Plus, what may well be the next Vampire Survivors and the latest look at PowerWash Simulator 2.
Summer is finally here — at least for those of us north of the equator — and you might be planning to spend more time outdoors. Thanks to a swathe of great handheld devices, it's never been easier to play some fantastic indie games wherever you might be, so you can soak up the sun while unlocking achievements.
There are a bunch of intriguing new indies you can check out right now, as well as a significant update for a certain thirst-inducing roguelite that's still in early access. I've also a few upcoming titles in this, the latest edition of our indie roundup. One of them has a Steam demo that you might end up spending several enjoyable hours with.
Before we get started, a quick word of warning: Your wishlist and resolve are about to be tested as the Steam Summer Sale starts next week. I mean, good luck in advance with the bargain hunting!
New releases
I have to hold my hands up, I was skeptical about Rematch. When it was revealed that Sloclap — the team behind martial arts games Absolver and Sifu — was making an action-focused soccer game, I had some doubts that it would work. Rematch looked like the studio had taken Rocket League and retrofitted it with human characters. And with both that car soccer game and EA Sports FC 25 as competition, Sloclap was really going to have to do something special to break through. I think the studio might have just pulled that off.
Rematch is entirely skill-based with no stat upgrades for your character. You control one player throughout the match, and you'll transition between attacking and defending while rotating the goalkeeper role with teammates. The action is very fluid and fast, and the controls are responsive (they'd have to be). Like in Rocket League, the ball doesn't go out of bounds. There are no fouls or offsides either.
I've really enjoyed my first dozen or so games of Rematch. I came to realize that I'm more effective in a midfield/playmaker role or even as the goalkeeper than as an attacker. I haven't been able to get the hang of using the twin-stick controls to aim and shoot at the goal well enough as yet, but I've figured out a way to both help my team and have fun.
There are some bugs that the developers are racing to fix and the lack of cross-play at the jump is a bit disappointing (Sloclap says it ran into some technical issues there, but getting that sorted is a top priority for the team). Still, Rematch feels like a very sticky game that I imagine many folks are going to sink dozens of hours into. It's already off to a strong start — it surpassed a million players on its first day.
Rematch is out now on Steam, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. It's on Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass.
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