Competing against world-shaking events like E3 and Gamescom is anything but easy, but PAX Prime has found its niche. Especially with its Indie MEGABOOTH, PAX has given small-scale games a place to be showcased without as much competition for attention with big-budget, blockbuster games.
With that in mind, here are some of the indie games present at PAX Prime 2015 that definitely deserve your attention.
Armello
Kotaku said it best: "It's like Game of Thrones, only with animals." This virtual tabletop game maintains the moment-to-moment strategy of card and pen/paper RPG's, but rendered in an extraordinarily rich and stylized critter-filled world. Although the crisp and clean art style deviates from the gritty tones that typify this genre of hardcore digital board games, Armello promises to be easy to play but hard to master: a fun, beautiful experience for those passing by, and an intense, profound adventure for those in it for the long haul.
Armello is currently available on Steam for $19.99.
Through the Woods
Through the Woods would be the result if someone decided to cross Slenderman and Little Red Riding Hood. You have the chills-inducing horror of walking alone in a wood with limited vision, but transplanted into a folk-tale imbued forest on the western shore of Norway. It boasts high-quality sound design, which, when coupled with the central tone of darkness in the forest, is sure to keep you on edge and your pants in danger of some good-ol'-fashioned wetting.
Through the Woods has no confirmed release date, but it is rumored to come out in early 2016.
The Magic Circle
If nothing else, The Magic Circle is incredibly unique. Its plot centers around a game developer who's been driven (questionably) mad by his inability to finish the game he's been working on for decades. That's where you come in. As the protagonist, you're granted the ability to rewrite the game world that you inhabit: you can capture monsters and change their "coding" to grant them new powers, new modes of transportation, and new strengths. All of this is complemented by incredible voice acting, and an art style which uses color to visually represent the impact that you're having on the game world around you.
The Magic Circle is currently available on Steam for $19.99.
Don't Starve: Shipwrecked
Don't Starve has already proven itself to be an enormous success in the indie game world, but with every new expansion and announcement, they remind us why they deserve all the attention that they're given. Of course, Shipwrecked will retain the game's token, highly acclaimed dark-yet-cartoony art style. As the title implies, though, it will move the isolated adventurer from the forest to the high sea, introducing a wave (pun completely intended) of new stylistic and gameplay features.
Don't Starve: Shipwrecked is set to come out Fall 2015.
Whether you're a gaming enthusiast or a total newbie, make sure to check out these new and upcoming indie games.
