Future of Play Direct 2024 News Rundown

With Summer Game Fest underway, lots of games have been announced or updated with new trailers. On Saturday, the Future of Play Direct provided a variety of Indie announcements and reveals. Here is a rundown of what was shown.

The showcase began with a trailer for a retro-looking 3D Action-Platformer called Abyss X Zero. It has an anime style mixed with late PS1/Early PS2 style graphics. I’m very intrigued to see how Abyss X Zero’s development goes. No release date has been given, but more platforms are to be announced soon.

Another retro-style game was next with the announcement of Zodiac XX Leo, a sort of underwater pilot/flying game. The graphics for the story are very PS1-esque, but it’s hard to compare this to anything specific.

The anime vibes kept going with the next game, an Anime-styled Card-battler called Battle Suit Aces. This was actually showcased a little bit during the main Summer Game Fest event, so it’s nice to see more gameplay here. Battle Suit Aces is being funded by the Outersloth publishing label and you can wishlist it now.

Dance on your robot overlords with the next game announcement, a cute and colorful game called All Systems Dance. It looks like a fun, colorful take on a Jet Set Radio or Hi-Fi Rush type of game, but in a different sort of gameplay genre from those two examples. You can wishlist All Systems Dance now.

Yooka-Laylee is back! Yooka Re-Playlee is a remastered and enhanced version of Yooka Laylee. According to the trailer (and the Steam Page), this is more than just a Remaster and will be the culmination of Playtonic’s 10-year development experience. No release date has been given, but I’m excited to see what happens with it!

A new Magical Girl (ish?) RPG was up next, with a trailer for Nova Hearts. Developed for PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox, and PlayStation, Nova Hearts merges dating sim elements with RPG combat, and seems to be fully inclusive. Nova Hearts is coming this Fall.

In another Pride Month-friendly announcement, a trailer was shown for A Date With Death. In a Date with Death, you’ll have a week to woo the Grim Reaper himself. Can you win the bet for your very soul? Technically you can play a Date with Death now, but set your calendars for December 9^th, 2024 and you can play the new expansion DLC called “Beyond the Bet.”

Next, we moved into Puzzle game territory with Lok, a word game where you try to make words and solve puzzles with creatures called Loks. The trailer boasts daily puzzles, and it seems that the game offers both word-based and logic-based puzzles as well. You can play Lok’s demo on Steam now, until the 24^th of June.

The developers of Parkitect also revealed their new game. Croakwood is a Life-sim community-building game based around building a village of frogs. You can wishlist Croakwood now on Steam. It looks really cute and I can’t wait to see more.

Do you like Physics puzzles? The next game showcased was Cozy Marbles, a game/tool that lets you build all kinds of fun physics-based tracks and levels. It looks interesting, but I’m wondering how much content they’ll actually provide. Community-made levels should be interesting though.

As a journalist, the next game caught my attention. Nominated for multiple awards, the point-and-click narrative game Phoenix Springs seems to have a good bit of mystery wrapped in it. I’m very curious to see how it unfolds when it launches on September 16^th.

Have you ever wanted to be the Witch of the Woods? The Slavic myth of Baba Yaga (Jaga Baba) comes to life in Reka. It seems to be a sort of survival, crafting, and exploration game where you interact with NPCs, collect ingredients and items, decorate your home (which walks on chicken legs), and then explore even further. No release date was given but you can play a demo now.

Another card-based game was up next with a Narrative deckbuilder called Sandara: City of a Thousand Eclipses. This one seems very esoteric, with mysteries and possible branching endings. No release date was given, but I’m intrigued.

Next came another city-builder, the follow-up to Airborne Kingdom. Airborne Empire seems to have a more whimsical and fun story, while also improving on things from the first game. You can play a demo of Airborne Kingdom now.

The next game was a surprising Roguelike with an interesting concept. Mixing the idea of a crane game with a Roguelike, you have Dungeon Clawler. The game looks super cute, and you can check out a demo now on Steam.

Lapsus Games took the spotlight next with a trailer for a sort of programming and exploration game. In N.O.D.E. you play as a robot and program how it moves, how long it moves in a direction, and try to keep the robot alive as you explore a seemingly abandoned facility. A demo is coming at some point in June for Steam.

Afterward came a trailer for a moving game about a stray cat, (no, not Stray) called Copycat. Set in an Australian neighborhood, you’ll play a cat just trying to survive. Copycat is coming to Steam this September.

The next game was clearly inspired by Shadow of the Colossus, as well as other boss rush-esque games. Light Odyssey seems like a stylistic Shadow of the Colossus-esque adventure where you take on large shadow creatures, while also trying to explore mysterious ruins. It is very monochromatic and yet somewhat atmospheric at the same time.

Do you like a bit of cyberpunk body horror with your narrative games? If so, then Psychroma might be up your alley. Surprisingly, Psychroma is available now on Steam. It’s a bit creepy, but also very interesting.

The Lovecraftian horror visual novel Slay the Princess showed up next, specifically a new version called The Pristine Cut. Slay the Princess: The Pristine Cut is the definitive edition and adds three brand new chapters, as well as expansions of previous areas, and a new ending. With new visual scenes and over 2500 lines of new voiced dialogue, The Pristine Cut is the full experience. Slay the Princess: The Pristine Cut is coming to Switch, PC, PlayStation, and Xbox consoles this Fall.

Next up was a rapid-fire mashup of games. Here is a list of what was shown, though I’m not going to go into much detail since they blazed through these rather quickly.

Echo Generation: Midnight Edition is coming to Switch and Steam on July 19^th.
Rooster from Sticky Brain Studios is coming to Steam in 2025
Alzara: Radiant Echoes is a JRPG now on Kickstarter
Timberborn is now in Early Access

Bubblegum Galaxy now has a Demo on Steam
You can wishlist Retro Gadgets now on Steam
Nomori now has a pre-alpha and you can wishlist it on Steam
Margin of the Strange is now on Kickstarter

Rose and Locket has a demo now on Steam
Ra Ra Boom now has a demo on Steam
Genokids has a demo on Steam
Tiny Terry’s Turbo Trip is available now on Steam

After that rapid-fire blast of games, we came to the end of the showcase. As far as showcases go this wasn’t too bad. For indie games it had a nice mix of genres, though I’d have liked a few more announcements for things that weren’t so far off.