Summer of Gaming | Endeavour

Summer of Gaming

Posted By:

ionscifi

Saturday, June 11, 2022 - 10:33

Dinkum

It's not sci-fi.

But with a name like that we had to watch the trailer for this Ozzie themed farming simulator.

Given how flagrantly Australian wildlife cuddly toys are marketed to tourists we're surprised no-one has tapped this vein before.

The developer is an Australian indie by the name of James Bendon who Google tells us is based in Townsville, Queensland.

From the trailer:

It's so bonza having you around Dinkum.

Can't recall the last time we heard anyone say "bonza" in the real world but we're sure it's perfectly pitched to sell to overseas Oz enthusiasts.

Dinkum is coming to PC Steam early access on July 14.

Quiet Farm

Farming again.

No we don't have a fixation and yes this one is definitely sci-fi.

Also the farm is anything but quiet - as you can see in the trailer - and it's technically a cow sim rather than a farm sim.

Quiet Farm's new gameplay trailer shows how it's not exactly the quiet world you'd imagine it to be as a mysterious UFO crashes into the world. Playing as a cow, you must traverse the farm to protect your home and land from the alien invasion.

Quiet Farm is scheduled to release this year on PC on Steam.

Voltaire: The Vegan Vampire

We wouldn't expect this relatively modest title to achieve anywhere near the popularity or success of V Rising but Voltaire but it made our top 10 list for conceptual originality.

An action-farming-roguelite, full of whimsical flora and mischievous creatures that really want to ruin your dark and mysterious plans of… Going vegan!

In the trailer you can see that graphically it's basic but artful and the gameplay looks potentially engaging.

Voltaire: The Vegan Vampire is expected to release this year on PC on Steam.

Retreat to Enen

Ok it includes optional farming - because it's a survival simulator - but it's the last of them on our list.

We think.

It's also definitely sci-fi though an unusual one.

Set in the far future with very advanced technology but as showcased in the trailer you're on some hippie rite of passage to get in touch with yourself and nature.

The year is 3600 CE. After narrowly avoiding extinction, humanity turned away from war and strife, choosing life and peace. Time for you to undertake the rite of passage. Journey to the legendary Enen. Explore, forage, hunt, build, and meditate to finish the rite and find your place in the world.

It sounds interesting in theory but we're curious about how meditation will be employed in a survival game.

Retreat to Enen is coming to PC on Steam on August 5 and to Xbox and PlayStation in 2023.

Forever Skies

Forever Skies is another survival game and we see a "sunmelon" scanned as an edible fruit in the trailer but given its unique setting we're not expecting to see farming here.

In Forever Skies you are a scientist returning to Earth destroyed by a global ecological disaster. You will fly a high-tech airship that can be expanded and will need to be repaired. You will look for and scavenge resources to survive, and face the dangers of the Earth's surface. Searching for viral pathogens to cure a mysterious illness.

Post-apocalyptic survival games are plentiful but this setting of an airship zipping about through the high altitude remains of human civilization has piqued our interest.

Forever Skies is scheduled to release this year on PC on Steam.

Voidtrain

Previously an Epic Games Store exclusive this trailer is for the Steam launch.

Become a crew member of an interdimensional express! Discover a new mysterious world inhabited by amazing creatures, dangers and surprises. Upgrade your train, gather new materials and build better weapons!

As with Forever Skies this is another survival, crafting and building game in a very crowded genre but with a really unique setting.

Voidtrain is available now on the Epic Games Store and is coming to Steam on October 22.

The Last Worker

One thing necessary for survival but which you never see in survival games is urination.

The Last Worker isn't a survival game but its trailer remarkably not just includes urination but builds an entire scene around it.

Protagonist Kurt needs a certain kind of break but just can't seem to find one in this trailer of The Last Worker. This narrative adventure explores what happens as humans are replaced by robots at a shipping warehouse in an end-stage capitalist environment.

The Last Worker is scheduled to release this year on PC (Steam), Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo Switch.

Superfuse

We talked about this title following their announcement trailer and are particularly excited about its delightful depth of character customization.

Now we've been graced with a gameplay trailer.

Fight through an alien invasion to save humanity in Superfuse and take on waves of enemies and bosses with up to a team of 4. Superfuse is a comic book inspired action RPG game that encourages unique playstyles by customizing your powers.

Superfuse is expected to arrive on PC Steam early access this Spring (Oz).

Aliens: Fireteam Elite - Pathogen

A gameplay trailer was published for the free Pathogen expansion for co-operative third person survival game Aliens: Fireteam Elite.

The Pathogen expansion brings all new environments, maps, weapons, and more to the AFE experience. Explore Engineer ruins around the mystery of the infection, delve deep into enemy hives, and avoid the deadly hazards around each corner.

The Pathogen expansion will release on August 30 for Aliens: Fireteam Elite which is available now on PC (Steam), Xbox and PlayStation.

Starkeepers

Described as an MMOARPG (massively online action roleplaying game) and variously as fantasy or sci-fi, this looks like it might be a fantasy / sci-fi hybrid.

Starkeepers is an action-packed multiplayer online that casts players as Astrals – high dimensional beings capable of space-time magic roaming the multiverse. Venture into mythological epics to take your righteous stand against cosmic threats, or secretly align yourself with different faction powers trying to influence the course of past history.

It's interesting to see a newly announced MMO rather than one being cancelled or shut down and their specifically describing it as an "action" game could be influenced by the phenomenal popularity of Elden Ring.

Though unlike Elden Ring you can see in the trailer that Starkeepers is graphically very basic.

Their gameplay plans include a lot of player driven sandbox elements which other MMO developers have promised but none have enjoyed much success with.

The developer Wolfpack Games has several studios around the globe but one of them is in Sydney so it's a partly local production.

Starkeepers is scheduled to launch on PC on Steam Early Access on April 1, 2023.

[ Main Image: Quiet Farm. Credit: Crytivo via Steam. ]