There are a select few developers whose new titles go straight on my wishlist. Citizen Sleeper developer Jump Over The Age. Sayonara Wild Hearts and Lorelei and the Laser Eyes developer Simogo. Studio ZA/UM and its myriad spin-off studios. To a lesser extent, the publishers of those games I mentioned (Fellow Traveller and Annapurna Interactive) will always pique my interest with their new titles and I’ll make sure to check what they’re up to with regular occurrence.
Despite my aversion to horror, Critical Reflex is an up-and-comer publishing banger after banger.
Another of these developers is Inkle. The studio burst onto the indie scene in 2015 with 80 Days, but I wasn’t aware of it until four years later, when it released Heaven’s Vault. I played a demo for the game at EGX Rezzed (RIP) and was immediately hooked. As a man with a Languages degree and a general interest in linguistics, the core archeology mechanic that acted as the game’s puzzles immediately intrigued me.
Heavenly Gameplay
In the demo, I came to the conclusion that the ancient ruins I’d found had been some kind of bath house, thanks to my sparse dictionary of hieroglyphics and context clues. The developer on hand told me that my summation was completely wrong, but I was none the wiser because Aliya ran with my decision.
I love games that allow you to come to wrong conclusions, like when you accuse an innocent man in a detective title. But when you expand this linguistic puzzle to an entire game, a game with a web of timelines and weave a brilliant narrative into the discoveries, the whole thing becomes an incredibly innovative piece of interactive storytelling.
Heaven’s Vault is one of the games that solidified my decision to write about video games professionally.
Inkle followed up Heaven’s Vault with Pendragon, a turn-based tactical game with some incredibly clever conversation tech that meant NPCs reacted to your every decision – both tactical and conversational – in a manner that created incredible depth and replayability.
Since 2020, Inkle has released Overboard! and A Highland Song, neither of which hit me like Heaven’s Vault, Pendragon, or 80 Days, which I played in late 2019 after finishing Heaven’s Vault. Both had their charms, but didn’t quite live up to my lofty expectations. I think a part of this is the genres: Inkle always tries something new. Despite my reference above, I don’t particularly care for detective games. A Highland Song was lovely, but lacked the mechanical innovation that I’d come to expect from the developer.
Miss Mulligatawney’s School For Promising Girls
I’m still excited for Inkle’s next game, though. The developer just announced Miss Mulligatawney’s School for Promising Girls, and I hit the wishlist button immediately. Inkle gave very little information about the game, but it doesn’t matter. I’ll play it, and I’ll cross my fingers that the developer can recreate the magic of its previous titles.
Inkle’s press release says that Miss Mulkligatawney’s School for Promising Games isn’t the final name for the game, but I’ll inevitably call it that forever.
I know the narrative will be solid – that’s the Inkle way – and, thus far, this is what’s been teased. The Steam page gives you a brief rundown of the history of the eponymous school, and posts on BlueSky gave us a glimpse at some of the characters. The artwork looks great, and the tidbits of character bios foreshadow a child’s death and suggest that a mysterious power is at play. I wouldn’t expect anything less.
I’ve heard a lot of talk recently about 2024 being a terrible year for video games, that quality has dropped and there’s been nothing good to play. I can’t help but disagree. I’ve played some all-timers this year, games like Balatro, 1000xResist, and Neva. I’ve played yet more that I’ve loved. And I’m looking forward to next year. While many of my anticipated games don’t have solid release dates yet (Miss Mulligatawney’s included), I’m hoping to play it in 2025 alongside darkwebStreamer and Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector.
If triple-A isn’t doing it for you, play indie games. Find developers who make games that excite you, that reignite your passion for this medium, who iterate and innovate in interactive storytelling. You’re not guaranteed to like everything they produce, but it’s better than pinning all your hopes and dreams on GTA6, I can tell you that much for certain.
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