As part of an ongoing effort to support indie developers from underrepresented and grassroots indie development communities, Top Hat Studios, Inc. is rolling out its “indie pack” initiative to help these creators reach wider audiences. Developers from lesser-known or underrepresented backgrounds often deal with neglect from wider industry publishers, and face challenges with scaling their games and reaching broad audiences. Despite these challenges, these games still have validity and deserve to have the opportunity to be discovered. As such, Top Hat Studios, Inc. expert internal engineering and porting team have been working with a series of developers to support and port a number of titles from underrepresented and grassroots communities, bringing them to console for the first time, and exposing them to new audiences that otherwise would have never seen the games.
The Indie Pack initiative is an initiative to semi-regularly spotlight small groups of indie developers’ titles for the first time ever on console. By bringing together multiple indies under one community umbrella, Top Hat Studios hopes to bring more attention to these developers’ titles as well as hope to create a meaningful community experience for indie developers and highlighting a variety of genres and aesthetics. All games will be coming to Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4, Playstation 5, and Xbox One/Series X.
The first pack releases June 30th at 12pm EST / 9am PST / 4PM GMT.
ABOUT THE INDIE PACK
The first Indie Pack effort is headlined by Ukrainian developed fairytale adventure, A Tale For Anna. Developed by Far Mills, this family-friendly fairy tale adventure tells the story of Anna, who discovers she has magical abilities, and sets off on a journey to confront a wicked queen who desires to steal such magic. The game is a wonderful puzzle-adventure, featuring elements of hidden-item, point and click, and traditional puzzle elements.
Also featured, but releasing at a later time, is Malaysian developed cinematic visual novel Fires At Midnight. A mature-themed intimate narrative, Fires At Midnight explores the concepts of love, lust, intimacy, and conflict through a unique lens provided by the developer’s cultural roots in Southeast Asia. Blurring the lines between traditional arts, games, films and Southeast Asian stories, Fires At Midnight contributes to the oeuvre of relationship fiction by bringing a perspective from the Southeast Asia region that is rarely heard in the West.
Two additional titles, Vision Soft Reset + The Lost And The Wicked also round out this series of releases, and bring flavors of variety to the pack. Vision Soft Reset is a unique metroidvania based around the mechanic of time – predict the future, alter the past, swap between timelines, and more as you loop through time and avoid planetary disaster. Vision Soft Reset is the first effort by developer Seafloor Games. The Lost And The Wicked is a unique twin-stick shooter psychothriller from Isaac Torres, Zack Kennedy, and friends. Originally starting out as a high school project, the game evolved into a brutal, abstract narrative-driven thriller. Fight through hectic gameplay in a unique grunge-inspired artstyle as you discover your past and who you truly are.
Commenting on the occasion of the release of these games, Top Hat Studios, Inc. Producer Andy Andi Han stated “Everybody who goes into making a game does so because they think it means something. No matter the scope or size of the game, that doesn’t detract from any of the artistry involved and there needs to be more recognition and appreciation for underrepresented and grassroots developers in this industry”.
A Tale For Anna
Genre: Fantasy, Adventure, Puzzle, Point And Click
Links: [Switch NA] | [Switch EU] | [Playstation] | [Xbox]
Enter a kingdom of magic and wonder as you learn the story of young Anna – the last remaining sorceress in the kingdom. An enchanting, mysterious world full of puzzles, magical creatures, and secrets, the Evil Queen discovers young Anna’s magical abilities – and decides she wants to take them for herself…
A hand-painted point and click adventure mixing hidden object and puzzle-style gameplay!
THE LOST AND THE WICKED
Genre: Action, Twin-Stick Shooter, Bullet Hell, Surreal
Links: [Switch NA] | [Switch EU] | [Playstation] | [Xbox]
After a shipwreck, you wake up in a wicked world with no memory of who you are. Fight through hectic, twin-stick shooter style gameplay alongside a unique grunge art style as you discover your past and what you did to end up here. As you play, the wicked get faster, stronger and deadlier… but so does your arsenal. Unlock weapons and abilities as you continue on your journey and discover your past, and face unique foes and evils along the way.
VISION SOFT RESET
Genre: Action-Adventure, Metroidvania, Platformer
Links: [Switch NA] | [Switch EU] | [Playstation] | [Xbox]
Peer into the future, alter the past, and swap between timelines in this time-travelling metroidvania. Run, jump, shoot and more through alien environments and twisted landscapes as a clairvoyant cyborg on a mission to prevent a looming planetary disaster. A classic 2D action-adventure revamped with modern sensibilities and a plethora of new mechanics.
FIRES AT MIDNIGHT
Genre: Visual Novel, Mature, Narrative, Point And Click
Links: Coming Soon!
Yun, an up-and-coming photographer, strugges to balance his life and relationship with his live-in girlfriend, Chitra. But in a world where making love without being in love will make you spontaneously combust, the person you love most may be the one who burns you. See the world from Yun and Chitra’s view and dive deep into the mysteries of their relationship as the new year sets in. Each person has their own unique stories, minigames, and more that coalesce and cross-each other. Plus, experience multiple endings and outcomes depending on how you weave through the game’s individual narratives.
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