I strive to cover indie games whenever possible here at Big Nerd Gaming, but I also don’t cover them as charity. I cover them because they often deserve the coverage.
This also means that I don’t bother covering them when I don’t think that it’s worthwhile. There are tons of indie gaming showcases these days, but honestly, the vast majority of them don’t really feel worthy of my time for an article. Many of these shows might have three or four games that interest me, and that’s about it. Due to the nature of these shows, games rarely get more than a minute or two, and it’s tough to make a strong impression in that amount of time, especially for games that don’t always have the strongest production values.
But there is one indie specific show out there that has become an absolute must watch for me every time, and that is the Triple-I Initiative shows. These are short and snappy showcases with zero filler. Somehow, these shows consistently get trailers from some of the biggest developers in the indie space, and they always seem to have trailers for games I’ve never heard of that wow me in a short amount of time.
The latest showcase once again proved that if you like indie games at all, this is the #1 show that you need to set aside time for. In a mere 45 minutes, I found nine games that really won me over, and I’d actually say this show was a bit weaker than last year, which is a mark of how high my expectations for this are. If you really don’t have the time to watch it yourself, here are those games ranked (of course) by how much their trailers made me more interested. Enjoy!
1. Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse
I really didn’t need to be sold on this game at all. I think Evil Empire is an incredible developer, and I’ll play pretty much anything they put out. But two things really excite me about Belmont’s Curse. First off, the Castlevania lore and setting are obviously exciting. That series has a lot of history. More importantly, I’m thrilled that this is actually a full on Metroidvania and not a roguelike, like Evil Empire’s past games. I genuinely think the worst elements of The Rogue: Prince of Persia in particular were the roguelike elements. I came away from that game wanting a true Evil Empire Metroidvania, and that is what we are getting here.
Also, the gameplay somehow looks a level above anything that Evil Empire has done to this point. Both the combat and the platforming look so crisp, and the brief glimpse at a boss fight looked really strong as well. The Paris setting looks like it’s going to be a great fit as well. This one is quickly skyrocketing up my “most anticipated trailers” list.
2. Alabaster Dawn
Alabaster Dawn is the new game from the makers of CrossCode. My playthrough of CrossCode was kind of weird. I was absolutely in love with it for a while, and then slowly burned out. I want to say that enemies were a bit too spongy, and I eventually got tired of the combat.
Alabaster Dawn looks set to fix any issues I had with that game. This looks incredible. The combat looks significantly more impactful to me. The platforming looks better, and the visuals as a whole are nicely upgraded. I loved every glimpse of the gameplay that we saw here. To top it off, there seems to be some element of building your town back up, or the game just takes place over a long period of time so you get to see society evolve as you play. Safe to say, I am intrigued. I think this is clearly going to surpass CrossCode for me and be something special.
3. Neverway
Neverway is funny to me, as I believe this is the third trailer I’ve seen of it, and I still don’t fully understand what the general gameplay loop is going to be. There seem to be tons of elements here, and all of the trailers have a lot of quick cuts that don’t let you fully get a handle on things. That’s not a bad thing though, because I think the general mystery of it all makes it even more interesting.
Neverway continues to hype up that it has the pixel artist from Celeste, and sure enough, this game is stunning. For whatever reason, the visuals really stood out in this trailer for me. The animations in the more action-oriented segments look really good. I’m fascinated to see how this one comes together.
4. Dead as Disco
2023’s surprise hit Hi-Fi Rush definitely made me much more open to a rhythm-based action game, and this trailer had me believing that Dead as Disco might have the goods to live up to that awesome game.
This looks like a brawler-heavy action game, and the way the action corresponds to the music looks really incredible. I thought the level design and general art direction looked excellent, and I loved the bits of the soundtrack that we saw. Final Countdown being a song was an instant winner for me. Also, you can apparently upload your own music if I’m understanding the trailer correctly, which is insane. This hit perfectly on pretty much every note.
5. Starseeker: Astroneer Expeditions
This one is very out of my wheelhouse, but I thought this trailer was so well-done that I legitimately watched a longer preview of it because I really wanted to know exactly what this was.
To oversimplify, this basically gives me Helldivers vibes but more goofy and chill. You play as “Astroneers” in space, but instead of fighting, it looks like you mostly explore and complete oddball objectives and glide around before returning to your ship within the time limit. It looks legitimately fun. I love that the gameplay seems like it could be really varied. That’s not exactly a common feature in this genre. And the navigation methods look really enjoyable.
Also, it sure is pretty. I am not a huge fan of this genre, and I never played Astroneer, but this one has earned at least a look from me.
6. Valor Mortis
I am a big fan of the Ghostrunner games, and this is the next game from that developer.
In a world with a lot of Soulslikes that don’t feel like they stand out, Valor Mortis looks like it truly breaks the mold in many ways. The setting and the first-person perspective both look intriguing, and knowing a talented developer is behind it makes it that much better.
While the combat looks good, this trailer didn’t show much new with that. However, this trailer did show a bit more of the mobility in the game. Considering that Ghostrunner was all about moving fast and platforming, I’m glad that they are inserting a bit of that DNA into this. I truly think this one is going a bit too under the radar. I believe that it is going to be very good.
7. Graveyard Keeper 2
I never played the original Graveyard Keeper, so maybe this won’t surprise others, but I was blown away by the amount of stuff going on here. This seems to be a cozy “undertaker” game of sorts, but there seem to be a lot more elaborate systems than you’d expect on top of it. You also seem to be able to rebuild the city you are in, and there is a whole tower defense segment of the game where you can actually fight off zombies as well. I’m fascinated to learn more about this one.
8. Far Far West
I’m always slightly skeptical of co-op shooters like this. Due to my busy life and parenting always having me a bit “on call,” it’s really hard for me to carve out the time to consistently play with friends for games like this. And these games just don’t ever seem to actually work well as single-player games, even if they advertise it as such. But Far Far West looks so cool that I might be willing to give it a chance. This looked absolutely insane, frenetic, and fun. I also dig the traversal elements of the game. The horseback riding and mine cart segments looked really neat. Here’s hoping this one actually works solo.
9. Warhammer Survivors
Shoot, let’s just get a “Survivors” spinoff for every major franchise out there. Why not?
I wasn’t sure if I’d ever want to play another game in this new genre of sorts after Vampire Survivors. It just wasn’t a genre where I saw a lot of opportunity for innovation. Deep Rock Galactic Survivor proved me wrong last year, though, so I’m interested in seeing more people take this on.
Warhammer Survivors looks over the top in the best sorts of ways, but the biggest thing from the trailer I liked was the characters. I feel like they are trying to really make each character a different experience, which is something that I don’t feel like the other games in this genre have always been amazing at. Having a giant ass tank as a character is wild and fun. I hope they keep experimenting with weird stuff. This has plenty of promise.
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