It’s Saturday, and that means it’s time for another Screenshot Survey. Every week, we take a look at a few cool new games in the works by game developers tweeting with #ScreenshotSaturday. For even more games you might be interested in, check out this hashtag on Twitter.
Welcome to 2020, readers. Hopefully this year brings about many fantastic new indies—and if this Screenshot Survey is any indication, it's going to be a good one. This week, I highlight one of my favorite graphical styles: pixel art! There's plenty of pixel art games coming out 2020 and beyond, and this week we have a game with a tricky art technique, and an action RPG with fantastic music too. We also look at a city builder and another featuring a quaint village.
ITTA
Here's a really cool technique that I haven't seen used in a pixel game before. This truly creepy boss is quite the jumper, as you can see. He leaps into the air as if he's about to burst out of your screen, and as he lands he unleashes a hail of projectiles. I love the style, and I think it's pulled off expertly. It's one of those bosses that darn nearly makes you soil yourself because the battle is absolutely bonkers the moment you begin.
If you couldn't tell from the tweet above, ITTA is a bullet-hell game featuring 18 bosses. ITTA is developed by Glass Revolver and published by Armor Games Studios. Fun fact, Armor Games was an excellent flash gaming site back in the day, and it's cool to see them involved in indie titles such as ITTA. I considered the site a purveyor of fine flash games, so I expect that ITTA is going to be a hit when it launches some time in 2020.
The Slormancer
What is this wonderful music gracing my ears? Turn on the music for this tweet, folks, you'll be treated with some sweet tunes. I'm getting some heavy Harry Potter or even Fable vibes. It's that kind of music that's playful and mischievous but complements fantasy so well.
The Slormancer is an upcoming pixel action RPG by Slormite Studios. The Slormancer will be the debut for Slormite, and so far it sounds—and looks—quite fun. From my initial glance it reminded me a bit of Diablo, and that doesn't seem too far from the truth. As an action RPG, it features three different classes, tons of loot, and spooky atmosphere.
Arclands
I'm a big fan of the look of Arclands—it's incredibly colorful and the pixels seem "chunky." It makes for a unique, crisp look that differentiates itself from the jaggedness that comes with many pixel games. As for this tweet itself, I find that spikes are an interesting defense mechanism against slimes. In Luigi's Mansion 3, for instance, spikes such as these wouldn't stop Gooigi, Luigi's gooey counterpart. These spikes must be something special, but if they work, they work!
Arclands is an upcoming city-builder developed by the one-man team that is Jon Keller. Players are tasked with playing a wizard who must build and defend his town from monsters. While Arclands seems far off from launching, I'm excited to hear more on this project and see how it progresses. You can also subscribe to the Arclands newsletter to stay up to date.
Garden Story
Garden Story has me excited from this one tweet, if anything because I love helping others in video games. I love helping in games even more when the setting is in a town, which sounds a lot like Animal Crossing. Creating literature and fighting off enemies, it seems our little fruit hero is a man of many talents.
Garden Story is an upcoming adventure title by Picogram and published by Rose City Games and VIZ Media. You might be familiar with VIZ Media for its involvement in manga and anime, and it now seems like they've extended into the realm of video games as well. As for Garden Story itself, you play as Concord, the guardian of his village. Concord will help out his neighbors and allow for his island to thrive when it launches in 2020.
Which Screenshot Survey game is your favorite? Let us know in the comments below!
