The Independent Gamer: Interactive Thriller ‘Twelve Minutes’ Launching on PlayStation and Nintendo Consoles

The Independent Gamer is a curated roundup of news from indie gaming, landing here every other Friday.

Interactive Thriller Twelve Minutes Launching on PlayStation and Nintendo Consoles

Luis Antonio’s Twelve Minutes, an interactive thriller starring the voices of Willem Dafoe, Daisy Ridley and James McAvoy, is set to launch on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch on Dec. 7 (it released in August on Xbox systems).

The game, which is published by Annapurna Interactive, tells the story of one evening where a couple are interrupted by a violent home invasion. The man tries to stop the attacker, but gets caught in a 12-minute time loop and must put together knowledge and clues to find out what happened and break the loop.

Twelve Minutes is among the best independent game nominees at The Game Awards, which take place Dec. 9 at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.

Psychological Thriller Martha Is Dead Coming to Consoles

U.K.-based publisher Wired Productions (The Falconeer) and Italian studio LKA (The Town of Light) are releasing their first-person psychological thriller Martha Is Dead on PlayStation and Xbox consoles as well as PC on Feb. 24, 2022.

The game is set in 1944 in Italy, and explores loss, relationships and the tragedy of war in such a dark period of history.

A Look at the Other Indie Nominees at The Game Awards

The four other nominees for best indie game at The Game Awards include action-adventure Kena: Bridge of Spirits, developed and published as the debut game from California-based studio Ember Lab, which is run by brothers Mike and Josh Grier. The story follows a young spirit guide who helps the deceased move from the physical to the spirit world. The game competed for the Tribeca Games Award this year.

Death’s Door is an action-adventure developed by U.K.-based studio Acid Nerve and published by Texas-based company Devolver Digital. The game sees players take on the role of a crow that reaps souls of the dead.

Inscryption is a deck-building psychological horror game from developer Daniel Mullins Games and publisher Devolver Digital. The game tasks players with escaping from a cabin by beating a demonic force in a card game.

Loop Hero hails from Russian developer Four Quarters and publisher Devolver Digital (yes, again), and it’s a strategy game that drops players into the end of the world: But instead of controlling the hero, who is stuck in a loop, users work on the environment — placing buildings and terrain — around the lone character to prepare them for success.

Peruvian Inspired 2D Side Scroller Releasing on Steam in 2022

From developer Sunwolf Entertainment and publisher Sold Out comes Imp of the Sun, a game that tasks players with restoring the sun’s light and an eternal eclipse while exploring hand-crafted environments inspired by Peruvian culture.

The game drops on Steam early in 2022.

Asteroids: Recharged Heading to Consoles

From Atari, in collaboration with Adam Nickerson’s one-person development company Adamvision Studios, which is based in Canada, and Lithuana-based Sneakybox, Asteroids: Recharged is a co-op revival of the Atari arcade shooter that was originally released in 1979.

The game launches on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox Series X/S and One, PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store on Dec. 14.

Mesoamerican-Inspired Platformer Itorah Gets Launch Date

Developer Grimbart Tales revealed that its debut title Itorah, an action platformer inspired by  Mesoamerican culture and legends, will launch in Spring 2022.

Itorah is the last human on earth after a plague has devastated the land, and together with a sentient battle-ax, must defeat deadly enemies to liberate the community. The game combines platforming combat, visual storytelling and puzzles.