Every year, starting at the Game Developers Conference and continuing through many other trade shows and cons throughout the year we’re excited to show off a ton of awesome games – some being announced for the first time on Xbox, and others that are just great games that we’re super stoked about and want to get on folks’ radar.
Given the global situation right now, of course, we’re not able to show off games to press and players in person, so we’re excited to announce a new series of videos on the ID@Xbox YouTube Channel that will highlight independent developers – ID@Xbox Spotlight.
With these videos, you’ll hear from the developers themselves as they walk you through some of the exciting titles coming to Xbox – including some brand new announcements like Mischief’s Adios, Strange Scaffold’s An Airport for Aliens Currently Run by Dogs, Goblinz Studio’s Legend of Keepers, Sector D2’s Project Wingman, Mighty Yell’s The Big Con and Vanimals’ Undying.
Of course, the games we’re showing this week are just a fraction of the more than 1,600 games in development by the more than 3,000 developers in 67 countries worldwide who are part of Xbox’s digital publishing program for independent developers. Whether developers are looking to ship on Xbox and Windows 10, or enable Xbox Live on devices such as Android and iOS, ID@Xbox is ready to help.
You can check out each ID@Xbox Spotlight episode below to learn more about each of the games that independent developers are bringing to Xbox. We hope you enjoy the series and if you’d like to stay connected to other great new games from Independent Developers coming for Xbox, make sure you subscribe to our ID@Xbox YouTube channel.
ID@Xbox Spotlight 1
- Adios (Mischief) – Announced today for Xbox One & Windows 10, Xbox Play Anywhere, Xbox One X Enhanced
Adios is an expansive new narrative experience about a pig farmer who decides he will no longer let the mob bury bodies on his farm, and his best friend, who will kill him at the end of the day.
- An Airport for Aliens Currently Run by Dogs (Strange Scaffold) – Announced today for Xbox One & Windows 10, Xbox Play Anywhere, Xbox One X Enhanced
An Airport for Aliens Currently Run by Dogs is a first-person open world comedy adventure game about catching flights from stock photo canines, solving their problems in fully simulated airports, and maintaining a long-distance relationship with the only other human being left in the universe.
- Bonkies Crunching Koalas (Crunching Koalas/Studio Gauntlet) – Announced today for Xbox One
Bonkies lets you take control over a monkey with a mission – using a jetpack and a mechanical arm you must build the wackiest of constructions on the distant-est of planets! Gather a team of up to 4 players and help tame the final frontier of monkey civilization – space!
- Haven (The Game Bakers) – Xbox Game Pass, Xbox Play Anywhere, Xbox One X Enhanced
They escaped to a lost planet to be together. A RPG adventure about love and freedom. To play solo or co-op with a special someone.
- Spiritfarer (Thunder Lotus) – Xbox Game Pass, Xbox Play Anywhere
Spiritfarer is a cozy management game about dying. As ferrymaster to the deceased, build a boat to explore the world, care for your spirit friends, and guide them across mystical seas to finally release them into the afterlife. What will you leave behind?
- West of Dead (Raw Fury/Upstream Arcade) – Xbox Game Pass, Xbox One X Enhanced
Purgatory, Wyoming, 1888. A place of gun smoke and darkness, sin and damnation, wendigos and witches. Step into the boots of the dead man William Mason (voiced by Ron Perlman) in this fast-paced twin-stick shooter. Dodge behind cover as you try to outgun your enemies in the unknown procedurally generated hunting grounds. The Wild West has never been this dark.
ID@Xbox Spotlight 2
- Atomicrops (Raw Fury/Bird Bath Games)
Atomicrops is an action-packed roguelite farming simulator where you must cultivate and defend the last farm in the post-apocalypse wasteland. Farm mutated crops, marry townsfolk, and kill every mutant creature that tries to invade!
- Drake Hollow (Molasses Flood) – Xbox Game Pass, Xbox One X Enhanced
Drake Hollow is a cooperative action village building game set in the Hollow – a blighted mirror of our world – in which you build and defend villages of Drakes, the local vegetable folk. Either solo or with friends, explore a procedurally generated world of islands trapped in poisonous aether.
- Edge of Eternity (Dear Villagers/Midgar Studio) – Xbox Game Pass
Edge Of Eternity is a JRPG made by an indie team of 9 people in the south of France. Wage epic turn-based battles as you follow Daryon and Selene on their quest to find a cure to the all-consuming Corrosion in this grand tale of hope and sacrifice.
- Ghostrunner (All in! Games/One More Level)
Ghostrunner is a fast-paced cyberpunk action game. Play as a high-tech combat cyborg and fight your way to the top of Dharma Tower. Cut down your enemies with a monomolecular sword, dodge bullets thanks to super-human senses and make use of devastating special moves. And remember – always keep running.
- King’s Bounty II (1C Publishing EU)
The King’s Bounty turn-based tactics series returns with King’s Bounty 2! In addition to the tactical depth fans expect from its combat, immerse yourself in the fantasy world of Antara with a whole new, non-linear narrative and deep RPG mechanics that give weight to your every decision.
- Moving Out (Team17/SMG)
Moving Out is a physics-based moving simulator that brings a whole new meaning to “couch co-op.” Solo or with friends, you must tackle the perils of moving furniture in a series of increasingly absurd situations.
ID@Xbox Spotlight 3
- Bartlow’s Dread Machine (Beep Games, Inc./Tribetoy) – Xbox Play Anywhere, Xbox One X Enhanced
Your mission: rescue Teddy Roosevelt from his abductors! An artifact from the past returns in Bartlow’s Dread Machine, a game from the dawn of the Electric Age, featuring dual stick arcade action with single player and couch co-op modes, six game worlds and a cast of improbable tin characters.
- Ikenfell (Humble Bundle/Happy Ray Games) – Xbox Game Pass
A turn based-tactical RPG about a group of troublesome magic students. Use timing mechanics to power your spells and block attacks, explore the twisted halls of a vast magic school, fight challenging monsters and bosses, find tons of hidden treasure, and uncover dark secrets never meant to be found.
- Lake (Whitethorn Digital/Gamious) – Xbox One X Enhanced
It’s 1986 – Meredith Weiss takes a break from her career in the big city to deliver mail in her hometown. How will she experience two weeks in beautiful Providence Oaks, with its iconic lake and quirky community? And what will she do next? It’s up to you.
- Legend of Keepers (Goblinz Studio) – Announced today for Xbox One & Windows 10
Legend of Keepers is the perfect mix between Dungeon Management and Roguelite. You have been hired as a dungeon master by the Dungeons Company. Your job is simple: protect their dungeons!
- The Red Lantern (Tiberline Studio) – Xbox Game Pass
The Red Lantern is a story-driven, rogue-lite game where you and your team of 5 sled dogs, lost in the wilderness, must navigate the ever-changing encounters of the Alaskan bush to find your way home.
- The Second Chance Project (Cosmonaught Studios)
The Second Chance Project is a single-player, first-person narrative game with a focus on time travel, choice and consequence. With a unique sandbox time-changing mechanic, the entire story is open from the start and features multi-layered, non-linear gameplay with trillions of permutations and hundreds of outcomes.
ID@Xbox Spotlight 4
- Minute of Islands (Mixtvision/Studio Fizbin)
Explore a strange and wonderful archipelago in this classic comic-style adventure. Guide young mechanic Mo on a journey to find the strength to let go in a world about to collapse. The powerful Omni Switch at your disposal may not be enough to fix all that is broken…
- Project Wingman (Humble Bundle/Sector D2) – Announced today for Xbox One
Project Wingman is a flight action game that lets you take the seat of advanced fighter jets and become a true ace. Fight in various missions and gamemodes ranging from intense aerial dogfights to large scale ground assault in an alternate scorched earth setting.
- Revenant’s Reach (Homonkulus) – Announced today for Xbox One & Windows 10
You are the Revenant. Having escaped a sunken prison with your grappling hook, you find yourself in an ailing natural world. In this technical 2.5D platformer, you must cross treacherous landscapes, solve hazardous puzzles and battle twisted monstrosities, all to recover lost memories and confront the demons of your past.
- Skater XL (Easy Day Studios) – Xbox One X Enhanced
Skater XL is an evolution in skateboarding games. Experience unparalleled board control and responsiveness while you skate legendary real-world skate spots. Style your tricks the way you want, from the way you flip the board to the way you move your feet. Feel connected to your board like never before.
- Undying (Vanimals) – Announced today for Xbox One & Windows 10, Xbox Play Anywhere
Infected by a zombie bite, Anling’s days are numbered. She must now fight to survive, only for her son, Cody. Ensure Cody’s survival in this zombie world by protecting him and teaching him valuable skills, at any cost. Even if it means giving in to her new zombie urges.
- Unto the End (Big Sugar/2 Ton Studios) – Xbox Game Pass, Xbox Play Anywhere
Unto the End is a handcrafted combat-adventure about a father’s struggle to get back to his family. Trek through unforgiving landscapes in a player-skill focused journey, where every opponent is unique, and 20 years of side-scroller convention is set aside to deliver a HUDless, one-of-a-kind combat experience.
ID@Xbox Spotlight 5
- Calico (Whitethorn Digital/Peachy Keen Games) – Xbox One X Enhanced
Calico is a day-in-the-life community sim game where you are given an important and adorable task: rebuild the town’s cat café and fill it with cute and cuddly creatures! Build up your café by filling it with cute furniture, fun decorations, yummy pastries, and get it bustling with animals again!
- Drink More Glurp (Yogscast Games/Catastrophic_Overload) – Announced today for Xbox One
Drink More Glurp is a wacky physics sports(ish) pass-the-pad party game set on a distant world where aliens have copied Earth’s summer games and got everything slightly wrong. Run, jump, throw and compete in crazy contests with up to 20 local players or challenge the world on the global leaderboards.
- She Dreams Elsewhere (Studio Zevere) – Xbox Game Pass, Xbox Play Anywhere
She Dreams Elsewhere is a surreal adventure RPG about dreams, nightmares and mental health. You play as Thalia, an anxiety-ridden, comatose woman who delve into her dreams and confront her inner nightmares in order to finally wake up. Unfortunately, some nightmares are harder to confront than others…
- Star Renegades (Raw Fury/Massive Damage) – Xbox Game Pass
Star Renegades is a strategy RPG about outsmarting AI-driven adversaries, forging friendships, and toppling galactic empires spanning over multiple dimensions.
- SuperMash (Digital Continue)
SuperMash is a game that makes games! Mash together two game genres to get a completely unique new game each time, then challenge your friends to see how they do!
- The Vale (Falling Squirrel)
The Vale is a story driven, action-adventure that utilizes the full potential of spatial audio to deliver visceral gameplay. The Vale sets out to breathe new life into medieval combat and provide a novel experience for visually impaired and sighted gamers alike.
ID@Xbox Spotlight 6
- The Big Con (Mighty Yell) – Announced today for Xbox One & Windows 10, Xbox Play Anywhere
The Big Con is a 90s-themed adventure game about a young woman con artist hustling her way across the country to save her family video store.
- Hazel Sky (Another Indie/Coffee Addict Studio) – Xbox One X Enhanced
Sent to an island far from home in the flying city of Gideon, Shane must pass the trials and return as an Engineer or face banishment. Connected via radio, Shane and fellow trainee engineer, Erin strike up an illicit friendship that will change the way Shane sees the world.
- KungFu Kickball (Blowfish Studios/Whalefood Games) – Xbox One X Enhanced
KungFu Kickball is a fighting-sports game where the best ball kicker wins! Compete against your friends in a fantasy sport that mixes soccer with kung fu action movies. Fly through the air and unleash a flurry of punches, kicks, and mystical arts to overpower the other team.
- Levelhead (Butterscotch Shenanigans) – Xbox Game Pass, Xbox Play Anywhere
Build, play, share and compete in Levelhead, the platformer maker. Create challenging levels with the deep, intuitive systems of the level editor, then share those levels with the world and gain a following!
- Maid of Sker (Wales Interactive) – Xbox One X Enhanced
Maid of Sker is a first-person horror game set in a remote hotel with a macabre history from Welsh folklore. Brave the nightmares of the Quiet Ones. When they arrive, do not panic — don’t even breathe.
- Mayhem in Single Valley (tinyBuild/Fluxscopic) – Announced today for Xbox One
Mayhem in Single Valleyis an action-adventure mixing a Zelda-like world with the supernatural feel of Stranger Things. Local boy Jack was to leave home for a new life in the city, but the plans changed as the radioactive spillage finds its way into the river and starts the apocalypse.