Riding high off the success of BlueTwelve’s Stray and the indie-developed Neon White, publisher Annapurna presented their second annual Interactive Showcase yesterday, which showed off everything the company has been working on. In the course of a half hour, the showcase presented updates on various games already announced, in addition to revealing brand new titles from developers like Kentucky Route Zero’s Cardboard Computer, among others. The showcase also put a fun emphasis on the regional differences between developers, highlighting specific teams in developer spotlights, giving fans a more intimate look at the publisher’s offerings. With that out of the way, here’s a quick summary of everything announced.
Coming out of Seattle, Thirsty Suitors developer Outloop Games gave an exclusive look into the ins and outs of the eccentric ex-battling game’s combat, including pelvic taunts, ego armor, and an ultimate where the character calls in the boy’s mother. The Steam demo is out now.
A smaller teaser for Hindsight played next, following a woman dealing with the assumed death of her child, finding it “hard not to drift into the past” as she can literally explore her memories in-game. Not much else is known at this moment, but the game releases August 4.
Next up, we check in with Kentucky Route Zero’s Cardboard Computer as they work on… well, we don’t know yet. But we know they’re making it.
Based in Phoenix, AZ, Bounty Star (The Morose Tale of Graveyard Clem) follows a nearly-retired cowgirl in a world where Mad Max-styled mech suits rule the dry desert during the day and wage neon-lit war at night. There’s some base-building too! It’s most likely coming 2023 to PlayStation, Steam, and Xbox.
A smaller developer that received a dev spotlight comes out of Atlanta originally; inspired by his father and the games of his youth, the dev steamed his programming progress on Twitch, letting the world see nearly every step of the process. When another developer contacted him through Twitch chat and the two began collaborating long-distance, Yarn Owl was born. As of right now, no details about the game, though it looks to be fantasy.
As a dev representing the Outer Wilds team in LA took the screen, they admitted that, while maybe “optimistic on the timeframe” of Outer Wilds for Switch, they are promising it “soon” – the go-to measurement of time for game devs. As a treat to hold over the fans, they then announced a free Outer Wilds upgrade for next-gen consoles, bringing 60 FPS support to those players September 15.
Various platform updates followed, announcing that the magical monster-fighting game The Pathless will be released in winter for Xbox and Switch. Adding to the Xbox GamePass library, Maquette and Solar Ash will both be accessible, but Maquette will release for the Switch in winter, while Solar Ash will release on Steam December 6.
An update to a classic comes shortly thereafter, announcing that What Remains of Edith Finch will received 4K and 60 FPS support very soon.
Out of Krefeld, Germany, Third Shift is working on Forever Ago, a simple story about an elderly man who takes a van down the Pacific coast (of California), based on one of the dev’s recent experiences.
From Hollow Ponds and Richard Hogg, recent developer behind Hohokum (now available on Steam), Flock comes out of London, providing a simple-premised game where you fly and collect more members for your flock. It’ll be out for PlayStation, Xbox, and Steam.
Then, a small announcement that Katamari’s Keita Takahashi and Uvula are working on a game, a short teaser only showing a boy and his dog.
The final developer spotlight checks out If Found, the next project from Dreamfeel. It’s a game about cats.
The Lost Wild was the final reveal, Great Ape Games’ dinosaur survival epic, coming to Steam and (hopefully) elsewhere. It looks to be Ark without the fantasy elements.