Last year, Humble Games held a special showcase in March to reveal some new games, deliver a few updates and developments, and just let us know how things were doing in general. Unsurprisingly, given the quality of the games they were publishing,things were going quite well. So expectations were high in my eyes when it came to this year’s showcase, especially as it serves as a miniature kickoff for summer’s gaming showcase season. But they were able to deliver, once again highlighting another crop of promising games for everyone to place on their radar.
Before the reveal of any games, though, there was an update on Humble’s social impacts, as the company’s various game bundles, sales and events have famous for years now when it comes to helping out charities. Notably, it was revealed that over $33 million was raised last year for over ten thousand charities, with the Stand With Ukraine bundle alone raising over $20 million. On top of that, the Black Game Developer Fund is in its fourth year, and the first game from it,Protodroid DeLTA,comes out next week on May 23. It was revealed later that the game will have a Day One DLC Armor Pack to purchase, giving the heroine a new skin while giving one hundred percent of the proceeds to the Girls make Games Scholarship Fund. So one way or another, Humble is still finding various ways to do good in the world.
Getting to the game announcements (and click on each new game’s title for its showcased trailer), remember how last year’s showcase kicked off with the reveal of Monaco II, the sequel to a hit indie game that is now a Humble-owned IP? Well, history repeated itself again, with the reveal ofWizard of Legend IIleading things off. The sequel toContingent99’s dungeon crawlerwill feature a few notable changes, such as a shift to 3D visuals, multiplayer now allowing for up to four players and the fact that…well, Contingent99 aren’t actually developing it. Development this time around will be handled by Dead Mage, best known for fellow roguelike dungeon crawlerChildren of Morta,and they’re working with guidance from the original team, so things should be in good hands. Indeed, the first trailer gave us a look at some of the splendid-looking action, while we also got to see some neat concept art as well.
After the sequel to an existing IP from a studio with a previous success under their belt, the gears were now switched towards a new IP and a debut game for a development team. In this case, that would be#BLUD,a dungeon crawler from Exit 73, who have also worked as the animation studio behind a few Nickelodeon pilots. And the more cartoonish, Nickelodeon-inspred aspects were on full display here as we saw our teenage protagonist Becky Brewster slay loads of vampires in a journey to save their town (and the world) while also juggling school life as well. Unsurprisingly, give Exit 73’s previous works, the visuals immediately grab one’s attention and help give this action-RPG game a nice dose of personality, which will hopefully translate to success when the game comes out in 2024.
Next up is the newest game to emerge from the Black Game Developer Fund, Stormy Nights Interactive’s action-platformerBreeze in the Clouds.I won’t lie, having seen snippets of this game and its artwork online already over the past couple of years during its development so far, the fact that Humble will now be partnering with the team to publish the game is the announcement that excited me the most. Playing as the titular Breeze, a corgi transported to the weather world of Tropolis, players will use newfound weather powers and brawler-style combat into order to clear the land of pollution. And one unique aspect is that the pollution and various weather phenomena are all represented by a cast of adorable characters, all part of a particularly gorgeous world so far that should be a blast to play through.
After Breeze came what one may say was a little intermission of shorts, giving us a behind-the-scenes look at the Myth & Music event for the upcoming narrative musical adventureStray Gods,previously held at the ElRey Theater in advance of the August release date. We got a quick look at the cast talking about how they would describe the game, a little Q&A from developers Summerfall Studios and even another look at the release date trailer. Having played the recent demo and experiencing the promise the game has when it comes to composing one’s own musical number through narrative choices, it gets one more excited for the release.
Getting back to new announcements, do you know what every major game showcase tends to be complete with these days? That’s right, sudden surprise game release! In this case, it’s a port ofSupraland: Six Inches Under,Supra Games UG’s first-person backyard platformer that serves as a sort of offshoot to the originalSupraland.PlayStation and Xbox owners will now get to experience this miniature adventure beginning today, arriving on Game Pass as well to serve as an extra treat.
Next up came another metroidvania game, this one being more of a traditional 2D platformer, immediately standing out with its hand-drawn artwork and world filled with Japanese folklore. That game would beBō: Path of the Teal Lotus,from developers Squid Shock Studios. They’re also partnering with Humble to publish their game, and it’s not hard to see why they were attracted to it, with the trailer alone featuring some impressive animation that introduces us to our protagonist, the Celestial Blossom Bō. The clip then segued into gameplay as we got a taste of Bō’s shapeshifting powers and the mysterious land that they’ll explore. It all looks quite impressive, though you’ll have to wait until next year at the least for the game’s full release.
Moving on, we got to see the latest game from Digital Sun, which looks to be a departure for them when it comes to gameplay, compared to titles likeMoonlighterandThe Mageseeker: A League of Legends Story.Their newest upcoming title is calledCataclismo,a blend of RTS and tower defense games about centered around building fortresses, set in a dark fantasy world. The fortresses are to help the player defend their expedition from various horrors while they explore various ruins and find ways to restore humanity, and while the initial teaser didn’t showcase any gameplay, it did provide us with a nifty pan over a monster invasion that’s been frozen in time, letting players know just how big the hordes can get, which should hopefully be a blast to try and defend against.
The final game in the showcase was, naturally, the one set to be the most ambitious. In this case, it’sLost Skies,from developer Bossa Games (yes, the folks behindSurgeon SimulatorandI Am Bread), an open-world survival adventure up to six players. It was also the game with the least information yet, with the initial teaser featuring an animated 2D intro to the world of sky-ships and floating islands before cutting to a quick 3D look at things at the end. It promises a lot of exploration, monster slaying and sailing, and will be shaped in part by the community via a period of open development leading up to the release, hopefully finishing with another survival success.
Overall, Humble Games' latest showcase left us eager to see more of these games, and that’s not even getting into the other games they still have in the pipeline as a publisher. Hopefully, these and all of their other future games will end up hitting the same heights hit by those came before it. Given that’s a nice and varied crop of games with variety of developers, that shouldn’t be too high of a goal to reach, though, and expect Hardcore Gamer to keep an eye on these titles to ensure said goal is not only reached, but potentially smashed as well.
