You thought not-E3 was over? Ha! A month after Geoff Keighley summoned the entire gaming industry to Los Angeles for a week of marketing, Annapurna Interactive, a bit late to the party, hosted its annual showcase. Today, over the course of 30 minutes, the indie publisher gave a look at what’s in the works for its offbeat portfolio. Before you ask, no, there’s no news about a sequel to Stray. C’mon, people, it just came out. Still, there’s a lot to write home about. Here’s all the important stuff, organized from awesomest to less so.
Three kick-ass PlayStation games are coming to Xbox
Since the launch of this console generation, Annapurna Interactive has published three stellar games on PlayStation: The Pathless, an atmospheric archery action game; Maquette, a recursive puzzler with a heartbreaking narrative; and Solar Ash, a sci-fi platformer from the people who made Hyper Light Drifter. (All three are also available on PC.) Now, the trio’s console exclusivity agreements are lapsing:
- The Pathless is coming to Xbox and Switch this winter, no specific date yet.
- Maquette is hitting Xbox and Switch, and will also be added to Game Pass, Microsoft’s enormously popular games-on-demand service.
- Solar Ash is coming to Steam on December 6. (On PC, it’s currently only available on Epic Game Store.) It’ll also hit Game Pass, too, later in the winter, but no date just yet.
Screw console exclusivity. It is good when more people get the chance to play games.
Thirsty Suitors is coming 2023, demo out on PC today
Thirsty Suitors, the next game from the makers of Falcon Age, finally has a release window. First revealed during the 2021 Game Awards, the multi-genre RPG is now slated for release next year on Xbox, PlayStation, Switch, and PC. It’s a ways off, yes, but in the meantime, there’s a demo available on Steam today. Earlier this summer, I played through a version of this demo at the Tribeca Festival. It’s dope.
Hohokum devs are doing a multiplayer game
Flock is a multiplayer game about getting lost in idyllic wilderness and collecting flying animals, on whom you just kinda…ride around. It’s being developed by folks who’d previously worked together on Hohokum, a placid PlayStation game in which you control a colorful snake creature and navigate a beautifully colored space without any goals or objectives. It’s probably the chillest game of all time, or at least of the last console generation.
Oh, yeah, speaking of, Hohokum is now available on Steam.
Hindsight is out next week
The obviously tear-jerking narrative game Hindsight comes out August 4 for PC, Switch, and iOS devices. Last week, a representative for Annapurna Interactive told me it’s the type of game that’ll make me feel feelings. It was unclear if that statement was directed at me, personally, or if it was intended as a descriptor for a broad audience.
What Remains of Edith Finch is getting a next-gen port
The first-person narrative game What Remains of Edith Finch, released in 2017, is getting a free next-gen enhancement. Like most next-gen upgrades, it’ll bring the game up to a now-standard 4K resolution with framerates of 60 frames per second. It’s available today.
Outer Wilds, too
It’ll be available on September 15. No update on news about the incoming Switch port, though, which was announced during a Nintendo Direct last February.
Kentucky Route Zero devs have a new game in the works
Cardboard Computer, the three-person team behind must-play indie gem Kentucky Route Zero, is working on new game, but didn’t share any info about a name, a genre, or a release date.
Bounty Star is a mech shooter
Annapurna’s portfolio hits for me far more often than it misses, but that’s because the publisher specializes in headier fare that you’d rarely see in the AAA space. Bounty Star, a third-person shooter planned for PC, PlayStation, and Xbox (where it’ll launch as part of the Game Pass library), does not seem to fit that bill. Though it features base-building and farming elements, you seem to spend a lot of time piloting a mech, and using it to shoot at nondescript enemies.
The Lost Wild is a survival horror game about evading dinosaurs in a jungle at night
See the trailer above. Yeah, uh, noooope! Nope nope nope.