Jumplight, Blasphemy, Action!
A great collection of indie games for the weekend!
Another week, another stacked slate of indie games. I hope you have been keeping well. This week has been absolutely flat chat for me, filled with an entire week of catchup after the vacation, and shifting sands at the work desk. That’s why there wasn’t a news dispatch this week, but I was determined to get this newsletter out.
We’ll get into what I’ve been playing at the end, but for now, let’s jump into the new games!
What’s out this week?
Jumplight Odyssey (Early Access)
Developer: League of Geeks
Steam rating: Mostly Positive
Store page
I mentioned Jumplight Odyssey in the very first newsletter that we released, and now it’s ready for you to board! One part FTL, one part The Sims, and a whole lot of charm that League of Geeks is known for, this anime-inspired space life sim is already getting some rave reviews in Early Access. We have seen League of Geeks support their first release Armello successfully through a lengthy Early Access period, so I have no doubts that the team will continuously update with the community on this one. Definitely on my radar, I just need some more time.
Hadean Tactics
Developer: Emberfish
Steam rating: Very Positive
Store page
I’ve had Hadean Tactics on my wishlist for quite some time, but for some reason I just never took the plunge while it was in Early Access. Combining a deck-building roguelike with auto-battling, you will be collecting souls during a run that will automatically battle for you, while you influence their attacks with the powerful cards you hold in your hand. It looks to have some neat mechanics, and is a little different to the other 89037489327489234 deckbuilding roguelikes out there, so could be a good one for those looking to try something new.
Blasphemous II
Developer: The Game Kitchen
Steam rating: Very Positive
Store page
I will admit, I never played Blasphemous, something that I am going to change before the year is through. Patrick Klepek from Crossplay actually put this on my radar after gushing about the game on various podcasts over the last few months. The art looks incredible, and the gothic religious themes really do make it stand out from other games in this genre. But… I don’t typically gel with Gated Progression Adventures (I refuse to adopt Metroidvania, sorry!), but Blasphemous might be the one that helps be break through that barrier, much like I did with RTS games earlier this year.
SPRAWL
Developer: MAETH
Steam rating: Mostly Positive
Store page
SPRAWL launched overnight at Gamescom, melding the combat of Quake and Max Payne with the movement of Titanfall to create what looks to be a fast and fluid game that is part Boomer shooter, part modern classic. Set in an endless dystopian cyberpunk future, you must escape the walled city and make your way to the spire to take down the big bad overlords. This genre just continues to grow, and I won’t lie, I’m loving it.
It’s A Wrap
Developer: Chanko Studios
Steam rating: No rating
Store page
I hadn’t heard It’s A Wrap before, but it looks super charming. A puzzle game that takes place across two phases. The Director Phase has you manipulating the timing of the meticulous action sequences, triggering boulder drops and fireballs, those kinda things. Then the Action Phase where the cameras roll and you get your platforming on as the star of the show. Playing with the 80’s action motif, this looks super neat but only has 4 Steam reviews at the time of writing, so perhaps proceed with caution.
Homeworld is perhaps the most epic game you haven’t played
I remember the first time I saw Homeworld. It was in an issue of PC PowerPlay right around Christmas time. I was only twelve years old, and I knew next to nothing about the business of video games. What I did know is that Half-Life, the game I received for Christmas the year prior and had become my favorite, had a big Sierra logo on the box, and Homeworld had that same logo. My silly kid brain thought that they were made by the same team, and therefore Homeworld must be just as epic as my crowbar swinging, head crab crushing adventure that had taken the family computer hostage.
But I never got the chance to play Homeworld. I lived in a rural town where my game purchases were at the mercy of whatever the local store had on the shelves, and Homeworld just never appeared. It wasn’t until years later when Gearbox took the franchise over that I got my first taste of Homeworld, via the Homeworld Remastered Collection.
And oh boy did that not go well. I had never played strategy games, let alone RTS in 3D space. I always found the genre to be too big brain for me, a simple lad who played mostly platformers and first-person shooters during my formative gaming years, and had recently graduated to indie game fanatic. Still, strategy and puzzle games just never clicked with me. I found them endlessly frustrating, and completely overwhelming. So after just two missions I put the collection down, to rot away in the shame-filled closet that is my Steam backlog.
But something happened this year. At the ripe age of 36 I seem to have developed big “dad game” energy. You know, the kind of game that your dad would sit down after a long day of work and play. The flight simulator with a manual as big as an encyclopedia. The game that strikes fear into your heart as a child, like when you ate a packet of “dad’s good biscuits” while he was at work and he didn’t know yet. The point is something happened this year, and I have been devouring strategy games. It started with XCOM, which I slammed a good 40 hours into at the start of the year. Last month I started and completed Dawn of War II which has become one of my top ten games I think. So I decided that it was time to finally give Homeworld another shot.
Let me tell you. Homeworld FEELS important. From the minute that the game opens, with it’s grounded yet grandiose cutscenes telling the tale of a civilization on the run from unknown oppressors. The forbidden hyperdrive technology, ancient races trading knowledge, and the epic score. It feels so cinematic, and while I know that I am playing a delightfully remastered version of the game, I can only imagine how mindblowingly wild it must have felt to be playing this game back in 1999. Because playing it today in 2023, it feels quite unlike anything else I have ever seen before.
To think that Relic came out the gates swinging with a game this ambitious, and delivered something playable is a minor miracle. I will be honest, Homeworld doesn’t feel the best to play, even after 9 hours of getting to grips with its X and Y axis for commanding your ever-growing space force, but you simply deal with it because each and every battle feels like a mini movie playing out in the far reaches of space.
I am only 50% of the way through the campaign, and I already have some ideas for some kind of article I might put together for Pixels for Breakfast when it is all said and done. But I did a bit of a poll among my friends, and I was suprised just how many of them also had not played Homeworld. The general consensus is that they know about it, they are under the impression that it is important, and they are excited for Homeworld 3, but they are not really sure why.
That scares me a little. Because Homeworld does carry this prestige, this weight of a classic. It deserves that prestige, but if Homeworld 3 ends up not shaving off some of those hard edges to make onboarding easier, it is very easy to see that in this climate, it will likely be subjected to Steam review bombing runs, much like my little ships on the destroyers in the Homeworld campaign.
I really hope that doesn’t happen.
If you are not into RTS games, I recommend watching some playthroughs on YouTube of Homeworld. Because the story feels alien, in the best way possible. And watching those ships dance around the stars, is truly epic, in a way most games never could dream to reach.
I will write to you all next week!
Steve