NUTS – CtrlAltNoob

I recently made a post about a bunch of the Indie Games that have released this year, of who’s demos I had played over the years. Since I didn’t cover all the Indie Game Festivals as comprehensively as I would have liked at the time, I decided to do the same thing again except this time, for games that got their releases last year. This still feels relevant as thankfully, the games havent gone anywhere. In fact, now may be better than ever what with updates and such.

4th February 2021 – NUTS – Joon, Pol, Muutsch, Char & Torfi

NUTS is a single-player walking simulator surveillance mystery. Record the squirrels, report your findings, and piece together what’s really going on in Melmoth Forest.

This games striking art style grabbed my attention almost as much as the premise. We play as a sort of wildlife watcher. Our job is to place cameras and watch them each night, in order to track the movements of Squirrels. I really enjoyed both the puzzle of the tracking and the potential of the story that is being told through it.

You can get the game for yourself here on Steam

18th February 2021 – Lemon Cake – Cozy Bee Games

Restore an abandoned bakery and prepare pastries from farm to table! Grow fresh ingredients in the greenhouse, cook pastries & sweets in the kitchen and serve your baked goods to hungry customers in your own shop!

Lemon Cake is an especially cute bakery management game. The adorable art and the cozy vibes made this a pleasant experience all around. Eloise from Cozy Bee Games is also very open with her development, sharing her designs and progress on Twitter and Twitch!

Here is a link to the Steam Page

26th February 2021 – Tiny Room Stories: Town Mystery – Kiary Games

Everybody are missing in a town. Find the answers of town mystery in a point and click adventure game with escape the room mechanics

I love escape room games. Tiny Room Stories: Town Mysteries features escape rooms – or escape buildings/areas – each in their own little dioramas, connected by an ongoing story. The difficulty was perfect for me to make it an enjoyable experience that I want more of.

Check it out on Steam here.

22nd July 2021 – Song of Farca – Wooden Monkeys

Hack into crime scenes, look for evidence, analyze data, interrogate criminals, track suspects and deal with the consequences of your decisions. This is a dark and brutal detective story with a Black Mirror-esque atmosphere of digital dominance and the narrative structure of a US crime procedural.

The Song of Farca Prologue is still available to play for free at the time of writing. This game is set in an apartment, but it is easy to forget as you are interacting with the story through different panels, experiencing the world beyond. It is fun making use of the tools given to you and working your way through mysteries in a way that only a private detective could.

Try the prologue or buy the game here.

17th September 2021 – TOEM – Something We Made

Set off on a delightful expedition and use your photographic eye to uncover the mysteries of the magical TOEM in this hand-drawn adventure game. Chat with quirky characters, solve their problems by snapping neat photos, and make your way through a relaxing landscape!

TOEM is a black and white adventure game where our goal is exploration and taking photographs. I had a lot of fun scouring every area for things to snap to fill up my compendium. Best of all, the game has just had a big update, including new areas and more. So even if you have already played there is every reason to go back and take another look.

Get it here on Steam.

14th October 2021 – Growing Up – Vile Monarch

This is the story of your life. Experience the entire journey from toddler to adulthood. Go to schools, learn new things, meet new friends, and have wild adventures! Every choice you make will influence your future career, and decide who your romantic partner will be. Who will you become?

When I first started this demo I had no idea what to expect. I had never played a game that looked or played like it. I ended up really enjoying it and being sad when I reached the end. In this game you will play through your characters life, shaping their personality and experiences through the choices that you make. Balance their needs and life decisions and see how you turn out.

Check it out here.

18th October 2021 – Sacred Fire: A Role Playing Game – Poetic

Sacred Fire is a psychological role-playing game. You’re a refugee hunted by Rome, your actions compromised by fear and rage. Build up your willpower to control story choices and master battle tactics. Outsmart opponents and gain allies. Wage war or strive for peace. End up a hero or an outcast.

I loved this demo. I have never played anything like it and I got really into it. The art style is somehow simple and complex at the same time. It is a game full of choices and you are in a lot of control of how to deal with situations. Or at least, you are in control of how you intend to deal with them, as long as the dice roll goes your way.

The game is currently in Early Access with a free demo here.

19th October 2021 – Escape Simulator – Pine Studio

First-person puzzler you can play solo or in an online co-op (best with 2-3 players, but playable with more). Explore a set of highly interactive escape rooms. Move furniture, pick up and examine everything, smash pots and break locks! Supports community rooms through the level editor.

Escape Simulator is an escape room experience specifically designed for multiple players. The rooms themselves are fun and well themed, and another selling point is that you can create your own rooms, as well as play rooms others have created.

Here is the Steam page if you would like to check it out.

21st October 2021 – Growbot – Wabisabi Play

An adventure about a robot saving her home from a dark crystalline force. Set upon a biopunk space station bursting with fantastic plants and aliens.

Growbot is an adorable point and click adventure. While art style can play a huge part on whether I enjoy a game, that isnt the only reason I liked it. Upon solving the puzzles and reading every bit of lore I could find, I was fascinated by this world that I was learning about. From what I can tell, this game is fairly short. I would love to stream it sometime.

Take a closer look here.

16th November 2021 – Moncage – Optillusion

Moncage is a unique puzzle adventure game where you explore a fascinating world trapped inside a mysterious cube. With each face displaying a unique scene, you’ll have to leverage the illusions and discover the hidden links to solve the puzzle.

There were so many unique games released in 2021 and Moncage is no exception. This is a puzzle game in which you need to manipulate objects within an environment, in order to alter the perspective. It is very satisfying when you solve a puzzle and everything lines up the way it should. It is also telling a story throughout. I would say it is comparable to a 3D Gorogoa, all be it in a totally different style.

You can buy it on Steam here.

There were of course many more Indies released in 2021, but I can say that I thoroughly enjoyed the demo of every game above. It is so great to watch a game go from releasing a demo to releasing the full game, rooting for them and seeing how they do. Now, I will get back to playing more demos, scouting for more of these delights!

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I tried something a little different this time. Since I have now played so many of these demos, I thought it would be helpful for anyone new to the festival to have a guide to know where to start.

So this time I have made a more comprehensive quickfire guide of games that I think are worth your time.

Here is a list of all of the games. If you would like to see more of what they are about, my video at the bottom of the page covers all 18 of these games in under 5 minutes!

Port Valley – The (not so) classic Point & Click adventure where perspective changes everything! Witness Port Valley’s Election Day from 3 points of view and find out what’s really going on in this bizarre town.

One Helluva Day – An egocentric businessman is desperate to save his company from collapse. However, he is forced to save the whole city from an impending disaster.

Lord Winklebottom Investigates – It’s the 1920s and the world’s foremost detective is about to embark on his most challenging case yet. Thankfully, in this world that’s not quite like our own, there’s nobody better to crack the case than the great detective and gentleman giraffe, Lord Winklebottom.

Backbone – Backbone is a noir roleplaying detective adventure. You are raccoon private eye Howard Lotor, a second-class citizen of dystopian Vancouver, BC inhabited by animals. Interrogate a diverse cast of characters, collect evidence, and choose which leads to follow.

Roki – Röki is an adventure game inspired by Scandinavian folklore – a dark, contemporary fairy tale underpinned by a touching narrative, an alluring art style, ancient puzzles and atmospheric exploration.

Hazel Sky – Hazel Sky is a heartfelt adventure about a young engineer facing his destiny and his desires. Fix ramshackle flying machines and jump, climb, swing, and slide through a beautiful, mysterious world.

Omno – A single player journey of discovery through an ancient world of wonders. Full of puzzles, secrets and obstacles to overcome, where the power of a lost civilisation will carry you through forests, deserts and tundras – even to the clouds.

Travellers Rest – You are an innkeeper, on a journey to transform a run-down inn into a bustling social space. Brew your own beer, run a farm, explore the world, and build relationships with your customers to create your own fantasy tavern!

Cartel Tycoon – Cartel Tycoon is a story-driven business sim inspired by the ‘80s narco trade. Expand and conquer, stave off rival cartels and authority attention, earn people’s loyalty and try to overcome the doomed fate of a drug lord with too much power.

The Final Earth 2 – The Final Earth 2 is a vertical sci-fi city builder. Earth is unlivable, so you decide to create a space colony. Gather resources, then build and research your way to a better future! Grow your city from an exploration ship to a huge metropolis, full of advanced technology. What will you build?

Grounded – The world is a vast, beautiful and dangerous place – especially when you have been shrunk to the size of an ant. Can you thrive alongside the hordes of giant insects, fighting to survive the perils of the backyard?

The Survivalists – A living world full of surprises, secrets and danger awaits in The Survivalists, an adventure-filled survival sandbox set in The Escapists universe. Explore, build, craft and even train monkeys with up to three friends in a desperate bid to survive. Have you got what it takes to be a Survivalist?

Superliminal – Perception is reality. In this mind-bending first-person puzzler, you explore a surreal dream world and solve impossible puzzles using the ambiguity of depth and perspective.

Moncage – Moncage is an adventure puzzle game, where the player will explore a lonely world trapped in a mysterious cubic device. Each face of this cubic device will display a different scene. The player will navigate through the island and the factory by finding the connections among the scenes.

Love – A Puzzlebox Filled with Stories – Every life has a story. Every story has regret. But what if you could change the past? LOVE is a puzzle game about finding the things we’ve lost in ourselves and the people who help us find them.

Summer in Mara – Take care of your own island and explore the ocean in this farming adventure. Summer in Mara mix farming, crafting and exploring mechanic in a tropical archipelago with a colorful style and strong narrative.

Jessika – Jessika committed suicide, and it’s up to you to find out why she did what she did by prying into her digital past. What at first seems to be a job like any other quickly develops into a dark drama with twists and turns.

NUTS – A single-player surveillance mystery set in a remote forest – record the squirrels, report your findings… and uncover the secret that the curious creatures are hiding.

My top game picks from the Steam Game Festival: Summer Edition 2020. 18 games in under 5 minutes!

Tag: NUTS

Indie Game Festivals – 2021 Releases