It's been 10 years since ID@Xbox began, supporting the development of indie games on Xbox and PC. This year is no excep…
It's been 10 years since ID@Xbox began, supporting the development of indie games on Xbox and PC.
The visuals, too, are arresting. Hand painted and beautifully animated, there's more than a hint of Studio Ghibli - indeed, Spirited Away is a touchstone of tonality, as well as games like Limbo and Inside. The animation of the cat-companion is particularly adorable: the way it curiously dipped a toe into water before shuffling away was very cute.
What's striking is the unsettling atmosphere of it all: strange demons, a world in eerie purples, satanic rituals to perform, locked doors smothered in sharp-toothed creatures, and an engrossing mystery at its heart. There's even a monochromatic Twilight Zone that looks terrifying. Yet there's beauty here too in the slick animations and impressive sense of depth to the 2D environments. The Last Case of Benedict Fox will launch on Xbox Series S/X and PC from 27th April.
It's clear this is an incredibly ambitious game stuffed with detail that's gradually come together over its five years of development. It's set for release on PC on 6th April, with an Xbox release to follow in the summer.Lastly, I got to see first-person mech farming game Lightyear Frontier from developer Frame Break. Of course, farming and life sim games are everywhere these days, but this one feels a little different.