Annapurna’s first Showcase promises lots of cool Games to come

Annapurna Interactive has steadily become one of the most exciting indie game publishers around. At its first showcase event held last week, the publisher showed that there’s plenty more in the works. In less than 30 minutes, Annapurna revealed some exciting new partnerships and showed off upcoming games that involve everything from being a cat to hunting demons in heaven.

The Verge has a rundown of all the goodies headed our way:

Arguably the highlight of the event was the debut gameplay trailer for Stray, a game set in some kind of forgotten cyberpunk city in which you play as a lost cat. It looks like a great action-adventure game, albeit one where you can nuzzle robots and scratch up a couch. It’s slated to launch on PlayStation and Steam in early 2022.

Gorgeous musical adventure The Artful Escape sends players on a “psychedelic, multidimensional journey” that involves lots of killer guitar riffs. It also has a killer cast: the game will feature voice work from the likes of Michael Johnston, Caroline Kinley, Lena Headey, Jason Schwartzman, Mark Strong, and Carl Weathers. It launches September 9th on Xbox and PC.

One of the brand-new announcements was Storyteller, which is a bit of a puzzle game where the goal is to create a story. You’re given a theme, characters, locations, and other narrative elements, which you can then mix-and-match using what looks like a very intuitive drag-and-drop system. It’s listed as coming “soon” to both the Switch and Steam.

Other highlights:

• The Outer Wilds is about to get even bigger: an expansion, called Echoes of the Eye, which is due to launch on September 28th.
• Neon White is described as a speedrunning first-person shooter “about exterminating demons in Heaven.” It’s expected to launch later this year on Switch and PC.
• Solar Ash, brought to you by the team behind Hyper Light Drifter, is going to be another visually lush action game, due to come out on October 26^th for PC and PlayStation.
• A Memoir Blue is described as “a poignant story of a mother and daughter, experienced through memories cherished and memories suppressed.” The game doesn’t have a release date, but will be launched on a wide range of platforms.
• Skin Deep wants to make the world of immersive sims just a little bit weirder. The sci-fi game is about “sneaking, subverting, and sabotaging, all while not wearing shoes,” according to Blendo, the developer.
• Many of Annapurna’s current games are getting ready to hit new platforms. Both Telling Lies and Gorogoa are coming to Xbox Game Pass, The Pathless is coming to Steam on November 16th, I Am Dead is coming to Xbox and PlayStation on August 9th, and Edith Finch will jump to mobile with an iOS port on August 16th.

According to The Verge, in addition to new games, Annapurna also announced publishing deals with a quartet of exciting developers, including Jessica Mak, best known for the musical games Sound Shapes and Everyday Shooter, as well as horror studio No Code and Falcon Age developer Outerloop Games. The publisher is also working with a new team called Ivy Road, led by Stanley Parable creator Davey Wreden and Karla Zimonja, formerly of Gone Home developer Fullbright.

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