Devolver Digital Indie Picnic Round-up
I spent yesterday at Devolver Digital’s Indie Picnic, a collection of stainless-steel trailers loaded with upcoming indie games. After spending some time with a handful of titles, I’m more impressed than ever with Devolver and their commitment to cool, crazy-hard video games.
Outreach is a short-but-sweet sci-fi thriller that takes place on a Russian space station in the 80s. Your protagonist is a Russian Cosmonaut tasked with investigating the disappearance of the station’s crew. The gameplay alternates between careful investigation and tense, life-threatening exploration. The atmosphere is proper authentic, with every part of the space station carefully designed to look exactly as it should. I managed to make it through the demo, though not without tumbling into the void a few times. You’re given a generous checkpoint system, but that does nothing to relieve the constant tension and dread. I look forward to playing all the way through this one. You should be able to get through the entire thing in a single heart-racing night. I know I’m gushing a bit here, but space is scary, alright? There’s something inherently unsettling about the setting, and Outreach takes full of advantage of this.
Milanoir is a love letter to old Italian cinema, specifically the sort of action movies that inspired Quentin Tarantino. The colour palettes are reminiscent of those old movies, along with the characters, dialogue and plot. Even new characters are introduced with a freeze frame/title card sequence that feels like it came right out of an old action movie. You play a grizzled hardass named Piero who’s suddenly become the target of other, even more violent, criminals and thugs. The portion of the game I played featured a lot of ricochet shots, choke outs, savage murder and Vespa chases. Yes, there were actual cars on the road, but this is Milan, damn it! Real men ride Vespas and fire off Uzis simultaneously! Most Devolver Digital games are well-known for their difficulty. Milanoir was easily the hardest of the four games I played yesterday. Of course, with great difficulty comes great satisfaction. Once I actually took down that first boss, a murderous blonde prostitute, I felt ready to take on the world! Then I started the second part of the demo and was promptly put in my place. Still, this is one title to keep a close eye on.
Machiavellian is a an evil overlord sim that tasks you with building your own haunted mansion. You’re assigned a small roster of monsters who can do all sorts of jobs. Gathering resources, building stuff, murdering strangers. Once you’ve filled it with monsters and dangerous traps, the next step is to lure in hapless fools to your murder house. You have to be wary of things like local notoriety, movie protagonists and angry mobs as well. I was unable to make much progress during the demo (being evil is pretty tough after all), but I did get a good look at what the mansions can become. There were moving floor panels, false walls and customized bedrooms. This game looks perfect for that blend of detail-oriented and crazy some of us suffer from daily.
Redeemer is a top-down brawler that seeks to make melee combat from this I perspective feel impactful and powerful. One of my favourite moves is this John Wick reversal wherein you grab his gun and shoot his face with it in one smooth motion. Now it’s your gun! You can also use environmental takedowns to finish opponents. Stuff some sucker’s head in an oven, impale people on tree branches and break their backs with tables. You can also use parries, slow motion finishers and dodge rolls. Combat feels weighty and intense. The moves and the combat rhythm are all designed like an action movie. Rather than saddling you with a skill tree, you’re given all your moves at the outset. From there you have to develop your skills in order to survive from one moment to the next. After spending some time in the game’s  first section I was whisked away to one of the final stages. It was a humbling, terrifying experience. I was murdered over and over again, but I finally managed that badass gun-stealing reversal. I can’t wait for Redeemer’s release.
All told, Devolver Digital has a bumper crop of indie games coming up. Keep you eyes peeled and your ear to the ground, it’s gonna be a good year for indie games.
