August 22 to 28 Indie News Roundup

Nindies Summer Jam

New high-profile “Nindie” titles for the Wii U and 3DS eShop will be discounted by 10% in North America during their first week of launch, over the next several weeks. The developers will also share video stories about their project’s development, and curate a shelf in eShop which features some of their favorite games. All of this forms their new innitiative in partnership with Nintendo, the “#Nindies Summer Jam”.

Here’s a look at some of the main titles, the release schedule, and a trailer for the innitiative.

Sept. 1
Axiom Verge from Thomas Happ Games – In this retro-style action-platform-exploration game, use the Wii U GamePad as your map, a way to easily swap between weapons or for Off-TV Play. A failed scientist dies in an accident, only to awaken in a mysterious, alien world. Where is he? How did he get here? And why do the fundamental laws of reality appear broken? Life. Afterlife. Real. Virtual. Dream. Nightmare. It’s a thin line. It’s Axiom Verge. Available on Wii U.

Sept. 8
Jotun: Valhalla Edition from Thunder Lotus Games – Jotun is a hand-drawn action-exploration game set in Norse mythology. In Jotun, you play Thora, a Norse warrior who died an inglorious death and must prove herself to the Gods to enter Valhalla. Jotun: Valhalla Edition features Valhalla Mode, a boss rush mode with even fiercer versions of the already challenging jotun. Exclusive to the Wii U version, the map is always displayed on the GamePad and God Powers can be activated using the touch screen. The game launches on Wii U first, and its GamePad features make this the definitive version. Impress the Gods!

Sept. 15
Noitu Love: Devolution from MP2 Games – The year is 2288. The city is protected by an organization called “The Peacekeepers League” and everything is swell except that it’s under attack by a robot army lead by professor Darnacus Damnation! Or is it… ? Available on both Wii U and Nintendo 3DS with intuitive, touch-screen controlled gameplay.

Sept. 22
Severed from Drinkbox Studios – Take control of a one-armed warrior named Sasha, who wields a living sword on her journey through a nightmare world in search of her family. Available on Wii U. Features include: Cross-Buy between Wii U and Nintendo 3DS, Wii U Off-TV Play, in-game Achievements, HD graphical optimizations.

Sept. 30
Azure Striker GUNVOLT 2 from INTI CREATES – Azure Striker GUNVOLT 2 is a 2D action-platforming game in the style of the Japanese classics of yesteryear. The great controls, crisp graphics, unique play mechanics and epic boss battles from the first installment are all here, along with a host of new features. Available exclusively on Nintendo 3DS.

Wii U

Available	Game	Developer
Sept. 1	Axiom Verge	Thomas Happ Games
Sept. 8	Jotun: Valhalla Edition	Thunder Lotus Games
Sept. 15	Noitu Love: Devolution	MP2 Games
Sept. 22	Severed	Drinkbox Studios
Sept. 30	SteamWorld Heist	Image & Form
September	FAST Racing Neo – Neo Future Pack	Shin’en
September	Zarvot	SnowHydra Games
September	DubWars	WOBBL3 Entertainment
October	Ectoplaza	Syndicate Atomic
October	Soul Axiom	Wales Interactive
October	Antipole DX	Saturnine Games
October	Rocket Fist	DanielSnd
October	Shantae Half-Genie Hero	WayForward/XSEED
December	forma.8	MixedBag
December	Hollow Knight	Team Cherry
December	Stardew Valley	Chucklefish Games
Q1	World to the West	Rain Games

Nintendo 3DS

Available	Game	Developer
Sept. 15	Noitu Love: Devolution	MP2 Games
Summer	Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure	Mastiff
Sept. 29	Azure Striker GUNVOLT 2	INTI CREATES
October	Antipole DX	Saturnine Games
October	Punch Club	tiny Build Games
December	forma.8	MixedBag
Fall	Severed	Drinkbox Studios
Q4	Runbow Pocket	13AM Games

Quest of Dungeons

Upfall Studios has decided to move Quest of Dungeons previous release date to a currently-unspecified date. The game was on track for a September 1 release, but the studio recently posted the following on Twitter:

PSA: Contrary to previously hinted QoD will not be released Sep 1st (next week). Stay tuned for global 3DS/Wii U release date soon. sorry

— Quest of Dungeons (@UpfallStudios) 23 August 2016

For those who asked what exactly is missing for releasing everything, just the 3DS version for USA. Almost there. I’ll keep you posted.

— Quest of Dungeons (@UpfallStudios) 23 August 2016

Alice in Wonderland

Brave Rock Games have now confirmed on Miiverse that their visual novel Alice in Wonderland will be released on September 1 in North America and September 8 in Europe.

You can find the post below:

Tetraminos

Sanuk Games will be releasing Tetraminos on the European Wii U eShop on September 1 for €4.99.

Here’s an overview of their arcade game, followed by a trailer:

“The classic arcade game is back in a supercharged version! For beginners or veterans, Tetraminos offers an easy-to-learn, limitless challenge. Give your brain a workout with the 50 Puzzle mode levels, survive as long as possible in Endless mode and rack up the combos and same-colour lines to climb to first place in the online ranking. Challenge your friends in local Versus mode with up to 4 players and sabotage their boards in wild games.”

Vektor Wars

Vektor Wars is launching on the European Wii U eShop on September 1 for €7.99.

Here’s a trailer for the game, just to illustrate what it’s all about:

Rorrim

Ezekiel Rage and Nitrolic Games have announced that Rorrim will be out on September 8 in the European Wii U eShop, and sell for €4.52.

Here’s an overview and trailer for the game:

“Rorrim is a 2D game for the Nintendo Wii U eShop. After finding a magic mirror, a young princess is sucked into the glass of the mirror and finds herself inside a dark and eerie dungeon. To escape the world of the mirror, you have to help her navigate through the dungeon in the real world and in the mirrored world. Enjoy this puzzle maze game by using the Wii U GamePad.”

Kingdom’s Item Shop

Kingdom’s Item Shop has now received a release date for the European eShop.

Circle Entertainment will be publishing the game on September 8 for 5€.

140

140, from Limbo lead designer Jeppe Carlsen, is now slated for a September 8 release in Europe. It will have a €7.99 price point.

Here’s an overview and launch trailer for the game:

“Created by Jeppe Carlsen (Lead puzzle designer, LIMBO) with Music by Jakob Schmid, 140 is a challenging minimalistic platformer with abstract colorful graphics. The game requires rhythmic awareness to overcome obstacles which are controlled by an energetic, yet melancholic electronic soundtrack!

Originally released for PC and Mac OS in 2013 after winning the Excellence in Audio award at the Independent Games Festival, 140 is now being adapted for consoles and handhelds by Abstraction Games in partnership with Double Fine Presents. It’s headed to PS4, PS Vita, Wii U, 3DS and Xbox One this summer!”

Shooty Space

RCMADIAX’s Shooty Space will release on the Wii U eShop on September 15, with a price tag of €2.99.

Note: #ShootySpace is slated for release on #WiiU via #eShop on September 15th across Europe and North America.

— RCMADIAX (@rcmadiax) 29 August 2016

Twisted Fusion

Leuvsion’s indie Wii U game Twisted Fusion is releasing on early October according to a new trailer. Check it out below:

Flight of Light

Crystalline Green, the indie developer behind Totem Topple, has now pulled back the curtain on its next project. It’s a Wii U eShop game called “Flight of Light”, which mixes music and racing.

The objective of Flight of Light is to race in time with the music. When you hit the beet, your vehicle’s speed will be boosted. Nine levels and local multiplayer will be included.

Flight of Light is coming out early next year on Wii U.

You can watch a trailer for it below:

Mega Maze

Chronova Games has announced it is working on “Mega Maze”, an upcoming indie title for the Wii U eShop.

In it, you’ll move through 60 levels in a first-person view in an attempt to navigate your way out of each one of them. Keys and doors, multiple floors, holes, and teleporters look to mix up the gameplay.

Mega Maze will also allow players to create their own levels and share them online with others. Online leaderboards are also included to compare completion times with other players.

You can find a trailer for Mega Maze below:

Pixel Maker

A new update for the Wii U version of PixelMaker can now be downloaded in Europe and North America.

Here’s what the update includes:

– Exporting of PNG images to SD card.
– Six new fonts for adding text.
– Scaling and outlining of inserted text.
– Option to hide the user interface.
– Left-to-right interface flip for left-handed users.
– Option to scale TV image to full display size.
– Selection and use of colors from image that are not in the palette.
– Text entry of color RGB values.
– Auto-sizing of color palette to fit available space.

Earthlock: Festival of Magic

SnowCastle Games is currently in the final stages of development of Earthlock: Festival of Magic. While the Wii U version apparently won’t be the first one out of the gate, the team is determined to release it as soon as possible. Here’s their statement from their latest Kickstarter update:

We are dead set on getting the game out on Wii U. We believe our backers deserve it and on the contrary to what some say, we also believe there is still a Wii U market worth pursuing. How long it takes we don’t know, but we really, really want to launch on Wii U in good time before the holiday season. (That means November)

FAST Racing Neo: Neo Future Pack

Shin’en is almost ready to release its new DLC for FAST Racing Neo, which adds 8 new tracks, 10 new vehicles, and 18 new audio tracks. A new trailer showing these upcoming features can be found below.

Martin Sauter from Shin’en also recently explained to Nintendo World Report at Gamescom why the studio ended up pursuing DLC. He said:

“I said from the start we would love to support FAST Racing NEO in the future. We were discussing it in the office, and it was totally clear that when the game came out and the reception was good that we’d keep working on that. We started fixing issues, adding minimaps, adding stuff we found, it was pretty clear we wanted to go with DLC, make something because the demand was so heated. We were asked if there were new tracks coming, Nintendo approached us and asked “Is there interest in a physical release”.”

And in a recent interview with Nintendon.com, Shin’en Multimedia stated that while their next project is a secret, it will be on a Nintendo console.

The studio was asked what it would like to do after FAST Racing Neo. In response, Shin’en said:

The problem is I can’t talk about it. I’d really like to talk about it, but if I say anything…. let me put it this way: we’re very happy to work with Nintendo, we’ll keep doing it and our next project will be with them. We’re also carrying out new experiments and creating new prototypes, but I can’t talk about this either, because they’re so deep in their initial stage that there would be no point talking about it now.

The Legend of Kusakari

Librage, the developers of The Legend of Kusakari, were recently interviewed by the game’s publisher, Nnooo, which talked with them about their inspirations for the title, confirming that their game is indeed inspired by the Legend of Zelda series. The team also elaborated on their interaction with Nintendo and how they felt about such clear inspirations.

You can find the full interview over here.

Besides this, since the game is now out on the eShop, here’s some gameplay footage to show you what it’s all about.

World to the West

NintendOn recently posted a translated version of their interview with Rain Games, the developers of World to the West.

Most of the interview covers the story and setting of World to the West, which will act as a sequel to Rain Games’ previous title, Teslagrad. The team also talks about gameplay and how each of the four unique characters will play.

You can read the full interview over here.

Axiom Verge

Axiom Verge will launch on the Wii U eShop in North America and Europe on September 1, so some screenshots and a fact sheet have come in, which you can find below.

GameXplain has also prepared a video showcasing the game, which you can find below:

Jotun: Valhalla Edition

A facts sheet and new screenshots of Jotun: Valhalla Edition have been released. You can take a look at them below:

Noitu Love: Devolution

Noitu Love: Devolution will be launching on September 15 in North America, so you can now take a look at some new screenshots from the game, and the usual fact sheet. Some new footage of the game has also surfeced, which you can find after the other content.

Severed

Various Severed assets have come in. These include some images of the game running on Wii U, as well as a first look at it running on 3DS. We also got the facts sheet for this title as well. Check them out below: