Video Games

The 10 Raddest Games We Saw During MIX Next

do you want a game? Good news. Today, through his MIX Next event, we combined the Publisher Spotlight event with Black Voices in Gaming to give a new perspective on a vast array of games. Between the three, nearly 100 games were seen. If you haven’t seen the entire presentation, take a look, as it may contain something that appeals to all tastes, genres and fanbases.

For our part, there were ten games that really stood out among the three presentations, and we’ve decided to highlight them below. If you just want a quick, wide look at some of the really standouts from the last few hours, look no further. Here are our 10 favorite games from MIX Next 2022:

paper cut mansion

One of the most impressive games in this entire showcase was Paper Cut Mansion, a haunted house roguelite. You play as a detective named Toby, exploring homes to gather evidence and solve mysteries, fighting off enemies in top-down combat in Permadeath, and solving logic puzzles as you progress. Paper Cut Mansion looks visually stunning where the entire world (you, enemies, houses, all furniture, everything) is made out of paper and looks like highly detailed paper dolls or models. I’d love to play this for its aesthetics alone, and given that it’s out today on Xbox and PC via Steam, Epic, and GOG, this would be the perfect haunted Halloween adventure maybe.

wave tail

One of my favorite genres of post-apocalyptic games is ‘the world is destroyed and all that’s left is an island in the sky’, but until I saw Wavetale it actually involved a huge ocean instead of a sky I didn’t realize there were less versions. The Waker of the Wind? The Sea of ​​Solitude? It may be.

Anyway, the slow rolling motion of the trailer skating across the ocean waves to the soothing music immediately drew me into this 3D adventure and platformer (the other trailers aren’t slouch, either). Armed with a net, I want to be Sigrid, a beautiful waverunner who must defeat an “old nemesis” to save the citizens of the archipelago.

Ocean Skate aside, I’m also really interested in the proliferation of games in this showcase.Wavetale releases on Switch, PS5, PS4, Xbox, and PC via Steam on December 12th. A demo is also available on Steam now if you’d like.

can i pet the dog? Obviously you can and can. Specifically, you’re a collie who, along with a human, travels through a series of color-deprived, Scottish-style islands that regain their color as you progress. While humans use their own very human tools to interact with the world, they must use their own canine abilities to solve puzzles.

Although it looks peaceful, North of Farewell is a story about grief and how people deal with loss. I’m here for the cute dogs but expect to stay for the emotional catharsis. There is currently no release date, but a demo is available on Steam.

shumi come home

When I mentioned Wavetale above, I talked about how excited I am to see more games that go back to the good old classic 3D platforming days without necessarily leaning into visuals or level structure. Shmi Come Home, on the other hand, absolutely does it. It’s a cute, nature-filled platformer about an undersized man (Shumi, a sentient mushroom) trying to find his way home through a world too big. It’s instantly charming, instantly nostalgic for Donkey Kong’s Fungus Forest, but I remember what it looked like rather than what it actually looked like. It fits (although it won’t show up until spring).

Specifically, Shumi Come Home is set to release on PC and Switch in Spring 2023.

Sim

I already played Schim for a few minutes at a demo at Play Days earlier this year. But every time I watch it, it’s the wonderful baffling of playing a funny little shadow frog that can only move in the shadow of an object, jumping from one to the next trying to figure out who it is. I am drawn into the concept again. It immediately lends itself to a distinctive visual style, forcing an unusual perspective on mundane environments like street corners and parks.

The latest Schim trailer announces that it’s “feature complete” and the team is now focused on designing more levels. One of the features showcased in this presentation was the ability to change the color palette of a level. This not only serves as an accessibility feature for colorblind players, but it’s also a fun way to customize levels as you play. This tool is also available on our website: schim.art

Schim is coming to PlayStation and PC via itch.io and Steam. You can request playtest access via Steam now.

moonstone island

Admittedly, I love cute and cozy games, but nothing grabbed me more at the MIX showcase than Moonstone Island. This is a beloved little life sim that follows an alchemist who, as per village tradition, needs to spend a year away from home training in alchemy. While on Moonstone Island, they tame nature spirits, make friends, explore, build homes and restore the island. And love and agriculture!

But more than just cute creatures, Moonstone Island is also something of a deck-building RPG, complete with turn-based battles that pit fellow spirits against foes. The combat shown in the trailer was not only adorable, but also felt somewhat earth-bound, considering that players were fighting in teams using lamp spirits and coffee cups.

There’s a lot packed into the short trailer, and I’m curious to see how all of Moonstone Island’s systems work together and work together to make the full adventure. is.

my work is not finished yet

Trailer CW: Suicide, disturbing images

What is this? ? ? what did i see now?

Of all the trailers in this showcase, My Work Is Not Yet Done was the one that told me the least about what’s really going on in the game it represents. There was also something that made me want to. According to its Steam page, it turns out to be a story-driven investigative horror game that follows a person named Avery. I’m not sure if it has anything to do with Thomas Rigotti’s collection of short stories of the same name about corporate workplaces, but I know both are related to horror. Come to think of it, there may be a through line.

Again, according to the Steam page, My Work Is Not Yet Done is about “exploring the confusion and dissolution of human identity/meaning in an eerie wilderness.” I’m not entirely sure what that means! That whole trailer was so upsetting! I want to play this game too! Coming to PC via Steam at an unannounced date.

spider heck

Now for something completely different. Spiderheck is a physics-based brawler in the party-he-game where everyone becomes a spider with Razor his sword. That sentence alone sounds pretty cool to me, but the gameplay seems to back it up: The way the spider moves and sways around is a bit like his Heave-Ho, but Instead of jumping over your friends to reach the finish line, you’re pummeling your enemies with both melee and melee laser weapons. gun. It’s the sort of silly party game that tends to devolve into drunken, good-natured yelling with the right crowd, suitable for local couch play or online hangouts on Discord.Epic Games Available on Switch, PlayStation, Xbox, and PC via the Store and Steam.

Love Suckers: First Dates

This hilarious dating sim had me in the spot-on classic anime opening trailer complete with “(Excited eldritch noises).” But the gameplay looks like a blast after that — it’s a visual novel, sure, but it’s not just chatting with Lovecraftian lovers, but also performing dark rituals to summon them in the first place and keep them happy: Closing the curtains or a candle say the right words to rouse them out of the darkness and fulfill their age-old precocious whims.

The game has been out since January, so at the moment we have an evil woman with three tentacles who spends her time in three chapters, but a sequel called Date to Die For is coming soon, probably as early as this year. increase.

one beat

Every time I think I’ve seen it in a rhythm game, something comes along and surprises me again. This time, it’s a beatboxing rhythm game called One Beat Min, in which players imitate their own beats to battle each other. The result is a fast-paced back-and-forth of his four-button combo (at least in the trailer we just saw) where one player challenges, the other copies and then tries again. It combines typical rhythm game components such as matching buttons and rhythm with the creativity of creating something your opponent cannot imitate and reacting quickly to reading the same opponent. Unfortunately, not many details have been revealed about One Beat Min yet, so we don’t know on which platforms it will be released or when it will be released. Hopefully we can see more soon.

Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. you can find her on her twitter @duck valentine.

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