In Kitchen Sync: Aloha!, you’ll step into the shoes of Kai or Kala, siblings determined to revive their family’s once-thriving restaurant. As you rebuild your culinary legacy, you’ll meet and recruit a vibrant team of chefs, each with their own signature skills, and master more than 30 unique kitchens. From lively food trucks to beachfront eateries, you’ll craft various dishes, charm tough critics, and transform competitors into allies.

If you’re interested in checking out this game, it’s already available on Steam and quite affordable. Plus, it’s compatible with the Steam Deck, making it perfect for anyone who wants to keep playing anytime, anywhere.

What inspired you to create Kitchen Sync: Aloha!, and what made you blend cozy cooking with RPG elements?

One of my goals founding Lemonpepper Games was to try and introduce gamers to cooking and a wider diversity of the world’s foods. My interest in cooking really first began when I watched a few Food Anime series, and after that, I thought, “why not games too?” I chose RPG as a genre anchor because I think they’re great games for driving emotional connections to characters, places, and themes. Mix the two together, and you get something like Kitchen Sync!

The game has a strong Hawaiian vibe, what drew you to this setting?

My mom’s family is from Hawaii so it’s a place that holds an important place in my life. It also has amazing food that I felt I could write about at the level of detail necessary to get someone interested in trying it. Combine that with cozy Hawaiian vibes, and the setting was my top choice.

How significant are relationships in the game? Can players pursue romance or even marriage?

Relationships drive Kitchen Sync’s narrative, whether they’re relationships to places, restaurants, family or friends. Mechanically, KSA’s relationships are represented by Support Bonds, a feature Fire Emblem fans in particular will recognize. Each pairing of characters gains Support levels starting with friendship at level C and full blown romance at level S, with each level bringing a special conversation, sometimes also unlocking side quests or abilities. 

While not every character pairing can reach an S level relationship, every pairing has at least one conversation. The main character of course can reach S level with anyone. No marriage in this game, the game’s narrative ends before then.

The mini-games look fun! Where did you find inspiration for their designs?

I tried to keep things simple but reflect some of the activities I associate with all my visits to Hawaii. Fishing is huge there for the locals, and Hiking has always been a big one for visitors. I added Swapmeets later on to give a different kind of feel and help the game economy a little bit.

You’ve included multiple difficulty modes, from Cozy to Hard Boiled. What was the reasoning behind this approach?

At first, there was a single difficulty mode, but I found balancing between hardcore management vets and cozy story readers a bit tough. So I let the player choose! I don’t believe KSA is meant to be a truly hard game on any difficulty, but for those who love min-maxing and want to be fully rewarded, Hard Boiled is the way to go. And if players just want to relax, cook, and enjoy the story, Cozy Mode has them covered.

With over 30 kitchens in the game, what was the vision behind this feature? And just how big is the in-game world?

Like most management sims, KSA started with a single kitchen. Originally you’d upgrade the restaurant slowly piece by piece. Someone gave me the suggestion at some point… if I’m putting the game in Hawaii, aren’t I kind of wasting the potential of the setting by just staying locked to that restaurant? I took the idea and ran with it, changing the game’s theme to running a restaurant then making kitchens from all the kinds of places you can enjoy on the island. 

It also helped me marry the genres of tactical RPG and kitchen simulator, both of which are level based and use map variety to keep the game fresh. The game loop moves from map to kitchen to dialogue, so the game world is really these levels themselves, but my goal was for the stories that take place around them to make the Island of Maikai still feel lived in.

Could you walk us through the cooking mechanics? How do they work, and what makes them unique?

The original pitch for KSA was “Overcooked meets Fire Emblem”. With that lens, you can probably see where some of the core mechanics came from. You play as the head chef of your pop-up restaurant. Your job is to direct a team of chefs around kitchen venues around the island and cook food for hungry customers. Each customer has HP (hunger points), food you cook has a quality number that removes that HP, and your goal is to remove everyone’s HP before running out of time.

Using that as a simple starting point, chefs and appliances have different abilities that might modify their speed, their quality, their interactions with certain foods, etc. Optimizing character abilities and kitchen layouts allows for a bunch of strategic depth, but so does figuring out how to position your chefs in the kitchen in ways that minimize wasted time and effort. 

I don’t think RPG HP/Damage or kitchen task management are novel mechanics on their own, but I think the blend is pretty unique and hope players will enjoy it!

The characters have a charming anime-inspired style. How many are there, and how much freedom do players have in interacting with them?

There are 8 playable chefs, including the main character, who can team up and cook in the kitchen. Each character has a unique ability tree that can synergize with different strategies or other chefs, and have unique stories you can explore through support conversations. My goal was to give every character a sense of development throughout the story and ensure they had time in the spotlight. A level supports in particular come with unique side quests that explore character motivations and character development, and those are some of my proudest features.

Outside of your chef team, there’s also a supporting cast of other characters to meet who help move the story along and provide structure.

The Steam page highlights Steam Deck optimization. What specific tweaks did you make for handheld play?

Opting to target Steam Deck required a bunch of targeted work. The game had to work on a small 10:16 screen; the UI still had to be readable; I needed to add controller support, and a bunch of other things. The biggest one was playtesting, KSA isn’t a short game (estimating 25+ hours per story playthrough), and I played through the entire thing on the Deck before release. I think it was all worth it though. The game feels great on the deck, maybe because the games that inspired it were also handhelds.

What was the biggest challenge you faced during development?

For the product, it was figuring out how to get the genre mix of tactical RPG + cozy cooking management to blend just right. It was also tough to figure out how to talk about the game sometimes. Most gamers haven’t played games like this, so if I started a conversation with “It’s Overcooked mixed with Fire Emblem,” people would just look at me confused. I think coalescing the mechanics and pitch around “cozy cooking RPG” helped a great deal in solidifying the heart of the game.  Keep the vibes of a cozy cooking game, and the depth of an RPG.

The post What’s cooking in Kitchen Sync: Aloha? Matt Slemon dishes on what makes his game unique first appeared on IndieGames.

Delverium invites you into a vast, procedurally generated world filled with opportunities for exploration, crafting, farming, and dungeon crawling. Designed for 1-4 players, the game offers both solo and co-op modes, with the option for local split-screen and online multiplayer. In the game you can gather resources, build shelters, recruit NPCs, and embark on dangerous adventures to uncover the secrets of the land.

Crafting and building are key elements in Delverium. It is important to unlock and create a wide variety of items, from tools and weapons to food and building materials. Shelters provide safety from the dangers of the wild, while recruiting NPCs opens up trading opportunities to enhance your progress. For those who prefer a quieter pace, Delverium offers extensive farming mechanics.

You can till soil, plant crops, and breed animals, while also gathering wild ingredients and fishing. Harvested goods can be combined into cooking recipes, which can be used for survival or traded for valuable items. The game also features high-risk dungeon crawling, delve deep into exotic biomes, hidden caves, and dangerous dungeons to mine rare ores, collect unique treasures, and defeat powerful foes.

The post Demo for the open-world survival game Delverium is on the way, find out what makes it so appealing first appeared on IndieGames.

Game of the Year Award

• Black Myth: Wukong (Game Science)
• Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 (Saber Interactive/Focus Entertainment)
• S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl (GSC Game World/GSC Game World (worldwide), SEGA (Japan), 4divinity (China and South East Asia))
• Balatro (LocalThunk/Playstack)
• HELLDIVERS 2 (Arrowhead Game Studios/PlayStation Publishing LLC)

VR Game of the Year Award

• Metro Awakening (Vertigo Games)
• Blade and Sorcery (WarpFrog)
• DAVIGO: VR vs. PC (Davigo Studio)
• Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted 2 (Steel Wool Studios/ScottGames)
• Maestro (Double Jack)

Labor of Love Award

• ELDEN RING (FromSoftware, Inc./FromSoftware, Inc., Bandai Namco Entertainment)
• Dota 2 (Valve)
• No Man’s Sky (Hello Games)
• Stardew Valley (ConcernedApe)
• Baldur’s Gate 3 (Larian Studios)

Best Game on Steam Deck Award

• God of War Ragnarök (Santa Monica Studio, Jetpack Interactive/PlayStation Publishing LLC)
• Hades II (Supergiant Games)
• Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader (Owlcat Games)
• Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor (Funday Games/Ghost Ship Publishing)
• Balatro (LocalThunk/Playstack)

Better With Friends Award

• HELLDIVERS 2 (Arrowhead Game Studios/PlayStation Publishing LLC)
• Satisfactory (Coffee Stain Studios/Coffee Stain Publishing)
• Sons Of The Forest (Endnight Games Ltd/Newnight)
• Palworld (Pocketpair)
• Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 (Saber Interactive/Focus Entertainment)

Outstanding Visual Style Award

• SILENT HILL 2 (Bloober Team SA/ KONAMI)
• Hades II (Supergiant Games)
• Nine Sols (RedCandleGames)
• Neva (Nomada Studio/Devolver Digital)
• Metaphor: ReFantazio (ATLUS/SEGA)

Most Innovative Gameplay Award

• Liar’s Bar (Curve Animation)
• Satisfactory (Coffee Stain Studios/Coffee Stain Publishing)
• HELLDIVERS 2 (Arrowhead Game Studios/PlayStation Publishing LLC)
• Balatro (LocalThunk/Playstack)
• S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl (GSC Game World/GSC Game World (worldwide), SEGA (Japan), 4divinity (China and South East Asia))

Best Game You Suck At Award

• Black Myth: Wukong (Game Science)
• TEKKEN 8 (Bandai Namco Studios Inc./Bandai Namco Entertainment)
• DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO (Spike Chunsoft Co., Ltd./Bandai Namco Entertainment)
• THE FINALS (Embark Studios)
• Ghost of Tsushima DIRECTOR’S CUT (Sucker Punch Productions, Nixxes Software/ PlayStation Publishing LLC)

Best Soundtrack Award

• Red Dead Redemption (Rockstar Games, Double Eleven/Rockstar Games)
• Frostpunk 2 (11 bit studios)
• SILENT HILL 2 (Bloober Team SA/KONAMI)
• Fate/stay night REMASTERED (TYPE-MOON, fuzz Inc./Aniplex Inc.)
• Horizon Forbidden West Complete Edition (Guerrilla, Nixxes Software/PlayStation Publishing LLC

Outstanding Story-Rich Game Award

• Black Myth: Wukong (Game Science)
• S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl (GSC Game World/GSC Game World (worldwide), SEGA (Japan), 4divinity (China and South East Asia))
• Ghost of Tsushima DIRECTOR’S CUT (Sucker Punch Productions, Nixxes Software/PlayStation Publishing LLC)
• Mouthwashing (Wrong Organ/CRITICAL REFLEX)
• FINAL FANTASY XVI (Square Enix)

Sit Back and Relax Award

• Farming Simulator 25 (Giants Software)
• House Flipper 2 (Frozen District)
• Tiny Glade (Pounce Light)
• TCG Card Shop Simulator (OPNeon Games)
• WEBFISHING (lamedeveloper)

The post The 2024 Steam Awards winners – gaming community chose the best games in 11 different categories first appeared on IndieGames.

These rumors come at a time when Valve is reportedly working on two new controller models. If the speculation proves accurate, "Fremont" could represent Valve's return to the idea of expanding the Steam ecosystem into living rooms, an ambition they first attempted to achieve through the Steam Machines initiative almost a decade ago.

Valve's previous initiative, Steam Machines, failed partly due to reliance on third-party hardware manufacturers and the then-limited game support on SteamOS. Today, the situation is significantly different. Linux game compatibility has greatly improved thanks to tools like Proton, enabling thousands of Windows titles to run on SteamOS. In the meantime, Valve has developed successful products like the VR device Valve Index and the portable console Steam Deck, giving them a better position to create a new device.

If Valve is indeed planning to launch a device like a “Steam console,” the challenges could be significant. Designing a device that would compete with traditional consoles like PlayStation and Xbox, while also maintaining the flexibility of the PC ecosystem, would require a careful balance between accessibility and performance. For now, the rumors remain unconfirmed, but the fact that Valve is exploring new hardware possibilities suggests a continuation of their ambition to expand the Steam platform beyond the traditional boundaries of PC gaming.

The post Pojavile su se glasine o novom SteamOS hardveru kodnog imena “Fremont” first appeared on IndieGames.

Connor Fallon, the game’s designer and writer, shared his excitement about the launch: “Politics is not an easy topic to tackle, and we went for it directly, making this game over many nights and weekends with a lot of love and care. I’m so proud of the team, and I hope playing this game gives people a fun way to see the world from new perspectives. And also, that they like our many, many stupid jokes.”

In Pro Philosopher 2, players follow the story of Ari, a college student who is thrust into a mysterious realm between life and death. Ari must debate some of history’s most famous philosophers to save her mother from this strange purgatory. Along the way, she tackles the age-old question, “What is the ideal form of government?” Players engage in argument puzzles by using logic to identify contradictions and outsmart their philosophical opponents, bringing Ari and her mother closer to returning to the land of the living.

Pro Philosopher 2 is the long-awaited sequel to the 2013 browser game Socrates Jones: Pro Philosopher, which was a top-rated game on Kongregate during its release. Now, 11 years later, players can dive into an all-new political philosophy adventure filled with interactive debates and historical insights.

The post Intelligible Games Launches Pro Philosopher 2: Governments and Grievances on Steam first appeared on IndieGames.

Moira McKinnon has never seen the sea and spent fifteen years with her mother in a small house on the edge of the Scottish mountains. But one day she receives a letter from her uncle Hamish inviting her to visit the coast. If she makes it to his lighthouse in time, she's in for a wonderful surprise. This is why Moira decides to run away.

Conquer the peaks to get your bearings and plan your next steps. Find different caves, climb cliffs, jump from rock to rock and carefully descend steep slopes as you progress, and you will be greeted by wind, rain and cold. Moira is not a superhero and the Scottish Highlands are not to be underestimated, so find shelter to survive.

Collect and place 100 map fragments to discover faster routes, as the hills are criss-crossed with paths: some well-trodden, others hidden. Get to know the stories and secrets of these mountains, filled with lost objects, echoes and memories. Skip and jump through the valleys with amazing music from TALISK and Fourth Moon. The landscape itself is shaped to the rhythm of the music, and get ready for multiple trips because one is not enough to discover the deepest secrets of these mountains.

The post A Highland Song takes you on an adventure through the Scottish Highlands first appeared on IndieGames.