Every Xbox indie game announcement from the ID@Xbox Q3 2021 Showcase

Microsoft have been very big proponents of the independent game development scene ever since they launched the Xbox Live Arcade in November 2004. They’re largely a part of why indie games exist on consoles in the way that they do at all, having caused a wider shift in the industry. 

As we head into the last quarter of the 2021, the indie game curators over at Xbox have given us another look at the small dev team produced experiences that await us on Xbox Series X/S, xcloud and Windows PCs for the rest of the year. Here’s everything that they showed off in their Twitch stream on August 10, 2021.

Lightyear Frontier

A game from Frame Break and Amplifier, Lightyear Frontier is a co-op farming game set on an alien planet. It looks a bit like Stardew Valley and No Man’s Sky and mostly seems like a chill way to spend an afternoon or ten. This one doesn’t have a release date, but will launch in Early Access and Xbox Game Preview in 2022.

 

Stardew Valley

Speak of the devil. You likely know what this one is already. It’s an indie take on the popular Japanese game Story of Seasons. You run a farm with your friends. It’s coming to Xbox (and Game Pass) before the end of the year!

If you wanna play other games like Stardew Valley in the meantime, we have a handy list of suggestions for that.

 

The Artful Escape

Annapurna Interactive’s The Artful Escape is an adventure game about a guitar prodigy becoming one of the greatest musicians that ever lived. It gives us Wandersong vibes, so we’re in. It’s also one of the indie games that will also be coming to Xbox Game Pass.

 

Sam & Max Save the World Remastered

We’re not sure we’d consider this one an indie game, but here it is on Xbox anyway. A remake of Telltale Games’ fantastic Sam and Max Save the World, with improved graphics and overall engine stability. It’s now very pretty and I can confirm that it is also still very funny. Give this one a go if you miss the light and breezy adventure games of yesteryear.

 

OlliOlli World

The third entry in the OlliOlli skateboarding series revealed it has an amazing character customization system with a ridiculously large amount of options for clothes, body types, skin tones and hair colours. You can even change trick poses if you want to further show off your personality. This indie game will be on lots of consoles and not just the Xbox.

 

Aeon Drive

Is a cyberpunk game with an anime pixel art look and a clear focus on fast paced platformer action. They’ve released a demo to get you ready for it to drop on Xbox, PlayStation, Switch and PC later on in the year.

 

Pupparazzi

The fantastic punny title of Pupparazzi tells you everything you need to know about the game. It’s a Pokemon Snap-like game with cute low poly dogs that can be found and photographed in different settings. This is another one coming to Xbox Game Pass, so we’ll definitely check it out.

 

Aragami 2

A third person co-op stealth game that is the sequel to 2016’s Aragami. It’s coming to game pass the day it comes out, so you should convince your friends that they want to play it with you in advance of it’s September 17, 2021 launch date so they can get it preloaded.

 

Evil Genius 2: World Domination

This popular simulator game where you build James Bond style villain lairs used to be a PC exclusive, but it’s coming to consoles before the end of the year. It too will be on Xbox Game Pass.

 

Library of Ruina

This game has tabletop-like combat and is about librarians trying to get each other’s books. It seems neat. It’s on Xbox Game Pass right now, so the barrier of entry is low if you want to go and give it a try.

 

Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous

This new top down fantasy RPG from the Pathfinder franchise of tabletop roleplaying books and video games arrives in March 2022. It looks very pretty, so we’d like to play this one for at least a little while when it launches on Xbox Game Pass.

 

The Wandering Village

One of the coolest things about video games is that they can do wild things that other mediums might struggle with. The Wandering Village is a town builder that has set their entire game on the back of a giant creature. Fighting off parasitic invaders and making sure the beast stays happy sounds simple enough, but we’re sure it’ll lead to some interesting gameplay innovations on a type of game that is usually quite by the numbers.

 

Lab Rat

This puzzle game where you push blocks around and listen to sarcastic jokes from a robotic lady that is obviously having a breakdown reminds us of Portal quite a bit. We realise that it’s an unreasonable expectation for us to have, but we hope it is just as good.

 

RPG TIME: The Legend of Wright

This game has very unique visuals and is about a kid playing an RPG they’ve designed on their school desk. We hope it’s as jolly as the trailer makes it seem. Some of the art on show is incredible and gives us Dragon Quest vibes.

 

Inked: A Tale of Love

Another game that is striking visually. Inked is a puzzle game that tells a story of love and loss. This one looks like it gets both tragic and meta. Not sure we have that in us, after the last couple of years, but we hope it finds an audience all the same.

 

The Big Con

In The Big Con you have to hustle your way through 1990s America. This crime-comedy with good vibes seems right up our alley and we can’t wait to put on disguises and pick some pockets this August when it comes out.

 

The Vale: Shadow of the Crown

In The Vale, you’re blind and you have to defend a castle on the edge of a Kingdom. You’ll want headphones for this one as there’s a heavy focus on audio and no visuals at all. It’s a bit like an interactive audio book.

 

Spacelines From the Far Out

This co-op game has you and your friends work in the intergalactic holiday industry. Work together to make sure you and your passengers get safely to wherever it is they’re supposed to be going, as procedurally generated threats to everybody’s safety take you by surprise along the way.

 

Which of these ID@Xbox game announcements are you most excited about? Let us know in the comments section below.