As part of the PC Gaming Show, in between all those announcements and reveals, was a montage of a set of cool games currently in development. If you weren’t able to pause the feed, I’ve collected together all those trailers in one place, plus a little more detail about each of the games.
Atomic Picnic
Atomic Picnic on Steam
Atomic Picnic plays a lot like if you made Vampire Survivors a shooter and rolled out with three of your closest friends, surviving against hordes of enemies and fighting big bosses. It has many of the same roguelite elements you might expect – bunches of different weapons, rarity-coded upgrades to pick from, and a shop between rounds to upgrade your character permanently. It’s still in pre-alpha, but there’s a playable demo on Steam, and it’s a blast. Keep your eye on this one.
Gaucho and the Grassland
Gaucho and the Grassland
From Brazilian developer Epopeia Games, Gaucho and the Grassland is part farming sim, part exploration game set in the South American Pampas region. In addition to the crafting and harvesting you’d usually find, you can explore mystical imaginings of area folklore and spend some time roping cattle, a criminally underexplored part of the farm life. After all, who doesn’t love jumping on a horse, donning a sweet hat, and lassoing some steer?
Jorel’s Brother and The Most Important Game of the Galaxy
Jorel’s Brother on Steam
Sometimes in a point-and-click adventure game, you’re trying to find some grog to melt the bars of a pirate’s jail cell. Other times, you’re siphoning gas from a UFO. In Jorel’s Brother and the Most Important Game of the Galaxy, you’re making avocado lattes with your grandmother in between saving the world from aliens. Jorel’s Brother is a Cartoon Network Brazil original cartoon, and this point-and-click adventure (first chapter out June 15, with two more to follow in August and October) indulges in all the zany slapstick and jealous sibling antics you find there.
Mullet Madjack
Mullet Madjack on Steam
Jamming a Bowie knife into the skull of an android has never been so neon. Mullet Madjack takes the ultraviolent style of 90s VHS anime and mashes it with modern boomer shooters and a drizzle of roguelite aioli. With a synth wave soundtrack, bright pink mullets, and chase scenes straight out of Rad Racer, this looks like a loving homage to the Duke himself (Nukem, not Wayne. Obviously).
Nova Lands
Nova Lands on Steam
Nova Lands combines island management and factory automation in a cozy little package. In it, you explore procedurally generated islands, gather resources, and build bases to find new energy sources. Your main assistants in this journey (aside from a trusty dog that I can confirm you can pet) are your bots. Whether gathering ore, battling monsters, or helping with logistics, these little guys will automate tedious tasks and let you focus on exploration and battles. Island bosses are combat encounters, but you can solve them peacefully. There’s a demo out on Steam, and the full game should be available this month.
Revival: Recolonization
Revival: Recolonization on Steam
Aside from the obvious uses of passing the Bar exam and getting high school kids to submit hilariously bad essays, AI has more niche applications, like totally destroying the Earth. In Revival: Recolonization, it’s done just that, and it’s our job to rebuild. A 4x strategy game, you take the role of an Emissary, fresh from cryo sleep and ready for a cup of coffee and a battle with zombie hordes and ruthless robots. Progress your civilization through four eras, advance in technology, and use Edicts to terraform Earth to your will. Just watch out for the Allmind and its propensity toward using its own Edicts to light the whole world on fire. Again.