Game Bites: Guerilla Collective And Wholesome Direct Indie Roundup At E3 Day 1

Guerrilla Collective started out the indie focus at E3 2021 with a ton of amazing games. The showcase had something for everyone. It started strong with Aragami 2 which is a third-party assassination game. Next was the trailer for Firegirl which is a 2D action puzzle game where you play a firefighter and have to save all the civilians; coming to Switch and consoles. Batora: Lost Haven (the featured image above) was next and is another puzzle RPG but in 3D which had some Hades vibes to it and should be checked out. Grime is a dark RPG Metroidvania game that will be coming in 2021. BPM, which is a rhythm Doom-like shooter, will get an update and port to consoles this summer. 

A game that I thought looked very interesting was Akatori, a beautiful 2D action platformer coming to Steam. For those bullet hell lovers there was old school Zelda lookalike Archvale, coming later this year to Nintendo Switch and Steam. A point and click adventure, No Longer Home was announced and is coming to Steam. For the dungeon crawler and 16bit Castlevania fans, Hunt The Night was announced for PC and consoles and looked very bloody in the best way. Coming to Steam is a game called Black Book about being a Slavic witch. Deck building strategy game fans can rejoice with Demon’s Mirror coming to Steam. Ghostrunner, a cyberpunk first-person ninja game launched last year was announced to be coming to the Nintendo Switch on June 30. A unique side scroller named The Light Of The Darkness, where you play as an angelic being with weapons, is coming in 2022. Another innovative game was Slime Heroes which is a friendly adventure game where you play as a slime and make weapons from your slime body; with the addition of co-op, that will be coming out on Steam. Arietta of Spirits is an action adventure game where you can see mysterious spirits after your grandmother’s death and is coming to all consoles. 

One of the funnier games shown was UnMetal which is a 2D top-down stealth game that is basically a parody of the classic Metal Gear Solid and is coming to Steam. Wolfstride is a black-and-white RPG about three friends who have giant mech battles — what’s not to love? Sable was a game already shown but we got a new trailer as well as a release date of Sept. 23. Another 2D action game that was announced was Bats, which is a game where you are a vampire who is killing zombies and terrorists to gather blood. Following the RPG trend was Death Trash, which takes place in a post-apocalyptic world and is coming soon. Another bloody game announced was Serial Cleaners where you have to clean up your messy murders while not getting caught which will be coming to PC and all consoles. An enhanced Raji: An Ancient Epic was announced for 2021. Despot’s Game was announced, which is a dungeon crawler that you can control multiple characters in and even have them fight with refrigerators. Speaking of kitchen items, Rawmen is a battle royale game where you are a customizable broth person fighting with all manner of kitchen utensils against giant metaballs, boba and the likes. More food oriented gameplay came from Happy’s Humble Burger Farm which is a game coming to Steam where you run a burger restaurant, but spooky horror appears. We got another look at a few previously released games such as Hello Neighbor 2, Trash Sailors, and new modes for Among Us. A game that is out right now on Steam was the potion making game called Potion Craft. There was a casino manager game full of human-like animals called Blooming Business: Casino that is coming soon.  

Coming to all consoles and PC was a 1-4 player game called RoboDunk which is a game about robots playing basketball and features a campaign mode. For those wanting to do more multiplayer games, King of the Hat is a battle party game coming to steam where you compete to be the last hat wearer. Staying with the very unique story games was Venice 2089, a game releasing to Steam on June 30, where you try to save a future Venice from climate change and you ride a hoverboard. Ghibli fans will like Behind the Frame, a game about painting, drawing and art with a very meaningful story. Later this year for all consoles is Kitsune Tails, a side scrolling platformer where you play a kitsune trying to save your significant other. The last game announced during Guerrilla Collective’s event was Arcade Paradise which is an arcade management game where you convert your dad’s laundromat into an arcade.

The next presentation was the second year at E3 for Wholesome Direct, sponsored by Wholesome Games which brings all types of comfortable indie games to the public’s eye. Wholesome Direct started with a new sitcom narrative game in a world where everyone is a bird and you play an introverted bird named Tweeter Gregory, perfectly titled Bird Problems and is coming to Steam. Another Steam game was Recolit, a mystery action adventure where you explore a dark town, guided by trails of light. Snacko, which was announced in last year’s Wholesome Direct, was announced to be coming to Nintendo Switch and Steam in 2022. There were a few photography games and the first one shown was Alekon, a game where you take pictures of fantastical creatures, solve puzzles, play minigames and more and is out now on Steam. For the OCD friend in your life comes the very satisfying tidy puzzle game called A Little To The Left where you have to organize disorganized items and will be coming to Steam on Oct. 21. For the match-3 puzzle game fans comes Spirit Swap: Lo-fi Beats To Match-3 To, set in a queer world of witches, demons and spirits with relaxing lo-fi beats that will be coming to Steam. 

We got more information on two previously announced games, Behind The Frame: The Finest Scenery and SkateBird. Here Comes Niko! is a 3D platformer where you work at Tadpole incorporated and your boss is a frog, coming to Steam and Switch. Tea lovers would be excited about Pekoe, a game coming to Steam where in a  town full of cats you work at a teahouse and learn all about making special teas. For the Yokai fans there is Yokai Inn, a slice of life game where you run an inn and make friends with the spirits that stay there. Beautiful underwater adventure game, Mythic Ocean, is coming to PS4, Switch, Xbox One, and Steam. It’s a game where your choices matter as you teach ocean gods how to be better. Another Steam game announced was Kokopa’s Atlas where you play as a cat with your bird companion as you explore, chart, craft and farm the uncharted planet you’ve discovered. In Letters: A Written Adventure you play as Sarah, a young Swiss girl who writes letters to her pen pal, where you choose the words to express how she views her world, coming to Switch and Steam late 2021.

Beasts of Maravilla Island was another photography game where you take photos of creatures you meet across Maravilla Island, out now on PC, Switch, and Xbox, and coming later to PlayStation 4. We got another look at the hand-painted puzzle platformer Hoa, which is coming out July 27 for Xbox, Switch, and PlayStation 4. We Are OFK is a beautifully animated interactive series surrounding the true story of four friends putting together a pop group that is coming soon to Steam. Fans of The Sims will enjoy Paralives, a home builder that focuses on the customization of furniture and home design in a small, open world town, coming to Steam. Coming to Steam on Aug. 31 is KeyWe, another game that was already announced which involves kiwi birds helping letters get delivered. A Walk With Yiayia is a game coming to Steam, about walking around the neighborhood and talking with your grandma after she’s had a fall, trying to help her rebuild her confidence. Dordogne is a story about childhood memories told through puzzles and letters that are recorded in a journal with everything being hand-drawn and is coming out later this year on Steam and Switch. 

Tasomachi: Behind the Twilight is a 3D exploration adventure where you explore a silent town and get to know its inhabitants as you try to repair your airship, coming to Switch, PS4, and Xbox later this year. One of the only visual novel games shown during the Wholesome Direct was Please Be Happy, where you find out what happiness means to both the town’s residents, and you, with a demo out now on Steam. Another narrative sim is Witchy Life Story, where you play as a witch, tend your garden, put spells together, and make friends with and help your neighbors, and is coming to Steam. One of the more unique games, Bear & Breakfast, is a game coming to Switch and Steam where you’re the bear who has to put a bed and breakfast in a park back together. A game about colors, perfectly named Rainbow Billy – The Curse Of The Leviathan, where you bring out the true colors of monsters you battle, is coming to Steam, PS4, Xbox, and Switch. There was another soup game called Soup Pot, which is a cooking game focused on creativity, with over 100 different dishes  coming in Aug. 2021 to Xbox and Steam. Cloud Jumper, a game where you are up in the sky and solve puzzles, is coming to Steam. Teacup, the second to last game about frogs, was a very Madeline-like art style game where you play as a little frog trying to find ingredients for a tea party. 

One very short but wholesome trailer was for Pupperazzi, where the goal of the game is just to take photos of dogs and honestly what’s more wholesome than that? We had a cozy fishing and building game where you grow a garden in an archipelago, called Luna’s Fishing Garden, that is coming to Steam. Witchery Academy was next and is a life sim where you play as a wizard apprentice, coming to Steam and Switch. If you ever wanted to own a shop in a town of cute dinosaurs then Amber Isle is the game for you. Woodo is a cozy game where you place crafted wood pieces, solve puzzles, and fill out a beautiful home, coming in 2022. More crafting gaming was had in Wytchwood, which is a top-down crafting adventure game set in a land of gothic fables, coming to Steam. A Zelda-like exploration game with a very creepy but cute art style is Moonshell Island, taking place on an island where you build a community and fight off monsters,  also coming to Steam. The last of our froggy video games was Frogsong, which is a top-down adventure where you play as a frog and fight off monsters to prove you can be a hero, coming to Steam in 2022. The last of the full trailers from Wholesome Direct but not the least was Loddlenaut, a game where you are sent by your job to clean up the ocean and make friends with the local loddles.