Firesquid Games will showcase their latest games, including the god game Reus 2, the medieval city-builder City Tales – Medieval Era, the narrative-driven Becoming Saint, and the alien-busting Xenopurge. Hooded Horse will feature new releases like the horror-tinged He is Coming and the recently launched Every Day We Fight, plus discounts on popular titles such as Manor Lords, 9 Kings, and Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic.

TactiCon 2025 will also feature new reveals. FireFly Studios will share details on Stronghold Crusader: Definitive Edition. Fulqrum Publishing will update us on New Arc Line, a steampunk RPG with strategic elements. Ex Sanguis, the next project from Othercide developer Lightbulb Crew, promises to blend dark visuals with tactical depth. Plus, an upcoming turn-based roguelite will debut on Steam, with details still under wraps.

Last year’s event drew over 2.3 million visitors and saw an average of 8,000 wishlists per game, with 107 titles featured.

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By day, Out Fishing is a relaxing simulator where you cast your rod, catch fish, and skip stones, reminiscent of childhood getaways. You sell fish to earn money, upgrade gear, and build a camp as a fragile safe haven. At night, the lake and woods turn eerie, with strange visions, cryptic voices, and unsettling moments blurring memory and hallucination in a slow-burn horror story that unfolds at your pace.

Beyond fishing and resource management, you’ll upgrade tools, unlock new techniques, and use vehicles to explore deeper waters and eerie wilderness areas, though the woods feel hostile. A shotgun, introduced later with scarce ammo, offers a last-ditch defense, but the game emphasizes psychological horror and atmosphere over combat.

Still in early development, Out Fishing’s creepy premise will clearly draw comparisons to DREDGE for its mix of fishing and horror.

The post Horror Adventure Out Fishing Reels You into a Haunted Lake first appeared on IndieGames.

Video games, alongside sci-fi films, are finally exploring themes of clones, or your alternate selves. 11 bit studios has delivered a truly unique game, The Alters, opting for a realistic yet diverse mix of elements to make the gameplay loop meaningful. This blend includes survival, base building, resource management, exploration, and interpersonal relationships, all supported by a compelling narrative with a dash of adventure. The core premise involves moving a mobile base while fleeing a deadly sun, creating a constant sense of urgency. Meanwhile, you strive to understand and calm your Alters, adding necessary emotional depth to otherwise mechanical tasks.

Once you start playing, you’ll simply get lost in that world. Whether it’s due to the stunning graphics (notably, the game has been delayed several times), the abundance of content awaiting you, a love for surviving on harsh planets, or the fact that it’s a more open game that doesn’t hold your hand, offering tasks but leaving the solutions up to you, there’s plenty to draw you in. Moreover, it feels like you’re “role-playing” as the story keeps pushing you forward. The narrative unfolds through several interconnected layers, from uncovering the planet’s mysteries and the element Rapidium, to deciphering the motivations and plans of various side characters, and ultimately learning more about yourself through your relationships with your Alters.

Base management and resource gathering

As can be inferred, since the base occasionally relocates, your survival is key, which involves gathering resources on the planet. Initially, you collect metals, fuel, rare materials, and food yourself, but over time, you’ll gain the ability to cultivate certain items. It’s crucial to locate deposits, build mining facilities, and connect them to the base via transport pylons, creating engaging environmental puzzles. You can then assign these tasks to your Alters, each bringing their own skill sets, for example, they can quickly craft tools, build rooms, research new technologies, or even argue and influence each other.

However, a challenge arises here. The base’s modular design allows for room reconfiguration, but this can become disorienting as the base grows. Key rooms, like the communication center, are hard to find without memorizing the layout, especially when your screen is cluttered with countless items and you’re unsure of the ideal base design. Additionally, there’s a lot of micromanagement involved, it’s not simple; you must initiate certain processes for tasks to repeat. The constant scarcity of resources and ticking clock create high-pressure scenarios, especially during magnetic storms that halt exploration and damage the base, or when you’re still figuring out how to combat anomalies reminiscent of those in Stalker.

Managing Alters and social dynamics

Clones like Jan the Technician, Jan the Scientist, Jan the Miner, or Jan the Botanist aren’t just workers, they’re fully developed characters with unique backstories, skills, and emotional needs. Each Alter’s personality stems from a key life choice, such as standing up to an abusive father, directly affecting their work ethic, mood, and interactions with others. You’ll even see mood bubbles pop up to instantly show if you’ve picked the right dialogue. Instead of good communication, you can also tease or argue with them.

You can manage their moods through conversations, gifts, or activities like beer pong, which unlocks new dialogue options or reduces the chance of rebellion. Ignoring their needs leads to conflicts, impacting productivity and survival. On the other hand, the “branching screen” feature stands out, visually mapping key decision points where Alter personalities diverge, as well as defining moments in each Alter’s life that shaped them. It’s fascinating how each character has a detailed story to explore, despite being the same person.

Of course, the story won’t focus solely on the Alters but also on the actors who brought you to this unknown planet. You’ll communicate with Earth characters, dive deeper into the narrative, understand why you’re the sole survivor of your team, and grasp the importance of the metal Rapidium. Expect plenty of intrigue and humor, along with the chance to ask yourself rhetorical questions.

Planet exploration and technology

Exploration occurs from a third-person perspective, with Jan navigating alien landscapes using tools like a grappling hook or a makeshift gun to combat radioactive anomaly clusters that cause radiation damage. These encounters are simplified, requiring you to aim a torch-like weapon at the anomalies until they disperse, serving more as environmental obstacles than complex battles.

Movement includes light platforming, such as descending cliffs, but Jan’s controls can feel clunky at times. I’m unsure why his movement isn’t smoother, or at least feels like we’re on a planet with different gravity or no oxygen, leading to awkward turns and stumbles. Invisible walls prevent falls but limit jumping and reduce exploration freedom. While visually impressive, the planet can feel empty depending on the perspective, with repetitive ores and shapes. Though biome variety is limited, what’s available is aesthetically appealing. The Alters lacks true combat; it focuses on management, survival, and your skill in handling these aspects.

What personally captivated me are the technologies and the ability to craft various items. It’s not just one thing to build, everything is interconnected. Want a device to destroy obstacles? You’ll need to gather resources. Want to mine metal faster? You must research that technology, looping through various tech levels. The tech trees are well-designed, logical, and offer plenty without distracting from the core experience: uncovering mysteries and building relationships with Alters. The refinery system and gradual unlocking of new prototypes and blueprints are engaging, ensuring things don’t stay the same.

Does the game run smoothly?

Given that the game is built on Unreal Engine 5, it’s surprising it runs smoothly at all, though there are moments where optimization falters. For instance, returning to the base or unlocking a new planetary area can cause brief stutters. It’s clear the game performs well on high-end machines, but how it fares on other platforms is hard to say. There were no major issues, and it’s impressive how well everything is crafted considering the vastness of the world, possibly because the planet feels quite empty, making such optimization less surprising.

Beyond that, the voice acting by Alex Jordan deserves praise for delivering an outstanding performance across all versions of Jan, convincingly bringing each iteration to life with unique personalities and attitudes. Portraying ten variations of the same character is no easy feat, but he nailed it. On the other hand, Jan’s character models and his Alters are expressive, with subtle differences in appearance (hair, posture) and animations reflecting their personalities. However, some scenes use static storyboards with voice narration, which feels low-budget compared to the game’s in-world visuals and detracts from the overall impression.

Well-written story that won’t disappoint

To wrap up, I’d highlight a few key points. The survival elements in the game don’t feel like a grind, thanks to accelerated time during resource extraction, making it all about efficient time and team management. If you’re expecting a classic survival sandbox, this isn’t it. The game is primarily driven by a strong narrative, constantly giving you goals to achieve with some freedom in how you approach them. At the same time, it’s not just about moving from one end of the planet to the other, you need to prepare well for upcoming threats.

You won’t lose anything by trying it; in fact, you can play it via Game Pass, so there’s no need to second-guess its value. After 20 to 30 hours of gameplay, you’ll realize how special The Alters is and how, after the weaker impressions of Frostpunk 2, 11 bit studios can truly create something commendable when they’re motivated and free to experiment.

Review copy provided by the publisher

4.3

The post The Alters – An Unconventional Adventure with Narrative and Survival at Its Core first appeared on IndieGames.

In Bloody Hell Hotel, you’ll be scrubbing grimy rooms, repairing busted furniture, hanging wallpaper, and installing new appliances to make the estate feel grand again. Your vampiric powers give you a handy edge – super-speed for chores or a little supernatural flair for renovations. But the real challenge is keeping the hotel running in a world that’s short on food, supplies, and workers.

Thankfully, the estate sits atop a sprawling crypt and cave system packed with resources. These monster-filled dungeons are your ticket to success, offering materials for crafting, farming, and even forging weapons. Yes, you’ll need a good sword to fend off the creepy enemies lurking below, but don’t worry, you can build your own arsenal in the blacksmith’s workshop tucked beneath the lobby.

Speaking of guests, they’re a picky bunch, expecting top-notch service and gourmet meals. Ingredients are pricey, but you’ve got options. Farm mushrooms sprouting around the estate, milk an undead cow, or collect eggs from zombie chickens. And if you’re low on meat? Well, let’s just say your guests might unknowingly provide the main course.

The post Bloody Hell Hotel Reveals Farming System in New Trailer first appeared on IndieGames.

In Horizonite, you’ll be setting sail for all sorts of different islands, and each one is packed with resources to grab, puzzles to solve, and treasures just waiting to be found. Getting out and exploring is a big deal, because you never know what challenges or rewards are tucked away, and they’ll help you build up your island. When things get a little wild, you’ll jump into turn-based battles against some interesting creatures. And when you want to chill out, you can dive into managing your own resort, customizing it and making it bigger for all the visitors who show up.

The colors are bright and there are tons of cute little details, kind of like you’d see in Stardew Valley or Moonlighter. What’s also neat is that the seasons and weather actually matter. They change what resources you can find and how battles play out, which makes exploring and planning your moves more interesting. Plus, you’ll run into all sorts of characters, each with their own stories and things they need you to do, which gives you new stuff to work towards.

The post Cozy Stardew Valley-Inspired RPG Horizonite Announced for Steam first appeared on IndieGames.

The latest update, detailed in patch notes on Steam, focuses on long-term performance improvements, delivering a significant boost in frame rates, especially for larger cities and the world map. The update also includes a visually overhauled world map. Player feedback drove additional changes, such as enabling the Copy Tool to include building upgrades and allowing queued movement orders for Navy Units.

Kaiserpunk stands out by combining the creative freedom of city-builders with the depth of grand strategy games. YOu shape your city-state from scratch, building housing, infrastructure, and industries while maintaining citizen morale and economic growth. On the global stage, you can trade, form alliances, or wage war across 100+ regions, balancing diplomacy and military might in a dynamic world inspired by Anno and Europa Universalis.

Launched on March 21, 2025, Kaiserpunk has earned a 68% positive rating from 385 Steam reviews, with praise for its logistics depth and unique premise, though some players noted performance issues now addressed in the update.

The post Kaiserpunk goes on sale with major update, now 30% off on Steam first appeared on IndieGames.

Set in the turbulent lands of Ahlat during a Mongol invasion led by Genghis Khan, Ertugrul of Ulukayin follows Ertugrul, Turgut, and Meryem, three warriors with unique weapons and combat styles, as they defend the Kayı tribe and seek Ertugrul’s missing brother. In this game you will hunt, craft, and battle Mongols, legendary creatures, and shadowy foes, while exploring historical landmarks and forging ties with neighboring tribes.

Osim toga, možete ojačati svoju plemensku zajednicu Oba kroz upravljanje resursima, dok će vas poluotvoreni svijet, izgrađen u Unreal Engineu 5, očarati prekrasnim krajolicima. Early Access verzija trenutno donosi oko dva sata sadržaja, dok bi puna verzija igre, planirana za lipanj 2026., trebala trajati oko 15 sati.

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In the town of Spatterville, you launch a painting business to bring color to its dull corners. Story Mode puts you in the shoes of an entrepreneur meeting various clients, like homeowners, robot fanatics, and more, each with their own unique requests. You’ll prep surfaces, fix objects, mask areas, and choose the perfect paints before letting your creativity loose to keep customers happy.

Between jobs, you can upgrade tools, vehicles, and equipment like ladders and scaffolding to tackle challenging jobs, painting everything from rooms and cars to bridges and giant robots. On the other side, Free Spray Mode unlocks a sandbox where you, solo or with a friend in co-op, can paint the entire town without limits.

The post Spray Paint Simulator Will Arive Later This Month on Consoles and PC first appeared on IndieGames.

In a dark fantasy world, 9 Kings challenges you to build a thriving kingdom to outlast rival kings. From a nine-tile grid around your castle, you draw cards to construct buildings, summon troops, or cast spells. The trailer highlights battles with knights, warlocks, and sentient mushrooms, where you can drop rocks from your castle to smash foes. Each of the nine kings brings a unique starting deck, and looting rivals’ cards lets you craft wild, game-breaking builds.

Crafted by a small São Paulo and New York team, 9 Kings builds on Sad Socket’s success with Seraph’s Last Stand, which sold over 500,000 copies. Backed by Hooded Horse, known for polishing indie gems, 9 Kings will evolve through Early Access toward a full Q3 2025 release.

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Marking 25 years since the original Europa Universalis debuted, this fifth installment, developed by Paradox Tinto over five years, blends the series’ empire-building legacy with modern innovations. Crafted with input from the passionate Paradox community through a year of public discussions, the game aims to attract both longtime fans and newcomers with its expansive scope and refined systems.

Europa Universalis V transports you to 1337, at the dawn of the Hundred Years’ War, and spans through the Renaissance, Enlightenment, and beyond. The game features a larger, more accurate world map with improved projections, allowing you to lead hundreds of societies across every continent. The detailed map also introduces more nations and varied terrain.

A new population-based system replaces the series’ traditional province focus, letting you manage cultural, religious, and economic dynamics within your realms. You must balance the influence of estates, meet the needs of diverse populations, and navigate thousands of dynamic historical events that challenge you to replicate or reshape the past.

The game’s economy is driven by a detailed production and trade system, where you build farms, plantations, and factories to supply goods for economic and military needs. Trade networks, facilitated by roads, ports, and fleets, allow you to import resources or export products to amass wealth, with some buildings requiring specific goods to function. Nation customization is central, with policies, laws, and military structures adapting to technological advances and your goals, whether centralizing power, embracing tolerance, or building an elite army.

On the other hand, military and diplomatic options offer more flexibility to dominate through conquest or spying. You can rally levies, mercenaries, or professional soldiers, but wars impact population directly. Diplomacy includes royal marriages and trade treaties, but also provides options for peaceful paths to expand influence.

The post Europa Universalis V Announced, Set to Release on Steam in 2026 first appeared on IndieGames.