It's a huge week for indies - Peek at the Week (Nov 9-15)

Hey folks, hope you had a lovely weekend.

This issue of Peek at the Week is coming at you from my flight to Montreal (lifetime count of LFG pieces written on planes: 4) as I'm heading up to attend MIGS for the first time. I attended many game conventions during my time at GameSpot, but I've never done this one. I'll be catching up with some teams and previewing games for lookingfor.game while I'm there, so if you're a developer and would like to chat at the show, my profile is on Meet 2 Match!

It's a packed week for releases this week, with not one, but two previous LFG picks launching today.

Let's jump in to what else is happening in the world of indies.

New releases

Here's what I've got my eye on this week.

🎣 DREADMOOR (Nov 9) hits early access this week after a strong October Next Fest showing. It's a DREDGE -like (is that a term yet? It should be, I've seen a number of them popping up recently): repair and improve your boat, catch fish, stare into the abyss of Lovecraftian horrors. You know the drill

🤕 Cave exploration survival simulator Casualties: Unknown (Nov 9) was LFG's pick of the week a couple of weeks ago and it's already coming out of the gate strong with almost 8,000 concurrent players and a Very Positive rating on Steam. Congrats to solo developer Orsoniks! Here's the write up if you want to learn more:

🌺 (DJ Khaled voice) Another one. Also out today is Funeral for the Sun, my overall pick of October's Next Fest. It's a fantastic deductive game that Has The Juice. Friend of the newsletter and fellow detective game sicko Jason Schreier agrees, so definitely give it a whirl. Here's my write up from last month:

🔥Puzzle game greatly inspired by House of Leaves The House Dreams Along With Them (Nov 10) is high on my list of things to check out this week. I enjoyed the demo, it's a first-person puzzle game set in a house that's not quite right. Eager to play more

🚲 TANUKI: Pon's Summer (Nov 10) is an adorable slice of life game set in Japan. As a tanuki with a part time job at the post office, make your deliveries, do sick tricks on your BMX bike, and get the local shrine in ship shape. I'm running a giveaway for the game in the Supporter-only Discord, you still have a few hours to enter! Become a Supporter here and link your account, easy!

🔍 How do you solve the case of a missing girl with no words? Hillthorn (Nov 10) is a nifty detective game where the mystery unfolds via cards. There's a lovely tactile nature to the game that I really enjoy: a delectable feeling of pinning and rearranging clues onto a corkboard

🧑‍🩰Find where you belong in After the Wane (Nov 10), a narrative adventure game set in the dramatic world of dance. This one's art design caught my eye, capturing the striking dance poses through frame-by-frame rotoscoping

✏️ In Hope in the City (Nov 11) Hope's parents disappear, so she must use her keen artist's eye to investigate what happened, and to capture every detail. Combine her sketches until the mystery begins to unravel

Events

• As mentioned up top, it's the Montreal International Game Summit (Nov 10-11) this week, a B2B event in Quebec
• The 44th Golden Joystick Awards (Nov 11) will be streaming on Wednesday. Hosted by Lara Croft herself, Alix Wilton-Regan, expect a celebration of games from the last twelve months, with winners voted on by the public
• Twitchcon (Nov 13-15) makes its return to San Diego this weekend. There'll be the usual shenanigans in the Glitch Theatre, as well as Twitch Rivals and community meet ups. TwitchCon is another convention I've never been to! Maybe next time.
• The Origin Point Showcase (Nov 12) shines a light on games made in Africa, and the upcoming showcase will feature around 30
• The Lyon Solodev Showcase is a Steam event that highlights 21 games made by a selection of solo developers and tiny teams who have been meeting regularly in a cafe in Lyon for the past few years

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Thanks for reading! I'll be back on Friday with this week's pick of the week, catch you then.