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Title: Playdate Season Two, Spray Paint Simulator and other new indie games
worth checking out

Date: Sat, 31 May 2025 11:00:35 +0000
Link: https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playdate-seas...

One of the many beautiful things about the indie gaming scene is that there's
always something to check out. So if you don't fancy playing Elden Ring:
Nightreign this weekend, there are plenty of other new options. To help you
keep up with what's going on in the space, here's our weekly indie game
roundup.

As a heads up, we won't be publishing an edition of this roundup next week.
Not because there won't be enough games to highlight. Quite the opposite:
Summer Game Fest kicks off on Friday June 6. There will be literally hundreds
of game announcements and updates. There's also the small matter of the
Nintendo Switch 2's arrival in a matter of days.

You can check out what to expect from SGF and find out how to watch the
various showcases in our preview. We'll be bringing you news on titles of all
shapes and sizes from Summer Game Fest Live, Xbox Games Showcase and other
events. We'll also be on the ground in Los Angeles to go hands on with many
of the newly announced games. Keep up with our coverage here on Engadget
throughout SGF.

In the meantime, there are a host of new games to savor, as well as peeks at
what's coming your way in the coming weeks and months. Let's get to it.

Thinky Direct

This showcase from Thinky Games was jam packed with captivating puzzle and
mystery games. Two in particular caught my eye. The first is a very
intriguing first-person archery puzzler. In He Who Watches, you'll walk on
walls, rotate rooms and use a bow and arrow to solve puzzles. It reminds me
of the shrines in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the
Kingdom. A demo is out now on Steam and the full game should arrive this
fall.

The other game that really stood out to me was Echo Weaver, a so-called
"Metroidbraina." Unlike in many Metroidvanias, where you need to find power
ups or new abilities to progress, here you'll move forward by acquiring
knowledge, including figuring out your character's special abilities.

There aren't any procedurally generated elements here. As with the likes of
Outer Wilds, each run is time-based. You can find ways to extend the limit or
sacrifice some time to pass through a barrier. Echo Weaver is coming to Steam
and Xbox (including Game Pass).

There was lots of other interesting stuff in the first-ever Thinky Direct. I
really enjoy the chill train puzzler Railbound and it was neat to find out
that there's a level editor available in beta. Kiko's Apple Adventure is an
adorable-looking block-pushing game in which the aim is to nudge apples onto
rafts. It just arrived on Steam.

The Button Effect features a museum with a lot of buttons, each with a
purpose for you to find out. It seems like a certain Taskmaster task taken to
new extremes. The first public demo just hit Steam.

Nonolith is another compelling game that was featured in the showcase. In
this puzzle platformer, you can copy and paste blocks to create openings,
bridges and staircases. At first glance, it reminds me a little of Animal
Well. Monolith is coming to Steam in 2026.

New releases

One thing definitely worth getting excited about this week if you own a
particular yellow console with a crank owner is the start of Playdate Season
Two. Every Thursday throughout the six-week season (which costs $39), two new
games arrive on Panic's diminutive device.

The first batch includes the charming-looking Dig! Dig! Dino! and Fulcrum
Defender. The latter of those is from FTL: Faster Than Light and Into the
Breach studio Subset Games, whose co-founder Jay Ma went through hell to make
Fulcrum Defender.

One of the titles included in the season, Blippo+, is a full-motion video
game. It will have weekly episodic updates for 12 weeks, extending far beyond
the rest of the Season Two window. The first episode is out now.

Trails is a lovely puzzle game that just landed on Steam. You'll guide
sandships to their destination by drawing a path for them. You can't take a
ship through the same square twice, and you'll need to make sure they don't
crash into each other. There are obstacles, of course, and you'll sometimes
have to collect and deliver cargo.

I've enjoyed my time with Trails so far. Developer PurpleSloth gradually
teaches you how to play through trial and error, and it adds new hazards and
mechanics at a nice pace, though the puzzles do become quite tricky.

You may have spent many pleasant hours cleaning grime off of various objects
and iconic landmarks in PowerWash Simulator (which is set to get a sequel
later this year). It's time to flip the script a bit in Spray Paint
Simulator, from North Star Video Games and publisher Whitethorn Games.

The concept is pretty similar, in that you'll complete jobs for clients by
painting certain items or environments. There are no time limits here and a
feature that lets you mask an area to ensure you get clean lines is a nice
touch. If marking your territory on public or private property with sick,
definitely-not-ugly tags is more your thing, there's a free spray mode that
you can play alone or with a friend in co-op.

Spray Paint Simulator is out now on Steam, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series
X/S. It's on Game Pass too. The game is also coming to Nintendo Switch on
June 19.

Eternal Evil debuted on Steam back in 2022, and two and a half years later,
the survival horror game has made the jump to PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. It has
mostly positive reviews on Steam and seems very much in the vein of the
Resident Evil series (it even has a dual narrative with two characters to
play). You'll take on vampires that get stronger as they feed in this game
from solo developer Honor Games.

How could I not include a game with a name like Trash Goblin? This is a cozy
shopkeeping title from Spilt Milk Studios that just came out of early access
on Steam. You'll unearth, restore and upcycle trinkets to sell to customers
so you can upgrade your shop. It seems one you might chill out with.

Elsewhere, To a T, a game we mentioned last week, is out now on Xbox Series
X/S, Game Pass, PS5, Steam and the Epic Games Store. Cowboy-themed life sim
Cowboy Country just landed on Steam, PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch as
well.

Upcoming

I've had my eye on Kingmakers for a while. It's a completely bananas-looking
blend of third-person shooting and strategy game from Redemption Road in
which you travel back in time to a medieval war, bringing modern weapons and
vehicles with you. Publisher tinyBuild revealed during a showcase this week
that Kingmakers will debut in early access on Steam on October 8. Really
looking forward to that one.

Beyond the Board is a moody-looking adventure that takes a rook... well,
beyond a chess board. It takes inspiration from puzzle games like Limbo and
Monument Valley, so it shouldn't be too much of a surprise that the story is
told through visual storytelling and soundscapes rather than dialogue. This
game from Fragile Shapes Studio doesn't yet have a release window, but you
can check out a demo on Steam now.

An extended demo for a fast-paced, melee-focused dungeon runner called
Bloodthief dropped this week. It looks like a lo-fi, medieval spin on
Ghostrunner (a series I enjoy but am quite bad at) but with vampires. So yes,
I will be digging into this when I have a chance. The original demo is said
to have 20 or so hours of gameplay and there's even more in the extended
version, which will be featured in Steam Next Fest. Bloodthief, from
developer Blargis, is slated to arrive later this year.

I'm going to close this edition out with a game you'll probably never be able
to play. Developer Kenney says that, a few years back, they helped a young
Star Wars fan make a game based on The Mandalorian after a Make-a-Wish
connected the pair. It's a heartwarming story, and the game looks quite
charming based on the clip that Kenney shared on BlueSky. However, for legal
reasons, it'll likely stay under lock and key, sadly.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at
https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playdate-seas...
other-new-indie-games-worth-checking-out-110035699.html?src=rss

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