Tetris-infused roguelike Backpack Hero is leaving early access in May

Backpack Hero has been in early access for under a year, and it’s now getting a full 1.0 launch on PC and consoles in May. Backpack Hero has been successful for its three-person dev team and stood apart from other roguelikes with its Tetris-inspired inventory management. You see, success in Backpack Hero is determined by how you organise your bag rather than what you’re actually carrying, as you shuffle items around a grid to create synergies and mod your playstyle.

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Indiescovery Episode 4: Valentine’s Day special

podcast Indiescovery and this week the team got into the Valentine’s Day spirit and had a long chat about our favourite indie game romances (any excuse to gush about how hot the characters are in Hades, really). We get gabbing about our favourite game OTPs, the fabulous representation of queer romances in indies, and then finish with a cursed (not horny) Cosmo-style dating quiz.

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Is The Last Starship hard because it’s a complex early access sim, or because I’m bad?

Prison Architect having a bajillion DLCs that, at this point, can add zombies, rehabilitation, or the jungle to your prison. Their new one is called The Last Starship, a layered spaceship simulator that’s less friendly than their prison. I am not sure if it’s because the early access is still largely without any tutorial markers, or because I am very bad at the game.

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Lumencraft has mining, shooting, swarming and hits 1.0 next week

Infested Planet, a nearly 10-year-old topdown tactical shooter about holding off hordes of alien critters with turrets and careful expansion. I thought of it again while watching the trailer for Lumencraft, which seems to marry all of the above to a fully destructible world and lots more resource gathering. It’ll leave early access on February 28th.

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Soul Hackers 2 and Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty included in the next batch of Game Pass additions

Atomic Heart which releases today. I was interested in the steely Soviet shooter until I read James’ review and saw that the protagonist yells “Crispy critters,” more than once – I think I’ll skip.

Here are the next batch of Game Pass titles:

  • Merge & Blade (Feb 28th)
  • Soul Hackers 2 (Feb 28th)
  • F1 22 (March 2nd)
  • Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty (March 3rd)

This is my first time hearing of Merge & Blade, not to be confused with Mount & Blade which is also on Game Pass. Merge & Blade is a hybrid between puzzle games and auto-battlers. Rounds will start with a Tetris-like mini-game, but instead of shapes, you’re guiding different unit types and merging them together. You then use your completed party to raid castles and kill monsters. Mixing – or merging – Tetris into a new genre is a recipe for success, so I’ll definitely be downloading this one.

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Sons Of The Forest shows off multiplayer and slimy mutants ahead of its early access release

Sons Of The Forest is only a few days away as it launches into early access on February 23rd, and the team is celebrating with a final pre-release trailer, exposing us to some nasty sights. Sons Of The Forest was originally going to launch into a full 1.0 release this month, but the team ultimately decided on an early access release since it worked so well for the game’s predecessor The Forest.

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