Legally Distinct Kiki, cozy city builders, and 100 readers

Hello everyone, and welcome to another Indie Release Dispatch. Now that all the news has died down around the Switch 2 reveal, I cannot help but be focused on the soul-crushing news that Earthblade, from the creators of Celeste, has been cancelled.

I played waaaay too much Towerfall on the Ouya (yes, I had one. Yes, it was a massive disappointment). I played through Celeste with great delight last year and fell in love with its tight platforming. Earthblade looked like it would be a cool new release from an accomplished team, but it seems that some IP disputes and internal fighting has seen everyone walk away from the project.

That kinda sucks, but the real tragedy is the knock I am going to take in our Fantasy Critic competition on Discord.

Anyways, let’s look at games that are actually out.

And what came out this week?

Into the Emberlands

Developer: Tiny Roar
Steam rating: Very Positive
Store page

Cozy Roguelite explore-’em-up Emeberlands hits 1.0 this week after a steady Early Access period. As the chosen Lightbearer, you must venture out into the dangerous miasma and rescue the villagers who are lost in the darkness, while also collecting resources to rebuild your village.

The problem is that your magical ember-burning lantern is not infinite, so if you run out of light while out there exploring, the mysteries of the darkness will swallow you whole. This one has a great art style and looks to be a mix of city builder and Roguelite-combat which could be a good time.

Mika and The Witch’s Mountain

Developer: Chibig, Nukefist
Steam rating: Very Positive
Store page

Keeping with our cozy vibes this week, legally distinct Kiki’s Delivery Service fantasy adventure game, Mika and the Witch’s Mountain has soared through the skies to deliver a lovely coming of age story to your platform of choice.

You are a witch who delivers packages. You explore the island and probably learn a lot about the townsfolk. And the island is beautiful, and reminds me so much of Windwaker. Need I say more?

I don’t have time for it this week, but I have added this to my wishlist for when I want something to just relax with.

ENDER MAGNOLIA: Bloom in the Mist

Developer: Adglobe, Live Wire
Steam rating: Overwhelmingly Positive
Store page

I’ve long heard that ENDER LILIES is one of the better indie Search Action games out there, and now it seems that a sequel has just dropped immediately to rave community reviews.

Taking place decades after the original, ENDER MAGNOLIA: Bloom in the Mist throws you into the Kingdom that has been decimated. You must work with the Homunculi and the humans in order to save them all, as you explore colossal factories, secret laboratories, and abandoned cities.

The animation on this one is super striking, and if you’re into this kind of chibi/anime style, it’s probably one for you.

Settlements Rising

Developer: The Catalyst Crew
Steam rating: Very Positive
Store page

If Manor Lords 3D space was too much for you to manage, perhaps this weekend you might want to sit down with a cup of coffee and give Settlements Rising a go. This classic isometric city management game has you building a medieval colony, with a focus on villager professions.

The simulation side has villagers moving through life from birth to death, as they get education, professions, and skill up with knowledge and traits. They also have hunger, wants, needs, and all the other good stuff that will keep you frantically clicking around the screen for hours.

It also has an enhancement card system which can be played once off to greatly increase aspects of your colony. It’s a pretty cool system that has a lot of variety.

This one was in Early Access for a short stint, but was running a lot of updates so I suspect that there will be more additions over the coming months.

IDUN - Frontline Survival

Developer: IDUN Interactive
Steam rating: Mostly Positive
Store page

Billed as a “defense-based RTS”, IDUN - Frontline Survival is a tower defense game where the turrets can move around at will. Your job is to mine some valuable resources and get out of there, holding off waves of space bugs that are just a little overwhelming to look at.

It’s a Rogue-lite experience, so there are tonnes of upgrades and things to unlock for your subsequent extraction attempts. This comes from a small team of ex-Battlefield developers and while the humor doesn’t work for me in the trailer, I definitely like the fun art style and just vibe of it all.

Maybe after I finish Kunitsu-Gami I will graduate to this as my foray into tower defense.

How does the Switch 2 fit into the landcape in 2025?

Continuing our new Convo series, Blue and I had a bit of a chat about the Nintendo Switch 2, and how it potentially faces competition this time around, where it was an unexpected entry last time.

Sure, I will play the hell out of some Mario Kart. 3D platformer Mario? Yes please! Splatoon 4 will surely come and I will be there on day one. But will I play Slay the Spire 2 on it? Probably not. The games are cheaper on Steam. I can take them with me now, albeit not as easily, but now that extra WOW factor of the Switch is kinda a little less of a selling point. Even if I didn't have Steam Deck, we are seeing a glut of handheld gaming PCs from major manufacturers like ROG, Asus, MSI, and a bunch of the Chinese market are breaking in too.

You can read the piece over here.

We hit 100 subscribers on Substack! 🥳

Ok so if you are reading this on pxls.jp this might seem weird, but I also post the Indie Release Dispatch (almost) every week on Substack. We just got the email yesterday that we finally hit 100 subscribers! Thank you, each and every one of you beautiful readers.

“Wait, there’s a website?” Substackers might be asking. Yep, we also have pxls.jp where you can subscribe to the newsletter there too. Why would you want to do that? Because all of the Pixels for Breakfast content is mailed out as it goes live. Reviews, video essays, convo pieces, all in your inbox. Why did we split it like this? Some people are only interested in the Indie Release Dispatch, and we’ve been running an online site since like 2011, we aren’t going to stop now!

And that’s a wrap

Thanks for reading! Share it with a friend if you liked what we had to say. If you want to help support us with new indie games and to pay for our email and server hosting, consider dropping a few dollars into our Ko-Fi cups. Big shout out to Andysaurus who dropped a donation last week, appreciate it my good friend!

We’ll see you next week!