Our favourite games from the Kinda Funny Games Showcase

E3 is so often about the big players. Microsoft bragging about their teraflops,  Sony’s dangling people from the ceiling. Bah! Theatrics is all that is! But that’s why we have seen a rise in the indie market in E3. One the latest indie promoters is the lovely people down at Kinda Funny Games.

You might have seen Kinda Funny doing reactions and reviews to E3 conferences this year. They’re more of a gaming podcast, video production kind of group. But this year they’re jumping right into promoting games, sixty of them. No really. Six tens worth of indie game goodness, and here’s a mere sample of the stuff they think you should know about.

Lost Ember

The fall of an empire is not something that happens all at once. Chips and cracks form over time, slowly destroying all the ties that bind. Explore the fallen world of the Inrahsi, guided by the spirit of one of its members. Players play as a wolf but can possess any animal. Fly as a bird, or swim as a fish to uncover the story of how the Inrahsi crumbled.

Lost Ember evokes many a beautiful title, the Journeys and the ABZUs so beautiful and evocative none dare paint them with the walking simulator brush, lest it seems a criticism. Enthralling, immersing, if you’re into Flower, Rime or basically any of those super beautiful exploration/walking sim kind of games, Lost Ember is definitely worth keeping an eye on. You won’t have to keep an eye for long though: Lost Ember is coming to PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Steam July 20 (Nintendo Switch to come soon after).

Rawmen

Did you play Splatoon and think “This would be better if it was with soup and almost naked dudes?”. No? Well, prepare to reconsider that stance.

Rawmen… well its like Splatoon, with almost naked soup-slinging guys. Less of a focus on covering all surfaces with your oddly-coloured entree, more focus on straight up combat, with some mobility and stealth thrown in for the fun of it. Rawmen will be splashing onto Steam sometime this year.

Monster Prom 2: Holiday Season

Full disclosure, I am so hyped for this game, I backed this stuff on Kickstarter. The original Monster Prom still holds my award for the most criminally “less-popular-than-it-oughta-be” award for last year. It got me excited with the idea of “competitive dating sim”, and hooked me with the stellar writing. It is crass and adult and vulgar in ways that don’t make it properly adult. Not “ooh gritty, he said a naughty and hurt a person” mature, but ridiculous hilarious crap mature. Must be enjoyed with friends.

Well, the sequel is coming down the tubes, and it’s set to make so much more ridiculousness. New game modes, new stories, new characters. Get this game, get some friends (preferably to VA along for additional shits and giggles), have a bloody great time. Since the KS campaign just wrapped, the game is expected in the ballpark of October next year. No word on platforms, but since the original is PC/Mac/Linux, it’s fair to guess the sequel may be similarly computer-focussed.

Afterparty

It’s hard to believe it has been 3 years since Night School Studio dropped the supernatural Oxenfree. But now it seems we are finally on the cusp of another Night School release: Afterparty. Like Oxenfree, Afterparty is a story of partying, friendship and some crazy paranormal crap.

Milo and Lola are best buds. They’re also dead. They might also have a lot of time to catch up on old times because they’re looking at an eternity in hell. But there’s a catch: They can leave Hell and return to Earth, that is if they can outdrink Satan himself. Looks like one hell of a pub crawl. Afterparty should drop sometime this year, for PC and Xbox One (featured in the ID@XBOX reel).

Superliminal

Who doesn’t love a bit of surreal trip in their games? Superliminal is basically one of those optical illusions books rendered into video game form.

Moving objects around in space shrinks and grows them. Pull a dollhouse off the table, drop it on the other side of the room and walk right on in. Superliminal is the kind of puzzle game I love. It messes with your expectations, your understanding of the world as you know it. You’ll be yelling “Aha!” and “Whoa.” in equal measure. As for the release, well rest assured its “Coming Soon”.

So that is just a little taste of what Kinda Funny has been showing off. Suffice to say Kinda Funny Games have been showing off lots more fantastic independent games. What are some of your favourite indies that got a mention? If you haven’t seen them all maybe check out the full Kinda Funny Games Indie Showcase stream below.