PAX 10 is a collection of 10 indie video games selected by a group of 50 industry experts. The 10 games are chosen to represent some of the best indie games in the market. Here are the lucky 10 that will be available for PAX Prime. If you aren’t able to make it to Seattle, most of these games are available to play for free or buy online.
Duet
Duet is an iOS game from Kumobius that combines arcade-style action with a beautifully styled soundtrack from somebody that I used to know aka Tim Sheil from Gotye.
The minimalist aesthetic looks great on a tablet or iPhone. The game has you navigating two spheres through a maze filled with obstacles. The developers have teased that a narrative does exist in the game, but it is unknown how the narrative will unfold or roll for that matter. Judging from gameplay, the narrative appears to present itself similar to REZ with text related to existential mumbo-jumbo. And like REZ, the music is phenomenal.
For more information visit https://www.duetgame.com/
Flickers
Remember blasting through those barrels in Donkey Kong Country on SNES and you just wanted it to last forever? If you felt that way, you’ll probably want to check out Flickers from DigiPen’s Neat Snake. Flickers is an abstract 2D platformer that will take you on a journey through a twilight world involving moving through the heart of dying flower to the Moon.
Try not to get too depressed about a dying flower and jump from hovering sparks called flickers. The developers said Flickers aims to create an emotional arc without telling a conventional story. A platformer involving jumping from dead plants to the Moon is a good start if you aim to tell a non-conventional story.
For more information visit https://games.digipen.edu/games/flickers#.U_f4VvldUhc
Framed
Developer Loveshack is bringing Framed to Mac, iOS and PC and as the title may lead you to assume, the game includes frames.
Framed allows you to rearrange comic-book style frames in order to alter a narrative in inventive ways. Whether the narrative involved someone getting framed or framing a picture or possibly just make life miserable for a man trapped inside a comic book is up to you.
For more information visit https://framed-game.com/
Life Goes On
Infinite Monkeys Entertainment is heading up Life Goes On, a comically morbid platformer tasking knights to use the dead bodies of other knights (and possibly their friends!) in order to solve puzzles.
You can impale dead bodies on spikes to create a bridge, freeze’em to make platforms and other sadistic solutions to a variety of puzzles. The only limit is your own sick and twisted imagination. The game is available for Windows, Mac and Linux.
For more information visit https://www.lifegoesongame.com/
Mushroom 11
Fungus is no stranger to the platformer genre and developer Untame is only helping to prove fungus and bizarre plants should stay in platformers with Mushroom 11.
You will guide an amorphous organism across weird puzzles with odd creatures. The organism will do gross things like prune its cells to mold into new gross things to solve gross looking puzzles. Molding and detaching the organism from itself to alter physic puzzles all looks enjoyable and dirty. Look for Mushroom 11 on PC, Mac, Linux and handhelds.
For more information visit https://untame.com/mushroom11/
Nova-111
A turn-based action game that turns into a real-time action game in a world that is still based in turn-based action is the head turning premise of Nova-111 and it turns out that it looks pretty cool.
Funktronic Labs is offering a turn-based sci-fi adventure game for PC and Mac. The game offers a colorful art style, aliens, science, fiction and grids.
For more information visit https://nova111.com/
Poöf vs. the Cursed Kitty
Developer Arkedo Studio/Neko Ent. has one of the best titles for an indie game in PAX 10; Poöf vs. The Cursed.
As the developers state, Poöf has been tricked by accepting a golden laying kitten. But the precious kitty makes all the greedy monsters envious. Survive waves of monsters trying to steal your revenue. The game is a mix of cute animations, 2D tower defense, platforming and poo, lots and lots of poo. Check it out on PC.
For more information visit https://www.e-neko.com/?p=4517&lang=en
Skullduggery!
In Skullduggery! you’ll play a semi-organic autonomous skull, working as a collection agent for the IRS. Use the elasticity of your own brain; flick yourself, the skull, around the fortresses of the afterlife’s biggest deadbeats.
The offbeat game looks to offer plenty of laughs judging from the amount of bone puns the developers have in their game description #FunnyBones. It takes Angry Birds’ flick-and-shoot mechanic and turns it into a twisted physics puzzle game. The game is from developer Clutchplay Games and it is coming to iOS.
For more information visit https://clutchplaygames.com/cp/press-kit/skullduggery-press-kit/
Stikbold!
The second game in PAX 10 to feature an exclamation mark is Stikbold! from developer Reign Bros. coming to consoles and PCs.
Remember getting picked last in gym? Or, seeing the life drain from one’s face as they were picked last? This game aims to recreate that in a not-so-historically accurate dodge ball game set in the 1970. But, dodge ball games are a blast and the 70s were OK I hear, so this game can’t be all bad. The blocky graphic-style brings Stikbold! a Katamari Damacy-like charm and each dodge ball stage has its own set of random events and obstacles to challenge you.
For more information visit https://www.stikbold.com/
The Counting Kingdom
A math tower defense game? Boring!? Well, perhaps not for those who sit down and play Little Worlds Interactive PC game, The Counting Kingdom.
According to the developers, The Counting Kingdom is an award-winning game about monsters, magic and math. Defend the realm in this tactical math puzzler featuring tower defense gameplay and a colorful cast of characters. Numbers and magic might not be such a bad combination after all.
For more information visit https://www.countingkingdomgame.com/
