Remote work as a worm, colorful platformers and other new indie games worth checking out

Remote work as a worm, colorful platformers and other new indie games worth checking out Plus, shipbuilding, I Am Your Beast DLC and a cat trying to stop an AI office takeover. Welcome to our latest roundup of what's going on in the indie game space. Along with a look at some of this week's news, we'll run through some new games you can play this weekend as well as others that are a bit further out. It's been a busy week for Double Fine Productions, which recently left Microsoft to become independent again. The studio is running an already successful Kickstarter campaign to fund a game jam, with backers getting to vote on their favorite ideas. Four of the 26 pitches will go into further development and become playable prototypes. After another round of voting, one will become a full, small-scale game. 2 Player Productions (the team behind Double Fine PsychOdyssey and other terrific documentaries) will film the process and the studio is streaming the project on Twitch to give folks an insight into development. The Kickstarter has a hell of a stretch goal too. In the unlikely event that Double Fine raises $100 million, it has promised to make Brütal Legend 2. In addition, the studio brought its previous Xbox exclusive Keeper to PS5 and dropped the price of its most recent game, Kiln, to $8. Elsewhere, Aggro Crab is following in the footsteps of Innersloth by using much of the money it brought in from Peak to fund and publish other developers' games. It wants to help bring "intense, stylized games with an attitude" to market without being tied to any specific genres. As if I didn't like Aggro Crab enough already, developers that use generative AI slop need not apply. "I'm serious. We'll get your ass," it said. Aggro Crab, which is only signing a couple of games per year to make sure its publishing label remains sustainable, is not demanding to recoup its entire investment from each project before developers start earning anything. "We see a lot of publishers that insist on making their money back before the developers start seeing a cent, and that just doesn't make sense to us," it said. "Revenue needs to be flowing back towards the developers so they can continue to support themselves and the games after launch." One title that Aggro Crab has signed is Rebounder, a precision platformer from ThirtyThree. I remember seeing a trailer for this last year and digging the hand-crafted comic book art direction — I even added it to my wishlist at the time. So, I'm glad the studio is getting extra support to see this through. Aggro Crab is also the publisher of Subway Midnight, a trippy horror game that came out a few years ago. For our last news item before we dig into the games, Eric Barrone took some time away from his many commitments (including the much anticipated Stardew Valley 1.7 patch) to give fans an update on Haunted Chocolatier. Although he didn't offer an indication of when his next game — which he announced in 2021 — will be ready, Barrone wrote that he's still making progress and it's the project he's "most eager and driven" to work on. "I don't stress too much about how long it's taking because, well, that's just how it is, given my pace and all of my other commitments," Barrone said. "I won't compromise on the quality of the game by rushing it or releasing it too early. Then all my time would be wasted, anyway." New indie game releases Worming From Home Developers: Zach Northrop, Mason Sabharwal Publisher: Zach Northrop Platform: Steam (Windows, Mac; Steam Deck Verified) Price: Usually $10, with a 25 percent discount until September 18 Sometimes, games name themselves. I can't imagine there was any other viable option for the title of Worming from Home, a remote work simulator in which you play as a worm. You'll need to hurl your invertebrate around the keyboard to type messages and complete spreadsheet tasks as you try to move up the financial analyst career ladder. You'll sometimes have to answer the phone — I've heard that something interesting happens if you dial 911 — and hop on a video call with your boss. Let's just hope they don't discover that you're not human. There are life sim elements to Worming from Home as well. You can work out, go shopping for hats and flirt with co-workers. I've been looking forward to Worming From Home for a while, but I haven't had a chance to dig into it yet, unfortunately. I've been too busy working from home and trying to convince people I work with that I'm human. I mean... I'm definitely not a worm, I swear. Marsupilami 2: Salsa Palombia Developer: Ocellus Studio Publisher: Microids Platforms: Steam (Windows; Steam Deck Verified), Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch Price: $30. A demo is available I was eager to check out Marsupilami 2: Salsa Palombia after enjoying the first game and this sequel does not disappoint. It's a mascot platformer in the vein of the Donkey Kong Country and Crash Bandicoot franchises in which you play as the star of a long-running Belgian comic book series. You play as three of these characters, in fact. In each level, you can swap between two of them to take advantage of their unique abilities, much like you'd switch between Diddy and Dixie Kong on the fly. I've played around 90 minutes of Marsupilami 2 so far and I think it's an improvement on its predecessor. The variety of abilities (for instance, one character can roll into a ball to bounce around and avoid damage from spike traps) and clever, secret-packed levels are keeping me engaged. The gradual ramp up in difficulty feels fair too. It doesn't seem to be a particularly long game as I've already completed two of the four worlds. I'm going to finish this and I might be tempted to stick around and play the bonus levels. If you're into fun, colorful platformers, don't sleep on this one. He Who Watches Developer: Bobby Vanden Publisher: Draknek and Friends Platform: Steam (Windows, Mac; Steam Deck Verified), Itch Price: Usually $20, with a 15 percent discount until September 16 This chin-scratcher is making a very timely arrival ahead of next week's Zelda-focused Nintendo Direct. It looks like a first-person take on the shrine puzzles from Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, at least from an aesthetic standpoint. Developer Bobby Vanden took inspiration from Fez, Animal Well and Tunic, so it probably should not be a surprise that He Who Watches has lots of secrets. You can walk along the walls and ceiling, and use a magical bow and arrow to solve riddles. The arrow can activate switches and move blocks. It doubles as a hookshot to help you traverse gaps. One thing I find especially interesting about He Who Watches is its hint system. Within each room, there's a smaller puzzle you can tackle. This aim is to help you figure out the approach you need to take to the main riddle without holding your hand too much. Neat idea. ShipShaper: Falconeer Chronicles Developer: Tomas Sala Publishers: Wired Productions, Gamersky Games Platform: Steam early access (Windows; playable on Steam Deck; demo available) Price: Usually $9, with a 10 percent discount until September 16 Tomas Sala (The Falconeer) loves boats, so he made a game to help players design ships with more freedom. "It's a boat designer married to experimental interfaces that are intended to take away the tedium from designing boats," Sala wrote on the ShipShaper Steam page. "No 3D skills required, no endless stacks of cubes, just some organic shaping and attaching props and functional items to create whatever ship you want." After you build the ship of your dreams, you try it out on the high seas as well as in Sala's previous game, Bulwark: Falconeer Chronicles. But you can really do whatever you want with it. As an ode to Sala's past as a modder, he's allowing developers to use ships they build in their own games. You can create physical versions of ships via an option to export 3D printing files. I love that! Shoe It All! Developer: Amberbite Publishers: Amberbite, Bright Gambit Platforms: Steam (Windows, Mac), Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, Switch, Android, Google Play for PC, iPhone, iPad, Mac Price: $8 on PC and consoles, $5 on mobile. The Steam version has a 20 percent discount until September 17 This game is all about solving puzzles by launching shoes while swinging back and forth, so it'll be important to get the timing right. Developer Amberbite promises that there are secrets and ways to solve puzzles using fewer hurled shoes. You can try to master trick shots as well. Shoe It All! has more than 65 hand-crafted puzzles, along with collectible stickers and a speedrun mode. I'm into the comic-style look of this game and it certainly doesn't hurt that there's a pop-punk soundtrack. I think I'm going to grab the mobile version to help steer me away from doomscrolling. As much as I love Poinpy, it can't be the only game I play on my iPhone. Upcoming indie games I Am Your Beast: Quitting Time Developer: Strange Scaffold Publishers: Strange Scaffold, Frosty Pop Platform: Steam (Windows), GOG, Itch. Coming to consoles later Release date: October 20 Strange Scaffold is cooking up a story expansion for I Am Your Beast. Quitting Time is a prequel to the fast-paced first-person shooter that includes 10 fresh levels and takes place in a different region, Southeast Asia. Best of all, you can "Throw a riot shield so hard it makes a dude's head explode." What a beautiful sentence. On the same day the DLC arrives on PC, the base game will arrive on Switch and Switch 2. It's already available on PS5 and Xbox Series X, as well as iOS. The Final Cut of Lilith Cunningham Developer: Causeway Studios Publisher: Causeway Studios Platform: Steam Release window: 2027 Next up, we have a dose of supernatural mystery inspired by David Lynch. The Final Cut of Lilith Cunningham follows the story of the title character, who is searching for her missing daughter in a quest that involves a strange hotel and drive-in. To help you get to the bottom of the case, you'll be editing a movie (which features full-motion video) on "a mystical film reel." As you change the edit, the world and people around Lilith will shift. That's intriguing, and I'm curious to see how the film editing and broader game work together. While this is a standalone game, there are some references to Causeway Studios' first title, The Haunting of Joni Evers. Both are part of a connected universe called The Worlds Across the Causeway that the studio is building for its games, short stories and other works of fiction. Milki Delivery Developers: Blibloop, Doot Publishers: Doot Tiny Games, Wholesome Games Presents Platform: Steam (Windows, Mac, SteamOS/Linux) Release date: November 17 If you're looking for something more relaxing, perhaps Milki Delivery is more your speed. This game — from the developers of Minami Lane and Kabuto Park — places you in the role of a young courier who delivers milk and cares for their pet cow. You can offer customers variants like strawberry milk and milk tea, and get to know the residents of the community by hearing stories about their past. There's some resource management involved and you'll be able to upgrade your bike and farm. The hand-drawn visuals look lovely and I'm always glad to hear that a game has a short runtime. You should roll credits after two or three hours of playing Milki Delivery. The lack of a fail state means this could be a good option for younger gamers too. I'm going to ask my partner's six-year-old if she's interested in playing this one. Cat Secretary Developer/publisher: Good Story Guild Platform: Steam (demo available) Release date: November 4 Let's close things out for this week with an anti-AI narrative adventure game. In Cat Secretary, you play as a kitty who sets out to kibosh their company's plans to replace humans with robots. You'll spend the rest of your time keeping morale high around the office and taking care of various tasks like upgrading the reception area, making coffee and fixing a wonky router. There's even a dating sim element to embrace as you chase promotions (or should that be purr-motions?). The developers say there's more than one way to solve each of the game's side quests and your decisions affect your cat's personality. The kitty also wears a suit, which is just delightful. You can dive into a demo now and progress will carry over to the full game. [Image text:] $56 Technis Corp. $669 12 worm 9:40PM $5,028