Indie games featuring animals either as the main character or an important sidekick.
You are a fix-it giraffe. Giraffix 🦒 Grow your giraffe’s neck even longer by eating food in the house and try to reach the exit while also repairing as many things as possible using your handy wrench. Made in 48 hours for Global Game Jam 2020 where the theme was ‘repair’.
Platforms: your browser
Release: February 2, 2020
“An adventure game focused on exploration, story, and character, featuring dozens of characters to meet and lots to do across a lush, vibrant world.
“College dropout Mae Borowski returns home to the crumbling former mining town of Possum Springs seeking to resume her aimless former life and reconnect with the friends she left behind. But things aren’t the same. Home seems different now and her friends have grown and changed. Leaves are falling and the wind is growing colder. Strange things are happening as the light fades.
“And there’s something in the woods.”
Platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux, PS4, Xbox, Nintendo Switch
Release: February 21, 2017
A physics-based party game about four cats battling for dominance and mildly wrecking their owner’s house. 🐈
A fun little prototype of a spider with laser eyes that you can play around with. I really like the web mechanics. 🕸️
This is now called WEBBED, and is being developed as a full spider adventure that looks really awesome and you can check out here.
Platforms: Windows
Release: October 23, 2019
“Build a hive, make some honey! Hive Time is a small, bee themed management/base building sim. Harvest resources, grow your hive, and produce a new Queen before the current one dies.
“Manage different bee roles in a totally scientifically inaccurate depiction of hive dynamics. Send Foragers out to find pollen and nectar, have Builders research new cell types, and ensure you have enough Beesitters to raise the next generation of bees.”
Platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux
Release: December 11, 2019
These are three prototypes created by Bossa Studios that you can play for free and then let them know which one you would like made into a full game.
🦊 Trash Bandits, rush around the city trying to collect as much garbage as quickly as possible, and if your friends are rubbish you can throw them in too
🕊️ Pigeon Simulator, become a sky rat and terrorize the city with your friends
🐟 I am Fish, live the dream and roll your way to the freedom of the ocean just like in Finding Nemo. This fish looks suspiciously like it lives in freshwater, but I’m sure everything will be fine! 👀
“A turn-based RPG that takes place in a medieval rodent society beneath the streets of modern London. The story follows Verm, a particularly angry mouse armed with a pen knife, who is hunting for the human who stole his tail.
“On the way, Verm befriends a mole wizard, a squirrel harlequin, and a lab rat lancer. Together, the party upend rodent society, clash with titans, and eventually face off against the gods themselves.”
Platforms: Windows, Mac, PS4, Switch
Release: Summer 2021
developed by Khalil Arafan, Joram van Loenen, & Yoann Turpin
“The player explores a lush beautiful valley. Home of birds. Using an old binocular and journal you set out to spot the surrounding wildlife, discovering the local species and secrets hidden around the hills, rivers, and lakes. Through listening, observation, stealth, and timing the player strives to collect all species and their behaviors. Collect feathers, find nests and eggs. Endure the weather and uncover the hidden secrets of a Norway inspired scenery.”
[Trailer]
Platforms: TBA
Release: TBA
developed by Rob Potter
“A dark fantasy adventure game, set in ancient woodland gripped by an enduring winter. You’re one of the few remaining animals left, a bright red fox. Your cub mysteriously taken you embark on a journey through the ruins of a lost civilisation and into the heart of an otherworldly forest to get her back.”
Platforms: Windows, Nintendo Switch
Release: 2020
developed by Pixelnicks | published by Screenwave Media
“Discover the avian world of Eagle Island with Quill and his loyal owl companion, Koji. Explore lush forests, treacherous caverns, and uncover the ruins of long lost civilizations on your way to confront the gargantuan deity, Armaura, in a desperate attempt to rescue Ichiro from her clutches.”
[Buy on Steam] | [Nintendo eShop]
Platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux, Switch
Release: July 11, 2019