After a long absence, Back to Back has returned, prompted by a resurgence of emails about new indie RPG Kickstarter projects! Of those games we glimpsed when we last peered into the depths of the crowdfunding well, Hollow Knight, Infinite Legacy, Wayward Terran Frontier, and Yes, Your Grace each made their goals; Americana Dawn, Cube and […]

Word reaches me that Slovakian indie team FatBot Studio is working on a steampunk, first-person dungeon delver. The name of the game: Vaporum. The premise is a little skimpy at present, though I’m sure the developers will plump it up a bit as development continues: Cast away on a piece of rock in the middle […]

Word reaches me that there’s a new indie jRPG on the scene called Crystal Story II. Developed by Emmanuel Salva Cruz, Crystal Story II reportedly features a whole bunch of minigames in addition to its jRPG core. The premise: Crystal Story II is a turn-based RPG that follows the story of a young Dragon on […]

Word reaches me that there’s a new game out by the name of Chesslike. Developed by Moore Interactive, Chesslike doesn’t qualify as an RPG–it’s a fantasy strategy game, and even then only just barely. The gist is that you progress through a series of dungeons, and both your forces and those of the dungeon inhabitants […]

Word reaches me that there’s a new top-down, real-time roguelike-like in town by the name of Sunless Sea, influenced by such titles as Elite and FTL. Developed by Failbetter Games, Sunless Sea gives you a ship, lets you hire a crew, and sets you off to explore a procedurally generated, pitch-black underground ocean where you […]

Remember Darkest Dungeon? Not quite a year after achieving smashing success on Kickstarter, the dark, psychologically fraught dungeon delver has now been made available for us to play via Steam Early Access. Here’s an early access trailer that developer Red Hook Studios just put out: Mac and Windows; $19.99.

Nathaniel Ayer writes in to announce Himeko Sutori, a new strategy RPG that he’s developing solo. Two things promise to make Himeko Sutori really stand out, in my estimation: first, the finished game will have (and I quote) “over 100 unique named units that you can customize, equip, and level-up as you uncover the schemes […]

Christina Ramey of DoubleBear writes in to announce the release of a free demo for Dead State, the zombie-themed survival wRPG that I last covered here. The demo, much like the game itself, is Windows-only; it’s available right here on the game’s Steam page.

Okay, this was actually announced quite a while ago, buuuut I never got around to posting about it, so here we go regardless! Sui Generis is a 3D isometric action RPG that’s been in development by Bare Mettle Entertainment for a few years now. The premise: On a treacherous world with a tortured history the […]

Word reaches me that there’s a sci-fi first-person dungeon crawler in development by San Diego indie studio Juggernaut Games called StarCrawlers. StarCrawlers employs a narrative AI that procedurally generates missions and dungeons with enemies, traps, and loot. This reminds me a little bit of the classic 1990 dungeon crawler Captive, though presumably StarCrawlers will not […]