Despite the past month’s dissolution of indie and AA studios alike, a new wave of indie games simultaneously released on May 9th, 2024. Some games on this list are Crow Country: a survival horror game, Animal Well: a survival horror pixel puzzle game, Cryptmaster: a dungeon adventure, Little Kitty, Big City: an open-world adventure game, Rabbit and Steel: a co-op action roguelike, and 1000xRESIST: a ‘hyper-cinematic’ narrative game. Most games are around 10% off on Steam for launch day. 

Crow Country is developed and published by SFB Games, a UK-based indie games studio composed of brothers Tom and Adam Vien. SFB Games has previously created Tangle Tower (2014) and its successor The Mermaid Mask, whose demo is out on Steam. The game has been nominated for things such as the London Games Festival, Day of the Devs, Horror Game Awards, and Playstation’s Play. 

Animal Well is developed by Billy Basso. The game is also well known for being one of the first games published under publisher Bigmode, a company developed by content creator Videogamedunkey and his wife Leah. Animal Well is an explorative puzzle game that pitches itself as nonlinear. It was selected for Day of the Devs.

Cryptmaster is developed by Paul Hart, Lee Williams, and Akupara Games. The player progresses through a dungeon by typing or speaking words; each encounter will have multiple solutions. Akupara Games also is developing Sorry We’re Closed, which is a game in LudoNarraCon’s lineup. Cryptmaster won excellence in design at IGF, is an IndieCade 2023 awardee, a nominee in Devgamm awards, awarded a Golden Joystick, and was selected for Day of the Devs.

Little City, Big Kitty is developed by Seattle based studio Double Dagger Studio. The studio is founded by Matt T. Wood, a former Valve employee who worked on Half-Life 2 (2004) , Portal 2 (2011), Left 4 Dead (2008), and CS:GO (2012). The game focuses on a cat exploring a city to find its way home. The gameplay is set in an open world, allowing for nonlinear gameplay. The game was awarded TGA’s Wholesome Snack in 2021, and was nominated for PAX Rising Showcase and selected for Day of the Devs.

Rabbit and Steel is solo developed and published by mino dev, who previously made Maiden & Spell (2020), a magical girl battle game. The official Steam page of Rabbit and Steel describes the game as one that “recreates the essence of high-level MMO raiding in a randomized, simplified bunny-sized package”. There is a demo free to play on Steam as well. Rabbit and Steel supports local and online co-op. 

1000xRESIST before its official release has been a finalist for three IGF categories: one for Excellence in Narrative, another for the Nuovo Award, and the last for the Seumas McNally Grand Prize. Developed by indie Canadian studio sunset visitor 斜陽過客, the game describes itself as a “thrilling sci-fi adventure” blending 3rd person adventure, visual novel, and first-person walking simulator. It is also included in the games lineup of this year’s LudoNarraCon.