In Crown Gambit, you guide three novice paladins—Aliza, Hael, and Rollo—through the turbulent city of Meodred. The kingdom is gripped by a political crisis: many vie for the crown, villagers plot rebellion, and mysterious forces manipulate events from the shadows. It’s up to you to choose a side while navigating rivalries, conspiracies, and tough moral decisions to prevent the kingdom’s collapse.

The gameplay revolves around tactical turn-based battles where paladins wield holy weapons against bandits, knights, and beasts. You can customize your decks to suit your playstyle, unlocking a range of new techniques and attacks with dynamic animations. Combining attacks is key, as the protagonists rely on each other, and you can use Ancestral Grace powers to boost strength, though they come with serious consequences.

The game’s world is inspired by Celtic and Breton folklore, brought to life by artist Gobert’s hand-drawn illustrations. For a glimpse of what the game offers, we highly recommend checking out the trailer below.

The post Tactical Game Crown Gambit Gets Release Date After Successful Kickstarter Campaign first appeared on IndieGames.

Vampires will never get old; not only regarding their age, but also their presence in popular culture. It’s no wonder that these well-known and iconic creatures are central to a variety of books, movies, TV series and video games. One of them is Cabernet, a game in which we not only get to observe the secret vampiric society, but also experience the ups and downs of becoming a vampire ourselves.

Mirror withouth a reflection

Cabernet is a 2D narrative RPG set in a 19th century Eastern European inspired world, with a modern twist. We play as Liza, a young vampire struggling with her morality and the supernatural world she has been pulled into. But vampirism here is more than physical transformation, it’s a battle for your very soul. Will you cling to your compassion? Or surrender to the seductive nihilism of the night?

Cabernet offers a classic narrative RPG experience where player choices truly matter. With a limited timeframe to complete both main and side quests, each decision, often testing your moral compass, shapes the story and leads to multiple possible endings. The gameplay consists of clear and consistent guidance, as well as substantial freedom of exploration and action. It’s quite easy to keep track of current tasks and their implications, however, the way we set our goals is completely up to us.

While most of the quests involve interacting with the characters or performing specific actions, there were also assigments that didn’t directly state the objective, such as finding solution to prevent future problems or finding answers to riddles. I found them particulary interesting, since they required deductive skills and larger involvement from the players, and also introduced more than one possibility of advancing the plot.

In my opinion, Cabernet has two standout qualities that elevate it from being just another indie adventure game to an incredibly fun and memorable experience: its mechanics and narrative. Let’s start with the mechanics. Throughout the adventure, you unlock several unique abilities, most notably, a set of vampire skills that add depth and excitement to gameplay. The ones I enjoyed the most were invisibility, bat transformation, enchantment, and vampiric form.

Not only are these abilities essential for navigating new environments (often making them necessary for progression), but they’re also incredibly fun to experiment with. You can spy on others while invisible, enchant friends to manipulate their thoughts, or even drink their blood. Yet, the same powers can be used for good, encouraging characters to improve their lives or transforming into a bat to swiftly bring them aid. With so many choices at your disposal, each playthrough becomes a uniquely personal experience.

The choices that we encounter involve another mechanic which makes the gameplay even more absorbing and dynamic – our character development. The experience points we gather by completing tasks can be used to increase our konwledge in science, literature, art or history, which gives us major advantage in risky situations – the knowledge is treated as our greatest weapon.

Nevertheless, the thing I want to draw your attention to is humanity/nihilism meter. While it’s pretty obvious which decisions will highlight our empathy and which will lead to mayhem, the whole point is to manage them carefully. Maxing out one of them will come in handy in later parts of the game, however neglecting the other option will result in exclusion from some of the quests and interactions. It was interesting to see how the story didn’t label our actions as either entirely “good” or “bad”, but instead encouraged players to adapt to complex and ambiguous situations.

Beautifully Crafted Folk Tale

The second strength of Cabernet I mentioned is the narrative. Since the very beginning, we immerse ourselves in a story filled with suspense, danger and unexpected turn of events: death, politics, social conflicts and supernatural forces all work together to keep us invested in searching for answers. Elements like flashbacks and switching perspectives were especially intriguing, as they allowed us to catch a glimpse of what will be waiting for us in the grand reveal at the end.

At first, the quests from main story might feel like just another set of side tasks, but in the last chapters it becomes clear how they influenced our fate. I’d like to point out that after finishing the game it’s not that difficult to figure out which choices were crucial regarding the ending and which give vital information if we want to go for another route.

For me, Cabernet wouldn’t be half as good as it is without its remarkable setting. Eastern European inspired world, 19th century social context, motives straight out from the greatest works of literature and forgotten local legends. Saying it is atmospheric would be a huge understatement. The creatures we encounter, the rites we participate in, the customs and superstitions we learn are all based on actual elements of folklore preserved during that time. Moreover, adding a glossary with the most important terms and their definitons was a really nice detail that also emphasized the amount of research done for creating this title.

When it comes to the graphics and the soundtrack, the game does a fairly decent job at fitting them into the whole concept. The artstyle is clean and distinctive, which can be seen especially during smooth animations and sequences resembling chalk drawings. However, some errors tend to happen from time to time, like characters clipping through objects, glitching frames or stiff movements. At the same time I appreciate the fact that the game contains full voice acting, which truly adds another layer of immersion. The music is another aspect that works well with the rest of ideas, combining melancholic melodies with tunes that send shivers down the players’ spine.

Till death do us part

There’s quite a lot of activities we can partake in during our playthrough. Some minor ones include reading books, finding the pieces of a strange painting, helping local doctor as his apprentice or playing blackjack in a nearby tavern. Taking up different tasks allows us to deepen our relationship with others, as well as to unlock new characters in our connections map; we can even befriend a cute ginger cat, which is pretty wholesome. Nevertheless, there are moments in the story when we are responsible for making decisions regarding the characters’ fate, which sometimes can be a hard pill to swallow.

While I enjoyed meeting townspeople and learining their stories, I found the dating part quite confusing. After spending time with others and gaining their trust, our character can enter a relationship with them, it can even be multiple ones at the same time. However, the game doesn’t really indicate which characters we can view as possible love interest, what’s more, some of our actions and dialogue options towards someone appear as romantic, but then it turns out that person cannot be dated. Ultimately, the dating part does not have much importance to the story anyway (or it’s just the impression I got), so in the end it gets eclipsed by more compelling elements from the game.

Ending thoughts

Overall, Cabernet hits just right: not too much content to feel overwhelmed and confused, yet not too little to get bored and lose interest. Well-balanced gameplay is accompanied by rich worldbuilding and absorbing story, leaving you hungry for more (blood). Even though the game is centered around immortal vampires, in reality all good things must come to an end – that also includes finishing this title in about 10-12 hours. However, I can assure you that you won’t regret a minute spent in a twisted and mysterious world of Cabernet, all you have to do is allow yourself to get enchanted by it. So, are you ready to invite them in?

Review copy provided by the publisher

4.8

The post Cabernet – “Rijedak i sladak poput višnjevog vina” first appeared on IndieGames.

Willow Guard is a single-player, story-driven action RPG, set in the fantasy world of Tersa, a land of anthropomorphic animals abandoned by their gods. The game blends hack-and-slash combat, light deckbuilding, and choice-based interactive fiction. You play as Ghweros, a veteran Willowguard tasked with protecting sacred Willow trees and investigating monstrous invasions tied to the fallen Moon Goddess, Louksna.

Story Choices Outweigh Bland Combat

It is split between intense dungeon-crawling battles and slower, dialogue-heavy exploration in the village of Woikos, where choices shape the story and Ghweros’s personality. It offers a 10-20 hour campaign with a branching narrative, plus a story-free Dungeon Run mode for combat-focused play. The core combat is retro-inspired, real-time, but not so challenging. The game is built around slashing, dodging, and casting spells against over 10 enemy types.

However, no matter how different each enemy might be, Willow Guard’s combat quickly becomes repetitive, even after just two hours. The combat is neither unique nor imaginative, and the minimal animations ruin much of the fun. Watching the same basic slashes while enemies remain overly static genuinely ruins the experience. Likewise, the dungeon design feels bland, with a monotonous layout that quickly becomes tedious to navigate. The mini-map only indicates how many zones remain.

There’s little need to time dodges carefully, as enemy attack patterns become predictable after a short while. The game also includes a “Honeybadger Mode”, which slightly boosts stats after deaths to help newcomers, but in truth, it’s unnecessary. Healing plants and skills are plentiful, stamina for card abilities refills quickly, and dying is not punishable enough. The only real threat comes from accidentally stepping on traps, but even then, it’s not a true game over. Instead, you’re simply teleported to the start of the map, forced to redo everything.

As mentioned, the game features a card-crafting system where you equip and upgrade ability cards. While this mechanic is a welcome addition, it suffers from poor explanation, mostly leaving you uncertain how to optimize it properly. The shared resource pool also adds to the further frustration, as Focus is used both for crafting cards and scanning the environment for hidden clue.

Pixel Art Meets Deep Story

Progression is non-traditional: instead of leveling up, you upgrade gear and expand your deck using materials gathered from enemies, dungeons, or quests. But the biggest issue is the unpredictable loot system. Since materials drop randomly from enemies, progression is sometimes baed on luck. You might clear entire dungeons and walk away with almost nothing, only to later stumble into a windfall of rare materials by sheer luck. This inconsistency can leave you stranded, unable to upgrade cards or craft new ones simply because the game refuses to cooperate.

Outside of combat, Willow Guard does have its strengths. The game excels in accessibility, offering smooth and easy navigation as traversal remains effortless whether exploring by day or night. There’s a huge amount of animal NPCs like wolves, badgers, and foxes that you can properly meet through dialogue trees. The Inclination system tracks your choices across four philosophies (empathetic, creed-bound, instinct-driven, or detail-obsessed), shaping Ghweros’s personality and story outcomes. Maintaining good relationships with NPCs is crucial, as your affinity level directly impacts how they treat you. Higher affinity can lead to better rewards, including more gold and improved loot opportunities.

The clue-and-item gathering mechanic adds detective-like depth. You collect hints from conversations or environments to unlock new locations, characters, or secrets, making exploration feel rewarding. The narrative is lore-rich, weaving a tale of absent gods, uplifted animals, and eldritch horrors inspired by the Voynich Manuscript and Cthulhu mythos. However, the sheer amount of reading required may feel overwhelming. While the story itself is merely passable, not particularly gripping or worth investing much time in, it’s surprisingly well thought-out compared to the uninspired combat system.

Willow Guard boasts a hand-drawn, pixel-art style that’s both nostalgic and lush, reminiscent of 16-bit classics like Secret of Mana but with modern polish. However, the game struggles to impress in this department. The color palette often feels dissonant and unappealing, while environmental designs lack variety, many zones blend together with little to distinguish them from one another. The soundtrack is simple, uses chiptune-inspired melodies to set the mood, shifting from serene village themes to tense battle tracks which change from time to time.

Ending Thoughts

Ultimately, Willow Guard is difficult to recommend. In today’s saturated ARPG market filled with higher-quality alternatives, this title settles for being merely “good enough”. While the world-building shows promise outside of combat, the repetitive gameplay loops and underwhelming battle system drag the experience down. The boss fights offer some refreshing moments of creativity, but they can’t compensate for the good storytelling.

That said, genre enthusiasts looking for a authentic indie ARPG experience will find this a worthwhile purchase at its price point. Despite its flaws, Willow Guard offers substantial content; the art style grows on you, the deck-building mechanics reward experimentation, and the NPC relationships develop surprising depth for those willing to invest the time. While not without its rough edges, there’s enough content here to merit a spot on your wishlist for when you’re craving a story-driven adventure.

Review copy provided by the publisher

3.5

The post Willow Guard - Retro Vibe With Shallow Combat Loop first appeared on IndieGames.

Set years after the collapse of civilization, Ironhive takes place in a world filled with desolation and ruins. You step into the role of a community leader striving to survive and rebuild in this unforgiving environment. The main objective is to manage Iron Hive, a refuge for the last remnants of humanity as you brace for an impending apocalypse. As the Iron Lord, you must maintain a delicate balance between ensuring the survival of your people and keeping their loyalty intact, failure to do so could result in an overthrow.

One of Ironhive’s most intriguing mechanics is the transformation of citizens and materials into cards, which are then used to execute actions and manage the city. This system adds a deep strategic layer, requiring players to carefully plan their moves to optimize resources and sustain their metal metropolis. Cards represent essential elements such as population and materials, meaning that exhausting them could lead to disastrous consequences.

The post Ironhive Drops New Demo and Gameplay Trailer at The MIX Spring Showcase first appeared on IndieGames.

An infectious blend of word choice and navigating the moment

In Am I Nima you’re in control of Nima’s fractured mind. Trapped in a basement, you must navigate once-familiar rooms, unlocking hidden memories and piecing together the truth behind your captivity. You need to combine words together in your brain and use them to talk in order to convince your mom that you really are her daughter. You have to get her to trust you.

When the game starts, we’re practically in the dark – literally and figuratively. After waking up in a dimly lit basement, we soon discover that in order to fill up our completely blank mind with past memories we need to talk with our mother and react to somehow familiar objects. Although, the words system is not as simple as it seems.

First, we learn new terms as we explore our bedroom and inspect the items around us, we also gain some crucial words from the conversation with mom. Secondly, we need to mix old and new words in order to create concepts tied to our past and identity. There are so many possible combinations that I’m sure you’ll find something new with each playthrough, not to mention it feels pretty satisfying to do so.

Time to get your mother on your side

The third part seems the most relevant to the plot. After acquiring the words, we have to use them to answer questions. What’s the catch? Our goal is to convince our mother and gain her trust, but we have no idea how she’ll react to our answers. We got to see the consequences of letting her down at the end of the demo, however since the description says it’ll be “choices matter” game with multiple endings, I assume that our decisions with words are going to lead us to quite different outcomes in the future.

Let’s not forget about rather extravagant style of this game – everything from color palette and cutscenes to ambient and sound effects is put together skilfully to make you feel like you’re missing something. The same can be said for the plot: even though we can come up with some theories based on the concepts we learn, it’s still uncertain what happened to our character and what is our role in all of this.

For now, I encourage you to check out the demo and see for yourself, but remember that each of your answers will have grave consequences.

The post [PREVIEW] Am I Nima – Memories, palindromes and the game of pretending first appeared on IndieGames.

The main gameplay loop focuses on analyzing patients' symptoms

Do No Harm utilizes solutions from profession-related simulators and games that test your decision-making under pressure, offering an unique blend of strategy and horror. You take on the role of a village doctor in the 19th century, diagnosing and treating patients using ancient and often cryptic medical procedures. The goal is to navigate the pressures of treating the sick while also surviving for 30 days in an increasingly hostile environment. Will you save the villagers, descend into madness, or uncover the truth behind the horrors?

We get to play only for 7 days in the demo, though there’s still a lot to unpack. The gameplay loop is focused on analyzing patients’ symptoms and then figuring out the cure. At first we’re equipped with one syringe, four different medicines and a book full of instructions. However, as the time passes, our tools and methods become more and more complex: we need to administer right amount of doses, watch out for allergies and physical symptoms, keep in mind all written restrictions, as well as invest in new diagnosis tools such as magnifying glass.

We practically get something new each day, which turns routine procedures into complex and rich investigation. There’s only one mechanic that I dislike, which is a humor circle – it is introduced quite late and adds confusion to already elaborate pattern.

Do No Harm is simply a game you must not miss

Having players take on the doctor’s responsibilities is an interesting choice, however I believe that the circumstances surrounding it make the whole experience even more absorbing. Not only we have to spend our savings cautiously, but also take care of our sanity and reputation in the village. I really enjoyed finding anomalies and fighting hallucinations, as it forced you to be more cautious about your surroundings.

Moreover, the demo version also showed us the possibility to form alliances with the residents, which would explain multiple endings. Will you help a local priest by treating the members of his parish? Or maybe you’ll deliberately send people to their deaths, because of your deal with a gravedigger? You can also just descend into madness and enter the darkness – remember that each moral decision impacts the final outcome.

While talking about the narrative in this game, I can’t skip over its really atmospheric aesthetics. The beautiful hand-drawn cutscene in the beginning introduces us to the world full of shadows and mysteries. This impression stays with us also during appointments, when the room is lit by a single oil lamp so every patient emerges as a dark figure that quickly approaches your desk.

I truly adore designs of the characters: they’re both cartoony and twisted, which fits the Lovecraftian style this game is incorporating (and also makes the monsters appear more gloomy.) I think that this game shouldn’t be overlooked, especially since it’s going to release in few days, and based on what I have seen from the demo, it’ll take you on a wild adventure into the world where everything depends on your choice: who to save and who to kill.

The post [THE FINAL PREVIEW] Do No Harm – To heal or to kill? first appeared on IndieGames.

Various mechanics that will keep you busy

You begin your new job as a conductor of the Determination Bringer train. Your responsibilities include maintaining order in the carriage assigned to you and providing assistance to passengers along the way. To do so, you’ll need reporting, intimidation, searches and ejection. Your decisions will determine the fate of passengers and your colleagues, as well as what kind of person you’ll be at the end of the journey.

Our journey starts with a short memo that combines the policy of the railway with the message from the developers in a clever and fun way. We then meet our protagonist, Winston Smith, whose actions will depend on our decisions. During the tutorial, we learn the basics of our job: checking the tickets of the passengers, preparing their carriages and executing orders from our supervisors.

At least that’s the official part of our job, but in reality, we can spy on travellers through the keyhole, sneak into their compartments and secretly search their belongings, as well as report activities banned by the state. It means that with each station players need to keep their eyes on new passengers and their behavious, but at the same time make sure that their own risky actions won’t be noticed by bystanders or the authorities. This addictive blend of strategy and simulation does great job at keeping you on tenterhooks.

The graphics and environment really create the impression that you are just a cog in a totalitarian system

Another thing that helps with creating tension is an atmosphere. This game practically screams Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell – the references are apparent since the very beginning, starting from the main character’s name. The graphics and the setting really make you feel like you’re just a cog in a totalitarian machine: people are perceived as shadowy figure with no faces, you’re placed in a closed space under constant pressure and supervision, andn o top of that, have to carefully manage your budget and reputation. I really admired how you could see the difference in treatment of those favoured by the system by exploring different parts of the train, which shows how you can use limited space for storytelling.

As I mentioned in the title, this game reminded me a lot of Papers, Please, as both these titles present the struggle of surviving in the totalitarian country. However, they also have another common aspect: allowing players to choose the side. In the demo we caught only a quick glimpse of the importance of our decisions for the story, but they still managed to show us various outcomes and routes.

Whether you help your colleague, do stranger a favour or follow the orders of the higher-ups, it’s up to you. I can just say that the way the demo ended at the most unexpected and intriguing moment made me immediately interested in the rest of the story, which I hope we’ll have a chance to learn this year.

You can play free demo of Beholder: Conductor on Steam.

The post [PREVIEW] Beholder: Conductor – Papers, Please on a train first appeared on IndieGames.

You are Robert Robertson, also known as Mecha Man. One day your suit got destroyed during a battle against your nemesis. Now you are forced to take a job at a superhero dispatch center: not as a hero, but a dispatcher. Your goal is to manage the roster of ex-supervillains while navigating office relationships and rebuilding your suit for a shot at revenge.

Every decision you make will influence the unfolding narrative – your choices affect your relationships with the heroes, their allegiance, and your own path. But you need to remember about your duties as well: review ongoing emergencies and deploy the right heroes. Don’t forget to upgrade their skills and unlock abilities to boost their effectiveness in the field. Now’s your chance to explore what it means to be a hero, whether you’re wearing a cape or sitting behind a desk.

Along with Paul and Bailey, Dispatch’s voice cast also includes Jeffrey Wright, Erin Yvette, Jacksepticeye, Moistcr1tikal, Alanah Pearce, Travis Willingham, Joel Haver, Lance Cantstopolis, Matthew Mercer, and Thot Squad. The game comes from AdHoc Studio, which was founded by several former Telltale Games devs.

The post Vatrena glumačka postava dolazi u Dispatch, vizualno impresivnu point & click igru o superherojima first appeared on IndieGames.

Lost Records: Bloom & Rage tells the story of four high school girls who build strong friendships during an important summer. However, their lives change forever after a mysterious event. The game takes place across two timelines and explores themes of friendship, challenges, and conflict, allowing players to piece together lost memories and discover the truth about a supernatural force called “the Abyss.” The new trailer provides a closer look at the characters’ challenges and suggests the dark powers they must confront.

In collaboration with Maximum Entertainment, a physical PlayStation 5 version of Lost Records: Bloom & Rage will be released in the summer of 2025. Players who want to get a copy can preorder it now at selected retailers. In addition, this title will also be available for PC via Steam and the Xbox Series X/S console.

The post Objavljen je novi trailer za Lost Records: Bloom & Rage, fokusira se na glavne likove first appeared on IndieGames.