Latest news with #indieGames
Yahoo
01-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Snail Games Expands Indie Portfolio with the Launch of Robots at Midnight and Zombie Rollerz: The Last Ship
CULVER CITY, Calif., July 01, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Snail, Inc. (Nasdaq: SNAL) ('Snail Games' or the 'Company'), a leading global independent developer and publisher of interactive digital entertainment, announced the launch of two new indie titles, Robots at Midnight and Zombie Rollerz: The Last Ship, in the month of June. These releases mark a strategic expansion into distinct game and player demographics, showcasing Snail's ongoing commitment to fostering creativity and innovation across its global portfolio. Robots at Midnight, developed by Toronto based studio Finish Line Games, represents Snail Games' strategic entry into a younger segment of the gaming market. Designed as an accessible, entry-level Souls-like game, it introduces the genre's core mechanics in a more user-friendly format, lowering the barrier to entry for wider appeal. The game specifically targets the younger Gen Z and Gen Alpha players who are just beginning to engage with more complex gameplay experiences. Backed in part by Canada Media Fund, the game is led by studio co-founder Daniel Posner, whose background in education and interactive media bridges entertainment and learning. To celebrate the launch of Robots at Midnight and the 2.1M+ viewer minutes watched on Twitch, the team is hosting a community event where players can win DIY robot kits encouraging real world creativity inspired by in-game exploration. For Snail Games, its investment in games like Robots at Midnight is a long-term strategy to captivate the next generation of gamers and creators. With Gen Alpha projected to become the most digitally fluent and commercially influential generation to date, early engagement aims to build brand loyalty and position the Company to meet the future demands of an evolving global market. Zombie Rollerz: The Last Ship, developed by Zing Games, comes from a seasoned studio with a track record of success; its previous titles, including the predecessor Zombie Rollerz: Pinball Heroes, have collectively surpassed 10 million downloads. The latest installment in the Zombie Rollerz franchise blends fast-paced roguelite mechanics with tower defense survival strategy to deliver a highly replayable, content-rich experience. With a positive Steam rating at launch and a distinctive visual style that appeals to casual and core gamers alike, Zombie Rollerz: The Last Ship demonstrates the strength of Zing Games' IP and Snail's ability to identify and scale high-performing indie titles. Together, Robots at Midnight and Zombie Rollerz: The Last Ship exemplifies Snail Games' strategic focus on widening its portfolio and deepening market penetration across multiple player segments. By introducing accessible gameplay in an underserved genre to engage Gen Alpha players and scaling emerging IPs, Snail is actively expanding its presence across diverse markets. These launches reflect a deliberate approach to portfolio diversification - one that balances genre innovation, long-term revenue opportunities, and global audience growth as Snail continues to evolve and embrace the next-generation of interactive entertainment. For creators interested in covering Zombie Rollerz: The Last Ship or Robots at Midnight please reach out to creatordirect@ About Snail, Inc. (Nasdaq: SNAL) is a leading, global independent developer and publisher of interactive digital entertainment for consumers around the world, with a premier portfolio of premium games designed for use on a variety of platforms, including consoles, PCs, and mobile devices. For more information, please visit: Forward-Looking StatementsThis press release contains statements that constitute forward-looking statements. Many of the forward-looking statements contained in this press release can be identified by the use of forward-looking words such as "anticipate," "believe," "could," "expect," "should," "plan," "intend," "may," "predict," "continue," "estimate" and "potential," or the negative of these terms or other similar expressions. Forward-looking statements appear in a number of places in this press release and include, but are not limited to, statements regarding (i) Snail showcasing its ongoing commitment to fostering creativity and innovation across its global portfolio, (ii) Snail's long-term investment in the next generation of gamers and creators, (iii) Gen Alpha projected to become the most digitally fluent and commercially influential generation to date and (iv) Gen Alpha projected to become the most digitally fluent and commercially influential generation to date. You should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described in the "Risk Factors" section of the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024, which was filed by the Company with the SEC on March 26, 2025 and other documents filed by the Company from time to time with the SEC, including the Company's Forms 10-Q filed with the SEC. The Company does not undertake or accept any obligation to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect any change in its expectations or any change in events, conditions, or circumstances on which any such statement is based. Investor Contact:John Yi and Steven ShinmachiGateway Group, Inc.949-574-3860SNAL@
Yahoo
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Hades,' ‘Monument Valley' and More Indie Mobile Games Leaving Netflix as Streamer Continues Strategy Shift
'Hades,' the 'Monument Valley' franchise and several other indie mobile gaming titles are leaving Netflix next month amid an ongoing shift in the streamer's overall plan for its video games division. 'Just like with series and film, games will come and go from the service,' Netflix said in a statement to Variety. More from Variety 'Ransom Canyon' Renewed for Season 2 at Netflix 'Bodyguard' Creator Jed Mercurio Sets Netflix Thriller Series 'Trinity' Starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Richard Madden Abidjan's SICA Positions as a Lynchpin Event for African Film, TV As first reported by Engadget, 'Hades' will be leaving Netflix on July 1, while these titles will be departing July 14: 'Battleship,' 'Braid, Anniversary Edition,' 'Carmen Sandiego,' 'CoComelon: Play with JJ,' 'Death's Door,' 'Diner Out: Merge Cafe,' 'Dumb Ways to Survive,' 'Ghost Detective,' 'Katana ZERO,' 'LEGO Legacy: Heroes Unboxed,' 'Ludo King,' 'Monument Valley,' 'Monument Valley 2,' 'Monument Valley 3,' 'Rainbow Six: Smol,' 'Raji: An Ancient Epic,' 'SpongeBob: Bubble Pop F.U.N.,' 'TED Tumblewords,' 'The Case of the Golden Idol,' 'The Rise of the Golden Idol' and 'Vineyard Valley.' While some of these games are available via other platforms, a few were exclusive to Netflix. The removal of these indie mobile games comes a few months after Netflix formally unveiled its forward-looking gaming strategy to journalists during a presentation at the 2025 Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco. From now on, its focus when developing titles will fall into four key categories: mainstream, narrative, kids, and party games. More to come… Best of Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week 'Harry Potter' TV Show Cast Guide: Who's Who in Hogwarts? 25 Hollywood Legends Who Deserve an Honorary Oscar
The Verge
19-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Verge
Summer Game Fest's best games were small and personal
Summer Game Fest 2025 was definitely a weird one, but even with everything going on outside, the games on display were still immaculate. My favorites, the ones that I live for, are small, unique, and made for pure love of expression. Being able to see that love so clearly on display, expressed through such painstaking and often thankless work, and also being able to show them to our audience who might not otherwise encounter them, is the defining privilege of my job. That's what I love about Summer Game Fest, weirdness and all, and hopefully when these games come out, you'll check 'em out too. Escape Academy 2 - TBD I loved the first Escape Academy and vibrated through my chair seeing that Coin Crew Games had returned to Summer Game Fest with a bigger, more expansive sequel. Instead of selecting levels, now you can explore an open world, solving puzzles as you discover them in a college campus setup. I love this new direction: the open-world exploration better melds the quirky / cute storytelling of Escape Academy with the actual act of solving puzzles. In the short demo I was introduced to a cat who lived in my dorm room and wanted a snack. As I explored the campus, I found the cafeteria was closed but the special of the day was fish and milk. I solved the puzzle to open the cafeteria and was rewarded with my feline dorm-mate following me around campus for the rest of the demo and hopefully the full game. There's no release date yet, but whenever it's out, I'm enrolling. Petal Runner - TBD Speaking of pet companions, Petal Runner is a somber exploration of the tension between the joy of owning a pet and the inevitable devastation that comes with that, only disguised as a lighthearted pixelated Pokémon -like minigame-a-palooza. You, as a newly minted motorcycle courier, are tasked with helping people with their living Tamagotchis known as HanaPets. Install them, feed them, and bring them items while along the way you explore your relationship with your own first-generation HanaPet, who might not be around for much longer. I did not expect to sit down and play this game, which had all the hallmarks of a quote-unquote 'wholesome game,' and be emotionally devastated. It ruined me... 10/10, can't wait to play. When I tell you I sat the hell up seeing Relooted 's trailer. Here's a game, stuffed full of African folks, talking about stealing back their cultural artifacts??? Hell, and I cannot stress this enough, yes. Relooted really captures the feeling of pulling off your own Ocean's Eleven -style heist. You have a team of experts with their own specialties, and before your heist, you have to position them strategically so that the right person is in the right place to hack locked doors and help you reach unreachable places for a smooth escape. While some of the Black members of the game's African developer team couldn't secure the visas they needed to attend SGF, Ben Myres, the creative director who I was able to speak to, said that each item you're stealing is a real-life artifact currently being withheld from its country of origin. Each gets its own encyclopedia-like entry giving you its history, where it is now, and where it actually belongs. Nathan Drake, Lara Croft, Indiana Jones are all weaksauce compared to these heroes. Directive 8020 - October 2nd, 2025 I enjoyed Supermassive Games' spooky narrative choice adventures in The Quarry and its Dark Pictures Anthology. So I was really glad I had the chance to see what the team is doing next with Directive 8020. This time, instead of haunted schools or cabins in the woods, we're going to space with Lashana Lynch — a favorite actress of mine for whom I will show up no matter what. The neat thing about Directive 8020 is its replay system. At critical decision-making moments, you have the option to replay events without having to replay the game. Shoot a guy you shouldn't have shot? You can immediately go back and see what happens when you don't. You'll also have the option to disable that, so the choices you make stick. I had the option to unshoot someone, but I chose to live with my mistake, and all these days later, I still think about that. Heart Machine, maker of Hyper Light Drifte r and its sequel, Hyper Light Breaker, are back with another game guaranteed to mess with your emotions. Possessor(s) is a Metroidvan— excuse me, search action game. I had a spirited and convivial conversation with one of the developers on the merits of using 'Metroidvania' versus 'search action' as a descriptor and I gotta say, I've been convinced. Not enough to remove 'Metroidvania' from my vocabulary, but definitely enough to think more about how I use these terms when I write about games. In Possessor(s) you play as a young woman escaping a city under attack. She is grievously wounded and enters a pact with a demon to heal her wounds and grant her powers so she can escape from the city. Speaking to the developer, he told me the game was about toxic relationships and what they can do to a person. The demon you make your pact with is not nice; he is not the hero. And yet, the developers at Heart Machine decided to make him smokin' hot, which they know will obscure the very necessary message they're trying to relay… which, I'm thinking, is probably the point. Out of Words is my game of the show. Developed by Kong Orange and published by Epic Games, Out of Words is a stop-motion co-op adventure game akin to Split Fiction with a much, much better story. This is the kind of game that reminds me that video games are more than just vehicles for making money or simple entertainment; they are works of art, expressions of a developer's heart and mind. It's about two teenagers who, after a moment of miscommunication, have their mouths removed, forcing them to communicate and navigate a fantastical world without words. Everything in the game is made by hand and with love so evident it was incredibly moving. When I asked the game's director, Johan Oettinger, why he and the team spent so much time — he told me they'd been working on this game for a decade — and money to make something that could potentially get drowned out by bigger, flashier releases, he looked me in the face, serious as a cemetery, and said, 'Because it has been my dream to make something like this since I was a child.' As a games journalist I live for the moments when I can see a developer's fingerprints in a game, their personal quirks and the idiosyncrasies of their lives reflected in their art, and that was all over Out of Words. The developer told me how each blade of grass was made from paper, and how the blue clay they used to make the quirky clay men that populate the world comes from a specific place in Denmark where they harvested it by hand. It was so beautiful I spent most of the 20-minute demo in tears.
Geek Girl Authority
14-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Girl Authority
Two and a Half Studios Archives
Categories Select Category Games GGA Columns Movies Stuff We Like The Daily Bugle TV & Streaming Games Stuff We Like Video Games In this week's F2P Friday, we dive into A Date With Death, a unique romance chat simulator that has players romancing the Grim Reaper.
CNET
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- CNET
Top 10 Best Steam Next Fest Demos to Play Now
It's nearly time for the Steam summer sale, which is one of the biggest retail events for patient PC gamers. It's also the perfect time to find new and innovative indie games to add to your wishlist: Before each big Steam sale, Valve runs a Next Fest event to let developers show off their projects, get feedback and build hype before their big release. Summer 2025's Next Fest has been chock full of Hades-likes, co-op hack-and-slash adventures and other reliably entertaining games but some of the best stuff in this event is what the algorithm doesn't show you. I've played dozens of demos, ranging from games that are featured on the front page of the store to hidden gems that take some digging to find. Here are the best PC games from this Next Fest showcase that you absolutely need to have wishlisted. Dead as Disco A groovy beat 'em up to the beat Brain Jar Games' Dead as Disco combines Hi-Fi Rush's rhythmic combat with Sifu's brutal beatdowns. It's up to you to pilot Charlie Disco as he braves neon-soaked city streets to take out his ex-bandmates in an '80s-themed revenge quest. As you punch, kick, parry and dodge through throngs of thugs, fights transform into carefully choreographed dances, with every blow landing to the beat of the music. Did I mention that the demo's featured song is a cover of Michael Sembello's Maniac? Dead as Disco embraces the cheesiness of the movies it's obviously inspired by but the game is built on the solid foundations of a kinetic and satisfying combat system. Dead as Disco doesn't have a release date yet but this is one Next Fest demo that has converted me into a day-one customer. Platforms: PC Voidbreaker A breakneck FPS with a focus on environmental destruction I'm a sucker for first-person shooters and developer Stubby Games' Voidbreaker (styled as Void/Breaker) is scratching my itch for a fast-paced, destruction-heavy shooter romp. You're trapped in a combat simulation to fulfill the every whim of a rogue AI, as it tests and perfects killer robots using your training data. But a mysterious voice in the system tells you there's a chance to escape -- if you play your cards right. Voidbreaker is a project created by the same solo dev behind The Entropy Centre, and the once-sterile-now-dilapidated sci-fi visuals make a comeback here. Instead of navigating this urban decay, you'll turn it against your foes. In addition to classic movement shooter gameplay, players will force grip and toss environmental objects and blow building supports to smithereens with well-placed grenades. Fully simulated physics objects rain down on enemies, allowing you to weaponize the world around you. Players can upgrade their grip, grenade or gun with mods found around the map, granting them better odds of successfully completing a run and getting one step closer to escaping the simulation. My favorite find was a legendary mod that turned my pistol rounds into a short-range field of electric sparks but there are dozens of loadout-altering abilities to play around with. You'll get your shot at breaking out of the simulation soon. Voidbreaker will be released on Aug. 20. Platforms: PC Morsels The Binding of Isaac featuring grungy little Pokemon When you see Annapurna's publisher seal in a game trailer, odds are good that the demo won't disappoint. And if you enjoy twin-stick shooter roguelikes akin to Binding of Isaac, you certainly can't go wrong with developer Furcula's Morsels. This game takes place in a world where magical cards fell from space, allowing certain creatures to take on powerful monster forms (it's like a grotesque twist on magical girls). Unfortunately, a gang of hardened criminals rules the world with their superior cards, leaving weaklings -- that's you -- to scurry away from danger and try to scrape by in the muck. When you discover your own card powers, you realize it's time to take the fight to the baddies. A competent twin-stick shooter in its own right, Morsels' big twist is the ability to find additional monster cards that let you diversify your abilities. Certain Morsels fire streams of low damage bullets, others fire shotgun blasts and rarer Morsels have special abilities that can create powerful damage-dealing synergies as a team. If you're looking for a dash of on-the-fly strategizing in your action roguelikes, Morsels is right up your alley. The game's cute-but-grungy aesthetic and retro graininess are a neat artistic bonus. Morsels will be released in 2025. Platforms: PC, Mac, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch Dragon March A sixth generation console's arcade adventure GameCube aesthetics are so back. Developer Ambystoman's Dragon March is what you'd get if the classic arcade game Snake was built for sixth-generation consoles. Players guide Cereal the mecha-dragon through twisting and turning levels to find and reboot his friends, with a retro vibe reminiscent of Dreamcast's ChuChu Rocket. Unfortunately, the cyberspace world is dangerous and there are enemies who'd want to see the adorable polygonal metal lizards shut back down. You'll be able to speed up or slow down the cadence of Cereal's march to avoid slithering centipedes, fireball projectiles and more. Just be careful not to loop around into one of the friendly dragons following your lead. Just like in the original iteration of Snake, it's a surefire way to get a game over. Dragon March doesn't have a release date yet but it's coming along brilliantly with cutscenes and graphics that remind me of classic Digimon. Platforms: PC House of Necrosis Classic survival horror with a turn-based twist I didn't realize that I needed a Frankensteined combination of classic Resident Evil and Pokemon Mystery Dungeon in my life and I'm sure you didn't realize you needed this either. But developer Warkus is an absolute visionary so the turn-based RPG House of Necrosis is shambling into our lives nonetheless. In House of Necrosis, you're stepping into the role of a legally distinct female special agent investigating zombies in a legally distinct ever-shifting mansion but instead of fumbling with tank controls, the entire game takes place on a grid. You'll have to carefully plan every step to descend deeper into the mansion while staying healthy, conserving bullets and still earning enough experience to level up and get stronger. Each run is a brutal test of your wits and it's easy to get cornered by shamblers, zombified dogs and other nasty monsters. If you're truly unlucky, you might find yourself stalked by a giant zombie with a blade arm -- his presence inspires fear not unlike Nemesis from Resident Evil 3. House of Necrosis doesn't have a release date yet but the demo is a very polished look at what's to come. Platforms: PC, Linux DuneCrawl Desert freedom fighting in four player co-op Developer Alientrap's DuneCrawl is a great hack-and-slash adventure that supports up to four-player co-op -- I played solo but this game is definitely built to be enjoyed with your friends. In DuneCrawl, terracotta warriors attack your peaceful village with the eponymous Dune Crawler (a massive crustacean converted into a weapons platform). It's up to you and your friends to defeat the invaders, take back the sentient ship and pilot it around a massive map to wipe out any other ne'er-do-wells that roam the sandy seas. DuneCrawl's gameplay is split between on-foot combat where players can use swords, bows, bombs and primitive guns to get the upper hand and Dune Crawler spelunking, where your team will explore the world and use cannons to fight massive opponents. This game has an incredible capacity for co-op chaos but a team of people who often play together will surely move like a well-oiled machine. DuneCrawl will be released in 2025. Platforms: PC Hell Clock Diablo-esque dark fantasy ARPG rooted in real Brazilian history Developer Rogue Snail's Hell Clock is a dark fantasy reimagining of Brazil's War of Canudos -- introducing many gamers (myself included) to a bloody historical period. Pajeu is battling the Republic's military forces when the dead rise once again. Now he's forced to fight a war on two fronts to save his friends and comrades from mortal peril and change the course of history. Hell Clock is an extremely competent Diablo-like action RPG -- it's also a speedrunning game in its own right, because you have a timer ticking down to beat the levels in your run. New buffs automatically apply to your build, keeping you in the action. Once you fail a run, you get sent back to the hub area, where you can unlock new permanent gear and other meta-progression buffs from a massive skill tree. There's a lot to see and do in Hell Clock and your power will cascade as you unlock more powerful abilities and augments. Even casual action RPG fans will find a game they can spend a lot of time with here. Hell Clock will be released on July 22. Platforms: PC 1000 Deaths Psychedelic 3D spelunking through headspace Developer Pariah Interactive's 1000 Deaths is a surrealist platformer (think Psychonauts on even more psychedelic substances) focused on the big "what if" moments everyone experiences throughout life. As you get dragged into the headspaces of four separate characters, you'll alter their life's history by completing puzzling platforming challenges. Players will have to fiddle with gravity as they walk around curved levels, with gameplay reminiscent of some of Super Mario Galaxy's best moments. The decisions you make will alter the narrative and the platforming mechanics of future levels: I sent the rat-like creature, Vayu, to Hollywood with their friend rather than having them stay in their hometown, which opened a diverging branch of levels to explore. I think 1000 Deaths will have a lot of replay value, as most gamers will want to find hidden secrets and explore every branching path. 1000 Deaths will be released on Aug. 7. Platforms: PC Passant: A Chess Roguelike What if Balatro was chess? Developer Marc Makes Games' Passant is to chess what Balatro is to poker and that's no exaggeration. The big difference is that Passant requires you to put in a bit of work -- you need to have a solid understanding of the tabletop game before you start fiddling with all the bells and whistles this game adds. As you defeat enemy setups in Passant, you gain cash that you can spend on new pieces, temporary power-ups and badges that fundamentally change the rules of the game. The benefits you gain from a badge can be as simple as adding more turn undos for each game you play or as wacky as letting you promote units like bishops and rooks if you can successfully move them to the other side of the board. I really suck at chess but I was able to roll through a couple games on the normal difficulty once I put a good setup into play. I'm fond of the dragon bishops, a special unit that can take enemies diagonally or in any adjacent square. Every third round you play, you'll go up against a boss board with buffing badges of their own. I've been able to conquer the first boss a handful of times but that second boss has proven to be a bit of a doozy. Elon Musk infamously said he doesn't like chess because it doesn't have tech trees. That's pretty on-brand for the Tesla CEO, but at least Passant exists so he can take another crack at one of the most pedigreed board games in history. Passant: A Chess Roguelike will be released on Aug. 11. Platforms: PC Under The Island One teenager's tropical island-spanning Zelda adventure Developer Slime King Games' Under The Island combines 2D RPG hack-and-slash action with a heaping helping of teen angst, daring to ask: What if a moody teenager was thrust into Link's Awakening? Nia's parents are moving to Seashell Island to research the local ruins, which means she'll be sequestered on an island with no friends and nothing to do for a whole year. That might seem like a crummy deal, except for the fact that she immediately falls into an undiscovered cave and meets an ancient bird person while her family is unpacking the car. Nia discovers Seashell Island is on the verge of sinking beneath the waves so she has to go on a classical '90s-themed quest for the MacGuffins. Players will need to brave the deceptively gorgeous pixel art island and its nasty critters, find upgrades and solve puzzles to unearth the mysteries of Nia's new home. This game is classic Zelda through-and-through, and anyone who enjoys Link's original adventures will appreciate this contemporary take on the genre. Under The Island's release date has yet to be revealed -- but just like with the other entries on this list, the best way to stay updated on a cool-looking game is to add it to your Steam wishlist. Platforms: PC
