Friday Follow-UP: Hermit and Pig, Pipsqueak!, Tunic, and Animal Well
New Games, Demos, Wishlists, Crowdfunding, Music, and more!
Good Game Lobby would not be here without the support from followers like yourselves. A community helps me grow as a creator and business owner. As we grow together I can achieve my goals of supporting more indie developers and gamers.
We figured why not return the favor and share who we followed this week, what we wishlisted, backed on crowdfunding, new physical games, and new gaming music. This is the first installment of Friday Follow-UP.
Wishlist XP
We were blessed by the gaming gods this month with Summer Game Fest, Steam Next Fest, Wholesome Direct, and many, many more events unveiling new trailers, demos, studios, and even publishers! To be honest, I added 120 games to my Steam Wishlist. I won’t cover all of those here, but I will share one of my favorites.
Hermit and Pig has been on my radar for quite some time. I was really excited when I saw a trailer last year during the Future of Play Direct. The art direction, with its single-pixel borders and colorful, vibrant promotional illustrations, really speaks to me. The turn-based adventure RPG has a unique fighting style mechanic with directional inputs, making it exciting when fending off more than one of the game's angry animals, bugs, and doors – yes, you heard that right, one of the enemies is a door.
You adventure into the world with your sidekick, a truffle-hunting pig, in search of mushrooms, only to be thrust into a bigger adventure starring an anxious protagonist out to “solve the mystery of a sinister corporate plot.” It may be reminiscent of Earthbound in its look, but it definitely differs in style, fighting mechanics, and exploration. I made the GIF below what do you think?
Hermit and Pig | Steam
Heavy Lunch Studio | Website
If you want to know more about the game then please check out my play through of the demo here.
Crowdfunding Checkpoint
We are, as some are saying, in the golden age of indie gaming, and I couldn’t agree more. Every month, crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter are hosting campaigns for new games, and many indie developers are launching their pages to be saved for later. I am finding new games releasing between now and 2026 and can only imagine how many more will come to light. One that caught my attention was by Freerdan on Twitter. I knew a Kickstarter page was up and I could save it, but I did not know that the demo would launch during the campaign and coincide with these new fests in June.
Pipsqueak! is defined by the creator as a search-action or Metroidvania game starring Tofu, the brave little mouse. You may be a cute mouse, but the platforming world around you is challenging and dark. The thick pixel borders and chunky design of the items, bosses, and environment give it the look and feel of a new Gameboy Advance game. The demo was a perfect example of how to play the game, with difficult platforming and exploration. You can back the game on Kickstarter right now, wishlist it on Steam, and even try out the demo.
One of the things I love about the campaign is that the creator updates with each milestone of 25% or 75% funding and also shouts out other campaigns running in parallel. I also included links to those below.
Pipsqueak! | Kickstarter (88%)
Nirvana Noir | Kickstarter (Funded!)
Layers Deep | Kickstarter (Funded!)
Lone Fungus 2 | Kickstarter (50%)
Percentages/Funded are where each campaign was funded the date of this post.
Quest Vibes
Tunic is one of the most celebrated indie games of this decade, drawing influence from Zelda and Souls-like games to breathe new life into those genres. A key aspect of the game's mystery and suspense is the beautiful soundtrack composed by Lifeformed and Janice Kwan. I only discovered these stripped-down piano versions of the soundtrack this week, and having the chance to hear the raw songs without the extra bells and whistles is liberating. Do yourself a favor and listen to the piano renditions, then check out the main soundtrack to appreciate the amount of work put into the final product. It's truly a gorgeous composition. You can hear one of the selections on this month's curated playlist, Quest Vibes, here.
Lifeformed | Spotify
Janice Kwan | Spotify
Quest Vibes | Spotify
Physically Digital
We are witnessing many forms of gaming going all digital. New releases from AAA studios are not even receiving physical versions, and digital shops like the Wii U/3DS closed in 2023, with the Xbox 360 marketplace also closing later this year. Taking that into consideration, we are also experiencing a resurrection of sorts. Between Limited Run Games, iam8bit, Red Art, Super Rare Games, Strictly Limited, Signature Edition, and Fangamer, we are seeing a resurgence in physical games. Not only are we getting physical releases, but they are becoming the best limited edition versions of these games. More often than not, these games are indies.
My personal favorite game (so far) of 2024 is Animal Well. I don’t want to spend time describing this Metroidvania or, as some are dubbing it, a Search-Action. This isn’t due to my laziness or lack of writing ability, but because every description contains spoilers. My recommendation is to go in blind with a pen and paper and have fun trying to solve all of this gorgeous indie's puzzles. I'm sharing this now because there are only 3 days left to pre-order the limited edition bundle for PlayStation and Switch. I am biased in my recommendation because, as mentioned earlier, it holds the title of best game of the year.
Let's see how it stacks up against Erdtree. Anyone else playing Elden Ring this weekend?
Animal Well Collector’s Edition | Limited Run Games
PRE-ORDERS CLOSE ON SUNDAY, JUNE 23, 2024 AT 11:59 PM EASTERN TIME.
So, you've made it to the end of the post. Wow! Thank you for reading my first Friday Follow-UP. This is a recap I will have every week with new games and news just for you. If you have time, please like, comment, and subscribe to the newsletter. I appreciate your support!