Steam Early Access finds / Indie Games thread!

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Steam Early Access finds / Indie Games thread!

Post by unfnknblvbl »

Alright, ladies, gents, or whatever you prefer to identify as. There's some pretty cool games out there in the Steam Early Access catalogue (or have graduated from it), but there's also some trash. I figured we should have a thread to share our best finds with everybody!

Here's my pick:

Assault Android Cactus - ($15)
Getting the obvious out of the way first here: Even if you don't like twin-stick shooters, you should buy this just to support our member Sonic Jam & his team. It helps that it's a fucking amazing game. It's since graduated (and I suppose I didn't technically find it through Early Access thanks to SJ posting it here first), but it's worth plugging anyway.

Automation - ($30)
This is a "Tycoon" game where you build a car company. Well, you build cars, anyway. The tycoon bit is under development. At the moment, you really only build and design cars which is fun enough on its own, because you get to design the engine itself from scratch.

I like it, anyway.

Ninja Pizza Girl - ($10)
Again, I didn't technically find this one through Early Access, and it's graduated, but it's still pretty cool.
It's a running platformer kind of game, but not one of those annoying "infinite run" ones. The object is to deliver pizza with your mad ninja skills. Apparently there's some kind of subplot regarding bullying not being cool, but whatever.
It's not the greatest game in the entire universe, but I've paid more for far worse games. It's pretty damn fun and worth the ten bucks.

BeamNG.drive - ($25)
It's a driving game with amazing physics. Especially the crash physics.
Not sure what else is going on though, since it's early days for the game. Last time I played, there was no narrative or objective or even purpose, but it's pretty fun. Not sure if it's $25 worth of fun at the moment, but it looks pretty promising.

Starbound - ($15)
Basically, it's Terraria in space. It's out of Early Access now (as I only just discovered), too. If you enjoyed Terraria, you'll enjoy this. I think it has a little more depth.

Kerbal Space Program - ($40)
As if you haven't heard of this. Another graduate, it's a really fucking addictive space program sim thing. Build rockets to explore the solar system, assuming you can even make it into orbit.
This is the most expensive in the list, but it's worth every damn cent, IMO. Another graduate.

Stonehearth - ($25)
This is my current drug of choice, with 127 hours put into it. To be fair, I only bought it because it looked like a "Minecraft Manager" type game that looked super cute.
It's a town building game. You have a group of settlers and you have to.. well... build a town. You attract more settlers and give them skills like "carpenter" and "blacksmith" etc. Levelling up your crafting people opens up new crafts and skills to assign. You also have to defend your town from roving bands of monsters.
There's a basic narrative in there now, with town objectives and the like. Definitely worth the money.

Terratech - ($20)
If Minecraft is digital Lego, then I guess this is digital Technics?
It's very tempting to call this "Minecraft with cars" but it's not that at all, not even close. You have to build a vehicle out of blocks that you gradually unlock as you battle and defeat other vehicles. You can even build planes and rockets, which is neat.
Again, not much of a "point" to this game just yet, but it's fun. At least one to keep an eye on.

(I'm not going to count DiRT Rally even though I like it a lot, because it's from a major dev company. Early Access should be just for indies!)
Last edited by unfnknblvbl on 22 Aug 2018 09:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Steam Early Access finds thread!

Post by Rorschach »

Thanks for this, I love indie and early access stuff. Most of these games can be rough but they remind me of the early years of console gaming, balls to the wall creativity. Been playing a lot of Neon Chrome recently, love child of Smash TV and the first Syndicate.
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Re: Steam Early Access finds thread!

Post by unfnknblvbl »

I agree. Can you imagine pitching a game like KSP to a big publisher like EA or Ubisoft? You'd be laughed out of the building. It's a massive hit, though: 1.8 million sales on Steam alone!
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Re: Steam Early Access finds thread!

Post by unfnknblvbl »

My Summer Car ($15)

It's 1995, and your parents have gone off on holiday, leaving you with a packet of sausages, a car in pieces, and a carton of beer. Hilarity ensues.

This game sees you building a car from basically scratch, running errands to get more money to buy better parts, getting drunk, and swearing in Finnish.

Highly recommended.
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Re: Steam Early Access finds thread!

Post by t0mby »

unfnknblvbl wrote:My Summer Car ($15)

It's 1995, and your parents have gone off on holiday, leaving you with a packet of sausages, a car in pieces, and a carton of beer. Hilarity ensues.

This game sees you building a car from basically scratch, running errands to get more money to buy better parts, getting drunk, and swearing in Finnish.

Highly recommended.
That looks awesome. It's like a modern day version of that early 90s hot rod game where you bolt shit on and then head down the local takeaways for a drag.
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Re: Steam Early Access finds thread!

Post by unfnknblvbl »

Yeah, I was going to say that it's a lot like Street Rod (which is now freeware!), but it's way more involved.
One session, I got woken up while sleeping by a friend who wanted me to go pick them up from the pub. I had no idea where the pub was, and I'd totalled the van. When I finally figured out how to get the minibike running and went off to find him, he'd tried driving himself home and crashed off the side of the road. I found him as a dead body in a wrecked car. Needless to say, I mutilated his body with a handy sledgehammer and took his alcohol.... :lol:
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Re: Steam Early Access finds thread!

Post by t0mby »

Sounds like a driving version of Postal. :rollin:

Added to my wish list for that day I get my PC up and running or in case pilonv1 decides to buy it for me. ;)
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Re: Steam Early Access finds thread!

Post by F for Fake »

How many hours does it take to get a car up and running?
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Re: Steam Early Access finds thread!

Post by pilonv1 »

My Summer Car looks ace :up:

Ninja Pizza Girl is good fun and I believe local legend and awesome comic guy Gazunta had a hand in it.
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Re: Steam Early Access finds thread!

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F for Fake wrote:How many hours does it take to get a car up and running?
Depends on how you define "running" - chances are pretty damn high that you'll forget something, or forget to tighten a few bolts, so it'll fall apart as soon as you get it out of the driveway. I was driving around all night without a right rear coil spring... :lol: :lol:
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Re: Steam Early Access finds thread!

Post by unfnknblvbl »

Alright, now that I know how it all goes together, I can knock the car together in about 4-5 hours. Less, if I could memorise which size spammers to use where.
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Re: Steam Early Access finds thread!

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So last night, after saying it takes 4-5 hours to put together, I completed the car, got in, turned the key... and the engine fell out. :lol:
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Re: Steam Early Access finds thread!

Post by unfnknblvbl »

Streets of Rogue ($15)

A top-down roguelike adventure/brawler. It's pretty damn fun.
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Re: Steam Early Access finds thread!

Post by Rorschach »

Picked it up on Humble Bundle for $7, nice find unfnk.
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Re: Steam Early Access finds / Indie Games thread!

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Stranded Deep ($15)
You survive a plane wreck in the pacific and wash up on an island. You have to survive by crafting stuff from simple stone knives, up to a house and boat and beyond.
Comes with a level editor, which is cool.
It seems pretty good so far.

Oxygen Not Included ($25)
It's some kind of space colony simulation game.
I'm not going to lie; this game throws you in the deep end and laughs at you while you try to work out WTF is going on. It's pretty fun though.


Also, I can't believe nobody has mentioned Prison Architect ($30)
Sure, it's graduated from Early Access, but like every other Introversion Software game, it's fucking brilliant.
Like Sim City, only with a prison.
11/10, highly recommended. Just don't expect to see daylight for a few weeks.
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Re: Steam Early Access finds / Indie Games thread!

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The Dragon's Trap ($20)
It's been out for a while, I know, but this is a pretty great remake of Wonderboy III. I always wanted to like it on the old SMS, but I just couldn't get my head around the controls, as silly as that sounds. Turns out that Wonder Boy's weird controls were a primitive form of momentum. This is obvious in the remake.
The main reason I bought this was because it was handled by Omar Cornut of SMS Power/Meka fame. He's done a fantastic job here, and the game looks gorgeous. Highly recommended.
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Re: Steam Early Access finds / Indie Games thread!

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unfnknblvbl wrote:Also, I can't believe nobody has mentioned Prison Architect ($30)
Sure, it's graduated from Early Access, but like every other Introversion Software game, it's fucking brilliant.
Like Sim City, only with a prison.
11/10, highly recommended. Just don't expect to see daylight for a few weeks.
Has been announced on Switch, might pick it up on that. Seems well suited for it.
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Re: Steam Early Access finds / Indie Games thread!

Post by unfnknblvbl »

It's also available on iPad and Android tablets. It's slightly different, but not enough to be really bothersome.
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Re: Steam Early Access finds / Indie Games thread!

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Guacamelee! 2 ($20)

Like the original, but more so. Do yourself a favour and buy it.
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Re: Steam Early Access finds / Indie Games thread!

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Epistory - Typing Chronicles

Completely awesome. Vanquish mobs, obstacles and unlock areas by typing the words that appear above them. Productivity as well as recreation. :up:
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Re: Steam Early Access finds / Indie Games thread!

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If anyone is still looking for a good indie experience try Industries of Titan. Only available through Epic Game Store as early access at the moment but damn good game. A bit pricey at $30 USD but I'm thoroughly enjoying it. Splash of Sim City, 4X style battle-sphere and resource management all rolled into one package.
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Re: Steam Early Access finds / Indie Games thread!

Post by t0mby »

I can see why you guys love PC gaming so much when you have gems like this available. :lol:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1302 ... Simulator/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: Steam Early Access finds / Indie Games thread!

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*reads the topic line*

That recommendation sucks Tomby. It really sucks.
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Re: Steam Early Access finds / Indie Games thread!

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But isn't it an indie game?
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Re: Steam Early Access finds / Indie Games thread!

Post by unfnknblvbl »

So, it turns out that this
Automation - ($30)
This is a "Tycoon" game where you build a car company. Well, you build cars, anyway. The tycoon bit is under development. At the moment, you really only build and design cars which is fun enough on its own, because you get to design the engine itself from scratch.

I like it, anyway.
and
BeamNG.drive - ($25)
It's a driving game with amazing physics. Especially the crash physics.
Not sure what else is going on though, since it's early days for the game. Last time I played, there was no narrative or objective or even purpose, but it's pretty fun. Not sure if it's $25 worth of fun at the moment, but it looks pretty promising.
have become interoperable some time ago. Now you can design and build cars from the engine up in Automation and then export them and drive them in BeamNG.Drive

I built an MR2, and surprise surprise it looks, sounds, and drives just like my own. Go figure. Then I stuck a quad-turbo V16 in it and pancaked against a barrier.
Highly recommended.

This is now one of those stay-up-until-4am-tweaking-little-things games.
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