New Year’s Wishlist: Nick Cescon

2014 was definitely an interesting year for games.

2014 was definitely an interesting year for games. Much like A Tale of Two Cities , it had extremes of some of the best title launches, and some of the worst; but overall the indie game community came out of 2014 on top, and it’s looking like we’re going to be heading into 2015 very strong. There are a lot of titles that I cannot wait to get my paws on over the next year, from story-crafting beat ’em ups to traversing galaxies with nothing but a space suit, 2015 promises to hold some of the most innovative indie games yet!

Moon Hunters had an extremely successful Kickstarter campaign in mid-September, and now this ultra stylized, pixel-art inspired cooperative beat ’em up is in development full force, with the eyes of the entire indie community tentatively waiting to see if they can deliver on their bold promises. However, if the gameplay is even half as good as the design or music, it’s going to be extremely successful. Blowing past their original backing goal, Moon Hunters was able to hit enough of their stretch goals that the content should far outweigh the price for the game, with additional features ranging from more playable classes, to more game content, to more consoles.

For anyone who’s missed playing with LEGOs, or has fantasized about the day they could attach guns to their favorite toy, be on the look out forin the New Year. A mix between LEGO crafting and Command and Conquer ‘s base building, Terra Tech has shown proof of concept through two episodes of Average Giants with their extremely original and well thought out game. You take the role of a commander, as member of one of a few different factions vying for control of an open landscape. Your goal is simple: Build, collect, destroy, collect. Not only will you hand build every vehicle in the game, you’ll also oversee your own base and its production of new parts and vehicles that you can assign the AI to control. There are so many crazy and interesting ideas that if executed properly, Terra Tech could easily be the most unique game of 2015.

Much like the last two games, Lost Orbit has style and design in droves. The player takes on the role of Harrison, a stranded astronaut whose only chance of making it home is literally flying through galaxy upon galaxy in nothing but his space suit trying to get back. It sounds slightly dreary but who says space has to be sad, or boring, or colorless. Lost Orbit has one of the most beautiful and intricate color palette’s I’ve ever seen in a space-based game. The gameplay is most easily described as a top-down endless puzzle runner, however you will definitely spend more time staring at the scenery than actually playing the game. It also has heavy RPG elements, as you level up and customize Harrison during the journey, and has one of the most touching and humbling fully-voiced stories that I’ve heard in an indie game. This is a must have for anyone; I think everything about the game is perfect, and I cannot wait for its Steam and PS4 launch next year.