It may be the middle of the year, but 2024 releases just will not let up! While we’re already drowning in AAA releases, there’s plenty to be spoilt over in the indie space. So much so that it was hard to condense this list down to only ten. I feel guilty. Dirty, even. Without further ado, here are ten enticing indie games to be excited for this month!
Anger Foot
Developer: Free Lives
Release Date: July 11
Platforms: PC
“Anger Foot is a lightning-fast action FPS where the only things harder than your ass-kicking feet are the ass-kicking beats.”
Anger Foot is a game that the team has been eagerly awaiting for some time. Coming from the minds behind the irreverent Genital Jousting and the more zen-like forest restoration game Terra Nil, this title certainly takes more inspiration from the former of the pair. Anger Foot is pure adrenaline, taking the Hotline Miami-style approach of having players engage in frantic gunplay, combing through rooms and kicking down doors, blasting enemies away and avoiding that one fatal shot. Here, it’s transforming that type of venture into an FPS journey, implementing oh-so-good crude humour and fun action setpieces. We’ve had some hands-on with this one and are just very, very eager for it to be out and in our greasy little mitts already.
Horticular
Developer: inDirection Games
Release Date: July 11
Platforms: PC
“You have been magically summoned by mysterious gnomes to restore a long-lost garden. Attract adorable animals, build a lush environment, and immerse yourself in this relaxing garden-builder. Will you manage to reclaim the wasteland or succumb to a looming corruption?”
Confession time. We see so many games released these days that label themselves as ‘cozy’ that the word begins to lose all meaning. I’m tired and bored of it and it’s become a catch-all term that doesn’t always market and capture a game as well as it’s thought to. That being said, sometimes you just look at a game with that descriptor and you’re immediately all about its vibes. Horticular is that game. It looks to be channelling titles like Dorfromantik, creating quaint villages and farmland square by square and seeing greenery flourish and become something beautiful. Add to the fact mystical little gnomes are wandering about and suddenly, that game looks to have that little extra something. Consider this one now on my wishlist.
Gestalt: Steam & Cinder
Developer: Metamorphosis Games
Release Date: July 16
Platforms: PC
“Inspired by 16 and 32-bit classics, Gestalt: Steam & Cinder fuses tight 2D platforming and exhilarating combat with an engrossing, twist-laden narrative in a stunningly handcrafted steampunk world.”
Gestalt should be on your list simply for how well-animated and stunning it looks. Metamorphosis Games has taken advantage of the meshing of 16 and 32 bit classic inspirations, delivering what looks like a fluid and fun 2D action platformer. The way the protagonist’s hair sways with her attacks and movements. The interesting fusion of steampunk with Western and tinges of sci-fi… It’s a striking game that I can’t wait to get stuck into.
Magical Delicacy
Developer: Skaule
Release Date: July 16
Platforms: PC, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Switch
“A wholesome pixel art platformer. Cook magical delicacies from a vast collection of ingredients in your own shop. Explore an unfamiliar town and deliver tasty treats to the townsfolk. Learn new ways to traverse, discover secrets, and experience a unique witchy world.”
There is a good trend of stunning pixel art in this month’s games! I love a good cooking game and a world with weird locals to get to know. Magical Delicacy combines the two in an exploration game that just looks like comfort food gaming. Food for the soul. Pepper in the whimsy that comes with a magical setting where you play as a witch? I’m there. Count me in.
Aerial_Knight’s We Never Yield
Developer: Aerial_Knight, BetaJester
Release Date: July 16
Platforms: PC
“Discover pulse-pounding stylized parkour action as you run, jump, smash, and slide through an afro-futurist-inspired kingdom. Enjoy a single-player or two-player local cooperative mode and experience the story of two brothers and their unexpected return to their lost kingdom.”
Serving as a follow-up to the similarly titled but not to be confused with 2D parkour auto-runner Aerial_Knight’s Never Yield, this new entry promises to delve more into the striking afro-futurist world that was originally established. Now exploring a pair of brothers, the cooperative play (or dual controlling both characters if you’re jumping in solo) is enough of a hook to invite returning players or welcome new fans into what feels like the 2.0 of an already explored idea.
CLICKOLDING
Developer: Strange Scaffold
Release Date: July 16
Platforms: PC
“The man in the corner of your hotel room wants you to click something. He wants to watch you click it. CLICKOLDING is a dark incremental narrative game about thumbing a tally counter to satisfy the distressing masked man sitting in the corner of your hotel room. If you leave, you don’t get the money, and you can’t come back. If you stay… You won’t be the same. And neither will he.”
Strange Scaffold are an incredibly talented studio, releasing a shooter-indie hit last year in the Max Payne-esque title El Paso, Elsewhere that essentially is a breakup story. Earlier this year they reminded us of how weird some of their projects can be, releasing Life Eater, a kidnapping simulator. We know they’re releasing a speedrunning shooter in August, titled I Am Your Beast. Would you believe, they’ve just announced another game to release before then, with CLICKOLDING. This looks to be a fascinating release. The image of that guy with hollowed-out eyes staring back at you with a revolver in hand, demanding you click that button over and over and over… How creepy. Strange Scaffold are at it again and this is one to be on the look out for this month.
Bō: Path of the Teal Lotus
Developer: Squid Shock Studios, Christopher Stair, Trevor Youngquist
Release Date: July 18
Platforms: PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5
“Flow gracefully through a colorful, hand-drawn 2.5D action platformer inspired by Japanese folklore. Engage in acrobatic aerial combat, unlock powerful mystical abilities, and explore an interconnected world of myth as you seek to unravel the mysteries of your origin.”
Sometimes just a few descriptors and likenesses are enough to reel me into a game. Let me do the same for you: Bō: Path of the Teal Lotus is a difficult and tight 2D Metroidvania that looks to be channelling Hollow Knight, blended with a colourful art style that depicts Japanese folklore that feels true to games like Okami. Need I say more?
SCHiM
Developer: Ewoud van der Werf, Neils Slijkerman
Release Date: July 18
Platforms: PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S
“SCHiM is a game about jumping from shadow to shadow in a relaxing and lively environment. This 3D platformer takes elements of light, shadow & animation and adds them directly to the gameplay, delivering an experience that you will only find in SCHiM.”
SCHiM is a hotly anticipated little puzzle platformer game that was announced some time ago and is finally right around the corner. Manipulating and using shadows as traversal is a very creative premise. If I may, it’s giving the same energy of when you were a kid in the backseat of your parent’s car, staring out the window and imagining a guy running along the side of you, parkouring over obstacles. It’s that same silly childhood wonder and frankly? I can’t wait.
Conscript
Developer: Jordan Mochi, Catchweight Studio
Release Date: July 24
Platforms: PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S
“During the First World War, a lone French soldier must navigate twisted trenches, scavenge for limited supplies and solve complex puzzles – all whilst fighting for survival in the midst of mankind’s most brutal and horrifying conflict. CONSCRIPT is a new take on classic survival horror.”
Conscript has been at several PAX Aus showings over the years and it’s one I’ve always been rooting for and have loved. I was first made aware of it in 2022, when Jordan Mochi and the team were still trying to find a publisher. It had distinct vibes with a grainy pixel art style and isometric perspective. The horrors of war translate brilliantly to, well, the genre of horror. Flash forward to today and the Melbourne-developed game is set to make a big splash, being published by Worms creators Team 17. A unique spin on survival horror developed right here where I live? How can I not be over the moon about this game?
Exophobia
Developer: Zarc Attack
Release Date: July 24
Platforms: PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S
“Explore and fight your way through a crashed human spaceship infested with relentless hordes of aliens as you become more powerful with exciting weapon upgrades and powerups in this retro-inspired first-person shooter.”
The boomer shooter resurgence that began a few years ago is evidently still kicking on and I couldn’t be more thrilled. Exoprimal looks perhaps more true to the original Doom than any other games of its ilk that have come prior. The way the body collapses when you die… the way bodies explode from gibs… this is the good stuff. Better yet, Exophobia even looks to have interesting puzzles and an intricate map design. Looks like Metroid Prime 4 is actually coming sooner than next year.
And there are 10 enticing indie games to sink your teeth into for July 2024. There’s a good list here but there’s also a good bunch that didn’t make the cut. Do some looking around because folks, we are spoilt this month.
About the Author
Charlie Kelly
She/Her, They/Them
Charlie loves her video games as much as she loves dumb, charming JRPG protagonists: probably way too much. You can often catch her spending too much time being emotional over LGBT stories in games. She also thinks Yakuza 6 is the best one.
