5 intriguing new indie games from Daedalic

In early March, Den Of Geek flew over to Germany to visit the Daedalic Entertainment offices in Hamburg. As developers and publishers, the company has a lot of interesting stuff on the horizon, ranging from big multiplayer games to streamlined single-player experiences.

We saw presentations about numerous games, and also managed to get hands-on preview time with quite a few of them. To sum up what we saw, we put together this list of Daedalic’s intriguing upcoming indie games that you might like to put on your radar…

A Year Of Rain

As was formally announced to the world today, A Year Of Rain is a big undertaking that Daedalic has been developing in-house. It’s a PC-exclusive real-time strategy game that will launch on Steam Early Access before the end of the year.

Players will be able to command armies across various game modes, with an emphasis on two-player co-op (whether your partner is an online friend or an AI insert). We got to try the game by battling against another journo, and found that the found the controls and systems were very easy to pick up (although the help from our AI partner was very much appreciated). Even if you’re inexperienced with these kinds of games, A Year Of Rain could be worth checking out.

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Barotrauma

Developed by Undertow Games and FakeFish, and set to be published by Daedalic, Barotrauma is a 2D drowning sim that can be played by up to 16 players online. You’ll have to work together to control a submarine through various missions, set within the underwater areas of an alien planet, with numerous obstacles standing in your way.

On the outside of your craft, there could be giant sea monsters. And on the inside, there is every chance that the ship could spring a leak or set on fire. Different characters have different specialisms, and there is also the risk of a traitor within your ranks. On top of that, the game has an insanity system that could show you hazards that aren’t really there. This game looks properly challenging, but also like a real passion project for the developers.

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Felix The Reaper

The standout game of the day, by quite some distance, was Felix The Reaper. Published by Daedalic and developed by Kong Orange, this 3D shadow manipulation puzzle adventure is billed as “a romantic comedy game about the life of death.”

You play as an ever-dancing grim reaper by the name of Felix, who undertakes a number of missions in the real world in the hope of bumping into the woman of his dreams. You’ve got to orchestrate deaths by moving items around a map, with an ever-expanding element of challenge provided by the fact you can’t step into the light. Our hands-on time with this one made us really want to play the full game ASAP.

Visit the Steam page

Unrailed!

Developed by Indoor Astronaut, with Daeadalic lined up as publisher, Unrailed! is a more stressful game than it looks. In this cutesy co-op multiplayer title, you’ve got to work with your mates to assemble a never-ending train track to keep your locomotive going.

You’ve got to chop wood, source ore, and add those items onto the back of the train in order to turn them into fresh pieces of track. Then you’ve got to place your shiny new piece of track in the right spot, as well as watching out for upcoming challenges like pesky lakes and overheating engines. If you’re looking for proof that you don’t have to be good at games to be a games journalist, you should watch four of us trying to play this game for more than a couple of minutes. Communication, multitasking and forward planning are key!

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Iratus: Lord Of The Dead

Iratus: Lord Of The Dead is a roguelike RPG that puts the player in the role of an upset necromancer. In this challenging title, developed by Unfrozen and published by Daedalic, you’ve got to work your way through a massive dungeon that’s stuffed with powerful enemies.

Luckily, along the way, you can craft an undead army of your own and boost their abilities in numerous fun ways. We didn’t have very long to play this one, but we did have a good time making our monstrous minions do our evil bidding. Expect lots of bloodshed and some deliciously evil voice work from Stephen Weyte. 

Visit Steam page