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.

To learn more about the game, Gamingbolt reached out to Malik Boukhira, Co-founder of Spearhead Games to answer our questions about the game.

"The day progresses in a set way, towards the end of the world, without your intervention.  But as soon as you show up, you can start changing things. "

Can you tell us about experiencing the game from different perspectives and how that works as a mechanic?

As the Harbinger, you have to solve the murder of the Godless-Priestess, Vera, because it starts a chain of events that leads to the world ending in the evening of your arrival in the world.  Fortunately, in a twist to murder-mystery investigations, you can return to the morning of that last day, and continue your investigation after the world ends.  Every time you restart the day, you can make a different decision, choose who you will follow or investigate during the day, which may take you to different locations.  An important aspect of the setting of the game is that there is an epic war going on between the Pygarian Empire and the Rodentian clans.  You can choose to side with either faction during the day (or betray them and switch side in the middle of the day!) so you will be able to see events from different perspective, and hear of opposite sides of the story.  For example, in a version of the day, you may be allied with the rebel leader, Ratika, and see the traps they are planning for the upcoming of attack of the Empire.  But on another version, you may have decided to side with Draga, an Imperial General, and actually take part in their assaut.  Of course, the knowledge of what the rebels are planning may give you an interesting advantage to tilt the odds on the Empire side…

How do players manipulate time in this game?

On a macro level, you can mess with the timeline of the day, through your actions.  The day progresses in a set way, towards the end of the world, without your intervention.  But as soon as you show up, you can start changing things.  Having characters meet that shouldn’t have, or leading them somewhere they would have never gone, or perhaps killing someone that shouldn’t have died.  Killing the Pygarian Emperor is bound to have an impact.

On the gameplay side, you have access to a variety of special powers, some of them affect time.  One of them is called Delay of Fate.  This power allows you to slow down time in a sphere around you for a few seconds.  This is a great power that you can use both defensively and offensively, and also as a tactical window to perform combos with your powers, reposition or even use the environment and traps to your advantage.

What can you tell us about combat in this game and how it works?

The combat in Omensight is easy to pick up, but has a lot of depth to it.

The core of the combat revolves around maintaining a flow of attacks, dodges and counter attacks. We worked very hard to make it as smooth, responsive and impactful as possible.

We wanted the combat to be more that just simple a hack and slash.  Over the course of the game, you will unlock a variety of special powers, like Delay of Fate mentioned earlier.  Another power is the Phantom Grasp, which allows to telekinetically pull objects or enemies towards you, and them throw them in the direction of your choice.

We designed these powers with two objectives in mind.  First, we wanted to introduce tactical tools, including leveraging the environment to your advantage (for example, you can grab a bomb with Phantom Grasp and throw it on a fragile column to cause environmental damage in a wide area).  Second, we wanted the powers to interact with one another, in order for you to be creative and pull off all sorts of awesome combos, such as throwing an enemy while he’s slowed down by Delay of Fate and then dash through him, causing damage.

As the Harbinger, you also have an Energy meter, that increases as you maintain your attack flow and not get hit.  Once you reach a certain threshold, you can unleash some very powerful abilities, such as a big energy blast.  And of course all the abilities can be mixed and matched for some spectacular combos!

Will players engage in dialogue with other characters in the game? Will some of these characters join you as companions?

We have a rather unusual approach to an interactive story game, in that the Harbinger is actually a silent protagonist!  That doesn’t mean you can’t interact with other characters, you just do so with action gameplay vocabulary rather than with a separate dialogue system.  So you can attack someone, of course, but you can also use you “Omensight” power.  This is a unique magical detective power you possess : as you uncover more about the timeline of the murder, you gain a vision of what happened. You can share that vision with other characters, which can be a great interrogation tool, but also influence their actions during the day.

We chose this unusual approach to narrative interaction first because we wanted the story and gameplay to be as seamlessly integrated as possible, and we think action moves have unique properties of their own narratively, and don’t need the support of a dialogue system.  But the most important reason is because we want YOU the player, to be the real lead of the investigation, and make decisions based on your own reflexions and observations, and not that of a character named Harbinger.  If we had given the Harbinger a voice and an elaborate personality, then each time you would make a decision, the Harbinger would have needed a reason and a reaction, and that’s not something we want to impose.  After all, you can make the same decision, but have many reasons why.  You may decide to follow a character because you think they are suspect, or because you need their help to defeat another character you think is guilty.  Both reasons can actually be valid and induce the same action.

And yes, several characters can join as companions, depending on your decisions.  You’ll actually spend a lot of time in the game, with a companion or another, depending on your decisions.  You may follow a companion for many reasons : perhaps you think they are suspects and you want to see what they’re up to, or perhaps you simply think they can lead you to certain location. Those companions can be from either faction, which can affect what areas of the world you can access, but also who are your allies and enemies.  In addition to the contribution of these characters to the story, each one of them has unique properties and abilities.  For example, Ludomir, a rebel hero, is very strong and combat focused.  Upon your command, he can perform a powerful shockwave attack that will damage and knock down enemies in a wide area around you.  Ratika, the rebel boss, is bard and a surprisingly powerful mage.  On top of her magical missile attacks, she can also play the Hero’s Song, which will make you super fast and strong for a few seconds.

Telling unique stories through games is something you explored with Stories: The Path of Destinies as well. Has your experience with Stories helped in making Omensight?

Going through Stories allowed to learn a lot about interactive storytelling, and how to approach narrative in action games.  After we were done with the game, we felt we still had a lot to explore and experiment with that narrative form.

In Stories, we built a narrative structure that was about embracing the fun of narrative exploration, seeing many varied outcome of a story, based on a series of decisions (you don’t have to reload the game to see the “what if” of your choice, it’s part of the game to do so!).  With this approach, we also learned a lot about creating meaningful choices and consequences for our players, as no single choice led to the same outcome as another choice, and we had to make sure that each outcome would be as unique and satisfying as possible.

We kept all that learning in Omensight, and insured that our choices had meaningful (and that no choice would lead to the same outcome!), varied and interesting consequences.   But the next step we wanted to push forward is to make interactive story into more than exploration or flavor, and make it much more meaningful in a video game : basically turn narrative into a gameplay.  That is how we started working towards a murder mystery, as it is basically a narrative puzzle.  Sure it’s still fun to see the different outcomes of your choices, but now you have stakes.  What’s particularly interesting is that, with this approach, dialogues are more than just story, they are potential clues that help you solve the puzzle, so you have to pay attention to the story in a very particular, video game way!

The game’s art style really stands out as being expressive and distinctive. Would you say smaller games like this are forced to experiment with interesting art styles?

I wouldn’t say forced, but definitely strongly driven to that.  The thing with realistic art style, especially for a heavy narrative game like ours, is that if you go for it, you have to go all the way, because it’s very easy to fall in the uncanny valley.  If it’s a bit off, it’s much more obvious and will impact much more negatively the experience. We definitely can’t afford motion capture and fancy facial animation.  So instead, we go with stylized and more expressive art style.  It’s actually harder from an artistic point of view.  You can’t just copy a photo or capture movement to get a cool result, you need to have a strong artistic eye.  But the big benefit is that you can convey a lot with the right colors, shapes and symbols. Atmospheres, emotions, etc.  Our choice to use anthropomorphic animals as characters is along those same line.  Animals and their stylized silhouettes are expressive at a fundamental level.  You can expect a big bear character to be strong and impulsive, or a rat character to be sneaky, you don’t need to give them super fancy details and acting to convey those traits.

"Well, creating a narrative puzzle is quite a challenge, because you need to master both creative writing (making the dialogues and stories compelling) and game design (making the puzzle gameplay fun!) simultaneously."

Were there any particular challenges you faced during the game’s development?

Well, creating a narrative puzzle is quite a challenge, because you need to master both creative writing (making the dialogues and stories compelling) and game design (making the puzzle gameplay fun!) simultaneously.  That’s not a very common skillset.

Fortunately, we had a great design and writer team, including legendary Chris Avellone (Fallout, Planescape:Torment, etc.) helping out!

The game is now confirmed for the PS, which also means it will support the PS4 Pro. Can you please let us know the resolution and frame rate it will run at on the PS4 Pro?

We’re not done with the PS4 development, but right now the game can run in 4K at an average of 40fps.

Currently, our bottleneck is not the graphics, but rather all the AI running at the same time.  We can have a lot of NPCs jumping around or fighting at the same time, with your companions, allied soldiers and enemies.  There’s a war going on after all.

And the resolution and frame rate on the base PS4 version?

Currently, it runs at 1080p at an average of 40fps.

Given that you are now working on both the PS4 Pro and PC, what kind of technical differences did you found between the two?

We work with Unreal Engine 4, and there were no technical difficulties that were not already handled by UE4.

Mark Cerny, the lead engineer of the PlayStation 4 Pro claimed that converting a base PS4 game to PS4 Pro version is just 0.2 Or 0.3% of the overall effort. What is your take on this? Do you think that the extra work required to develop an additional Pro version will actually be bigger than the number quoted?

For us, it might be even less than 0.2% of the effort. We only needed to add a small function here and there.

"Despite what certain people may have said, I don’t believe single player games are dead.  At least I hope not, since Omensight is an exclusively single player experience!"

Sony have included an advanced work distributor in PS4 Pro along with new Polaris features like Delta color compression. What is your take on these features and do you have plans to take advantage of them?

We have not taken advantage of these features. Hopefully UE4 can do this under the hood.

Is there a specific reason why you are not launching your game on the Xbox One?

First because we’re a small team, so we can’t launch on too many platforms at the same time, as each requires it’s own work in terms of optimization and other technical requirements.  Second, as we never shipped a game on Xbox yet, so going with PS4 was the smoothest and most efficient for us.

Any chance of a Nintendo Switch version?

There is :).  We’re definitely looking into it, but as a small team of 15, we can’t tackle too many platforms at the same time.

What is your take on the recent trend of Games as a service model and the possible controversial monetization practices arising from it?

Despite what certain people may have said, I don’t believe single player games are dead.  At least I hope not, since Omensight is an exclusively single player experience!! (and stapling multiplayer or microtransactions on it would definitely make the experience worse).  However, I do think that a Games as a service model can be great for certain games.  After all, as a player, isn’t it great if your favorite game gets constant updates and new content?

I do see how certain big publishers are banking on it.  After all, a long term,  predictable, constant stream of revenue from a product sounds great, and I can definitely imagine EA or Activision Execs drooling at that prospect.  The problem is indeed how it is monetized.  I think the monetization aspect has to be done respectfully and responsibly towards the players.   Pay to win is not much fun in competitive games, but I have no doubt some free-to-play developers would attempt the trick, as “performance” is a very attractive thing to sell.  Also, an overuse of gambling mechanics is a cheap way of abusing flaws in the human brain, and potentially exploit vulnerable people.  So, overall, I think there’s definitely a place for Games as a service because it can be great for the players, provided it is done right and not exploitatively.

The current generation of consoles will probably end in the next couple of years. What is your biggest expectation from the next PlayStation and Xbox?

Better performance is always good because it opens more possibilities for the games we create.  That being said, as a developer, I would love to see some improvements in the way games are promoted and presented in the stores of theses platforms.  Right now, discoverability or exposure on a platform like PSN is pretty bad.

Besides that, I wonder if we won’t see a breakthrough in streamed games, or subscription based models, as a mainstream way to consume games on consoles.

From a developer perspective, do you think the next-gen console era will be the 4K/60fps era?

Why not? I think we now have the hardware to achieve that at a reasonable cost.

Is there anything more you’d like to tell our readers?

Thanks for reading this!  We’re a small team of passionate developers who try to push the boundaries of what’s possible, and we hope you enjoy the experiences we create!   Don’t hesitate to Wishlist Omensight on Steam, to help us out a bit!

One of the biggest issues that online stores have is discoverability for content- this is an issue that Steam has grappled with for years, and that Nintendo is beginning to face with the eShop, now that there is a mad rush among developers to get their games on the platform. But it’s an issue all around in general- it’s not like PSN or Xbox Live do it much better, either.

Speaking to GamingBolt in an exclusive interview, the development team of Omensight, Spearhead Games, noted that game discoverability is one of the primary things they want improved in the next batch of consoles.

“Better performance is always good because it opens more possibilities for the games we create,” they said. “That being said, as a developer, I would love to see some improvements in the way games are promoted and presented in the stores of theses platforms.  Right now, discoverability or exposure on a platform like PSN is pretty bad.

“Besides that, I wonder if we won’t see a breakthrough in streamed games, or subscription based models, as a mainstream way to consume games on consoles.”

They also said that they feel like the PS5 and next Xbox should be able to accomplish native 4K and 60 frames per second, since they will have the hardware to achieve that, without being too overpriced. “I think we now have the hardware to achieve that at a reasonable cost,” they said.

I can’t argue with them on either count- the current state of online storefronts sorely needs redressal, and I do think that future consoles should be able to hit that level of power without trouble. Omensight is available now on Steam and on PS4.