John Wick As A DVD Store Operator, A Roguelike Take On Armored Core And Other New Indie Games Worth Checking Out

Key Points:

• Emberville, an upcoming top-down action RPG from Cygnus Cross co-owned by Twitch streamer Ben "CohhCarnage" Cassel, combines dungeon crawling and life-sim elements with beautiful pixel art, strong combat, and a captivating underground prison setting; it launches in early access on Steam October 27.
• Blackwood: Act One is an action-life sim hybrid where players juggle running a DVD store by day and engaging in Max Payne-style gun combat by night; despite promising ideas, it currently suffers from clunky mechanics and bugs but is receiving developer patches and improvements ahead of future acts.
• Rig Riot is a roguelike mech action game inspired by Armored Core 6, featuring thousands of customizable parts and plans for co-op and console releases if sales allow; it is available on Steam with a demo and a discount until late September.
• Lily's World XD is a psychological horror desktop exploration game set in the 2000s, where players investigate a teenage girl's laptop to uncover troubling secrets; praised for its authentic storytelling and fourth-wall-breaking moments, it is available on Steam with a discount until September 24.
• Other notable indie titles include OpenFront, a fast-paced real-time strategy multiplayer game with a large player base and cross-platform progress; Kingmakers, a chaotic medieval action-strategy game with modern weapons and co-op play still awaiting a release date; and Star Conflict: Burrownauts, an action roguelite space mining and combat game currently in Steam playtest.