It’s a beautiful time to be an indie game fan. The MIX’s showcase had an avalanche of news on games I’ve been watching, and looks at titles I need to jam into an already packed must-play list (luckily the organizers have a special Steam page to make wishlisting a little easier). But if you didn’t have time to watch the entire indie-focused event, I have your back! Below is a roundup of all the games from the show, with the creator’s synopsis, link to dive deeper, select trailers, and what fresh info came out of The MIX Next 2022.
[I] Doesn’t Exist
Classic Zork meets Existential Crisis. A modern text adventure that explores themes of control, isolation and mental health while levelling up the genre with beautiful pixel art and AI.
One of the upcoming games on my radar, [I] Doesn’t Exist announced today that it has a publisher in DreadXP.
Airhead
Airhead is an adventure through a sprawling interconnected world, where you must explore, evolve and overcome intricate puzzles to succeed. You play as Airhead, a small Body and the round inflated organism it uses as a Head. While Head is slowly but surely deflating, you have a chance to save its life, by using air tanks to keep Head inflated while you explore Airhead’s Metroidvania-style world.
Akatori
Help young Mako to save the world, while gracefully switching between two parallel dimensions in this fascinating metroidvania/slasher platformer! Explore the worlds full of magic and secrets, find friends and allies and try not to let the ancient God awake!
Arctic Awakening
Arctic Awakening is a first-person narrative adventure set in the unforgiving Arctic. Your plane crashed in a storm, leaving only your court-mandated therapy robot for company as you journey to find your co-pilot and uncover the mysteries buried beneath the ice.
Astro Duel 2
Astro Duel 2 is an arena combat game set in the open frontiers of the Echo System. A versus and co-op experience that blurs the line between top-down space shooter and platform fighter. Classic arcade action built with fresh, fluid mechanics.
B.I.O.T.A. Swarm
Survive the B.I.O.T.A. Swarm and clear the arena of alien infestation in this fast-paced bullet hell roguelite shooter. Beat the boss, unlock new heroes, guns, and skills in randomized campaigns designed for quick runs and high replayability.
Backfirewall_
A first-person tragicomic adventure set inside a smartphone. You are the update assistant. Solve wacky puzzles to counter the update and save the previous operating system from deletion. The fate of the System is in your hands!
Being and Becoming
Discover the enigmatic and delicate world of The Flawless Abbey. Journey through the lovingly hand-painted fairytale, navigate the Labyrinth Tower using the Musical Star-Key – and unveil the fragile secrets of the Abbey and its inhabitants.
Between Horizons
Between Horizons is a narrative 2.5D sci-fi detective adventure. 33 years into the Zephyr’s journey, its mission is suddenly jeopardized. Can you find the culprit before it’s too late? Experience an enthralling story set in a semi-open world that branches and ends based on your choices.
Bramble: The Mountain King
Bramble The Mountain King is a grim adventure set in a world inspired by dark, Nordic fables. Explore the beautiful yet dangerous and twisted land of Bramble in your endeavour to rescue your sister. Traverse a wondrous landscape and survive deadly encounters with Bramble’s many hideous creatures.
I’m all about games emerged in the world of fable, and Bramble’s creepy AF tone only adds to my interest. Which is why I was thrilled to get more info on one of the bosses, The Skogsra, in the showcase.
Bubblegum Galaxy
Bubblegum Galaxy is a cute building strategy game about rebuilding the galaxy tile by tile. Discover and design new planets, complete missions, explore your office and befriend your co-workers… all while trying to find out who deleted the galaxy!
Bulwark: Falconeer Chronicles
Bulwark: Falconeer Chronicles is a new city-building game set in the oceanic world of The Great Ursee, by BAFTA-nominated developer Tomas Sala. Design, develop and defend your Bulwark, manage resources and make choices to create unique fortress settlements in a world reeling from a cataclysmic war.
Cassette Beasts
Cassette Beasts puts a unique spin on monster-collectors, turn-based battles, and open-world RPG adventure. The new trailer highlights the game’s starting monster choices and their evolutions.
Chernobylite
Chernobylite is a survival horror RPG set in a sci-fi open world. Uncover the disturbing secrets of Chernobyl in a 3D-scanned recreation of the real Exclusion Zone. From the creators of Get Even. As Igor Khymynyuk, a physicist who used to work in the Chernobyl Power Plant, enter the mysterious and dangerous contamination zone in a thrilling adventure of survival, conspiracy, horror, love, and obsession.
DAVE THE DIVER
‘DAVE THE DIVER’ is a hybrid marine adventure set in a mysterious Blue Hole where the ecology and terrain continue to change. Combining adventure and tycoon gameplay, ‘DAVE THE DIVER’ provides a variety of fun experiences. ‘Deep-sea exploration’ in a beautiful sea setting, combines a mix of 2D and 3D, and ‘Restaurant management’ in which you finance the shop by capturing fish and cooking them.
DE-EXIT – Eternal Matters
Is there life after death? Embark in a surrealistic afterlife journey, discover the secrets of a new and mysterious world in this atmospheric light puzzle-platformer with a hint of stealth. Explore a warm voxel world with an intense cinematic approach. Dive into this deep reflexive experience and try to find the exit!
Desktop Dungeons: Rewind
Desktop Dungeons: Rewind bestows bites of tactical roguelike action, which will quickly fester into a deep, lingering, and strategic obsession. Bargain with gods, equip your spoon and pick your battles, before retreating into the healing darkness. But beware… there are still many monsters to face!
Dungeon Drafters
Dungeon Drafters is a mystery dungeon adventure set in a world where magic is cards, and cards are magic. Choose your character, create your unique spell deck and plunge into the ancient dungeons on a quest to rid the world of evil and forbidden cards. Dive deeper and work your way toward building the ultimate spell deck that will banish evil from the world forever.
Elderand
Through the darkness and madness, promised glory awaits. Dismember deadly creatures and terrifying bosses by masterfully wielding an arsenal of brutal weapons in intense skill-based combat. Hunt for untold treasure as you explore a grim world in this gory, gruesome Action-RPG.
Erra: Exordium
Erra: Exordium is a 2D action adventure game in Dieselpunk setting. Explore a world based on Sumerian-Akkadian mythology. Take the role of a scientist who was able to cheat death and fight the rebellious army of mechatrons.
FAITH: The Unholy Trinity
What you are about to do has not been approved by the Vatican. As a young priest, struggle against demons, insane cultists, and your own weakening faith in this pixel horror game inspired by the era of classic 8-bit gaming and the “Satanic Scare” of the 1980s.
Farewell North
Restore color to a dark and desolate archipelago in Farewell North, an open world adventure where you play as a collie traveling a chain of foreboding islands alongside your human companion. Explore at your own pace to restore color, while uncovering a unique story about saying farewell.
First Dwarf
If there’s one thing dwarves are better at than grooming their beards, it’s engineering. Jump into your mech, build a base and explore the crumbled fantasy world in this immersive action RPG.
Flat Eye
Flat Eye puts players in charge of a futuristic gas station in Iceland. Releasing just next month, the game begins as a simple management game, but spirals to unexpected narrative depths and reveals new truths about the world in which it takes place. A demo is available to play on Steam now, and the game will release in just a few weeks, on November 14, 2022.
Gatekeeper
Go on a quest to find the stolen Heart of the Universe in the center of a hostile galaxy. Destroy hordes of monsters using combinations of found artifacts. Find the quantum cage and open it using the keys collected from the ancient Sirens. Only the Creators can compete with you in power.
Developer Gravity Lagoon revealed a brand-new game during The MIX Next 2022. Besides the few sentences above, the title is still a bit of a mystery that seems worth looking into.
Inkbound
Inkbound is a co-op roguelike RPG that brings the best aspects of Shiny Shoe’s award-winning title, Monster Train, to a world where stories come to life. An unknown force begins to unbind these stories and the worlds they create. It’s up to you and your friends to protect them. Craft powerful character builds in procedurally generated runs and battle your way past the inky hordes with a unique active battle system.
KAKU: Ancient Seal
KAKU: Ancient Seal is an open-world action-adventure fantasy game that lets players navigate their own path through a mysterious continent full of strange creatures, ancient ruins, and unique tribes. Play Kaku an young child, who’s tasked with going on a journey across a sprawling continent.
I’m not going to lie. When I first saw the title of this game, I wanted the protagonist to be a very wrinkled aquatic mammal. But it’s hard to be disappointed with the showcase’s spectacular gameplay trailer still fresh in my mind.
Lords of Ravage
Become the final boss of the dungeon! Create your own playing style by combining followers from different factions in spectacular turn-based combat. Build a shadow empire to find a powerful artifact that can alter the fate of this world. Choose your path as one of the “Lords of Ravage”!
Mahou Senshi Cosplay Club
In Mahou Senshi Cosplay Club you will embark on a journey of becoming an amazing Magical Girl cosplayer! Each costume you create will give you different abilities to overcome quests and contests. But don’t let this journey fool you, because this is not just roleplaying: your costumes will give you real life powers, and the world’s fate will be in your hands!
Mars Base
Welcome to Mars Base, humanity’s foothold on the Red Planet! Join the expedition as an interstellar botanist and make history: turn barren soil into fertile farmland, grow food for colonists’ tables, and unearth the secrets of Mars! Are you ready to science the “crop” out of everything?
Mato Anomalies
Mato Anomalies is a turn-based RPG that takes players on a journey across Mato, a fantasized neo-futuristic version of a bygone oriental city. Take control of the Dual Protagonists Doe and Gram to investigate strange anomalies around the city, or venture into rifts to battle demonic abominations determined to bring about the city’s downfall. Team up with unlikely companions and unravel the dark secrets in this story of Duty, Hope and Justice.
McPixel 3
McPixel 3 is a mind-blowing save-the-day adventure that sees the titular wanna-be hero avert one disaster after another at every turn using unconventional yet entertaining methods of mayhem.
Mira and the Legend of the Djinns
An epic 2D pixel art style Metroidvania, inspired by Moroccan culture and spiritual traditions. Wield powerful ancient weapons and forge your way through unrelenting deserts, crumbling necropoli, floating islands and dangerous mountains as you try to uncover the secret of the last Djinn.
Monster Loves You Too!
Find food, forge friendships, and fend off bigger monsters, all while resisting your own monstrous urges to cheat, steal, kill, and lie at every turn. Grow up, grow old, and maybe even grow wise. Make friends, allies, and enemies. Break out of the slums, assemble your own gang, explore the wilderness, and unravel the political intrigue keeping monsterkind from clawing out of the pit of brutality. Monster Loves You Too! is the story of your life told over months, years, and the next century.
Moonstone Island
Moonstone Island is an open-world deckbuilder with 100+ islands to explore, spirits to tame, items to craft, and secrets to discover. The new trailer offers an updated look at all aspects of gameplay, including spirit battles, potion brewing, farming and more!
Mr. Sun’s Hatbox
Mr. Sun’s Hatbox is a slapstick, roguelite platformer about getting the job done, no matter the cost. The new explainer video offers a speedy rundown of the easy-to-learn, difficult-to-master gameplay, just in time for the game’s event demo to be released on Steam for all to play!
My Work Is Not Yet Done
My Work Is Not Yet Done is a narrative-driven investigative horror game, combining elements of the survival/simulation genres with a dense, nonlinear plot exploring the imbrication and dissolution of human identities/meanings within uncanny wilderness.
Ninja or Die
Unleash the power and speed of the Ninja in an ultrafast Roguelite that will leave you dead and wanting more. Ninja or Die is a singleplayer challenge with a rare offering: hardcore action and simple controls.
No Return
No Return is a first-person psychological horror game set in modern-day China. With a focus on family tragedy, the story unfolds as our protagonist is mysteriously prevented from returning home by an unseen force. Can he navigate a nightmarish maze of hallways and uncover the disturbing truth?
Nova Lands
Nova Lands is a factory building, exploration, and island management game. Explore, engage in combat, and automate your industry. The planet you’re on is full of mysteries, creatures, people, and things to do. Welcome to your new home amongst the stars!
Paper Cut Mansion
Paper Cut Mansion is a Roguelite Horror set in a cardboard universe. The player is a paper man trapped in a paper mansion who has to solve a series of puzzles and riddles “escape-room” style in order to get out of the house. The house has different levels and, during his journey, the player will encounter other mansion inhabitants, some will ask him to complete quests and give him rewards, some other will try to hide, some other will try to kill him. If during the game the player dies he will start over from the first level.
Paper Trail
Paper Trail is a top-down puzzle adventure about leaving home, set in a paper world. You must fold and tear your way through a diverse, populated paper world. As you progress, new gameplay opportunities emerge, enhanced by the folding mechanics. Drag objects, shine lights, and push boulders across the paths you create through folding.
PaperKlay
PaperKlay is a short and sweet 3D platformer where you unfold, open and rotate the paper environment in order to freely explore the cardboard world.
Passpartout 2: The Lost Artist
In this struggling artist adventure you draw and sell art to cheeky critics in order to reclaim your lost art career. Explore the endearing town of Phénix, unlocking new studios and tools along the way.
Perish
Perish is a stylish four-player FPS with a cross to bear. Slay hordes of creatures on the black sands of Purgatory and sell their gold-stained corpses to craven priests. Kill magnificent bosses and use the proceeds to gain entrance to Elysium, a place of cosmic revelations.
Pixelshire
Build the town of Pixelshire and grow your community in a unique RPG sandbox which mixes life sim elements with town building, exploration, and combat. Express yourself by planning the town to your liking, master trades, get to know your neighbours, and explore the continent of Arcadia.
Protodroid DeLTA
In a vibrant vision of Earth’s future, the world-renowned roboticist Dr. Shelton has created one of the first Protodroids, a hyper-advanced android named DeLTA with near-human levels of intelligence. DeLTA was made to “be the change” that shows the world the promise of what AI can become—and so she sets out on a journey to defend humanity from the Vypers, and prove to a skeptical planet she’s more than just another machine. Show the world the potential of AI in Protodroid DeLTA, a fast and fluid 3D action-platformer set in a beautiful and hopeful solarpunk world, featuring a colorful cast of characters to meet, bosses to defeat, and hidden upgrades to discover.
Quasimorphosis
Take on a role of a hardened PMC fighter in Quasimorphosis, a dark roguelike RPG set in space far into the future. Engage in unforgiving combat, travel to new locations on your ship, take care of the crew, and discover the terrible truth hidden amongst the stars.
Saleblazers
Build a shop and survive a perilous open world with up to 7 friends in the ultimate multiplayer shopkeeping survival experience.
SCHiM
SCHiM is a game about jumping from shadow to shadow in a challenging and lively environment. This 3D platformer takes elements of light & animation and adds them directly to the gameplay, delivering an experience that you will only find in SCHiM.
This was one of my highlights when the showcase participants were announced. Getting a new gameplay trailer was worth the watch!
Shumi Come Home
Play as a tiny lil’ mushroom who’s lost in the forest and can’t find its way home. Explore unique areas freely at your own pace, chat with friendly inhabitants, and take on different adventures to get back home!
And we’ve got a confirmed Switch release! This little mushroom adventure seems like a great fit for the console.
SIMULACRA 3
The town of Stonecreek is haunted. People keep disappearing into thin air, leaving nothing but an eerie symbol behind. With the townsfolk gripped with fear, use a missing victim’s phone to unlock the truth in the third entry of the acclaimed horror series, SIMULACRA.
Slave Zero X
Slave Zero X is a stylish 2.5D character action game set in the biopunk world of Slave Zero (1999). Run & Slash your way through a dystopian future in this action-packed game which will resonate with fans of Devil May Cry, Strider, and Guilty Gear.
Sorry We’re Closed
Sorry We’re Closed is a nostalgic single player survival horror game with rich lore and character interactions that allow multiple endings. Following the end days of Michelle, explore unsettling locations using the environment to hide and survive.
Spirittea
Inspired in equal measure by iconic life sim Stardew Valley, and classic spirit-focused anime and manga, Spirittea follows a writer who has escaped to the countryside in order to clear their head and find inspiration for their next novel. However, after accidentally drinking from an old mystical teapot, our protagonist begins to see the spirit world overlapping with their reality.
Can you spot me in the picture above?
Stray Blade
Stray Blade is an action RPG where you play a rogue adventurer exploring the ancient Valley of Acrea with your companion, the Xhinnon wolf Boji. Unveil the history of the forgotten valley and master the powers of the three Acrean Metals to restore balance to this war-torn land.
Sunnyside
Bridge the gap between traditional practices and modern influences in this JRPG Farm-Sim as you find harmony in the Japanese countryside. Cultivate new experiences, build a thriving homestead, and let your relationships with the locals blossom.
Super Mini Mart
Super Mini Mart is your 100% fresh, 100% chill round-the-corner supermarket sim. Stock, supervise, manage and get to know your colorful clientele-to-be in this sweet, stress-free management game!
Swordship
Swordship is a futuristic lightning-fast dodge’em up which flips the script on the traditional arcade shooter. Turn both the tide of battle and enemies on themselves by dodging, weaving and diving your way through an onslaught of enemies hell-bent on tearing your Swordship apart.
We have a release date reveal, folks, Swordship is coming to all platforms December 5.
The Forest Quartet
The Forest Quartet is a puzzle adventure about a gone, but not forgotten, lead singer. Play her spirit and travel through 3 acts unique to the members of her band for a final farewell concert. Face their emotions, solve puzzles and fight the corruption plaguing their souls.
The Last Alchemist
A wondrous Alchemy Management game about the blazing pursuit of science in a world of superstition.
To the Stars
What’s a disgraced captain of a renowned treasure-hunting brigade to do when they fail to make a name for themselves? Open a universe-wide touring service, of course! Surf a procedurally generated sea of stars while recruiting a group of … quirky, yet talented alien crewmates. Utilize their distinct abilities to overcome the perils of alien worlds and, most importantly, ensure guests have a great time aboard your spaceship.
Togges
Togges is a collect-a-thon 3D Platformer about spreading and stacking adorable cubes around the cosmos.
Big news for Togges at the show: Players can pick it up on December 7.
Tray Racers!
The world ended…But the fun didn’t! Race solo, or with your pals across the adorable post-apocalyptic world of Tray Racers! Grab a tray, surf the dunes, and get ready to SLIDE, DRIFT and TRICK your way to the finish line in this cute and colorful party racer, built for online multiplayer! YAHOOOOOO!
Turnip Boy Robs a Bank
Turnip Boy is back! This time he’s teaming up with the fearsome Pickled Gang to plan and execute the weirdest heist of all time. Shake down hostages, steal precious valuables, battle the fuzz, and use wacky tools bought off the dark web to move further into the vaults of the Botanical Bank.
Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider
Humanity finds an unlikely hero in Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider’s oppressed world; authoritarians have built super soldiers as weapons of war, but their creators have sealed their fate by bringing the warrior known as Moonrider online. Conceived as a tool to uphold a totalitarian state, the Moonrider has rejected its intended purpose, instead choosing a relentless battle for vengeance against its creators and fellow super soldiers.
Voidtrain
Become a crew member of an interdimensional express! Discover a new mysterious world inhabited by amazing creatures, dangers and surprises. Upgrade your train, gather new materials and build better weapons! Available in single player, or in online multiplayer with up to 4 people.
Voltaire the Vegan Vampire
An action-farming-roguelite, full of whimsical flora and mischievous creatures! Dracula’s lastborn, Voltaire, has decided to swap human flesh for ~*plant flesh*~ to satisfy his dark cravings. But be careful: going vegan is (㇏(•̀ᵥᵥ•́)ノ) ??? ??? ??? ????? ?? ?????.
Wavetale
Wavetable is a story driven, third-person action adventure platformer, set in an island world built atop the remains of a once magnificent city. The player takes on the role of Sigird, a headstrong girl who gains the ability to run on water through the help of a mysterious shadow.
Wavetale is surfing into PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, and PC December 12!
World’s Worst Handyman
Help our clumsy handyman, Doug, “repair” items, dodge workplace hazards, and solve puzzles to earn the cash he needs to save his local animal shelter in this slapstick-stealth-sandbox game. Whatever you do, don’t screw things up! Or do? It’s fun either way!
ZERO Sievert
ZERO Sievert is a tense top-down shooter that challenges you to scavenge a procedurally-generated wasteland, loot gear, and explore what’s left of a devastated world.
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