With UK lockdown starting to be lifted and the warm summer days fast approaching, I still have a full library of games to play. As I come out of the other side of a low time, not being able to fully work, not really wanting to stream; these are the three indie games in my library that I will be playing!
Overcrowd: A Commute ’em Up – SquarePlay Games
This is a game that you have seen me playing over the last 18 months. Al and Sarah at SquarePlay Games still pump out fixes and updates on a regular basis. This though, is still an Early Access game with even more bags of potential!
I have always said – I received a key for beta testing before the game went Early Access. If I did not have that key though, or if it got revoked; I would buy this game in a hearbeat!
If you have not seen any of my Twitch or YouTube content (check out my Overcrowd playlist on YouTube) then the idea is simple. You have to manage the Lubdon Town Metro stations across a number of zones. Each zone brings it’s own challenges and this business management puzzler let’s you do it in almost your own way.
Overcrowd Updates
Bogs and Bling were introduced earlier in the month, the Beta Branch continues to bring optimisations and bug squashing. Even as I start to write this at 9am on a Sunday, a new update appears; bringing the chance to rename your staff, stations and more. I have looked on in horror as I noticed the introduction of scenarios recently – a whole new tangent to station management!
This game continues to frustrate me as I moan about the Lubdon Town Rail Associates Union Association (or whatever I choose to call it that day) They force the staff on strike because I can’t pay them! I would much prefer my staff to get on with tasering the drunks or drugging up the commuters suffering with Gasteric Flu! I pay them to work a 24 hour day for crying out loud!
If you have looked at Overcrowd before, have another look now. Al claims that recent optimisations have brought a 30% to 50% improvement in FPS in stations that are busier…. I look forward to trying that out!
Monster Train – Shiny Shoe
Have you ever seen me play Hearthstone? No. You know why?
Despite being a dedicated World of Warcraft player when Hearthstone was released, I took little notice of it’s launch on Battlenet. I really, really should have done as I got really interested a few years later. By then though, the barrier to entry was too high for me to take the gamble.
So Monster Train is a game that I jumped on when the closed beta was announced. Well, I say it was a closed beta, but you simply had to sign up for the newsletter to get a key.
I was hooked!
Having up to three concurrent battles across a train hurtling towards hell with the last firelighter to relight the frozen wasteland…. what is there to not enjoy? Play the right cards, remember what the Heavenly enemies can do and make sure you slay them.
Shiny Shoe are still tweaking, they are reviewing the play styles of the thousands of players regularly logging in, they are always making adjustments. That is what makes the battle towards the Covenant rank so much fun and the different modifiers as you work your way up the table.
If you are a Slay The Spire player, or even if you are not; buy the game now on Steam to keep your summer alight with the smell of burning angels!
NewCity – Lone Pine Games
I am … a little bit hesitant in putting NewCity (or New Cities – depending on where you look) onto this list of indie games to play through the summer. The thing is, if you reminisced over games like SimCity 2000, then right now I think you might be disappointed. Over a few months I would like to see where it goes.
I bought the game on it’s first day in Early Access. I played three or four hours and wondered why I had not asked for a refund, I am now at a dozen or so hours and I think that there is great potential.
All I can suggest is you go and look at my first Let’s Build for NewCity on YouTube and make your own mind up. Some features are not really yet enabled and some of it is really clunky. The traffic lights are not synchronised to the traffic. You can look at the detail for individual residents in the city, but give it a few years and you might not be able to find them again.
Now I have seen far better cities in the NewCity discord channel and there is a fan-sourced unofficial/official Wiki for NewCity.
I am not saying Buy This Right Now unless you want a challenge among a buggy landscape, but I am hoping that this is something that will quickly change over the hot sunny months!
These Three Games are not alone!
There are so many games that I will want to play. Moving away from indies there is StationFlow from DMM Games, Transport Fever 2 and even Cities in Motion from about 10 years ago…. all are still installed on my library.
What are the games you will be playing? Let me know in the comments and maybe I will be playing your games on my Twitch stream soon!
Disclosure: Please note that some of the links above are affiliate links, and at no additional cost to you. I will earn a commission if you decide to make a purchase after clicking through the link.
Please understand that I have experienced all of these companies, and I recommend them because they are helpful and useful, not because of the small commissions I make if you decide to buy something through my links. Please do not spend any money on these products unless you feel you need them or that they will help you achieve your goals.