In this sequel, you’ll also design your own peaceful island and create a colorful home for the Gourdlet characters. However, this is all upgraded by multiplayer, where players can visit friends’ islands, build side-by-side, and chat.

The game adds a new fishing mechanic, letting you cast lines to catch various fish. You can then spend your earnings on cute accessories, buildings, and decorations, personalizing your island until it feels like home. While Gourdlets Together is a standalone game, it builds on the success of Gourdlets, which has a “Very Positive” 93% rating on Steam from 1,579 reviews.

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Set in a procedurally generated world of cities, forests, and islands, Streets of Rogue 2 offers boundless freedom of choice. Want to play as a vampire hacker orchestrating a coup or a farmer growing carrots and building a dream cabin? The choice is yours. Drawing inspiration from Skyrim, GTA, and Stardew Valley, the game blends fast-paced action with RPG elements, letting you craft your own unique story.

In this game, you choose from wildly different classes like a scientist, thief, or gorilla, each with unique abilities. You’ll wield bizarre items—shrink rays, bear traps, or banana peels—alongside weapons and gadgets to sow chaos or solve problems. The world reacts to your actions, with advanced AI driving NPCs who will love or hate you based on your reputation. Plus, with online and local co-op, you can team up with friends to conquer or compete together.

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The game once again puts you in the shoes of Will, a merchant trying to balance his life between perilous expeditions into dynamic dungeons and the everyday task of running a shop. Unlike the first game, The Endless Vault introduces a strategic inventory management layer, where each relic carries unique properties that impact the course of your adventure.

The story takes place in Tresna, a mysterious new town born from the merging of dimensions. In addition to running a successful shop using powerful attributes and spells, players can invest in community development, shaping the town’s future and unlocking new opportunities.

The before mentioned Spanish studio, also known for their recently released Cataclismo, promises that the sequel will feature larger dungeons, deeper strategy, and a richer world to explore, complete with portals to other dimensions.

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The story follows a lone fox and its loyal raven companion on a perilous journey across the vast Northern Isles. Their mission is to free the lost Guardians from the clutches of the dark shaman Grimnir, all while uncovering ancient mysteries and using magical abilities to cleanse the land of corruption. With over 16 hours of atmospheric gameplay, every decision and discovery will bring the heroes closer to their destiny.

Powered by Unreal Engine 5, Spirit of the North 2 will feature a breathtaking open world with diverse locations to explore. A dynamic soundtrack will accompany every step, while mystical powers gradually unlock to help overcome obstacles and defeat spirits.

For those looking to immerse even deeper into this journey, the Signature Edition includes exclusive collectibles such as an art & lore booklet, lanyard and metal badges, and unique rune cards. This special edition is already available for pre-order via the official Silver Lining Direct store.

The post Spirit of the North 2 Continues Its Enchanting Journey This May first appeared on IndieGames.

Frostpunk 2 is an ambitious sequel to 11 bit Studios’ 2018 hit, a game that redefined city-building with its bleak survival stakes. Set three decades after the apocalyptic Great Frost, you step into the boots of New London’s Steward, tasked with guiding a sprawling metropolis through a frozen hellscape. The Captain is dead, the coal fires burn on oil now, and survival has given way to expansion, factional strife, and societal evolution. It swaps the original’s building-by-building struggle for a grander, district-based vision, infused with political intrigue and moral ambiguity.

From micro to macro mayhem

In original Frostpunk, the focus is on the small details, every tent and coal pile feels personal, and survival depends on tiny decisions. Frostpunk 2, however, zooms out, focusing on big-picture management where districts and policies shape your legacy. The first game’s closeness makes every loss feel painful (like a child freezing to death), but the sequel’s more detached approach (treating deaths as statistics) trades that emotional impact for broader strategy. It’s a bold change, but it might feel less personal for some players.

In Frostpunk 2, each hexagonal district has a role: housing, industry, food, or resource extraction. You can expand them with hubs like hospitals or prisons. To grow, you break through ice to claim new space, manage resources like coal, oil, food, and goods, and balance needs like heat, hunger, crime, and cleanliness. Time moves fast, with weeks passing in seconds, reflecting the scale of a city that now houses tens of thousands. Exploration adds depth: send teams to scavenge the Frostlands, create supply routes, and build colonies to send resources back home. Massive storms called whiteouts disrupt supply chains, forcing you to overproduce and keeping the survival tension high.

But with bigger scale comes more complexity, and that’s where problems start. The Council system adds a political layer, every 10 weeks factions vote on laws, and you must negotiate, bribe, or manage groups like the Stalwarts and Pilgrims. It’s a smart addition, showing how messy democracy can be: promise a factory to win votes, or face protests if you break your word. However, this system never lets you relax. Pop-ups constantly flood the screen, faction demands, resource shortages, random events, turning city management into a never-ending crisis. It feels like micromanagement dressed up as macromanagement. Even with updates since the game’s release, some parts of the game are still exhausting to handle.

Technology system feels overwhelming and takes away from the fun

In Frostpunk 2, technology replaces the original’s straightforward workshop upgrades with a sprawling, faction-influenced research system. Gone is the single tech tree of Frostpunk, where you’d unlock sawmill efficiency or heater range in a linear path. Instead, Frostpunk 2 offers over 100 research options across multiple idea trees (Heating, Resources, Society, City), each tied to factional ideologies (Stalwarts for automation, Frostlanders for sustainability).

Research is fueled by Heatstamps (currency) and progresses via Research Institutes, built in Districts. Laws and tech intertwine, unlocking an idea often requires Council approval, adding political friction. Compared to Frostpunk’s immediate, survival-driven upgrades, Frostpunk 2’s tech is a long-term investment, shaping New London’s identity over decades. But this can feel overwhelming. There’s so much to manage and keep track of that research often feels hit or miss. With so many factors influencing your decisions and the constant pressure to focus on survival, it really takes away from the gameplay experience.

But that’s not even the biggest problem. The gameplay seems fun at first, but it becomes too repetitive in the mid and late game. It tries to be exciting, but no matter what you do, you’re always barely surviving. While this creates tension, it ends up feeling frustrating. Frostpunk 2 doesn’t do a great job of teaching players its complex systems. The five-chapter campaign acts as a tutorial, but it overwhelms you with districts, factions, and tech trees without clear explanations.

Early, mid and late parts of the game

In the early game, you start with a simple city: Housing, Extraction, Industrial Districts, and a small Research Institute. Tech options are limited but important: basic Heating (like Oil Pumps to replace coal), Resources (like Sawmill Expansion for wood), and Society (like Worker Shift Laws). Research takes weeks and costs a small amount of Heatstamps (50-100) and workers. Factions make early demands, better housing or fuel efficiency, forcing you to choose a path. Frostbreaking (clearing ice) opens up space for growth, but your tech choices determine what you can build next.

By mid-game, your city has grown, multiple districts, a colony or two, and a second Research Institute. The tech tree expands: Heating offers options like Coal Liquefactors (turning coal into oil) or Wind-Powered Generators (sustainable heat). Resources branch into Automation (Mechanized Sawmills) or Recycling (Waste Recovery). Society splits into Order (Guard Squads) or Equality (Communal Housing). Factions gain influence, Stalwarts push for factories, Pilgrims favor mobility, and unlocking tech often requires their votes or resources like Prefabs (crafted goods).

In the late game, New London becomes a huge city: wide districts, many colonies, and fully upgraded Research Institutes. You get top-level tech options; Heating unlocks Nuclear Reactors or terraforming machines; Resources offers endless mining or man-made materials; Society gives extreme laws like full automation or shared labor. Research gets expensive (800-1,500 Heatstamps), and factions fight harder, Stalwarts might try to control all tech, causing riots if you refuse.

The game features seven unique maps, each presenting distinct challenges and starting conditions

The campaign spans five chapters, serving as both a story-driven experience and a tutorial for Frostpunk 2’s mechanics. Each chapter has specific goals tied to the story, but they’re loose, encouraging experimentation. Utopia Builder mode is Frostpunk 2’s sandbox, letting you craft custom cities without narrative constraints. Unlike the campaign’s linear progression, you pick a map, set difficulty (for example, resource scarcity, Whiteout frequency), and build from scratch. A 40-60+ hour sandbox is where Frostpunk 2 flexes, map variety, unrestricted tech, and self-driven goals cater to strategy nuts. Maps like Rift or Wasteland feel alive with unique quirks (bridges, ruins), outshining Frostpunk’s static circles.

Utopia Builder has seven maps, each with unique features. For example, Crater is a big map with lots of resources, perfect for beginners. On the other side, Dreadnought brings a smaller map with plenty of oil but fewer other resources, making it really challenging. There’s plenty to experiment with, keeping the game fun and lasting. Frostpunk 2 also supports mods. You can easily download them through the Steam Workshop, and the game even has a built-in mod browser for quick access. While mods don’t completely change gameplay, they add fun tweaks, like smoother controls or a free-roam camera to make the experience more immersive.

Visually, Frostpunk 2 looks stunning. Built on Unreal Engine 5, it swaps the original’s close-up, gritty style for a grand, hex-based view of New London. The city is a dieselpunk maze of rusty districts, glowing red power lines, and smoky skies. Beyond it, the icy Frostlands stretch out, filled with resource spots, abandoned towns, and colonies you can take over. When you zoom into a district, you’ll see workers laboring or citizens freezing, a quick nod to the first game’s personal touch. The art style mixes warm oranges with icy blues, and the soundtrack, full of industrial noises and sad music, creates such a strong atmosphere that you can almost feel the cold through your screen.

Frozen giant with a chilly heart

Frostpunk 2 is a bigger, bolder version of the first game. Instead of focusing on small survival struggles, it lets you build a huge city in the frozen wasteland. The game looks amazing with Unreal Engine 5 graphics and adds new features like managing districts, dealing with political factions, and exploring the icy lands outside your city. You’ll face deep tech choices, connect with colonies, and make tough moral decisions. The Utopia Builder mode offers seven different maps to keep you playing. With 40-60 hours of gameplay, it’s perfect for players who love complex strategy games. 11 bit Studios has clearly put a lot of passion into this frosty world.

However, the sequel loses something important that made the first game special. By zooming out to manage a whole city, you lose that personal connection – your citizens feel like numbers, not people. Tough choices like using child labor or letting people starve don’t hit as hard. The game throws too much at you at once, such as districts, factions, multiple resource meters, and the tutorial doesn’t explain things well. While the first game built to dramatic endings (like surviving the final storm), this one’s story feels thin and just sort of… ends. Even after updates fixing bugs, the game still feels overloaded with systems that can frustrate players.

Review copy provided by the publisher

3.8

The post Frostpunk 2 – Bold Sequel That Frays at the Edges first appeared on IndieGames.

Aeterna Lucis is now scheduled for release in September 2025 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam. This time, the focus shifts to a new protagonist, the Queen of Light, who awakens in a world on the brink of collapse, facing the challenge of preventing the universe’s downfall and seeking out her old adversary.

Nakon događaja iz Aeterna Noctis, gdje su kralj tame i kraljica svjetlosti prokleti da se vječno bore, ravnoteža između svjetlosti i tame iznenada je narušena. Aeterna Lucis donosi klasičnu Metroidvania formulu, zadržavajući dinamične borbe i istraživanje povezanih mapa koje su obilježile prethodnu igru, ali uvodi i nove sposobnosti i oružja specifična za kraljicu svjetlosti. Svijet igre obuhvaća različite lokacije, od pejzaža inspiriranih vitrajima do opasnih tama, s impresivnim boss borbama koje testiraju vaše vještine.

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ENDLESS Legend 2 builds on the success of its predecessor, aiming to push the boundaries of turn-based strategy games. Players will return to the unique and immersive world Amplitude is known for, but this time, they’ll explore a brand-new setting filled with fresh stories, factions, and challenges. Likewise, it will also combines deep strategic gameplay with rich storytelling.

Although information about the game is still sparse, it has been revealed that it will be set in Saiadha, a stunning yet dangerous oceanic world where the environment is constantly changing. The trailer hints that the seasons shift dramatically, and monstrous tidefalls transform the landscape, creating both obstacles and opportunities for players. As the water recedes, new paths and secrets are revealed, encouraging exploration and adaptation.

You will need to navigate these dynamic changes, facing ancient threats and uncovering the mysteries hidden deep within Saiadha. Each cataclysm brings new dangers, but also unique chances to grow and thrive. This dynamic world probably guarantees that no two playthroughs will be alike. Analyzing the trailer and what we learned from the first game, we will likely assume the roles of various factions. At least one race resembles humans, while another seems to consist of centaurs. Additionally, humanoid insects are among the races vying for dominance in this world and over its inhabitants.

ENDLESS Legend 2 is set to launch on Steam Early Access in 2025, giving players an early chance to experience the game and provide feedback to help shape its development.

The post Everything we know about the strategy fantasy game ENDLESS Legends 2 first appeared on IndieGames.

To ensure players on all platforms can enjoy the game during the same week, the developers have planned a release schedule:

• PC (Steam, GoG, EPIC): Monday, March 10, 2025
• PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch (Digital): Tuesday, March 11, 2025
• Physical Editions (PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch): Thursday, March 13, 2025

Set in a gothic fantasy world, Beyond the Ice Palace 2 tells the story of the Cursed King, a figure seeking vengeance and redemption. As the protagonist, you must embark on a perilous journey to reclaim their throne by gathering sacred arrow shards and unlocking their full power.

The game’s dynamic combat and exploration bring a fresh twist to the beloved classic. You must learn to use the chains that used to tie you up, turning them into powerful tools to defeat enemies and move through challenging areas. As you play, you’ll find secret rooms and treasures that give important upgrades to help you get ready for big battles.

Collecting power crystals to boost your skills adds a smart challenge, helping you prepare for giant bosses and tough times in this dark kingdom. The game keeps its retro pixel art look but includes modern gameplay features. This mix of old and new makes Beyond the Ice Palace 2 enjoyable for both longtime fans and new players trying the series for the first time.

The post Beyond the Ice Palace 2 Releases This March for PC and Consoles first appeared on IndieGames.

Like the first game, Beyond Citadel is a boomer shooter, but unlike many in the genre that aim to emulate the fast-paced Doom style, this one takes inspiration from Marathon. It’s slower, more methodical, and deliberate in its pacing. Players have noted that this game is a massive improvement over the first in nearly every aspect, gameplay, graphics, level design, and everything feels more refined and polished.

The character designs are unique and engaging, especially if you’re into sci-fi or cyberpunk aesthetics. The gunplay is more intricate, with mechanics like reload fumbles and gun jams that add tension, especially in high-pressure moments. Maps now feature more variety, color, and openness, with more than just two repeating textures. The soundtrack also got a significant upgrade, balancing relaxing, lore-friendly tracks with heavy battle themes.

The post A Day into Release, Boomer Shooter Beyond Citadel Proves an Instant Succes first appeared on IndieGames.

The adventure begins when a faerie cat possesses your smartphone, revealing that a mysterious force is making people feel lonely and isolated. Your mission is to bring joy back into their lives using the magic of cats, coffee, and community. In the game, you’ll have to care for your cats so they stay happy and healthy, also while decorating your café and prepare delicious treats to keep everyone coming back.

Outside the café, the city awaits with its vibrant neighborhoods. You’ll gather ingredients, discover hidden secrets, and of course, meet more stray cats. Each cat has a unique personality, and you’ll need to figure out their likes and dislikes to earn their trust. Additionally, train them with special skills like digging up treasure or sniffing out secrets.

As you explore, you’ll meet the local shopkeepers and form bonds within the community. There’s also an ancient mystery to uncover, with a dark force lurking in the woods. To stop it, you’ll need the help of tiny cat faeries and old tales from the witches’ coven. All this unfolds in a beautiful 2.5D art style, inspired by Studio Ghibli and 90’s anime, blending hand-animated characters with a detailed 3D city.

You can find Cat Cafe Manager 2 on Steam.

The post The sequel to the popular cozy management game Cat Cafe Manager 2: Big City Bliss has been announced first appeared on IndieGames.