Dreamhack Winter 2018, which runs from Nov 30-Dec 3 in Elmia, Jönköping, Sweden, will be highlighting twenty-three great indie games in its Indie Playground.
Showcasing games like Iconoclasts, World of Horror, Skeletal Dance Party, Disco Elysium, and many more, the show looks to bring many great indie titles to its attendees in Sweden, while also offering an opportunity for developers to reach out to the convention’s audience.
The celebrated titles are:
Best Action/Adventure
Hidden Deep – “Hidden Deep is a 2D Action & Exploration Sci-Fi thriller which action takes about 1.5 km under the ocean floor. A group of researchers detected there some strange anomalies of unknown nature and organized an expedition to examine this mysterious phenomenon.”
Iconoclasts – “Join renegade mechanic Robin and uncover the secrets of a dying planet. Explore a big world filled with intricate puzzles, interesting characters and menacing bosses in a beautiful platform adventure that tells a personal story about faith, purpose and the challenge of helping people.”
Skeletal Dance Party – “You are a fox girl necromancer and your goal is to host the largest dance party ever for your skeletal pals!”
Best Adventure
Deliver Us the Moon – “Deliver Us The Moon: Fortuna is set in the near future where Earth’s natural resources are depleted. In an effort to solve the energy crisis, global powers created the World Space Agency and secured a promising new source of energy on the moon.”
Project Grove – “Project Grove is a 3D Puzzle Platformer, for PC and Console. The player controls Edric, an old, lonely alchemist who endeavors on a path to discover the truth behind the strange Flora in the highlands of Dacrima.”
STAY – “STAY is a conversational adventure where we chat with Quinn, who has been locked in a dark room where there is nothing but a computer. He is in desperate need for help, and we are his only hope to get out of that place and discover who is behind his kidnapping.”
Warriorb – “Warriorb is an action adventure platformer in which you play as a mighty spirit imprisoned inside a ball-body. The path to freedom is challenging, but do not despise failure – every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward.”
Best AR/VR Experience
Sky Climbers – “Sky Climbers is a fantasy platformer for virtual reality. You use parkour and your unique climbing abilities to solve beautiful cathedral likes ‘dojos’. The game was built for room-scale from the ground up.”
Best Arthouse
Disco Elysium – “Disco Elysium is a groundbreaking blend of hardboiled cop show and isometric RPG. Solve a massive, open ended case in a unique urban fantasy setting.”
Within Whispers: The Fall – “There are whispers in silence, in breathing, in dreaming, in death. They are crawling forth, barely recognizable, hidden, unheeded; birthing intent, neglected by most, disregarded by many. Not by all.”
Best Casual
Decoy – “DECOY is a fast paced top-view action game, in which you get to take on the role as The Decoy! As Decoy, you’ll be led by The Commander, an odd character who will send you on an exciting journey of crazy missions. A journey full of slippery roads, magnetic mines, fast bomb planes, tanks and EMP-dropping choppers.”
Lonely Mountains: Downhill – “Just you and your bike – take it on a thrilling ride down an unspoiled mountain landscape. Make your way through thick forests, narrow trails and wild rivers. Race, jump, slide and try not to crash – all the way from the peak to the valley!”
Best Tabletop
Oathen – “Oathen is a four time award winning battle arena tabletop game inspired by Nordic mythology and esports — video games such as Overwatch, Hearthstone, MOBAs, and other battle arena titles.”
Best RPG
World of Horror – “The year is 198X. Disgusting creatures terrorize a small seaside town in Japan as reality starts to crumble, and the Old Gods reawaken to sate their primal hunger. It’s a losing battle, but maybe you’ve got what it takes to postpone the inevitable. The end of the world is at hand.”
Best Early Access
Avorion – “Explore. Build. Fight. Trade. Mine. Free to do whatever you want, find your way to the core of the galaxy in this vast space sandbox.”
Ravenfield – “Walk upon the Ravenfield with your BLUE allies! Take down those pesky REDs using helicopters, cars, guns, and active ragdoll physics. Ravenfield is a singleplayer battlefield style game. It started out as an experiment with ragdolls and AI, and will remain a slightly experimental, for-fun game project.”
Witch It – “Witch It is a multiplayer hide & seek game set in a humorous, magical world. Brave hunters are tasked with finding the witches that curse their villages!”
Best Multiplayer
Hellfront: Honeymoon – “HELLFRONT: HONEYMOON is an intense twin-stick action strategy game, to be enjoyed with friends over a six-pack of fruit juice. One screen, one winner. Welcome to the HELLFRONT.”
Midnight Ghost Hunt – “Midnight Ghost Hunt is a multiplayer hide-and-seek game that pits a team of Ghosts against a team of Ghost Hunters!”
Retimed – “RETIMED is a local multiplayer arena shooter for 2-4 players. When a player is in danger, time slows down and a time bubble is created around the player. Now there is enough time to react and try to dodge the deadly projectiles.”
Best Strat/Sim
Atmocity – “Atmocity is city building game with a heavy focus on managing resources, economic systems and policy implementation. It also allows players to creatively design cities in which gravity is no constraint!”
Broken Lines – “Broken Lines is a 3D turn-based tactics game developed by Portaplay.”
Mice on Venus – “Mice on Venus is a detective simulation game based around investigating cases with ambiguous morality.”
Tickets to Dreamhack Winter 2018, as well as more details about its events, are available from the convention’s site.
Joel has been covering indie games for various sites including IndieGames.com, Siliconera, Gamasutra, Warp Door, CG Magazine, and more over the past seven years, and has written book-length studies on Undertale and P.T.. Joel is constantly on the lookout for digital experiences that push the boundaries of what games can be, and seeks to delve into the creative process, meanings, and emotion labor that goes into the work of artists worldwide.
