Japanese indie publisher Flyhigh Works announced their next Flyhigh Express with five games to be featured, set for June 9th at 7 AM, CDT. While the timing may seem odd, with E3 set to kick off in earnest later tomorrow morning with Microsoft's press conference, many of the games Flyhigh publishes wouldn't see airtime otherwise. You can watch the entire Flyhigh Express over on their Youtube channel. Flyhigh is set to talk about five games:
- Picontier
- Transiruby
- Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove
- Obake na Fune to Takaramono (The Ghost Ship and the Treasure)
- Itsuwari no Kuro Shinju 2
The first, Picontier, is the next game from Skipmore, makers of the short-but-sweet Kamiko. Originally slated for release on Steam back in 2016, it has since been pushed back, and now looks to release on the Switch. It's still slated to come out on 3DS, PS4, and PC, hopefully sometime later this year. Described as a "slow living miniscape RPG," Picontier combines farming, crafting, mining and fishing with classic RPG mechanics. If you're feeling adventurous, you can also delve into dungeons and fight monsters, but Skipmore wants you to spend your time how you like. Perhaps inspired by the likes of Harvest Moon and Stardew Valley, Picontier looks to be relatively laid-back, and will hopefully see release later this year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yqa2bJEPhVA
The other game coming from Skipmore is Transiruby, a 2D platforming adventure. Originally announced in August 2018, Transiruby stars Siruby, a cyborg girl sent to an alien planet to collect DNA from the locals and uncover its secrets. Siruby can collect items to upgrade her abilities, and freeze enemies for a short period of time to use them as platforms. She must navigate passages and solve puzzles in order to explore the planet and return with a fully collected store of DNA. Exclusive to the Switch eShop, Transiruby is slated to release sometime later in 2019.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49R-rcchOQw
The next non-Skipmore game comes from KaeruPanda, titled Obake na Fune to Takaramono. Roughly translated as The Ghost Ship and the Treasure, few details were shared during its original announcement last August. From what Gematsu reported, it's an action/adventure game set aboard a ship inhabited by ghosts. KaeruPanda's last indie game, 10 Second Run Returns, was a quick-yet-difficult platformer, where every level must be completed in ten seconds or less. Hopefully, we get our first real look at gameplay for The Ghost Ship and the Treasure tomorrow.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wil9CvTK9qo
The final Japanese indie game confirmed to appear during Flyhigh's Express presentation is Happy Meal's Itsuwari no Kuro Shinju 2. A thoroughly retro-styled mystery game inspired by adventure games from the 1980s, it recently succeeded in its crowdfunding goals of three million yen. This will be our first real look at Itsuwari no Kuro Shinju 2, which is slated to come out sometime early next year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3o4vP1IWxA
So, there's four Japanese indie games getting their due, ahead of E3. With any luck, Flyhigh Works is known for using the Direct-style Express presentations to show off new indie games they're publishing, so if you're interested in seeing what small-time Japanese developers are working on, then it might be worth tuning in tomorrow. Either way, hopefully, we get to see more of what's listed here, along with confirmations of English releases sometime soon.
