GoKawiilWelcome to our latest roundup of what's going on in the indie game space. We're here to tell you about a bunch of new games you can dive into this weekend. Plus, we've got some announcements and updates for other games that are coming your way.
Before we get started, a quick reminder that Summer Game Fest is next week. I'm absolutely certain that will include announcements for a ton of neat indie games, especially from side events like Day of the Devs and Wholesome Direct. Perhaps we'll also see some cool indies at larger showcases from PlayStation and Xbox, as well as the main Summer Game Fest stream. As ever, we'll be bringing you all the major SGF news here on Engadget.
We got warmed up for those festivities with a couple of showcases that aired on Thursday, including the latest edition of Thinky Direct. The folks at Thinky Games brought us announcements for more than 40 puzzle games during this stream. There were a lot of neat-looking games that I'm sure I'd quickly find frustrating if I ever actually played any of them.
Escape Academy 2: Back 2 School is a follow-up to one of our favorite puzzle games. An updated Steam demo now features the entire first chapter of the sequel, which has splitscreen couch co-op support. Escape Academy 2: Back 2 School, from Coin Crew Games and publisher iam8bit Presents, will hit PC and Xbox later this year.
I really dug the trailer for Hello Again, which has a pretty great title for a time-loop game. I love the art style and, let's face it, I'm going to be into any game with a character named DJ Cool Bass. There's a demo available on Steam and the full game — from Soup Island and publisher Tiny Dragon — is expected to arrive in 2027.
A few other games caught my eye during the showcase. In Rita, which I covered in a previous edition of this roundup, you play as a chicklet that finds letters in the environment and uses those to solve crosswords and other puzzles. Doing so unlocks new parts of the world. Rita, from SporkTank, now has a release date. It'll hit Steam on July 30. A demo is available now.
Deg is pretty interesting too. Here, you'll be solving a variety of number- and grid-based puzzles to open up more areas to explore. The puzzles are inspired by the likes of Minesweeper and Picross. A demo for this game from Doseo is up on Steam. The full game is coming later this year.
The Thinky Direct stream kicked off the Cerebral Puzzle Showcase on Steam. The event, which runs until June 4, includes a sale.
The Cozy Games Awards Showcase took place this week as well. It was revealed during this stream that publisher Future Friends Games (CloverPit, Europa) is now a developer too. Its first in-house title is Pottering, a co-op gardening game for up to six players. You can work together to create a beautiful garden or just mess around while exploring. It's coming to Steam at some point.
Rural Cat Trails, from Hibikai Games, was revealed during the showcase too. This is an adventure game in which you (a cat) explore the Japanese countryside in search of a shrine that was important to the kitty's late grandfather. I wager this is one for fans of Little Kitty, Big City — I count myself among them. The best thing I've learned about this game so far is that, in addition to pawing, digging and wall jumping, this particular cat has an ability called a "wiggle butt dash." Rural Cat Trails is coming to Steam this year.
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