Everything shown in Annapurna Interactive's showcase
Annanouncements galore.
Tonight's Annapurna Interactive showcase revealed an array of new projects, updates and release dates for the many eye-catching indie games the company currently has under its wing.
The top-drawer indie publisher showcased more than a dozen upcoming titles including The Artful Escape, Stray and Outer Wilds, plus confirmed new partnerships and ports.
The showcase opened with another look at the long-awaited The Artful Escape, which you can read more about here. Its starry voice cast and a 9th September release date for Steam and Xbox were also announced.
Next up was an update on Neon White, the very different-looking follow-up to Donut County from developer Ben Esposito. It's "a single-player speedrunning FPS where you sacrifice guns for parkour moves", Esposito said, showing off new gameplay. Neon White is headed to Nintendo Switch and Steam this winter.
We also got a glimpse of the melancholic-looking A Memoir Blue, which is described as "a journey into the depths of memory". Developed by indie studio Cloisters, it's coming at some point for iPhone, Nintendo Switch, Steam, PlayStation and Xbox, including Xbox Game Pass.
Storyteller, a video game about building stories using characters and genre tropes, looked particularly fun and impressive. It looks like developer Daniel Benmergui's concept has been floating around a while - and Annapurna has been on board since late 2018 - but this is its most accomplished showing yet. It's coming soon for Nintendo Switch and Steam, with a Steam demo available now.
Hyper Light Drifter developer Heart Machine brought a new trailer for new game Solar Ash. This also revealed a release date: 26th October for Epic Games Store and PlayStation.
Oddball spaceship FPS Skin Deep also got an airing. If you don't wash, you'll be smelt by your enemies, apparently. Skin Deep is still on the way for Steam, but we did not get any more news on when that might be.
Stray, the fantastic-looking post-apocalyptic adventure game where you play as a cat, will now arrive a little later than planned. It will pad onto PC and PlayStation in "early 2022". A trailer showed how the main character - sorry, character - will team up with friendly drone B-12, and even take part in a bit of light combcat. Combat.
The presentation concluded with an update on Outer Wilds, and its "first and only expansion" which was previously teased. Outer Wilds: Echoes of the Eye launches on 28th September and you can read about it more here.
Over the course of the show, we got various updates from new and existing development teams working on future projects with Annapurna Interactive. Falcon Age developer Outer Loop is working on an unannounced game based, at least in part, on the theme of immigrant culture in the US.
Annapurna is also working with Toronto-based solo game maker and guitarist Jessica Mak, co-director of Soundshapes, on another project.
We were introduced to Ivy Road, a new indie team founded by Stanley Parable creator Davey Wreden and Gone Home co-creator Karla Zimonja. Along with Minecraft composer Daniel "C418" Rosenfeld, they too are working with Annapurna on a project.
Last, Stories Untold and Observation developer Nocode confirmed - you guessed it - they were also now working with Annapurna. The Glasgow-based outfit is, as you might expect from its past works, building a new horror title.
And finally, a montage of existing games confirmed releases on new platforms. The Pathless comes to Steam on 16th November, What Remains of Edith Finch heads to iOS on 16th August, I Am Dead rises for PlayStation and Xbox on 9th August, while both Telling Lies and Gorogoa head to Xbox Game Pass "soon".