It’s April already, and with some public holidays coming our way, it’s time to get excited about playing some April indies! Here are ten that stand out to us at Checkpoint and that we know you’ll want to get around.
Koira
Release Date: April 1st
Developers: Studio Tolima
Platforms: PC/MAC
Save a puppy and embark on a heartwarming, hand-drawn adventure together. Journey to the heart of an enchanted forest, solving puzzles and avoiding hunters to protect your newfound friend.
I’m here for most things that DONT NOD have a hand in, and this adorable adventure is published by the Lost Records: Bloom and Rage developers. I’m a sucker for a buddy game, especially when one of the buddies is a puppy! Developers Studio Tolima have made this look super charming with lashes of mystical elements and hand drawn art, this may just be a surprise hit for April. Check out our review here.
Elroy and the Aliens
Release Date: April 3rd
Developers: Motiviti
Platforms: PC/MAC
It’s the year 1993. Talking robots, ghosts from the past, and ancient alien technology buried under desert sand. An adventure following Elroy and Peggie in the search of a long-lost father. How far would you go to bring back the ones you love?
As a kid of the 90s, I’m excited to experience this alternative 1993, a world that 9-year-old me (yes, I was 9 in 1993) would have died to be in. I mean, talking robots? Also, I’m a sucker for point and click adventures, and this one’s artstyle looks like a Saturday morning TV show.
Vaporware Pinball
Release Date: April 5th
Developers: Mixtape Games UK
Platforms: PC/MAC
Escape the real world for a few minutes (or a few hours) and play lo-fi digital pinball in a selection of chill, cozy, liminal locations. Try to beat high scores & unlock up to 5 tables, each one offering something new. Vaporwave Pinball is the perfect “virtual holiday” destination.
Pinball was my first ever love, so this game is making me feel a bit giddy. I love the way it looks like Patrick Bateman would have designed it; very 80s and neon-riffic. I love how chill it is also; a word I never thought I’d use alongside ‘pinball.’
Leila
Release Date: April 8th
Developers: Ubik Studios
Platforms: PC, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5
Enter the world of an everyday woman as you explore her past in this point & click narrative game. Hand-drawn animations bring her memories to life, and thought-provoking puzzles lay bare the reasons behind her choices. Immerse yourself in a story unfolds as you decipher its intricate pieces.
I really do love games that gamify everyday life and see the complexities in what it is to be human. The game will also deal with themes that we all find challenging and are important to our growth as humans, such as love, trust, and ghosts from the past. This could be a real psychological deep dive into Leila’s psyche, and I’m here for it! Check out our review here.
PEPPERED: an existential platformer
Release Date: April 8th
Developers: Mostly Games
Platforms: PC
An existential platformer where Doomsday is just around the corner. Save the world or become an eternal corporate slave for the God of Death. Choices matter. Or do they? Goof around and find out.
PEPPERED looks insanely hypo and colourful – so neon that it looks like someone dumped an energy drink all over it. I’m intrigued by the way that death is incorporated into your playthrough and becomes part of the narrative. Can’t wait to see how this game breaks the fourth wall as it looks like an intense ride!
Willow Guard
Release Date: April 11th
Developers: MiTale
Platforms: PC
Willow Guard is a single player story-driven fantasy RPG that combines dungeon-crawling action gameplay with a choice-based interactive fiction.
Wind in the Willows hack-n-slash! You play as a woodland creature called Ghweros, who is using his detective work to discover why a remote village is being attacked by monsters. Set in an original fantasy world, this RPG adventure also includes deck building mechanics and lots of narrative choices to pick from, and your choices matter.
Portal Fantasy
Release Date: April 16th
Developers: Portal Fantasy
Platforms: PC
Journey through an epic storyline, collecting creatures to aid you in turn-based battles, avoiding traps and solving puzzles, completing thrilling quests, and uncovering the darker history of Pyli Kingdom in this online RPG with a unique modern take on a classic beloved genre.
This RPG looks super cute, especially seeing as you are collecting adorable creatures that will help you win turn-based battles! These creatures, called Porbles, can be enhanced, customised and evolved so that they can be even bigger baddies and learn new deadly combos.
Bionic Bay
Release Date: April 17th
Developers: Psychoflow Studio, Mureena Oy
Platforms: PC, PlayStation 5
A scientist uses a unique teleportation instrument to escape an ancient biomechanical world filled with imaginative technology, deadly traps, and hidden secrets.
This seems super fast paced and a fun exploration game through a scientific vortex that leads your character to have to parkour around the world to stop themselves from being obliterated by lasers and sharp things. You’ll also be given different mechanisms, such as a teleportation device that manipulates time, to help you survive.
Old Skies
Release Date: April 24th
Developers: Wadjet Eye Games
Platforms: PC
A time travel adventure spanning two hundred years! Dive into the past with time agent Fia Quinn as she embarks on seven trips through time. History is up for grabs, from the speakeasies of Prohibition to the vicious gangs of the Gilded Age to the World Trade Center on September 10, 2001.
I played the Old Skies demo a few years ago and I had such a fun time travelling back to 2001. The “seven trips” referred to in the synopsis actually pay the protagonist to “sightsee” in the past. Some have unfinished business, whilst some are just curious as to what the world looked like decades before they existed. With this being a point-and-click adventure and it exploring time travel themes I am so sold on this one!
Detective Dotson
Release Date: April 24th
Developers: Masala Games Private Limited
Platforms: PC
A story-driven adventure game set in modern day India. Meet colorful characters and explore the richly detailed streets of India to collect clues. Complete evidence boards and solve cases as Dotson – the reluctant detective who wants to be a Bollywood star!
This game just looks too damn wholesome! As Dotson, you’ll get to explore modern-day India and solve mysteries with temples as your backdrop. This casual exploration game includes festivals, food, family weddings and lots of Bollywood dance-offs, which sounds pretty fun to me.
That’s a wrap on April indies! Hope you get some time during the month to get stuck into some of these titles and we will see you next month for our May indie wrap-up!
About the Author
Lisa Pollifroni
she/her
PS5/PC gamer with a passion for RPGs . Other obsessions include eating/making good food, reading, Queer history/theory and puppies, especially her own - a Beagle Staffy x rescue named Boo.
