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It’s not E3 week – it’s better. It’s a fake E3. Although the Electronic Entertainment Experience (which E3 will stand for as of 2021) didn’t officially take place this year, indie games still found their way to shine this week. There were so many directors, we could have done a Direct of Directs. But enough of repeating that joke; cue the boilerplate language for this week.
We’ve got plenty of it’s and more in Cool WIP, Polygon’s weekly roundup of eye-catching clips and screenshots of work in progress. Each week, the Polygon staff scour the web for the most interesting games under construction to give you a taste of the coolest upcoming projects.
We’re doing something fun this week. We’ve picked five indie streams from the past week – Wholesome Games, Day of the Devs, Future of Play, Guerrilla Collective and the PC Gaming Show – and highlighted a few games from each. I did the math and there are over 200 games between the five. So let’s get to that.
Table of Contents
healthy games
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Image: Soft, not weak
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Image: Squiddershins/Top Hat Studios
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Image: Newfangled games
Wholesome Games traces its not-so-humble origins to a mega-popular Twitter account which emphasizes cute, cozy and beautiful games. Since then, it has grown into a real brand in the gaming space. The showcase has shared over 90 games, and while it can be difficult to figure out what “healthy” means – it’s one of those terms that iykyk – it has become a vehicle to showcase some of the most dazzling work in the game development pipeline. Polygon has already rounded up some of the biggest announcements, including the lo-fi puzzle game ghost swap and a kaiju dating sim called Kaichu.
future of the game
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Image: Nikko Nikko/Humble Games
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Image: Ceschiii/Compact
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Image: Fervir Games/Graffiti Games
Somehow the best thing about Future of Play isn’t the fact that it’s hosted by a Vtuber. Directed by a gaming ecosystem called Glitch, the live broadcast offers a veritable variety show. This stream featured not only indie games but also an original performance by funk composer extraordinaire Alex Moukala and had a developer unpacking Read funny match reports. Some highlights are the rhythm game Infinite Guitarsthe monster taming game creature keeperand the queer rom-com and visual novel Penpal princess.
guerrilla collective
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Image: Byteparrot
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Image: Molegato/Top Hat Studios
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Image: Strange Scaffolding/Modern Wolf
Guerrilla Collective is a regular games showcase showcasing new work coming down the pike, and this year the showcase featured many promising titles. From what we saw we liked it witch strandingsa new “beach” game from the creators of Space Warlord Organ Trade Simulator. There is also a snowboarding game called slope crasherwhere you play as a group of clever animals, and the 3D frog platformer frog.
PC gaming show
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Image: Ion Lands/505 Games
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Image: Necrosoft Games/Ysbryd Games
PC Gamer featured dozens of titles in the PC Gaming Show live stream. The event featured many scintillating games from smaller teams and even a game from a group of modders. Polygon has rounded up some of the coolest games including Necrosoft Games’ tactics game, demon school; the business management game, Nivalis; and more. You can view the full description to take a closer look at each game.
Developer Day
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Image: HiWarp
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Image: Gummy Cat/Armor Games Studios
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Image: Michael Frei and Raphaël Munoz/Playables
After the main presentation of Summer Game Fest, Day of the Devs treated us to a wonderful selection of indie games. The titles were really outstanding and we highly recommend checking them out if you like visually and mechanically interesting games. Among the games shown there were Time fliess, a flight simulator where you play as a lonely little fly. The showcase also featured trailers for an unbearably cute game called Bear & Breakfastas well as a visually stunning game featuring a water nymph, naiad.