January, 2024 - Softonic English

The best indie video games coming in 2024: the complete list

We bring you a complete list of the best indie video games arriving in 2024; at least the ones we know of, because there are always surprises!

Video games never stop, not even in 2024. Many promising indies are expected to be released during the upcoming year, including many that we probably don’t even know exist. But we are aware of the existence of quite a few, and although we had to leave many out, here we have made a selection of the most promising ones. With something for everyone, it is impossible not to find a game here to keep an eye on during this 2024.

Pacific Drive

Having to investigate a place known as The Zone, we will have only one tool to survive: our van. Pacific Drive is a driving and survival game that promises supernatural encounters as we investigate things beyond our understanding. One of the most promising indies of the beginning of the year.

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The Plucky Squire

Garbato is a hero who, according to his story, is brave and managed to save his friends from the forces of evil. At least until the villain Funfuñón expelled him from the story to a strange 3D world very similar to ours. An adventure game with a mix of 2D and 3D elements that strongly resembles the classic The Legend of Zelda.

Holstin

How does Silent Hill in a Polish village in the 90s sound to you? Because that’s the basic idea behind Holstin. With a 2D isometric design for puzzle parts and a first-person 3D design for combat, Holstin is one of the most impressive games that should be coming to us next year. Pure terror.

Ultros

The artist and musician behind the classics Hotline Miami, El Huervo, is venturing into the development of his first video game with his own studio. Ultros has a very peculiar psychedelic aesthetic and promises to be a very interesting twist on the classic metroidvania formula with a compelling story. If someone can promise that, it’s precisely El Huervo.

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Butcher’s Creek

One of the few downsides of GTA’s success is that Rockstar ignores its other franchises. That’s why we’re excited about Butcher’s Creek. Inspired by Manhunt and Condemned: Criminal Origins, the developer of Dusk and Iron Lung offers us a gore fantasy where we have to survive a group of psychotic killers who want to make a snuff film with us. Not suitable for faint-hearted, but for lovers of the darkest Rockstar.

SKALD: Against the Black Priory

Role-playing and dark fantasy come together in a retro game that strongly resembles games like Ultima or Eye of the Beholder. Except with a modernized UI and controls perfectly adapted to the sensitivity of contemporary players. A game that can become the obsession of many players.

Mariachi Legends

After a successful Kickstarter campaign, Halberd Studios is ready to release their new game. Clearly inspired by Blasphemous, but drawing from Mexican folklore, we will have to help Death in its ultimate purpose. With a highly refined combat system and elements of action and platforming, it wouldn’t be surprising if it ends up being the indie game everyone is talking about.

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Baladins

An RPG for up to four people that can be played in one-hour sessions sounds like something made with the players’ material reality in mind. And that’s exactly what it is. Baladins promises us what we have always been looking for: a game that we can play with our friends and that is something deeper than the typical shooter. Now, with extremely cute art.

Demonschool

What would happen if Persona were a tactical RPG with an art style directly inspired by Go Nagai, creator of Devilman? Well, it would probably look a lot like Demonschool. A game that wears its influences on its sleeve, but is much more than the sum of its parts. A game with the potential to be one of the best hidden gems of 2024.

Rift of the Necrodancer

Returning to the Crypt of the NecroDancer is always good news. And this time we do it with a rhythm game that reminds more of a combination of WarioWare and Guitar Hero. A little fighting game, a little rhythm game, all arcade, Rift of the Necrodancer can be not only one of the games of the year, but of the decade, if it lives up to its ambition.

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These are the best video games of 2023… that you have overlooked

“Today we want to dedicate this article to talk about those games that were released in 2023 and didn’t enjoy the spotlight of the press.”

Many believe that this year will be remembered as one of the best in the history of video games. You just had to see the list of candidates for the 2023 GOTY, where anyone could be crowned as the best game of the year.

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And the truth is that we have had good games, so many that many analysts have been overwhelmed by the avalanche of titles we have received to analyze during this 2023. But it’s a labor of love.

Today we want to dedicate this article to talk about those games that have been released in 2023 and have not enjoyed the flashes of the press. And that, not for that reason, are worse titles. Alan Wake 2 and Baldur’s Gate 3 are to blame, it’s nothing personal.

List of the best unknown games of 2023

Viewfinder

Could this be one of the most unique puzzle mechanics in history? Viewfinder allows you to take photos within the game, hold them up and appear in your reality within the game, manipulating the space around you.

It works wonders, capturing fun and creativity in equal parts. All you have to do is focus. I loved it, really.

Tin Hearts

Imagine Lemmings mixed with a Victorian toy box, as fantastic as you would expect from the creators of Fable.

Find increasingly ingenious ways to guide a troop of toy soldiers to their goal, with a narrative that will break your heart as easily as a toy soldier falls off the table.

Like a Dragon: Ishin!

Built with the bones of the 2014 Yakuza game of the same name, Like a Dragon: Ishin! combines the developer’s irreverent comedy with paraphrased Japanese history lessons and a lot of hand-to-hand combat, taking us to the Edo period.

Packed with cameos from well-known characters and even a Bakumatsu Don Quixote, Ishin redesigns an eclectic and emotion-filled Yakuza spin-off for the growing western audience of the series.

The Last Faith

One would think that a game that takes references from Bloodborne and Castlevania would be trapped in some kind of pastiche, condemned to a pale imitation in the gothic shadows of the titans looming over it.

But The Last Faith takes inspiration from its original material with a critical eye, knowing exactly which elements to emulate and which ones to discard. A must-play game for all those who found Blasphemous to be too much.

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty

Wo Long dares to pose the question: “What if the Romance of the Three Kingdoms was narrated by a horrible masochist?”.

Following in the footsteps of Team Ninja’s Nioh series, Wo Long departs from the confines of the “Souls-like” genre, firmly establishing the Japanese studio as an alternative to FromSoftware for people who enjoy challenging, meandering, and silly games.

Full Void

Fans of dystopian cinema and classic 16-bit games, such as Another World and Flashback, will enjoy the dark atmosphere of Full Void and its satisfying 2D platform jumps.

In addition, its story about an evil AI that keeps humanity repressed in their homes while the outside world crumbles is very timely.

Killer Frequency

It’s the 1980s, there’s a killer on the loose, and the only person who can help is a late-night radio DJ. You control the DJ and must use any information you find to guide the listeners away from the killer.

However, the rich vein of black humor in the game makes failure often as rewarding as success.

Planet of Lana

Inspired by Playdead’s Limbo and Inside, Planet of Lana reimagines the eerie side-scrolling as a watercolor tropical dream.

Influenced by Ghibli and artist Simon Stålenhag, this picturesque platform game sees the protagonist, Lana, fleeing from danger as she jumps from the beach to the forest, with an adorable alien creature on her back. After indulging in the 100-hour games of 2023, this charming adventure lasting an afternoon is the perfect palate cleanser.

Thronefall

Thronefall, a delightfully discreet real-time strategy game, puts you in control of a miniature monarch defending a kingdom from demonic assaults.

You earn gold by defending yourself from intense waves of monsters every night, and then spend the days investing those earnings in city defenses and soldiers to survive the next attack.

From dentist to millionaire board game creator: the story of ‘Catan’.

The classic “I’ll trade you two sheep for one clay” has grown to become gigantic and even has its own company. But how on earth did it all start?

If you have ever played a board game other than the typical Monopoly or Trivial Pursuit, surely ‘Settlers of Catan’ has made it to the table. It couldn’t be otherwise: after all, it is about to turn 30 years old and is considered one of the fathers of modern board games. The classic “I’ll trade you two sheep for one clay” has grown to become gigantic and even has its own company. But how the hell did it all start?

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From cavities to sheep

Let’s go back to the 80s in Germany, where a thirty-year-old dental technician, Klaus Teuber, has a double life as a board game designer. In fact, he won the Spiel des Jahres (or Game of the Year) three times (an award given at the prestigious Essen fair): ‘Barbarossa’, ‘Adel Verpflichtet’, and ‘Drunter und Drüber’. Very successful, yes, but none of these titles allowed him to quit his day job.

In 1991, Teuber became obsessed with the history of Viking settlers in Iceland, and thought it would be a good idea to make a game about the subject. It took him four years of different prototypes trying to develop the game until he finally realized what was wrong: the squares had to be hexagonal instead of square. Only in that way could he make the most of the game’s resources.

There was only one way to know if he had hit the mark: to have some test players. In this case, his wife and children, who were forced to play with each new prototype. In the end, until he saw that they didn’t want to try anything else, he knew he had something special. In its final version, it had six resources prepared: wood, wool, grain, clay, and ore, but… no one has ever called them that. Let’s not get confused. In ‘Settlers of Catan ‘ (well, that’s what it used to be called) we handle sheep, wheat, logs, mud, and stone, or whatever they’re called in each house.

The Hexagonal Success

When it finally went on sale, it became an absolute success. So much so that the first batch of 5000 copies sold out immediately and Teuber didn’t even have one for himself. The game, according to experts, was a complete hit because it forced players to talk to each other, ushering in a more social era of board games.

The time of sitting each one looking at their own cards is over. It was necessary to see what the neighbor had, what was convenient for you, how not to excessively benefit him and the best way to bet for everyone. To this day, more than 40 million have been sold, with a post-pandemic resurgence. And, of course, it won the Game of the Year award in 1995.

Over the years, Teuber did not lose his own fascination with the game and continued to play online one of the many versions that the game has. Of course, anonymously, to avoid collapsing his games. ‘Catan’ has novels, a film version has been rumored, you can play versions of ‘Star Trek’, dozens of expansions, and even an exclusive version adapted to the Hebrew Bible called ‘The Settlers of Canaan’.

At the age of 70, Klaus Teube passed away on April 1st after a brief illness. His company dedicated to marketing ‘Catán’ in all its forms and ways has survived him and it seems that it will continue to do so for many years. It is, so to speak, the new chess: it is an alternative to the usual game that everyone knows how to play. Here’s to many more years!

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How to improve the reliability of emergency alerts on the iPhone

Another example of how technology can be a vital ally in emergency situations, improving people’s safety and well-being.

With the arrival of iOS 17.2, Apple has taken an important step to improve the reliability of emergency alerts on the iPhone. This update introduces significant improvements in the way we receive emergency, government, and public safety alerts. Let’s talk about it.

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All relevant notices and none unnecessary

The mobile operating system from Apple, iOS 17, is designed to receive emergency, government, and public safety alerts when necessary. Depending on our location, our iPhone may display different types of alerts:

Alerts issued by the government of the country or region.
Alerts about imminent threats to security or life.
Alerts for extreme weather conditions.
AMBER alerts (America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response).
Public safety alerts.

These alerts are usually accompanied by a special sound, similar to an alarm, and are enabled by default on iPhones. In some countries, users cannot disable government alerts. In others, the settings for these alerts can be found within the Settings app under the Notifications section.

The novelty that iOS 17.2 brings to this configuration is the “Local Awareness” option for Emergency Alerts. Apple claims that activating this option uses the approximate location of the device to improve the timeliness, accuracy, and reliability of emergency alerts. If this option is supported in our region or territory, we can activate it in Settings > Notifications > Emergency Alerts.

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With this, we will increase the probability that important alerts are not lost due to technical issues and that, in addition, only the corresponding ones are received. Something crucial in emergency situations, where every second counts. With this feature, alerts will be more relevant and timely. Another example of how technology can be a vital ally in emergency situations, improving the safety and well-being of people.