your editors and readers will react to it. Over time, the choices in each story start to shape the reputation and popularity of a holopaper. So hey, no pressure!
• Impress Your Colleagues – Explore the Scanner and meet the weird and wild staff. You’ll find humans, augers, verge, xeel and of course, robos.
• Made by Real Journalists – the writers at Copychaser spent years working as journalists before entering the games industry.
Rusted Moss
A twin-stick shooter Metroidvania with an eyeball grappling hook! Oh, do we have your attention? Hard to learn, and rewarding to master, once you grasped 360 degrees of traversal, you’ll find yourself zipping back and forth around enemies, traps, and all manor of obstacles. Like most well-crafted Metroidvanias, the star of the show is the level design. Rusted Moss’ interconnected map features various distinct areas, each with unique ways to progress. You might be flying through a myriad of lasers in one area, carried by the wind in another, all while having to switch between your grappling hook and a more offensive weapon for the situation. Plus, cool boss fights! Did I mention the eyeball grappling hook?
Rusted Moss
PLAYISM
$19.99
[Metroidvania with a Physics-Based Grapple]
This metroidvania utilizes your grapple and weapons with a full 360° aiming system. The freedom created by these controls creates a smooth experience for users to feel in complete control of their character. Find creative solutions to flexible traversal challenges, and blast away witches and machinery with precise aiming.
[Now for the Hook…]
The grappling hook is hard to learn yet rewarding to master. This unique physics-based elastic grappling hook uses your kinetic momentum to propel your character forward. Similar to rock climbing, there’s no set path through this melancholic abandoned wasteland. Latch onto any moss covered structure and swing your way through this rugged terrain.
[Shotgun blasts, Precision shots, Rocket jumps!]
No more aiming in just 8 directions. As a twin-stick shooter, Rusted Moss emphasizes tight and precise gunplay. Quickly switch between your arsenal of weapons to best suit your playstyle and situation. Get up close and personal with a shotgun before grappling away and pulling out a sniper for the killing blow!
[Boss fights!]
Push your gunplay and grappling hook skills to their limits! From powerful witches to machine monstrosities, each boss fight throws its own unique challenge at you. Dodge swords, avoid energy fields, and blast away at conjured spiders.
[Story]
Journey across desolate landscapes drenched in melancholy; witness the remnants of humanity and their rusting iron inventions… Humanity is on the brink of collapse and will soon be invaded by faeries. In a desperate bid to survive, humans have empowered their own witches with stolen fae magic.
But all is not lost, as the humans were deceived – for one of their own is not what she seems. The fae have stolen a human baby, and replaced it with something else…
Raised by unsuspecting human parents, Fern is a changeling whose true loyalties have emerged. Alongside a mysterious shadow named Puck, she sets off on a journey to return fae to the world and end the Age of Men.
Whose side will you choose – human or fae?
Naheulbeuk’s Dungeon Master
Construct your lair, hire your minions, manage the tavern within said lair, track expense reports, and most importantly defend your dungeon! This game is a combination of staff and dungeon management that’s especially self-aware of the genre it lives in. Improve the quality of your rooms and level up your adviser reputation to attract new patrons to your tavern and less useless employees to your payroll. Manage the needs of your lackeys to get the best out of them, otherwise you’ll have to deal with strikes and other acts of insubordination. As your dungeon improves, you’ll attract the worst types of people: adventurers! Fend off those loot-hungry do-gooders by building treacherous traps and artifices while sending your minions to raid neighboring dungeons! Boost your reputation to unprecedented levels to become the ultimate dungeon master! Now, about those expense reports…
Naheulbeuk’s Dungeon Master
Dear Villagers
$29.99
Your mission, should you choose to accept it!
Embody Reivax, the servile (or not) steward of the Dungeon of Naheulbeuk. Years before the first incursion of fearless adventurers, you are tasked to build, develop, and populate the wobbly tower. Above all, try not to upset your master, the evil sorcerer Zangdar. Are you up to the task?
Ascend to days of glory and build the dungeon of your dreams!
Decorate each room with lots of objects and furniture to attract new patrons and employees!
Raise your reputation to new heights to become the world-devious dungeon!
Level up your Tripe adviser reputation to attract new customers to your tavern!
Display your most precious treasures to earn their benefits! Protect them from jealous neighbors!
As you grow, unlock new dungeon levels to expand and diversify!
Hire less useless personnel to work, defend, raid, and serve the evil Zangdar.
The world of Naheulbeuk is inhabited by various and unusual species, each with perks and skills – can you manage them?
Manage the expectations and the needs of your fellow minions to reveal the best or worst of their capabilities!
Upgrade them to improve their workflow and their satisfaction!
Deal with strikes and other acts of insubordination the way you like!
Handle Zangdar frustration to secure your fragile position!
As your dungeon grows and improves its reputation, defend it against adventurers!
Build treacherous traps and artifices to catch raiders and seal their fate!
Offense is the best defense – send your minions to loot and raid neighboring dungeons!
Want to eliminate the competition? Send your mercenaries and guards on incursions all around the land of Fangh!
Many factions exists in Naheulbeuk, try not to frustrate them to much or face reprisals !
Production is key to thriving and achieving a monopoly, so you will need to generate numerous resources to flood the market!
Tools, weapons, compost, intel, astral energy, and more! Stock or sell them to gain advantages!
Use the Crac 40 wisely to prosper!
Unlock the market, giving you access to new items and artifacts!
