Indie Highlight
Nov 9, 2019
Neon Noodles is a simulation and management game created by Vivid Helix. Much like Automachef, you’ll need to put together an efficient food factory, with a cyberpunk atmosphere, so that your robot chefs can get to work! Neon Noodles will be available on Steam Early Access here on November 29th, 2019. Furthermore, you can try out the free demo/open beta on Steam (Windows only) and expect regular updates to the game!
About Neon Noodles
Set in a dark and mysterious cyberpunk world, you are put in charge of the futuristic food factory known as Neon Noodles. Inspired by the open-ended machine-building puzzle games of Zachtronics such as Opus Magnum and Infinifactory, you design and build your own fully automated kitchen to prepare meals using robot chefs. Guacamole, bibimbap, ramen, spaetzle, paella and many more recipes are waiting for you to be optimized.
Key Features
- Automate your robot chefs through an intuitive replay and record system where you control the robot that creates the program, then edit it later if needed.
- Customize your cooking loops to be as simple, elaborate or streamlined as you want and compare your wits with other players around the world on the global leaderboards
- Solve endlessly replayable open-ended puzzles with over 100 recipes from around the world consisting of 200 unique ingredients.
- Travel the world and master the art of cooking through technological advancement in a cyberpunk setting filled with mysteries.
It seems that the developers are planning to bring Neon Noodles to consoles, release TBD. You can check out those details, and more, on their official website here.
- Nov 9, 2019
Little Big Workshop is an adorable simulation and strategy game developed by Mirage Game Studios and Published by HandyGames (THQ Nordic division). The game released on October 17th, 2019 on Steam which you can purchase here, for PC or Mac, for only $19.99! Manage your workers, stations, machines, and create awesome toys and items to expand your factory. Moreover, it’s almost as if you get to manage little workshop elves, Santa’s helpers, which makes this the perfect game to play this holiday season!
About Little Big Workshop
Imagine a magical factory, appearing right in your living room. A carefully planned masterpiece, where diligent workers throw together anything customers want. Rubber ducks and dressers, drones and electric guitars, scooters and other wonderful goods can be created from many different materials and sold for hard cash – cash you invest right back into your factory to get more machines, more workers and grow your business. In Little Big Workshop you become a factory tycoon!
Real Factories – Made FUN
You are the Big Boss and it’s time to take charge of your very own tabletop factory. Organize the factory floor, manage your workers, purchase machinery, and design efficient production lines – all within the time-limit and to your client’s satisfaction!
An Open-Ended Sandbox-Experience
Take it easy, it’s a sandbox-experience where you think, ponder and poke at things until you get it to work the way you’d like. Supply products to clients and an ever-changing market, as you produce over 50 unique product types, built from multiple parts and pieces – all of which can be created with different materials and production methods. No two factories should ever look the same.
Tiny Hands, Big Dreams
Start out with just a small workshop and expand to a desk-filling factory. Unlock ever fancier machines, add even more production methods, and most of all, more room. Soon enough you’ll be running multiple production lines, producing hundreds of advanced products each day, and watching with joy as your cute workers do the actual work.
Key Features
- Four unique industries fully simulated
- Focus on practical problems, not on values, economics, or logistics
- Organize all steps of the production on a blueprint
- Factories grow as you unlock more desk space
- Day/Night-cycle with simulated working time
- Take care of your workers! Work them too hard and they may turn on you
- Cute model-town art-style
In the mood for more holiday shopping? Check out my article here: Nintendo Switch Perfect Gift Guide.
- Nov 6, 2019
This 3D cooperative (1-4 players) physics-based puzzler is about using your adorably tiny hands to connect with your friends and create new shapes. When playing it in single-player mode, you can swap between pieces. Grabimals, developed by SAD & SON, will be releasing sometime in 2020 for PC and Nintendo Switch.
As you can see from the images below, there are 6 different puzzle types you may encounter while playing. There’s the Gap where you’ll need to become a bridge, the Build where you form an object like a chair, the Ride where the example is trying to stay on a mechanical bull, the Shadow where you’ll be recreating shapes via your shadows, the Catch where you grab and hold objects, and Play which looks like a fun Jenga party!
About Grabimals
Grabimals merges the concept of building and playing into a brand new experience where players control a party of unique creatures and connect them together to solve a wide variety of puzzles.
Photo Gallery
For more information about the game, you can go to the official website here. If you’re looking for more local co-op puzzle games, check these out here: Pile Up! Piled Onto Steam With a New Official Trailer, Play Boxboy! + Boxgirl! Now, Snipperclips – A Cut Above the Rest, All Heave Ho Indie Cameo Characters.
- Nov 1, 2019
It looks like I’ve strangely made it my mission to find multiplayer games where the premise is “chore-like” if it were a real-life scenario. Not only do I find these types of games hilarious, but I’m also certain that they’ll make for great fun with friends. Especially if they are anything like Overcooked. May I present to you, Tools Up, a cooperative game about renovating homes. Paint walls, lay some tiles, move a bit of the furniture around in some pretty weird places. Developed by The Knights of Unity and published by All in! Games, Tools Up is coming soon in late 2019 for Steam, PS4, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One.
About Tools Up
Gather up to 4 players for this fun couch co-op experience for people of all skills! Renovate the apartments in the mysterious skyscraper while the tenants are away. Be sure to follow their wishes left behind on the blueprints. Tear off wallpapers, bring down walls, bust down doors, and cover the floor with vibrant carpets and panels – just be sure to do it in time and clean up after yourself!
Key Features
- Work hard – paint walls, lay tiles and throw everything you need to other rooms.
- Play better together – join up to three players to move couches against the clock.
- Expect the unexpected – environmental elements spice up things. Have you ever renovated a building surrounded by lava?
- Lead the team – whoever holds the blueprint is in charge of the camera angle.
- Join in the fun – simple controls and a low entry level make Tools Up! a perfect party game for everyone.
For more information about this game, you can check out the official website here.
- Oct 26, 2019
Skies of the Past is a vast open-world game in a relaxing voxel style.
Games in the voxel style are always a joy to play. The simplistic graphics always seem to mesh effortlessly with any story one wish’s to portray. I can already tell that Skies of the Past will be a voxel-style game that really gets its zen message across.
In Skies of the Past, you begin your journey on a mysterious floating island. You are completely surrounded by the ruins of an ancient civilization that time forgot. You must explore the vast world to discover clues to find out why you’re here, and what happened to inhabitants of the land.
You will encounter many curious things, as well as useful things, like a hot-air balloon, or even a chill plane to cruise around the tranquil environment. Take the time to explore deep into a cave and reveal its hidden secrets. The developer also put a focus on making sure that the music perfectly matched the experience, as the “soft piano music and the sounds of wind and rain complement your journey.”
Skies of the Past is still in development, and the release date is set as “to be announced”. For a much closer look at this title, the developer, Sebastian, recommends that all interested follow him on Twitter. There you will find the updates in development, as well as many gifs and pictures from the development of Skies of the Past. For more awesome voxel-style action, check out my coverage of Cube World.
- Oct 22, 2019
Planet of Lana, created by Wishfully, a game studio in Gothenburg, Sweden, caught my eye right away with the art style. With that, the rich story and the odd creatures, I find myself thinking about Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind! Moreover, Planet of Lana is a cinematic puzzle-adventure where you play a young child, determined to out-think an entire planet.
This game is the new debut game for this studio and is a joint venture between moving art studio Makers Only and technology company Fully Studios. It’s in early development and currently has a release window of 2022. See below for what we know so far about Planet of Lana. I’m already quite found of the adorable animal-thingy Mui!
About Planet of Lana
Welcome to a beautiful planet where humans, animals, and machines live side by side, in an upside-down food chain. Planet of Lana is a cinematic puzzle-adventure where you play a young child, determined to out-think an entire planet.
Besides the obvious terrors of cold-hearted machines and giant monsters, the planet itself is full of enigmatic and vast ecosystems. Lana will need to navigate deserts, taigas, mountains, and seas with no one except her tiny, canine-like friend Mui by her side.
In Mui, Lana finds an intelligent, unwavering companion. And thanks to their teamwork, the journey has promise.
For another Studio Ghibli-esque game, check out this article here: Onsen Master Updates: Consoles and Multiplayer Announced. If you like narrative games with robots, check out this article here: ENCODYA – A Futuristic Dystopian Adventure Now on Kickstarter.
- Oct 21, 2019
Thystle is real time strategy game that is currently in the works by solo developer William “daoklyn” Beaujon.
Pixel art is by far one of my favorite styles! The simplicity really helps to boost the imagination, without distracting from the story. The color schemes also tend to be soothing and easily palatable. Games like Stardew Valley and Little Witch in the Woods have helped to prove that you don’t need insane graphics to make a beautiful game, and it looks Thystle wishes to prove this once again.
This title will be a game steeped in lore, as the developer has taken inspiration from some of his favorite RTS games, like Warcraft 2 and Starcraft. William describes Thystle as ” a massive world tree that holds multiple realms on its many branches.” It will be your job to explore these realms and mingle with the different inhabitants, which are said to include Humans, Demons, Dragons, Giants and more!
Thystle is still in early development, so all details are subject to change. For more information about the game, you can visit the official website. For up-to-date information on Thystle, be sure to follow the developer on Twitter.
- Oct 14, 2019
Leafvale Island is described by the developer as a cross between Zelda and Harvest Moon, and I can’t wait to find out more.
With what little I could find, I can can already tell that Leafvale Island is one cute indie that I will be keeping an eye on. In my opinion, there could never be enough 2D adventure games. As soon as I finish one, I am ready for another. I’m always excited to meet new people and creatures, and discover countless worlds and environments.
Being described as a cross between Zelda and Harvest Moon, Leafvale Island immediately attracted my attention. I could tell by the images that this game certainly has a charm that cannot be denied. I don’t know if it’s the beady-eyed tree or the happy waving little man, but I know I want to play this game!
However, it does appear that this game is still deep in development, so details are bit hard to come by. Luckily, you can follow the developer on Twitter to get a better idea as to what to expect in Leafvale Island. For more awesome 2D action, check out my coverage of the most recent update to Stardew Valley!
