Indie games featuring animals either as the main character or an important sidekick.
“An immersive and cinematic dinosaur game that captures the reverence and terror of nature’s most magnificent animals. Our dinosaurs go well beyond simple monster mechanics, with built-in self-preservation and reactive systemic AI behaviour. Contest your place in the food chain and intimidate, lure and repel animals using non-lethal weaponry, resulting in both physical and psychological encounters.”
Platforms: Windows
Release: TBA
“A third-person cat adventure game set amidst the detailed neon-lit alleys of a decaying cybercity and the murky environments of its seedy underbelly. Roam surroundings high and low, defend against unforeseen threats and solve the mysteries of this unwelcoming place inhabited by nothing but unassuming droids and dangerous creatures.
“See the world through the eyes of a stray and interact with the environment in playful ways. Be stealthy, nimble, silly, and sometimes as annoying as possible with the strange inhabitants of this foreign world.”
If you’re interested to see how far this project has come you can see some of the old footage here.
Platforms: Windows, PS5
Release: 2022
“Explore a mysterious island as a tiny lizard. Complete ancient puzzles, effortlessly climb cliffs and eat bugs as you make your way across an island civilization lost to time.
“Climb anything, solve ancient contraptions and clamber through the crumbling ruins of a collapsed society – all as a little lizard on a mission to save their friend.”
Platforms: Windows
Release: 2022
“A cute, co-operative postal puzzler starring Jeff and Debra, two small kiwi birds working in a whimsical post office. They must jump, flap, peck and butt-slam their way across an interactive landscape of levers, bells and buttons to get those messages delivered on time!”
They carry paper stuck to their bums and it is the best. :)
Platforms: Windows, Mac, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch
Release: 2021
“An open-world air combat game, featuring fast, brutal aerial dogfights and deep exploration of an incredible fantasy open-world set not only above the clouds, but also amongst the waves and down through the sunken, ocean depths.
“Become the Falconeer and soar through the skies aboard a devastatingly powerful Warbird. Uncover secrets lost to the sea as you join or oppose different factions and clans scattered throughout The Great Ursee. Take advantage of multiple Falconeer classes with individual stats, weapons and warbirds that can be upgraded through winning battles, completing quests, discovering secrets, or applying Mutagens or Chants. Use ocean thermals and energy to dive, dodge, barrel-roll, and twist to gain an advantage.”
While the critic reviews seemed good before launch there seems to be control problems and some UI bugs in the PC version, so definitely a good idea to do some research before purchasing.
Platforms: Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X
Release: holiday 2020
“A classic film noir type adventure game with dark humour, adult themes and very, very dangerous animals.
“Sonny Featherland and Marty McChicken were once legendary detective partners, but time had passed them by. Sonny is a burnt-out, alcoholic ex-cop, who spends his days in an abandoned hotel, while Marty hides behind the facade of a star-detective, but slowly he’s losing himself. Now they’re back together again on a case bigger and much more dangerous than anything they’ve ever encountered before.”
I received a key for this from the developer and although visual novel/point-and-click stuff isn’t really my thing I decided to give it a whirl because the premise of chickens as police is pretty interesting to me.
I wasn’t planning to play much but I did get a bit sucked into the story and ended up going through the first chapter which took about four hours. There are four chapters I think and I’m a bit of a slowpoke, partially because I lost like 20 minutes trying to get a high score in the target practice minigame. The game feels quite polished mostly because of the art and voice acting (which is almost always great) but I also didn’t really encounter any bugs, except one time I did things out of order and the characters talked about visiting a place they had already been (maybe they were trying to block out the body they had just found).
The questioning/interrogating of characters is probably my favourite bit (choosing the right dialogue options based on your updating knowledge of their personality) especially because I’m not sure what happens if you completely screw it up and getting the “True Detective” stamp at the end is a super satisfying relief after previous anxiety.
The game is mostly about visiting locations, talking to characters, and trying to learn who you can trust while unraveling the mystery. It feels like there might be a lot of depth to the characters, but I’m not far enough in to make a determination on that. The writing overall seems good and the dialogue is pretty decent I think although it misses the mark a couple of times for me as I’m not super into noir.
I’m not sure if I will continue, although I really want to meet Miranda the giraffe, but that’s definitely mostly a factor of the visualnovelness (it’s not a hard-core one but I’m severely lacking in patience at the moment), so if that’s your jam it’s definitely a game to look into.
Platforms: Windows, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
Release: November 5, 2020
“A game about jumping through shades in a challenging and lively environment, touch the light and it’s over! This fast-paced 3D platformer takes elements of light & animation and adds them directly to the gameplay, delivering an experience that you will only find in Schim.”
Platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux, Xbox, PS4, Nintendo Switch
Release: TBA
“A wholesome adventure game about random acts of kindness and the joy of discovery. As Camomille the kind mouse, collect goodies by helping those in need and fill your gift basket for Grandma Rosie’s 100th birthday. On a relaxing and beautiful journey (that might not be so straight forward) she encounters people in need of a hand. Relax into this beautiful open-world exploration.”
Platforms: Windows, Nintendo Switch
Release: 2021
“A heartfelt adventure game where it’s okay to be small. Explore a beautiful, atmospheric land and fight monsters on your journey to find your place in the world.
“Chorus is a little frog with huge dreams of protecting the world. Being a tree frog, however, society expects them to lead a life of religious studies, instead of training to be a warrior. Their small size certainly doesn’t help anyone take them seriously, either. Seeking a better life, Chorus moves to Boreala, a village where members of the Defense Guild train under the wisdom of an old veteran. They quickly learn things aren’t going to be as easy as they hoped…”
Platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux
Release: 2022
“A turn-based strategy with medieval animals inspired by 700 years-old real-life medieval marginalia.
“Become master of the Living Ink and lead your illustrated animal army on the pages of medieval books. Create your own bestiary, duel with medieval celebrities and go on wild quests, encounters and challenges. Through obscene actions write your story and become a legendary Master Inkulinati!”
Platforms: Windows, Mac, Nintendo Switch
Release: 2021