The trailer, showcased during The MIX Summer Game Showcase, revealed gameplay and a water-covered world where rusted megastructures and forgotten machines hum, lost in time. Your mission is to navigate this vast, uncharted sea, gather resources, and protect warehouses holding the last human embryos. By reactivating complexes and managing incubation systems, you work to send these remnants to the stars to ensure humanity’s rebirth.

The gameplay revolves around four core pillars: connection, exploration, care, and resilience. You’ll collect resources to repair systems, upgrade robotic abilities, and craft tools essential for survival. Additionally, you’ll uncover encrypted recordings and restore dormant terminals to piece together humanity’s story. The trailer also hinted at a final phase: preparing the MOSES rockets for the launch of humanity’s future.

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You start with a rusty ship and a patch of solid ground, building homes, workshops, and bridges to create a settlement for humanity’s last remnants. But every structure can collapse. The game’s 3D physics system challenges you to balance weight, support, and materials like a real engineer, resembling a high-stakes Jenga gameplay.

Beyond building, you manage a colony of survivors divided into factions: engineers operating cranes, sailors navigating ships, and workers maintaining structures. Each faction has unique needs, forcing you to juggle food supplies, unrest, and tough decisions. Random events like storms, food shortages, or mysterious ocean structures make every playthrough unpredictable, with new locations unlocking as you learn from your colony’s successes and failures.

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Chains of Freedom is a single-player tactical RPG centered on turn-based combat, light exploration, and resource management. You control a squad of soldiers navigating linear missions filled with mutants, enemy factions, and moral dilemmas, uncovering a conspiracy involving mind control and government collapse. While the combat is engaging and the biocrystal system adds depth, repetitive encounters, poor AI, and a lackluster story hinder its potential.

I first stumbled upon Chains of Freedom during the last Steam Next Fest, and while playing the demo, it’s hard to resist another XCOM-inspired game that looks solid with decent gameplay. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it offers a good mix of enemies and playstyles, and you’ll likely enjoy exploring out of combat to scavenge supplies. However, the later parts drag on, the story feels stretched, and while it’s worth the price for fans of the genre, it’s a solid but not standout game.

Combat shines at times but has its rough patches

The turn-based combat in this game won’t shock you if you’ve played XCOM or Jagged Alliance. Each squad member has action points (AP) for moving, attacking, or using abilities. Positioning, cover, and line-of-sight matter a lot, with overwatch reactions and percentage-based hit chances. The highlight is the variety of weapons, such as shotguns, rifles, flamethrowers, mortars, and biocrystals that offer stat boosts or skills like regenerating action points.

Here’s the deal: combat can stumble with repetitive enemy waves and slow pacing. You’ll notice how fights drag due to endless reinforcements, turning battles into a chore. But honestly, I kinda dug it, if you love non-stop action and constantly outsmarting your opponent with tactical moves, this game’s for you. You can pick from multiple difficulty levels, but like most games in this genre, the AI is a bit basic, often standing exposed or failing to flank. Don’t get cocky, though, this game doesn’t mess around. Get too close or skip crafting a solid plan, and you’ll be regretting it big time.

Chains of Freedom skips stances or precise headshots, so you get that arcadey feeling rather than a proper deep strategy. With stealth, you can set up ambushes or sneak past enemies in some missions, but it’s not always the most useful tactic. Outside combat you explore linear areas like grim city ruins or caves to scavenge ammo, crafting materials, or biocrystals.

“Don’t get cocky, though, this game doesn’t mess around.”

The early game hooks you fast, but the late game slows down

Additionally, you can craft ammo, medkits, or throwables, but with resources being so scarce, you’ve got to sharpen your tactics and plan carefully to make it through. The game feels a bit too linear, so exploration gets boring with plain environments and no map to track where you’ve been, making navigation a hassle. My favorite part of the game is definitely squad customization with biocrystals, it’s fun to mix and match builds with stat boosts like extra health, action points, or active skills you can swap outside combat. However, the progression can feel a bit flat, with weaker crystals or repetitive skills constantly being in your face. Plus, since characters are tied to the story, you don’t get much freedom to build your dream team, which limits the role-playing vibe.

I wouldn’t say Chains of Freedom has much replayability, without branching paths, one playthrough feels like enough. But as you dive deeper, the game gets brutally punishing. In the latter parts of the game, its gridless, point-based combat cranks up the heat with bigger, trickier battlefields and multi-faction battles. Enemy waves get intense, with 10-15 mutants or soldiers spawning in waves that can steamroll you if you’re not strategic. For example, a late mission might have you defending a key spot from mutants while human snipers pick you off from high ground, forcing you to play around crowd control and long-range threats.

In the late game, the story shifts from hunting rogue scientist Svetlov to uncovering the Sovereignty’s dark secrets, like EDEN’s roots as a mind-control experiment and the regime’s hand in triggering the apocalypse. Missions reveal Svetlov’s plan to turn EDEN into a weapon, creating sentient mutants, while the Sovereignty’s leaders are exposed in a scheme to cling to power through fear. These plot points, shared through radio chatter and brief cutscenes, try for a Deus Ex-style conspiracy vibe but don’t quite land as twists feel predictable, and characters stay shallow.

“You don’t get much freedom to build your dream team.”

Worth it if you’re fan of the genre

The game kicks off strong with a great start and solid progression, but the late game turns into a real slog that’s frustrating to push through. Is it rushed? That’s for you to decide. Is it bad? Not exactly, but everyone’s experience with these parts will vary. I’ll keep this brief. When talking about graphics, they shine with moody 3D environments and cool comic-style cutscenes, but repetitive designs, clunky visuals, and UI hiccups drag it down. Additionally, the audio does its job but fades into the background, with voice acting holding up the story’s vibe despite some inconsistent and odd moments.

In the end, Chains of Freedom is a solid but forgettable turn-based tactical RPG that hits the XCOM sweet spot with smooth, gridless combat and fun biocrystal customization. But repetitive enemy waves, a predictable story, and flat characters dull the gameplay. At 24.99€ with a free Steam demo, it’s a decent grab for tactics fans itching for a post-apocalyptic adventure, especially on Steam Deck. Still, it doesn’t hold a candle to XCOM. Hardcore genre fans might enjoy the ride, but casual players or those wanting something new should try the demo first to see if it clicks.

“Solid but forgettable turn-based tactical RPG.”

Review copy provided by the publisher

3.2

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Into the Dead: Our Darkest Days is a 2.5D side-scrolling survival horror game released in Early Access, with a planned full release in 2026 after 12-18 months of development. Set in Walton City, Texas, in 1980, it casts you as the leader of a group of survivors navigating a zombie apocalypse, scavenging resources, managing shelters, and making life-or-death choices to escape the city.

Departing from the endless-runner roots of Into the Dead (2012) and Into the Dead 2 (2017), this installment blends strategic resource management, stealth, and light combat, drawing inspiration from This War of Mine and State of Decay. The Early Access build offers two escape routes to a successful ending, multiple characters, and a variety of locations, weapons, and crafting options, with a 10-20 hour playtime depending on permadeath and choices.

Survivor Management and Gameplay Mechanics

You begin by selecting from five pairs of starting survivors, each with unique backstories and traits: two positive and one negative. For example, Daphne’s first aid and cooking skills boost medical and food crafting, but her pacifism reduces combat damage. Additionally, traits like Iron Stomach or Quiet Step enhance survival, while negatives like Heavy Drinker complicate resource management or combat.

Another key aspect is tracking essential survivor stats such as health, hunger, exhaustion, and mental health (despair) using bars, where neglect can lead to depression or death and even injuries. Each day, you assign tasks during day and night phases, like cooking, sleeping, crafting, or strengthening barricades, but with only one task per cycle per survivor, it’s a constant balancing act.

Scavenging missions are the game’s core, sending survivors to points of interest like fire station or a neon arcade to gather food, medicine, weapons, or base resources, rated by availability dots on the map. The game requires you to move to a new safehouse once you’ve cleared an area’s resources, so it’s crucial to thoroughly explore before relocating. Each building you explore has a telescope for spotting new locations, and every new safehouse offers unique benefits, like extra beds, a garden for growing food, or rainwater collection.

Zombies are slow but deadly in groups, and detection triggers fight-or-flight scenarios. Stealth kills are possible and advisable, but combat is risky due to limited weapons that break quickly. The combat also feels very clunky. It’s odd that stealth kills let you take out zombies instantly (with each weapon producing distinct sound levels), yet a massive hammer can’t crush a zombie’s skull in one hit when you fight them head on. They do have stagger moments, but they can still strike super fast even when you’re hitting and interrupting them, making real combat feel tedious. Also, there are no dodging mechanics.

“Scavenging missions are the game’s core.”

There’s Room for Improvement

Into the Dead has too many unfair moments that can get frustrating the longer you play. While the combat is generally solid and rewards stealth approaches, stealth isn’t always an option. The main issue is that once a zombie spots you, it will always find you, even if you escape and hide, often alerting others in the mean time. I understand zombies might have heightened senses, but it’s frustrating when you hide behind a couch hoping to do a sneak stealth-attack, only for the zombie to instantly find you.

Avoid using guns in large areas, as they attract zombies from far away, even outside. Zombies only notice you if you’re in their line of sight, not if you’re in the same room, though sounds can draw them in. My biggest issue is the overly restrictive inventory. It makes sense to limit heavy items like planks to four per stack, but capping small items like tapes and screws feels too punishing.

Fortunately, upgrades like reinforced barricades or cooking stations persist across safe houses, softening the nomadic vibe. Crafting is simple but useful, letting you make medkits or ammo from resources like wood or screws. The shelter system, inspired by This War of Mine, adds depth, but limited task slots per cycle make balancing needs feel restrictive. Into the Dead needs slightly better balancing to make some stages less tedious. You can explore multiple buildings in a day, but with weapons breaking quickly and the need for lockpicks or tools to remove chains, more balanced mechanics would be welcome.

While permadeath and randomized points of interest create diverse playthroughs, with dynamic environments and survivor traits pushing new strategies, the linear structure and repetitive runs (resetting bases after death) can feel tedious. Progression comes from scavenging better gear and upgrading shelters, though the lack of lasting base progress may annoy some. Thankfully, the roadmap includes new survivors, combat modes, and scenarios, which could fix the repetition.

“Into the Dead has too many unfair moments.”

Stunning 2.5D Graphics Meet Underdeveloped Storytelling

My favorite part of the game is the graphics. The 2.5D perspective creates detailed settings, from crumbling suburban streets to dimly lit arcades and police stations, with moody lighting and dust effects heightening tension. Character designs capture 1980s style, with survivors in era-specific clothes and zombies ranging from shambling corpses to grotesque hordes. Smooth animations, like zombie lunges or survivor crafting, stand out, though some textures look rough and combat animations need polish.

While the graphics are strong, the game feels emotionally flat. Characters lack depth, share no stories, and come across as soulless. If you’re focused on gameplay, you’ll enjoy it, but if you want a meaningful story, this falls short. Currently, it’s missing weather effects, shelter events, traders, advanced firearm parts, and enemy variety (just zombies, big zombies, and humans once).

If you love surviving and battling zombies, you’ll likely enjoy this game. Some may find it too punishing, while others thrive on its high-stakes decisions. With gameplay still in development and blueprints teased, it’s a solid game with strong core mechanics that can only get better. I can see it shining in multiplayer, but it needs better balancing for now.

“While the graphics are strong, the game feels emotionally flat.”

Review copy provided by the publisher

3.8

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Steel Seed is a game I’ve played on multiple occasions. The first time I had a chance to try it was the demo back in June, which definitely didn’t do its justice. It introduced all the core mechanics but lacked the depth to make me think: “Yes, this is the game I want to play at launch.”

A year later, we finally got the full version, and I’ll be honest, it’s a really solid game. It scratches that stealth genre itch, especially since Ubisoft’s Shadows might not be everyone’s cup of tea. Steel Seed does everything well, but there’s still this lingering feeling that it’s missing that peak, that one standout element to make me feel like my time with it was truly worthwhile.

Smooth Stealth with Strategic Planning

For those who are not familiar with the game, Steel Seed is set in a post-apocalyptic sci-fi world where humanity teeters on the brink of extinction. You play as Zoe, a young woman in a robotic body, and her drone companion Koby as they navigate a hostile underground facility to uncover secrets and save mankind. Blending stealth, parkour, combat, and light RPG elements, Steel Seed draws inspiration from titles like Uncharted and Dishonored, aiming for a cinematic, narrative-driven experience.

Stealth is the heart of Steel Seed, where you guide Zoe to sneak around robotic enemies. She can crouch, hide in disruption fields (like tall grass), and use distractions for quiet takedowns. The mechanics are smooth, with clear enemy vision cones and responsive combat controls, making planning feel tactical. Later levels increase difficulty with tighter patrols and overlapping sightlines, rewarding patience. However, stealth can feel repetitive due to limited enemy types and predictable patrols. Still, the stealth gameplay is genuinely fun.

When stealth fails, combat takes over, mixing light and heavy attacks with a dodge mechanic – time it right for a perfect dodge. The system has Soulslike inspiration but skips the stamina bar, making it more forgiving. Enemies do hit hard, forcing you to learn their attack patterns for well-timed counters, which feels rewarding when pulled off. Zoe’s three skill trees offer 40 upgrades for stealth, combat, and utility, letting you customize her with new moves or tools like smoke bombs. Luckily, currency from exploration carries over after death.

Sadly, the game holds your hand way too much. Fall off a ledge? You instantly teleport back. Multiple enemies chasing you? No problem, just spam dodge with the help of the obvious red attack indicators. Like many stealth games, the AI isn’t brilliant, but here it’s painfully predictable. For example, you can use your robot companion to cut a rope and drop a crate on enemies and they’ll all mindlessly swarm the exact spot instead of searching properly. Even when they do notice you, their slow reaction time gives you plenty of chances to escape. It all adds up to an experience that never feels punishing – just disappointingly easy.

Cinematic Parkour With Good Platforming

The platforming is quite good, perfectly blending Uncharted’s cinematic shots with Prince of Persia’s buttery-smooth movement. Whether scaling industrial towers, sprinting across walls, or zipping between platforms, each environment, from decaying ruins to massive factories, feels unique thanks to dynamic camera work. What really shines is how seamlessly the parkour integrates with other systems. You can execute aerial takedowns or make dramatic escapes, then have Koby remotely trigger switches to create new paths.

There are some really great instances when Steel Seed shifts between 3D and 2D perspectives, though these moments aren’t always flawless. While the platforming starts strong, it eventually becomes tedious as levels feel overly linear yet strangely exhausting to navigate. The main issue? The game overstays its welcome. Maps are unnecessarily large, content feels stretched, and what began as fun platforming gradually loses its charm. To make matters worse, controls can be unreliable, with frustrating jumps and occasional glitches.

The game rewards exploration with carefully designed environments full of hidden logs, collectibles, and secrets. Checkpoints show your collection progress, but mentioned extras rarely add meaningful story or gameplay value. Steel Seed simply stumbles with its side content. Beyond the main story, there’s little to truly connect you to the world or characters on a deeper level. Given the heavy focus on cinematic scenes, which are hit or miss, it’s disappointing that optional lore comes mostly in dry text logs instead of voiced entries or cutscenes exploring the world beyond Zoe’s perspective.

Puzzles remain straightforward, typically involving Koby hitting far-off switches or Zoe manipulating objects. Though fun, they lack the complexity of dedicated puzzle games. Koby acts as both a gameplay mechanic and emotional core. Beyond scouting and puzzle-solving, he can distract enemies or aid in combat, but its role is restrained to keep Zoe central. The drone’s chirps and visual cues build a bond, with Zoe’s one-sided dialogue subtly showcasing their connection. However, Koby’s AI can be unreliable, sometimes ignoring commands, and Zoe’s dramatic reactions to its brief “downs” in combat feel off.

Good, But Not Great

Reworked by BAFTA-winning writer Martin Korda, story dives into themes of humanity, AI, and survival as Zoe searches for her father and unravels the facility’s mysteries. While the premise grabs attention, the narrative stumbles with predictable twists and clunky dialogue, falling short of the emotional depth of games like NieR Automata. The main plot feels repetitive, driven by “go here, do this” tasks. RPG elements are also minimal, with basic skill trees and collectibles as mentioned before for progression, but the lack of deeper character customization or meaningful choices reduces replay value.

However, the story stays subtle, never overwhelming, and the skill trees function well enough, offering challenges to unlock more content. While playing Steel Seed, it’s easy to notice how its flaws blend with its strengths. The biggest issue is that the game is just good. It has that certain AI Limit charm and solid gameplay, but it’s neither bad nor exceptional – just okay. While it uses all the best aspects of Unreal Engine 5, it still has the same issues most games have today.

The graphics are strikingly beautiful, but technical issues pile up. From occasional FPS drops and stuttering when entering new areas to misplaced animations and overly repetitive environments, the game still earns praise for its immersive world. The unique setting spans biodomes bursting with flora, mechanical halls, and distinct entrances. Cutscenes and smooth camera movements enhance the polished feel, though the reality falls short of that glossy facade.

In the end, Steel Seed is a decent game, a visually stunning but uneven stealth-action adventure. It excels with its atmospheric world and fluid parkour but falters with a predictable story, clunky combat, and technical glitches. Stealth, like other elements, gets repetitive, with stretched content that drags on, wasting time on tasks that could’ve been streamlined. I can still recommend Steel Seed for its fresh ideas and satisfying stealth gameplay. It’s an ambitious project from Storm in a Teacup, but it lands as a solid yet unremarkable game for now.

Review copy provided by the publisher

3.5

The post Steel Seed - Solid Stealth Game That Satisfies the Genre Itch first appeared on IndieGames.

You will explore two dangerous regions: Rivervalley and Wetland offering over 20 hours of main story content, supplemented by numerous side quests. Starting with a modest set of planting pots, you can expand your farms, develop advanced cultivation techniques, and construct various structures to transform a humble garden into a thriving homestead.

Beyond farming, Doloc Town enriches gameplay with fishing, cooking, and tool crafting. You can venture into the wilderness to gather resources and uncover the world’s secrets with the aid of customizable drones. Combat against mysterious creatures is also a feature, offering flexible fighting styles.

Following a highly successful demo during Steam Next Fest, which received 97% positive reviews, Doloc Town introduces expanded content shaped by player feedback. A new teaser trailer showcases the game’s diverse biomes, quirky characters, and the mysteries awaiting players.

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The story takes place in the ruins of a once-great empire, now devastated by a merciless winter. As a member of the Penitent Gardeners, players operate an armored steam-powered train, the only refuge and means of travel through the icy wilderness. This train isn’t just a shelter; it’s a mobile base that demands constant upgrades, from reinforced armor to armed platforms.

Exploring the frozen wastelands is essential for survival, but every step outside the train carries risk. The cold can sap your strength, snowstorms limit visibility, and lurking in the silence are undead enemies and monstrous creatures. Frostrail also features deep crafting mechanics, resource gathering, and heat management as a critical survival element.

The game supports both solo and multiplayer co-op modes. Team coordination will be crucial when facing beasts or venturing into dangerous bunkers filled with valuable supplies. Every choice, from plotting the train’s route to distributing equipment, can be the difference between survival and death.

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Long Gone is set decades after an unspecified outbreak that has left the world in ruins. You take on the role of a survivor stranded in an overgrown, decaying suburban neighborhood frozen in time. The environment itself is framed as the “main character,” with the belongings of its long-departed residents telling a story of lives interrupted.

Additionally, The game opposes a stark, post-apocalyptic backdrop with a lighthearted tone and dark comedy, punctuated by the presence of zombies shuffling through the streets. Unlike survival-focused titles, Long Gone emphasizes exploration and narrative over combat, with zombies posing more as environmental puzzles than direct threats.

Long Gone is a point-and-click adventure where you explore fully interactive 3D houses and 2.5D streets, rummaging through drawers, cupboards, and boxes to uncover items and secrets. Overgrown streets require platforming skills to navigate, with puzzles integrated into the environment.

A robust inventory management system lets you collect, combine, drop, or hoard items, encouraging experimentation to progress through the story and solve challenges. The focus is on piecing together the lives of the neighborhood’s former inhabitants through their forgotten possessions, creating an emotional, story-rich experience.

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In an interview with Game Rant, producer Yang Bin shared insights into the game’s creative direction, specifically highlighting the decision to use a cel-shaded visual style. Despite its clear soulslike influences, AI Limit introduces innovative mechanics, such as the “Sync Rate” system instead of the traditional stamina bar, making combat more dynamic and rewarding precision.

The post-apocalyptic world of AI Limit comes to life through cel-shading, creating striking visuals. Bin explained that this choice was partly inspired by the manga BLAME! but also motivated by practical reasons—this art style is popular among younger audiences and was also a cost-effective solution for the studio’s first project with a limited budget.

While BLAME! played a key role in shaping the game’s aesthetic, Bin also noted influences from other iconic titles such as Mad Max, Borderlands, BioShock, Fallout, and Metro Exodus. The fusion of these elements helps AI Limit establish a unique identity, blending soulslike combat with deep narrative themes and a visually striking world.

Instead of a traditional stamina system, AI Limit introduces the “Sync Rate” mechanic—the more you attack without taking damage, the stronger you become. This encourages players to closely observe enemy movements, reflecting the development team’s preference for tactically demanding combat systems. While clearly a soulslike game, AI Limit’s innovations ensure it is not just another copy of existing formulas.

As Bin concludes, every game carries the imprint of its creators’ experiences. In the case of AI Limit, this results in a dark cyberpunk atmosphere, intense combat, and a narrative that questions technology’s role in society. This blend of elements is expected to attract both hardcore action game fans and those who value storytelling and strong visual identity.

The post Soulslike AI Limit Explores the Deep Ethics of AI Technology first appeared on IndieGames.

The game plunges you into a post-apocalyptic Scandinavia, where civilization has crumbled, and nature has reclaimed the ruins along with something more sinister. Ancient creatures from Scandinavian myth and folklore have awakened, roaming the land amidst the decay. The narrative follows siblings Freja and Mud as they navigate this overgrown, monster-infested world.

Combat is a standout feature, offering you freedom in how you dispatch enemies. You can stagger foes to set up unique, flashy finishers. The handcrafted pixel-art world is built for discovery, with every scene and environment designed to draw you into its haunting beauty. Multi-stage encounters with folklore-inspired beasts require both reflexes and strategy, pushing you to adapt as these creatures refuse to go down easily.

A public playtest is live on Steam, open to anyone who requests access, showing confidence in community feedback to refine the experience.

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