To me, the term “indie” developer is equal parts counter-culture and unfettered creative vision. However, they are not on a different level from triple-A studios – really, the only things that separate them are bigger budgets and more marketing. Just like indie games are not by virtue worse than triple-A titles because of the lack of money, so too are they not superior because of their unique ideas (which come down to proper execution at the end of the day). I’m not a fan of the “triple-A” or “indie” moniker when it comes down to great games. Because great games, at the end of the day, are great games. And 2018, for all its typical franchises, has seen a lot of great games.

"Developed by Matt Thorson and friends aka Matt Makes Games that brought us the wildly entertaining multiplayer-centric Towerfall: Ascension, Celeste turned out to be one of the biggest surprises of the year."

Let’s start with January. It was a cold, dark month, punctuated by the impending release of Monster Hunter World. For me, the month was important for two reasons – Cellar Door Games’ Full Metal Furies and Konjak’s Iconoclasts. The former, obviously, is due to the developer’s amazing Rogue Legacy. Full Metal Furies has been in development for a long time and while its beat ’em up mechanics were decent, the overall gameplay and structure felt a bit wanting. It came and went but thankfully, the same didn’t apply to Iconoclasts. This years-in-development action platformer from Joakim Sandberg culminated in a colourful adventure with a deep story, lovable characters and excellent boss fights. It’s coming to Nintendo Switch as well, making it the perfect title to have on the go.

However, between these titles and Unknown Worlds’ Subnautica finally leaving Steam Early Access amid much fanfare (rightly so given how excellently the development was handled), there was Celeste. Developed by Matt Thorson and friends aka Matt Makes Games that brought us the wildly entertaining multiplayer-centric Towerfall: Ascension, Celeste turned out to be one of the biggest surprises of the year. It overtook a number of other indie titles by coming to the Nintendo Switch at launch but otherwise, it was a great game in every aspect regardless of the platform.

Mechanically, the platforming and variety in level design was compelling, fresh and organically challenging at every turn. The music and visuals were suitably retro but embodied a surrealistic flavour that felt unmistakably contemporary. I would give the most credit to composer Lena Raine for the sheer perfection that her soundtrack serves in setting the mood but everyone who worked on the game, from the artists and programmers to Thorson as designer and director, deserves the highest praise.

Even as Monster Hunter World was setting records and stealing many players’ hearts, Celeste was already my personal Game of the Year.

"Even though there wasn’t a ton of competition, the best new indie game of February was undoubtedly Into The Breach."

Surprisingly, February felt uneventful in comparison. Aegis Defenders from GUTS Department had a certain appeal to its gameplay with the mix of tower defense and 2D platforming but ultimately remained a niche title. February was mostly the month that numerous titles like SteamWorld Dig, Owlboy, Night in the Woods, Layers of Fear: Legacy, Outlast and much more released on the Nintendo Switch. The Nindies program was starting to pick up momentum.

Meanwhile, EA’s Fe was probably the biggest new indie release of the month simply based on the EA Originals label. Was it really exceptional? Did it push any boundaries, especially after January’s cavalcade of great releases? Not really but it was a solid title from the studio behind Stick It To The Man and the upcoming Ghost Giant. Moss was the other big title, simply due to the pedigree of its developer Polyarc (whose team had worked on titles like Guild Wars 2, Halo: Reach, Red Dead Redemption and Dragon Age).

Whether it was the instantly recognizable protagonist Quill or simply being one of the best VR titles ever made, Moss ably established its presence. There was also Where The Water Tastes Like Wine that sadly was proclaimed as a commercial disaster by the developer. Nevertheless, its gorgeous art-direction and strong cast, intermixed with interactive stories, was a welcome offering. An offering that will hopefully receive more appreciation down the line.

Even though there wasn’t a ton of competition, the best new indie game of February was undoubtedly Into The Breach. FTL: Faster Than Light developer Subset Games took a semi-rogue-like approach into the turn-based strategy genre, evoking an aesthetic similar to Advance Wars with intriguing gameplay and squad possibilities. The procedurally generated nature of maps, scaling difficulty and challenge completion required for new units ensured multiple playthroughs. But it was the deceptively simple yet complex gameplay that cemented it as one of the year’s best. There was just something so sweet about knocking an enemy unit into another while their attack kills a third. The ripple effect that this would have on surrounding buildings and other enemies was also worth watching out for at all times.

"Though ultimately falling back on the “one big twist” style of story-telling and having no single-player option, A Way Out’s characterization and strong mechanics allowed it to sell exceptionally well."

The scene started picking up again with all kinds of releases in March. Evoland developer Shiro Games returned with a completely different offering in Northgard. The strategy title focused on settlement building and exploration, as players managed resources and set out to conquer the immense campaign. Despite the strong critical acclaim, Northgard didn’t get too much appreciation but saw a number of updates to extend its life.

Other standout releases that didn’t get too much attention include Ghost of A Tale, a stealth fantasy game focused on a mouse named Tilo as he explores the history of a strange, anthropomorphic inhabitated kingdom; Q.U.B.E. 2, a puzzler in first person that involves the manipulation of cubes while one navigates an immense maze to survive; and of course, Hazelight Games’ A Way Out. Published under the EA Originals label and hyped up thanks to the antics of creator Josef Fares, A Way Out imbibed the couch co-op experience with a compelling story and gameplay situations. Though ultimately falling back on the “one big twist” style of story-telling and having no single-player option, A Way Out’s characterization and strong mechanics allowed it to sell exceptionally well. It crossed 1 million units sold in just two weeks.

April started earnestly enough with Minit. The game focuses on a mystery but much like Half-Minute Hero, a limited time period is provided to accomplish solve it. In between these sixty-second lives, players gather items that are shared across different lifetimes and advance forward (ideally). Though Minit handled its concept well, it was ultimately overshadowed by Harebrained Schemes’ BattleTech and 11 bit Studios’ Frostpunk, not to mention Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice finally coming to Xbox One.

In terms of heavyweights, that’s a pretty solid list. BattleTech became quite successful and Harebrained was acquired by Paradox Interactive. The developer announced future updates and more content (the recently revealed Flashpoint is the first paid expansion). Frostpunk, meanwhile, has been releasing free updates and quality of life changes besides prepping a new scenario for release later this year. Whether it was a tactical turn-based strategy with mech-building and customization or city-management with survival elements and an aspect of humanity, PC players weren’t wanting for unique experiences in April.

"Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire, despite having a budget that could dwarf other indie titles, presented an old-school approach to computer role-playing games in the vein of Baldur’s Gate and Icewind Dale."

Of course, there was also Pizza Titan Ultra, an action platformer which featured giant mechs rampaging through cities to deliver pizzas. Why? Because of course, the mech owners ran a pizzeria! It’s crazy and bizarre but combines the over-top style of Crazy Taxi with the destructible landscape of Blast Corps. It’s nuts and yet extremely endearing.

In May, the flow of indies picked up. Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire, despite having a budget that could dwarf other indie titles, presented an old-school approach to computer role-playing games in the vein of Baldur’s Gate and Icewind Dale. The addition of piracy, ship combat and exploration made it a fun romp even if, like the first game, the writing could be less than quaint. Titles like Omensight and Wizard of Legend also rose to prominence. The former was developed by Spearhead Games of Stories: The Path of Destinies fame. It saw players reliving the same day in Urralia, attempting to solve a murder to reverse the land’s destruction. Time manipulation, hack and slash combat and the ability to influence key characters all created a unique experience (plus the art-style was pretty good looking).

Wizard of Legend took a more straightforward rogue-like approach. Players explored a fixed number of dungeons with procedurally generated elements but the real hook was developing and combining magical spells together. Combat was fast, and the number of spells and items helped provide enough variety for a few repeat playthroughs.

Then there was Moonlighter, a much-anticipated pixel-art dungeon crawler that combined the combat of Zelda with the item shop management of Recettear. While its shopkeeping elements didn’t feel as dynamic, Moonlighter still had an enjoyable loop of combat, upgrading, dungeon looting and selling that was insanely addictive. Did we also mention the art looks simply gorgeous? It’s since been updated with over a hundred new rooms, various quality of life improvements and more interesting twists to the item store.

"July belonged to two major releases – The Banner Saga 3, the climactic conclusion to Stoic’s excellent trilogy, and No Man’s Sky NEXT."

Other titles that stood out in May include City of Brass, a first person rogue-like themed on Arabian Nights where players must venture into a dangerous city for the promise of treasure; FAR: Lone Sails, a linear adventure game where players embark on a sea-faring adventure of mystery, braving hazards and attempting to keep their ship going; and Yoku’s Island Express, a charming side-scrolling platformer that incorporates pinball into its core gameplay. Seriously though, if nothing else, try out Yoku’s Island Express. It’s a ball (I know, I’m sorry).

June and July were relatively quiet, though E3 2018 saw a number of titles either announced or outright released. Unravel Two debuted at EA Play 2018 and while it wasn’t as intriguing as Sea of Solitude (which is out in 2019), the sheer charm of the first game was unique. Plus, there was co-op this time. EA further surprised us by releasing the game as soon as it was announced because…well, why not? Nintendo followed suit. It released the Switch port of Team Cherry’s acclaimed Hollow Knight during its Direct presentation. Hollow Knight has since gone on to fame and fortune, selling over 1 million copies since first launching for PC last year.

Dontnod’s Vampyr was the other big indie release for June. While it seemingly flew under the radar, only slightly buoyed by reviews that praised the story but criticized for its combat, it managed to sell 450,000 units in a manner of weeks. July’s releases were pretty straightforward – This is the Police 2 released and alienated a few fans, though its shift towards a more XCOM-style tactical game wasn’t terrible. Chasm finally released after years in development and while it wasn’t bad, it did average slightly higher than “okay”. At least its 2D art maintained its appeal after so many years.

Honestly, though, July belonged to two major releases – The Banner Saga 3, the climactic conclusion to Stoic’s excellent trilogy, and No Man’s Sky NEXT. The latter technically wasn’t a new game but a large update, overhauling a number of features, adding new ones like co-op multiplayer (and PvP for the more violent-minded folk), and significantly improving the visuals. It did mark the game’s debut for Xbox One but perhaps the most significant development was Hello Games co-founder Sean Murray finally speaking out and admitting to the numerous problems at launch. The commitment to keep improving the game, especially with weekly events, continues.

"Perhaps what impresses me most about this year thus far is how many indie titles seemingly came out of left field and proved to be compelling experiences."

We hence come to August which saw the incredible Dead Cells finally leave Steam Early Access and become a fairly big hit with critics. I’ve waxed eloquent about how brilliant the game is, nailing its core gameplay loop thanks to a striking yet organic aesthetic. And really, it’s tons of fun to kill stuff in that game. No joke.

Guacamelee! 2 wasn’t a revolutionary leap over the sequel but it’s still an excellent follow-up, celebrating Mexican culture and folklore while embodying the very best of Metroidvania gameplay. Death’s Gambit, a 2D Souls-like, also released after numerous years in development. While I personally had a few qualms with it, the combat is fun and challenging to engage with as are the boss battles. Overcooked! 2 brought a whole new meaning to hating your friends with its cooking-based missions (and that odd design choice of only the hosting player receiving progress should be fixed by now). Even Donut County, a game where you control a whole that’s swallowing things up and increasing in size, looks bizarrely fun.

Perhaps what impresses me most about this year thus far is how many indie titles seemingly came out of left field and proved to be compelling experiences. For as much hype as there was for Iconoclasts, Celeste simply came out of nowhere and became known as one of the very best games ever made. Likewise, with August coming to an end (as of this time of writing), Sabotage Studio’s The Messenger has released and proven itself to be an excellent homage to the old-school Ninja Gaiden.

Even without the direct comparison, it’s still proven to be a fantastic 2D action platformer. For The King, IronOak Games’ tabletop roguelike RPG, was also pretty good and despite leaving Early Access with very little fanfare, it’s been well-received by both critics and regular fans. The same goes for Event Horizon’s Tower of Time, a more story-centric RPG dungeon crawler with some compelling combat and decent story-telling.

"Not everyone may find success but each title has earned its place in the hearts and minds of its fans, no matter their number."

Though the Fall and Holiday seasons are known for their triple-A releases, there are a few awesome indie games to look forward to. InExile’s The Bard’s Tale 4: Barrows Deep will arrive on September 18th, introducing a new generation to the dungeon crawling, RPG excitement that permeated old-school titles. Secret of Mana-style action RPG CrossCode will also finally release, exiting Steam Early Access on September 20th, and I couldn’t be more excited about finally playing the game through from start to finish. A number of titles like This War of Mine, Hyper Light Drifter, Everspace, Beat Cop, Moonlighter and much more will also be making their way to the Nintendo Switch, which has proven to be a premier destination for indie titles. Just ask anyone still addicted to Dead Cells on the go.

Frozen Synapse 2 is also probably still coming this year. It’s really hard to say at this point.

The industry has seen its ups and downs throughout the years. Whether it’s last year’s hefty push for loot boxes and reinforcing essential gameplay elements with loot boxes, or the constant nagging about the Battle Royale genre this year, there will always be some kind of pervasive cynicism. That doesn’t mean that some great games – even those seemingly “ruined” by microtransactions – aren’t available to indulge in but that’s beside the point. Through all the twists we’ve seen the industry take, the indie development scene continues to push forward. It may not always be easy or lead to returns as exemplified by Zeboyd Games (Cosmic Star Heroine) or Infinite Fall (Night in the Woods). Some developers like Hello Games may be forever marred by their past failures. Others may be defined more by their explosive personalities than their actual work like Josef Fares.

At the end of the day, the market has proven receptive to indie games and fresh experiences in general. Not everyone may find success but each title has earned its place in the hearts and minds of its fans, no matter their number.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

After announcing that Burnout Paradise Remastered would be coming to PC next week, Electronic Arts has also confirmed that the game is available for Origin Access Premier this month. The Big Surf Island DLC is also included with it and in fact, those with an Origin Access Premier subscription can play it right now.

For those with regular Origin Access, there are a number of quality releases to look forward to. Zoink’s Fe, another title in the EA Originals program, will also be available. Though it’s not the most compelling platforming adventure game, it still boasts a nice aesthetic and pleasing atmospherics. Other titles including Hover, Ghost of a Tale, Mr. Shifty, Pillars of the Earth, Punch Club, Splasher, and Figment are also confirmed to be included in Origin Access for this month.

Origin Access costs $4.99 per month or $29.99 per year, while Origin Access Premier is $20 per month and $130 per year. The latter is costlier, but offers instant access to new EA titles like the upcoming Battlefield 5, Anthem, FIFA 19, and more. In fact, you can even play them in full earlier.

Fe released on Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch, and PC last month, and it also got enhancements for the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X; surprisingly enough, however, the Xbox One X version doesn’t run at 60 frames per second, where the power of the console seems like it would otherwise enable higher performance.

So why is that? Speaking to GamingBolt, Zoink Games programmer Johan Fröhlander revealed that the answer is fairly banal- the team got access to Xbox One X development fairly late in the development cycle, which meant they couldn’t do anything too intensive.

“We were actually surprised when we saw the One X performing as it did on that resolution, but when we really started looking closer at the enhanced versions of the consoles (Xbox One X and PS4 Pro), it was at a stage in the development that we were very restrictive with the changes we made,” he said. “It was tempting of course, but whereas increasing the resolution is fairly safe, doubling the framerate runs a higher risk of introducing an obscure bug somewhere. It was a risk we didn’t want to take at that point, as we were unsure we’d be able to properly test it properly. But who knows what the future brings.”

That’s fair, and a more than sensible answer- hopefully for their next game, Zoink Games can fully leverage the additional power that the Xbox One X, PS4 Pro, and Nintendo Switch can uniquely offer to them.

To learn more about these differences in power and how Fe runs on these consoles, GamingBolt reached out to lead programmer Johan to provide some answers to these questions.

"The Xbox One X gave us more for free in terms of raw power, whereas we didn’t prioritize making the necessary adjustments for PS4 Pro."

How much time did it take to get the Xbox One X version up and running?

Up and running? Not so much. Up and running well took a bit longer since we had focused primarily on PC once we brought the platform on board, and taken some liberties with the resources as you can imagine. We didn’t really focus on One X specifically, so once Xbox One was in order One X naturally solved itself.

You recently confirmed that the Xbox One X version of Fe will run at native 4K whereas the PS4 Pro version will run at 1260p. We understand what are power differences between the two but wasn’t some alternate solution considered for the PS4 pro version? (something like checkerboard rendering).

Considered, yes, but unfortunately didn’t make the cut. The Xbox One X gave us more for free in terms of raw power, whereas we didn’t prioritize making the necessary adjustments for PS4 Pro.

I also find it interesting that Fe runs at 30fps on the Xbox One X. Fe doesn’t seem to be resource thirsty (it looks amazing from an art style perspective). Is there a specific reason why Fe doesn’t run at 60fps on the Xbox One X given its power?

We were actually surprised when we saw the One X performing as it did on that resolution, but when we really started looking closer at the enhanced versions of the consoles (Xbox One X and PS4 Pro), it was at a stage in the development that we were very restrictive with the changes we made. It was tempting of course, but whereas increasing the resolution is fairly safe, doubling the framerate runs a higher risk of introducing an obscure bug somewhere. It was a risk we didn’t want to take at that point, as we were unsure we’d be able to properly test it properly. But who knows what the future brings.

"The extra resources are cool to have and allows us to maybe do some platform specific enhancements, but in general we’d rather reach a wider audience than missing out on potential players due to system requirements."

As someone who has worked on both the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X, what is your take on the differences between them or are they quite similar?

From where we’re standing, they’re quite similar. Compared to their standard counterparts they give us more power for free as well as additional features exposed in Unity that we can fiddle around with. But as for pitching them against each other, we treat them quite the same.

Xbox One X has a ton of memory on board (12GB in total and 8GB of that is available for games). Do you think PC game developers such as yourself, will now be setting your PC memory requirements even higher in the future due to Xbox One X offering even higher memory allocations?

Not unless we have good reason to. The extra resources are cool to have and allows us to maybe do some platform specific enhancements, but in general we’d rather reach a wider audience than missing out on potential players due to system requirements.

Fe is a game that immediately arrests your attention with its gorgeous visuals. It is an action-adventure game in which players control a fox like creature called Fe as you explore a beautiful forest. You can interact with the creatures of the forest by singing to them and they sing to you as well.

The forest is under attack by some enemies known as the Silent Ones. The game is as minimalist in its story’s presentation as it is with gameplay. If you’ve played titles like Journey, then this game may seem quite familiar to you. The game doesn’t really provide instructions to you and instead expects you to slowly experiment and then discover how the game’s world functions. This is one of the best aspects of the game as it trusts you to learn for yourself what the game is about.

If you’re ever feeling stuck however, this walkthrough will surely be of use to you.

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While a lot has been said about the differences between the PS4 Pro, which represents a relatively conservative upgrade over the base PS4 system, versus the Xbox One X, which is a more radical overhaul of the Xbox One hardware, functionally, in the end, both systems do amount to the same result for the player- you get to play the same game, except now it’s  prettier.

And as developers who have worked on both, the PS4 Pro and the Xbox One X, Zoink Games (the team behind Fe) seem to agree that the two consoles are more similar than you might give them credit for. Speaking to GamingBolt in an exclusive interview, Zoink Games programmer Johan Fröhlander stated that from their perspective, both upgrades ended up amounting to the same thing.

“From where we’re standing, they’re quite similar. Compared to their standard counterparts they give us more power for free as well as additional features exposed in Unity that we can fiddle around with. But as for pitching them against each other, we treat them quite the same,” Fröhlander said.

He also said that while the additional resources (such as the 12GB of GDDR5 memory) on the Xbox One X are useful and helpful to have, they won’t, for example, bleed over into PC game development, and raise the average spec needed to play Zoink’s games, since they would rather reach a broader audience instead.

“Not unless we have good reason to,” Fröhlander said. “The extra resources are cool to have and allows us to maybe do some platform specific enhancements, but in general we’d rather reach a wider audience than missing out on potential players due to system requirements.”

So, you know- we can keep fighting about the added pixels and lines that one of the two consoles may add over the other, but functionally, are the two really that different from one another?

"Fe isn’t wholly concerned with explaining everything, taking a minimalist approach to its story-telling and a silent approach to the dialogue."

Zoink’s Fe is an interesting game, one that flirts with ambiguity without fully committing to it. The game’s atmosphere is a mix of “preserving nature and appreciating artistic beauty” and sort of just goes with that in its running time. The story is clear insofar as your role as Fe, a little fox-like being that can sing and communicate with animals for their assistance. The forest is threatened fairly quickly by the Silent Ones who capture animals and haul them off for some unknown mission. Gathering crystals, assisting the animals and combating the Silent Ones when you’re not gathering info on their purpose via astral projection makes up the main plot. Fe isn’t really concerned with explaining everything, taking a minimalist approach to its story-telling and a silent approach to the dialogue.

Instead, feelings, thoughts and emotions are conveyed through sound. Fe has the ability to sing to animals, matching the wave-length of their songs for different purposes. The Silent Ones’ voices are more distorted, even cacophonous, whenever they’re on the hunt. Whether you run into small critters, a playful stag (that’s subsequently captured, which angered me because we barely got time to solve puzzles…I mean, bond) or a protective mama bird, Fe conveys plenty of personality with its sound. The background music, combining heavy violin tunes and slow orchestral pieces adds to the tone admirably. There’s a sense that it could overpower the animals’ sounds but there’s a nice balance throughout.

Tying further into the “nature” theme are the different plants that can be interacted with. A critter may provide access to a plant that bounces you upwards. There may be a plant that lets you float with a gentle breeze. Larger birds may be capable of ferrying you to different places and there’s a helpful little hummingbird-type creature that will guide you to the next objective. It even doubles up as a source of unlocking little seeds that can disrupt the cages of the Silent Ones. Fe also likes to throw in some stealth. You can’t fight the Silent Ones head-on and if they spot you, they creep up on all fours with some decent speed, leaving you a few seconds at best to escape. This is all in addition to the platforming as Fe acquires different moves like climbing up trees and jumping off them to reach further places along with gliding.

"The ambiguous atmosphere bleeds into the aesthetic. In terms of art direction, Fe looks very unique."

Not every plant and animal is willing to listen to Fe. Sometimes you need to “learn” their song so to speak. Other times, areas will be closed off unless you unlock specific moves. It’s a decent reason to explore areas you’ve already cleared, perhaps collecting some crystals missed, before moving on. I’m hesitant to slot this into the Metroidvania genre though – there are slight aspects of that here but nothing too crazy, especially given how the levels themselves are laid out.

As a whole though, Fe‘s gameplay should be a lot more compelling than it actually is. The system of enticing plants to open the way forward, flitting up trees and gliding from one to the next, sneaking around, etc. should be a lot more arresting. At certain points – especially one epic sequence later in the game – it certainly is. It’s that moment where I feel the experience peaks. However, Fe just doesn’t strike that chord all throughout. Its level design is fairly rote. Aside from a few hidden nooks and crannies, the overall platforming won’t really tap into your ingenuity like Super Mario Odyssey or Celeste would. At times, I was caught thinking about Grow Up and how its concept felt like it could have used a lot more work to go with its massive levels and epic scale. Fe does have that slight bit of cleverness tucked away but it’s slow goings from the beginning.

The ambiguous atmosphere bleeds into the aesthetic. In terms of art direction, Fe looks very unique. Some animals come across as sharp silhouettes more than fleshed out figures (though their markings keep them from being too shadowy). The environments are a mix of minimal geometry and complex hues with the plants obviously sticking out as very intricately designed and luminescent. I could appreciate the screen hue changing dramatically when the Silent Ones became overbearing, simulating a crushing feeling but not really pushing the envelope. The playfulness of different animals in their animations is also a nice touch – when a game is so centred around nature like this, the developer deserves credit for imbuing so much personality into its creatures while still maintaining a fairly nondescript plot.

"If Fe‘s ambiguity was the set-up for compelling, tight-knit gameplay throughout its entire playtime, I would have probably been more interested in it."

Don’t get me wrong – aside from the ambiguous nature of the story mixing into the gameplay, making it hard to tell exactly what needs to be done next sometimes, Fe isn’t a bad game to play. The controls are fairly tight, roaming around the world is pretty soothing and aside from a few frame rate stutters here and there (old school Xbox One for the win), its performance is fine as well. You’ll sink a good couple of hours into the story and maybe go back to find the things you’ve missed. Don’t be surprised if you don’t though, even if the game can be fun at a number of points.

Sadly, despite the personality in its inhabitants, I never felt like Fe beckoned me to truly get lost in its world, much less fully appreciate its makeup. The stone tablets that depict various hieroglyphics of events taking place somehow reinforced my detachment rather than strengthened it.

If Fe‘s ambiguity was the set-up for compelling, tight-knit gameplay throughout its entire playtime, I would have probably been more interested in it. For as relaxing as the world can be to walk around in, if it was just a bit grimier, maybe a little more lived in and organic (which feels odd to say given all the flaura and fauna within), I would have had a stronger urge to see what the next corner held. As it stands, Fe is a whimsical experience that leaves a brief yet forgotten impression when you’re done playing it. Unfortunately, it’s more content to be dreamy and breezy instead of capturing your entire conscious during its short playtime.

This game was reviewed on Xbox One.

The Xbox One X is a more powerful system than the PS4 Pro is- that much is evident and obvious right away- which means developers can get more done with less effort. One of those developers is apparently Johan Fröhlander of Zoink games, who are working on the upcoming Fe. The PS4 Pro version of the game will run at 1260p while the Xbox One X version runs at native 4K.

One of the reasons for this is that the Xbox One X being more powerful meant that the developers had to spend less time trying to optimize the game to leverage its hardware properly; the PS4 Pro needed additional time, even for techniques and tricks like checkerboard rendering, which Zoink ultimately did not end up devoting to it.

“[Techniques like checkerboard rendering were] considered, yes, but unfortunately didn’t make the cut. The Xbox One X gave us more for free in terms of raw power, whereas we didn’t prioritize making the necessary adjustments for PS4 Pro,” Fröhlander said to GamingBolt.

That said, getting the game up and running on the Xbox One X took a while, too.

“[Getting the game] up and running [on Xbox One X]? Not so much. Up and running well took a bit longer since we had focused primarily on PC once we brought the platform on board, and taken some liberties with the resources as you can imagine. We didn’t really focus on One X specifically, so once Xbox One was in order One X naturally solved itself,” he said.

Of course, Fe is a game with a gorgeous art style, so it should end up looking gorgeous no matter what- but for those of you who want the most pixels for your money, it seems like the Xbox One X will be the way to go.

EA Sports UFC 3

EA Sports UFC 3 is coming and yes, Ultimate Team mode has microtransactions which let you enhance fighters for the best results. For the rest of the experience though, it’s all about submissions, your mat game and conserving your stamina. EA Sports UFC 3 changes its career mode up by implementing G.O.A.T. In this mode, you can make decisions to advance your fighter’s career, engage in social media feuds with others fighters to build your public image and much more. It releases for Xbox One and PS4 on February 2^nd.

Shadow of the Colossus

During the PlayStation 2 era, there was a game that stuck out among the various exclusives – Team ICO’s Shadow of the Colossus. The studio’s first game may have presented a unique artistic vision but Shadow of the Colossus did the same and was also an awesome game. Bluepoint Games is bringing that experience to the PS4 but in a brand new way, remaking the game’s visuals from the ground up with new textures, an enhanced draw distance and oodles more detail. This is still the same classic you remember though – hunt down enormous Colossi with your trusted horse Agro, find out how to defeat them and move on to the next. Shadow of the Colossus is out on February 6^th for PS4 and trust us when we say you won’t want to miss it.

Civilization 6: Rise and Fall

When Firaxis releases expansion packs, it doesn’t mess around. Civilization 6’s first expansion Rise and Fall is the latest example. Releasing on February 8^th, it brings Golden and Dark Ages which occur by meeting or failing certain milestones. The Dark Age implications are intriguing due to the challenges present – overcoming these will bring about a Heroic Age, which offers bonuses far beyond a typical Golden Age. Then there are Loyalty ratings, which can result in Free Cities uncontrolled by any civilization if they drop far enough; alliances between civilizations; Emergencies which involve numerous civilizations taking sides; new units and a new District type; and of course, new civilizations. If that sounds like the rest of your year, then best to wrap up everything right now.

Dynasty Warriors 9

With a new generation comes change. You wouldn’t expect Omega Force’s Dynasty Warriors to follow that path but the Musou developer is going all out to revamp the experience with Dynasty Warriors 9. It introduces an open world rife with main story missions and side quests, a day/night cycle with dynamic weather, weapon crafting and the ability to customize your own hideout. There more than 83 characters to play with revised movesets along with the same large scale battles that fans love. Dynasty Warriors 9 is out on February 13^th for Xbox One, PS4 and PC so we’ll see just how far it changes the formula.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance

Warhorse’s long-in-development and crowd-funded open world action RPG is finally out in February. Kingdom Come: Deliverance takes place in medieval Bohemia and players will essentially lay siege to castles, survive in the open world while performing various deeds and combat different foes using realistic weaponry. It may all sound a bit Witcher-esque but Kingdom Come: Deliverance promises an entirely unique experience with all the grit, grime and guts befitting a medieval war epic. It releases on February 13^th for Xbox One, PS4 and PC.

Bayonetta 1 and 2

The bullet witch finally comes to the Nintendo Switch. Bayonetta 3 is still a ways out but in the meantime, we’re getting double-game package Bayonetta 1 and 2. We’ve already seen the graphical enhancements provided by Bayonetta 1 when it released for PC last year – it’s Bayonetta 2 on the Switch which should prove more interesting. If, like many people, you didn’t pick up a Wii U and happened to miss the critically acclaimed sequel, this is the best way to experience it. Plus you receive a portable version of the first game as well. Bayonetta 1 and 2 arrive for the Nintendo Switch on February 16^th.

Fe

Make music, scale giant beasts (without administering the coup de grace a la Shadow of the Colossus) or simply sing to animals in Zoink Studios’ platformer Fe. Published under the EA Originals label, Fe will feature a main quest that’s 7 to 8 hours long but promises a huge world with plenty of secrets. The art direction and unique gameplay mechanics have us interested but will it stand out in this season of excellent indie platformers like Celeste and Iconoclasts? We’ll find out when Fe releases on February 16^th for Xbox One, PS4, PC and Nintendo Switch.

Secret of Mana

You’ve probably heard of Secret of Mana and what an influence it had on the hack and slash action RPG genre. If you’ve yet to find a game to scratch that itch – and CrossCode’s updates are too slow – then Secret of Mana is worth revisiting for PS4, PS Vita and PC. This version is a full remake with 3D graphics and features full voice work, new arrangements for classic tracks, more AI options for your teammates, mini-maps and an auto save function. Secret of Mana is out on February 15^th and we can’t wait to see how it plays.

Metal Gear Survive

We’ll be perfectly honest – Metal Gear Survive’s open world survival and stealth mechanics combined with zombie crystal things has us bizarrely intrigued. Maybe it’s because this is unlike anything we’ve ever seen from the MGS series. Or maybe there’s something deeper that’s worth looking forward to. It may also be like watching a train wreck in slow motion complete with microtransactions. Would that be a money train wreck then? Either way, Metal Gear Survive releases on February 20^th for Xbox One, PS4 and PC. Check it out if you happen to pick up the other nine games on this list, finish them and don’t have the good sense to play anything else.

Age of Empires: Definitive Edition

If you grew up in the 90s, then real time strategy gaming on the PC was consistently amazing. Command and Conquer: Red Alert, StarCraft, Warcraft 2 – there was no shortage of awesome games to play and Age of Empires was among them. The classic returns on February 20^th as Age of Empires: Definite Edition. Revamped graphics with 4K resolution support, numerous improvements and quality of life features, full online support and a completely redone soundtrack – what more could you want? Aside from remakes of the other games, which are also thankfully in development.

Publisher Electronic Arts hasn’t exactly been seen in a bright light lately, what with the closure of studios and heavy-handed approach to in-game monetization. That being said, it does have some nice projects coming up like Zoink’s Fe. The EA Originals title is a whimsical platformer which is being published as part of EA’s on-going initiative with indies.

While speaking to WCCF Tech, director Andreas Beijer offered some new information on the story length but also promised that EA wasn’t having any kind of influence on the game’s vision.

“It has been amazing to have them onboard actually. I understand it might sound like I’m paid to say this but that’s the honest truth. They have provided so much help without meddling with the artistic vision of the game and it has been fantastic for us to be able to use their experience and knowledge of making and publishing games,” said Beijer.

As for the overall story length, Beijer says you can expect the main story to run 7 to 8 hours overall. The overall world is divided into sections so you can explore the beginning bits freely while other parts open up along the way.

“If you were set on just completing the ‘main quest’ I would think perhaps [it would last] about 7-8 hours. Then you are free to roam around and find all the secrets and that really depends on the player how much time that takes. It’s hard to say really. I’m thinking of the world of Fe as big enough to get lost in but small enough to get to know it all.”

The overall nature of Fe is intriguing given its focus on singing, climbing giant creatures and whatnot. It’s out on February 16th for Xbox One, PS4, PC and Nintendo Switch.