Having spent the last few years building up a reputation as the publisher of some of the indie game world’s most-acclaimed titles, and just being a publisher of extremely interesting games overall, Annapurna Interactive has more than earned the right to have their own Direct-style showcase as well, which for the last couple of years has played host to enticing game announcements and news. The 2023 Annapurna Interactive Showcase was no exception, and in order of reveals, we have all the various announcements from the show collected here for you to check out (with links to each trailer available), so let’s get started…
First up was an update on Simogo’s next title,Lorelei and the Laser Eyes,coming to PC and Switch. A new “Maze” trailer appeared, giving us more insight into the premise, involving some sort of mysterious project involving events that span nearly two hundred years. And while we don’t see any gameplay, the emphasis on pattern recognition, puzzles, mazes and the overall surreal atmosphere suggests a return to something more akin to an adventure game likeDevice 6for the developer. The trailer ends with a mysterious cipher which when decoded says “release date revealed at a later date.” Gamescom, maybe? PAX West? We’ll find out sometime later, so stay tuned.
Next up came the release date trailer forCocoon,which already wowed us with a sneak peakduring Day of the Devs this month,and then proceeded to wow everyone else at Summer Game Fest by winning the award forMost Anticipated Independent Game. Geometric Interactive’s adventure game where players leap in and out of worlds within worlds showed off a bit more gameplay and impressive visuals before ending with a rather imposing sight, and then the reveal that the game is arriving on September 29 for all major platforms (including Game Pass for Xbox players).
It’s at this point that we finally received our first brand new game reveal, one coming from developer Matt Newell. The game is calledLushfoil Photography Sim,and it’s about…well, the title kind of tells you all you need to know, really. You travel around recreations of real-world locations, taking pictures with realistic cameras, completing various objectives and finding some hidden secrets along the way. No release window yet, just a mention that it’s coming soon to PC and consoles.
We then got to see one of two developer featurettes, highlighting Annapurna’s latest partnerships.The first was with Kyoto-based developers Marumittu Games,giving us a look at the married couple at the heart of things. It was a nice look into their history, and while they didn’t reveal much about their upcoming game, we did get to see some concept art and some details behind it, such as it being built around a futuristic place called Rakuen (no relation to the indie RPG of the same name), and there appears to bea sneak peak on Marumittu’s Twitter account,providing a tiny taste until more details come later.
Another brand new game reveal followed, this time being another teamup between Annapurna and Keita Takahashi. This time around, developers Uvula (in collaboration with AbleGamers) give usTo a T,a narrative adventure game about a teenager trying to live a normal life, with the added challenges that come from being permanently stuck in a t-pose. Yes, really. There’s even a theme song all about it, and how their pose gives them the ability to fly. Hey, what else would you expect from the creator of Katamari Damacy? No release window yet, but it looks like the game is headed, to PC and Xbox for now, complete with a Game Pass appearance.
Next was an update on a game first revealed during last year’s Annapurna Interactive Showcase, that being Hollow Ponds and Richard Hogg’s multiplayer co-op creature-collecting game,Flock.Richard and one of the game’s designers, Pip, delivered a gameplay showcase where we see two players as they soar through the air on birds, help each other find different creatures to charm and add to their titular flock, and admire the sights. No release window here yet as well, but we at least know more of what to expect when the game arrives later for PC, PlayStation, and Xbox platforms (with Game Pass availability for the latter).
Another brand new game reveal appeared after, and it was the latest from Messhof, the developer behind theNidhogggames. Their latest title sees them heading in a bold new direction while still focusing on sports, heading to fencing to biking withGhost Bike.Now, the title “Ghost Bike” should be enough of a reason on its own to be excited for this game, but if for some reason you need more information, the game is about a streetwise kid who has to retrieve the last of the Ghost Bikes, couriers between the world of the living and the dead. On the journey, you’ll maintain your own Ghost Bike, discover upgrades, go through various challenges and contests to restore Ghost power, and more. It comes out in 2024 for PC, PlayStation, and Xbox platforms (again arriving on Game Pass), and it should be hard to miss with a name like that.
Our second developer featurette was now up, this time highlighting developer Glass Revolver and their new partnership with Annapurna. Best known for the top-down action gamesITTAand House of God, their showcase did give us a look at Jacob Williams' difficult decision to restart development on his next game, We Kill Monsters, changing this up and switching it over to a 3D adventure. It’s a gutsy move, and here’s hoping it pays off. Weirdly, though, Glass Revolverdid post a trailer of the game to Twitterafter the showcase, though it was MIA from the whole show and not posted to Annapurna’s YouTube channel yet, nor is their featurette up there yet as well (you can view it here at the 31-minute mark). Odd, but hopefully things get straightened out later.
Mundaun was up next, being a pencil-sketched first-person horror game from 2021 whose inclusion here might cause one to think “Wait, I don’t remember Annapurna publishing this game…” Well, original publisher MWM Interactive sadly closed their doors last year, so developers Hidden Fields have now teamed up with Annapurna, who will be the game’s new publisher across all platforms. And this includes today’s reveal, that beingMundaun’snative release for PS5 and XSX as of today, complete with 4K support, 60 FPS, and other improvements, which should make old and new fans alike happy.
We again moved to another game debuted last year, this beingBounty Star,from developer Dinogod. It was another gameplay overview, with director and creator Ben Ruiz walking us through a bit of the game and some of its features, as we get to see one half of the game’s third-person action as our ex-soldier turned bounty hunter engages in mech combat in a post-post-apocalyptic world, and the other half as we help our heroine run their bounty hunting business while working on rebuilding themselves and their personal life. The game ends with the the announcement of a current Early 2024 release for PC, PlayStation, and Xbox platforms (arriving on – say it with me now – Game Pass as well).
Next up, the quick announcement thatStray,the post-apocalyptic kittycat adventure that wasone of our picks for last year’s best games,will now be arriving for Xbox platforms on August 10 after a year of being a PlayStation console exclusive. There’s not much else to say, if only because the trailer there already sells the game too perfectly. Surprisingly, this is also one of the rare instances where the hit indie game isn’t going to appear on Game Pass, it seems…well, not yet, anyway.
The award-winning upcoming adventure/RPG gameThirsty Suitorswas up next, with Outerloop Games' title finally receiving a release date. The game is about…well, as our protagonist Jala describes it in the trailer, “So, I have to make up with my first love, find out what’s going on with the creepy skate cult run by a bear mascot, win my mother’s approval, and track down my sister who’s avoiding me, all before the most dangerous battle of all…” and that’s not even getting into the turn-based combat with Jala’s exes. It’s genre-defying stuff, and we’ll see how it goes down when the game arrives for all major platforms on November 2 (including – ah, here we are again – Game Pass).
Right before the final announcement, we received the news that developer Daniel Benmergui’s puzzle gameStorytellerwould be receiving a free update on September 26, which should hopefully be good news to those who found the game lacking in content when it was released earlier this year. Even more notable is that the game will be heading to Netflix on that same day as well, giving mobile owners a chance to try it out for free with their Netflix subscriptions, allowing them to try their luck at crafting stories as well.
Finally, we arrived at the big, closing announcement, that of Annapurna Interactive’s first internally-developed game. And appropriately enough for a company that was initially known for cinema, it’s a game based on a famous movie, and one that already had one highly-regarded video game adaptation at that, making this a bold move. The game?Blade Runner 2033: Labyrinth.Set between the original 1982 film and the more recent Blade Runner 2049, the game takes place after the events of the Black Out and asks the question of what a Blade Runner is supposed to do when there are no more Replicants left to hunt. Aside from that, all we have is the reveal trailer to go on for now, and the news that it’s coming to PC and consoles. Stay tuned for more details as they come, though.
So that’s fourteen different games, both new and old, to all get excited for. And we’re positive that even then, this is only scratching the surface of what Annapurna Interactive has planned for the future. It’s quite the impressive showcase of games, so keep your eyes peeled to Hardcore Gamer as each one arrives, with us eagerly anticipating each title.
