Latest news with #1000xResist
CBC
09-06-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
A small Vancouver video game studio just won a Peabody Award
First-time successes are always a joy to behold. And in the rollercoaster world of video game development, 1000xResist, the debut title from Vancouver-based indie studio Sunset Visitor, is a prime example. Paste Magazine calls the game"a dazzling testament to the stories this medium has yet to tell" and "an exemplification of the best that small yet ambitious teams can create." 1000xResist has been out for just over a year. In that time, it has accrued a Steam rating of 97 per cent — an outstanding score in the review measurement that works something like Rotten Tomatoes' Tomatometer. It has also been recognized with numerous award nominations including Nebula and Hugo awards. And last month, it became just the fourth game to take home a Peabody Award, the oldest major honour for electronic and broadcast media in the U.S., since the Immersive and Interactive category was introduced in 2022. The game's story focuses on a society of clones that worships their original source clone, referred to as "Allmother." Players take the role of Watcher, one of the principal clones, traversing a future world infected by a fatal disease brought to Earth by aliens known as the Occupants. Watcher uncovers key elements of the story as she goes, so there's a strong connection between the player's actions and those of the protagonist, who unravel the mysteries together. There are elements of exploration games, like Mobius Digital's Outer Wilds. But 1000xResist is undeniably a narrative game, which is to say that its story is the most important element. CBC Arts spoke with Sunset Visitor's founder and creative director, Remy Siu, about Canadian games and the increasing presence of narrative titles in the industry. "Canada has so many indie game studios and developers, and in my opinion it's one of our cultural exports," says Siu. "In terms of the nature of indie games and how they can pierce through and become a part of the discussion, I think that there's an outsized Canadian presence in that." He mentions exemplary, award-winning titles like Venba by Toronto's Visai Games, Inscryption by Daniel Mullins and Celeste by Maddy Makes Games (both based in Vancouver) as well as Montreal developer KO_OP's rhythm-oriented visual novel, Goodbye Volcano High. With the precarious state of the video game industry — where reduced funding and a post-pandemic dip in sales have resulted in mass layoffs, especially for the companies producing blockbuster games — Siu reflected on the future of indie and narrative-focused projects. "There is a space for narrative games to flourish," he says, especially with developers from larger studios departing to work for indies or starting out for themselves. "Often in an indie context, people get to work on things they really want to work on." Narrative games are sometimes maligned as niche and risky. But nobody leaves a film complaining there was too much story, says Siu. So why do narrative games carry that stigma? He points out that trend analyses actually indicate an upswing in narrative games receiving more than 1,000 reviews on Steam — a common metric for success in games. In an interview with GoNintendo from June 2024, Siu highlighted another concern: that narrative games can lack gameplay. He even said it could be a criticism of 1000xResist. The game is a descendent of 90s point-and-click adventures like The Dig and The Secret of Monkey Island, he says, but also more recent examples such as Kentucky Route Zero. One of the biggest challenges Siu's team encountered was determining how quickly to dole out information to players — too much and it's overwhelming, too little and it's boring. Reflecting on their writing process, Pinki Li, one of the game's two narrative designers, says : "The intricacies of the timelines, the layers of plot and the characters were definitely of a scope and scale I have never experienced in my career." The team's approach to dialogue was simple and clean. It should tell the player something about the world, something about the character and it should sound interesting, says Siu. That may seem easy, but crafting 15,000 lines of dialogue, each abiding by those core rules, is a tough task. "As a writer, my tendencies are toward poetry," Li says. "I love 'less is more,' and really appreciate being succinct and economical with language. Trying to convey a lot in a few words is a challenge I am very nerdy about." Additionally, Sunset Visitor focused on bringing the lived experiences of the Asian diaspora to a speculative fiction universe, something Siu says is not often done. "We don't see … the level of specificity we would desire, so that was one of our missions with the game — to be able to couple the telling of [these] experiences with experimental explorations of camera, storytelling and gameplay." Given the quality of the storytelling, the artistic style in which it is delivered and the ease with which players are immersed in the game's world, it is no wonder that Sunset Visitor has been honoured with a Peabody Award. Created in 1940 to honour exceptional storytelling in radio broadcasting, the award now recognizes storytelling achievement in television, journalism, podcasts, interactive media and more. Honourees must have wide appeal and truly excel in order to earn the requisite unanimous vote from the 16 judges. Siu attended the award ceremony on June 1 in Los Angeles. He was proud to be there, supporting his team's game and vision, he says, but the thing that made him happiest was representing Vancouver's experimental arts scene on such a significant stage. "There's so much more that indie games can achieve in how they approach narrative and art form," Siu says. "I think the strength of indie games in general is that we don't know how to make them, it's a beginner's thing, and we're all experimenting and trying something new. The desire is to keep pushing, but not to lose that as we go."
Engadget
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Engadget
Chaotic deliveries, colorful co-op action RPGs and other new indie games worth checking out
Hey there! Welcome to our weekly indie games roundup. We've got lots to get through this time, including some news before we highlight some brand-new games you can play right now. Indie journal publisher Lost in Cult is moving into physical game releases with a label called Editions. The focus here is on preservation — all of the games that it releases will be available to play offline, with no updates required. Physical game preservation team Does it Play? is playtesting each release. There are premium, limited-edition versions of each game with a slipcase cover, essay booklet, poster and more, as well as retail copies. There will be new releases every month, and the first batch includes a couple of humdingers: Immortality and Thank Goodness You're Here . The Excavation of Hob's Barrow , a point-and-click folk horror game rounds out the trio of debut titles. Really looking forward to seeing where Editions goes from here. To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here and view the "Content and social-media partners" setting to do so. The latest Six One Indie showcase took place this week. I've mentioned a game or two that was featured in it below ( Game Informer has a list of all the announcements), but I just want to call out a couple of things here. The score for 1000xResist , one of the best-received games of 2024, is getting a vinyl release in October. Pre-orders are open now. Also, the game that closed out the show has somehow flown under my radar. Dinoblade is an upcoming hack-and-slash action RPG that puts big blades in the jaws of big dinosaurs. Hell yeah. Meanwhile, the folks behind the showcase have set up their own publishing label, Six One Indie Publishing. We've got a ton of other gaming showcases coming up over the next few weeks as Summer Game Fest bobbles on the horizon. Fans of brainteasers may want to catch the Thinky Direct showcase from the Thinky Games community. The hour-long stream starts on May 29 at 1PM ET (just as the Cerebral Puzzle Showcase begins on Steam) It will focus on, you guessed it, puzzle games and other titles that should give your brain a workout. You'll be able to watch the stream on YouTube. To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here and view the "Content and social-media partners" setting to do so. Meanwhile, a fun showcase of spy games just premiered. The 25-minute video highlights games across several genres that are largely about snoopin' and sneakin'. All of them, including a bundle of the I Expect You To Die VR trilogy, are featured in the Spy Video Game Rendezvous festival on Steam. To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here and view the "Content and social-media partners" setting to do so. Deliver At All Costs was among this week's newcomers. It's an action game in which you play a courier in the '50s. As the name suggests, your primary goal is to deliver your cargo, no matter what. Reviews are mixed for this one but, hey, it's free on the Epic Games Store until 11AM ET on May 29. You can also get it on Steam for 10 percent off the regular price of $30 for the time being. The game is also available on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here and view the "Content and social-media partners" setting to do so. Speaking of vehicle-oriented destruction, it can be a chore to get the first few Grand Theft Auto games running on modern hardware. I live for chaos and Maniac , from Transhuman Design and publisher Skystone Games, reminds me a bit of those early, top-down GTA entries (which were made in my hometown, fact fans). It's out now on Nintendo Switch, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, a little over a year after debuting on Steam. I can't promise it'll tide you over for a year until GTA 6 drops, but Maniac will run you just five bucks. To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here and view the "Content and social-media partners" setting to do so. Lynked: Banner of the Spark is a co-op action RPG that just came out of early access on Steam and landed on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. With its colorful visuals, it reminds me a bit of Hi-Fi Rush , aesthetically. There's a town-building aspect to this as well. I didn't get around to digging into the game during early access. Reviews have been pretty solid so far, though, so I'm hoping to try out Lynked (from FuzzyBot and publisher Dreamhaven) soon. To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here and view the "Content and social-media partners" setting to do so. A few seconds into the latest trailer for Tales of Seikyu , I spotted a centaur, which was enough to catch my attention. This yokai fantasy life sim from ACE Entertainment and Fireshine Games is out now in early access on Steam. You can morph into other forms (including a slime!) to help with navigation and combat in this one. Centaurs and slimes, what's not to love? To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here and view the "Content and social-media partners" setting to do so. Here's one for the turn-based strategy/history enthusiasts out there. Bonaparte - A Mechanized Revolution (the debut game from Studio Imugi) sees you take control of units like a giant commandant mech in a battle for the future of France. Expect some political intrigue from this one, which is out now on Steam early access. To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here and view the "Content and social-media partners" setting to do so. Chrono Odyssey has picked up plenty of momentum, as more than 400,000 people have already signed up to try it out. The horror-tinged, open-world MMORPG from Kakao Games and Chrono Studio will have a closed beta on Steam next month. It's also set to be featured at the Summer Game Fest Live showcase on June 6. The latest trailer looks deliciously creepy. To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here and view the "Content and social-media partners" setting to do so. Any game from Katamari Damacy creator Keita Takahashi is worth paying attention to. Even more so when publisher Annapurna Interactive is on board. And when it's a game that has a "call unicycle" button, I'm triple sold. Life-sim To a T tells the story of a teenager whose body gets stuck in a T-pose, with their arms stuck out to the sides. Thankfully, they have a cute pup who helps them actually do things. A delightful demo is out now on Steam, and the game will hit PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S on May 28. This one will be available day one on Game Pass. To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here and view the "Content and social-media partners" setting to do so. We've mentioned The Wandering Village a few times over the years and the game is finally coming out of early access on Steam on July 17. It'll also hit PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch on the same day. This is a city-building sim that takes place on the back of a giant creature. To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here and view the "Content and social-media partners" setting to do so. I do enjoy the voxel destruction of sandbox heist game Teardown . So I was happy to hear that Tuxedo Labs and Coffee Stain are set to release another expansion next month. This time, we're going to space, as all great franchises (i.e the Leprechaun movies) eventually do. The Greenwash Gambit DLC will arrive on PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC on June 24. It'll cost $8, but owners of the season pass and ultimate edition will get access at no extra cost. To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here and view the "Content and social-media partners" setting to do so. Artis Impact 's pretty pixel art made an immediate impression on me during the Six One Indie showcase. It took Malaysian solo developer Mas four years to make this cozy RPG, which is "set in a decaying world ruled by rogue AI." Although the game has a main, linear main path, there are side quests, hidden interactions and random events to experience. A demo for Artis Impact is out now, and the full game is coming to Steam on August 7.
