Indie game roundup: Triple-i showcase sets Among Us Story, Militsioner demo and Forever Ago launch

According to Engadget, the second Triple-i Initiative showcase this year included updates for Windrose and Chained Together and revealed that Among Us Story: On Guard, a detective spinoff of Among Us, will arrive on Feb. 17. The stream also showed Gods With Badges, a Strange Scaffold game compared to Xcom, and Lazare's Sacrifice, a narrative deckbuilder that Gwent: The Witcher Card Game designer Damien Monnier contributed to, which is coming next year. Gameplay from The Talos Principle 3 appeared, and playtests and demos for many featured games are now live.

Engadget's writer was particularly eager to play Militsioner, six years after it was first revealed. The demo is an immersive sim about escaping a town while a giant, near-omniscient policeman tries to keep the player in line before a trial over a crime the player seemingly did not commit. The report describes the demo as deeply strange, surprisingly funny and dense with things to explore. The full game is set to arrive next year.

The Out of Bounds and Convergence Games showcases also returned. Out of Bounds ran for about 45 minutes and featured 16 hidden, fresh and bold games, including the bingo-inspired roguelike Bingone, Draftula, a roguelike castle builder drawing from Tetris with a demo on Steam, and the charming-looking puzzler Haunted Cleaner. Convergence ran for more than two hours and included a new release date for Kick, which will arrive on Nov. 3, according to Engadget.

LudoNarraCon also kicked off, spotlighting 50 narrative-driven games that are either available now or have a demo on Steam. The list includes Titanium Court, Wax Heads, Perfect Tides: Station to Station and Cairn. An accompanying sale runs until Oct. 15 with discounts on more than 150 games. Engadget also noted that Playdate Season 3 started this week and that the single-player campaign of Star Wars: Galactic Racer is available on Amazon Luna at no extra cost for Prime subscribers.

In its new releases section, Engadget highlighted Forever Ago, developed by Third Shift and published by Annapurna Interactive. The road trip adventure follows Alfred, an older man on a scavenger hunt tied to places and memories that shaped his relationship with his late wife, Audrey, who set up the quest. The game deals with grief, rediscovering oneself after losing a defining part of life and the passage of time, and it includes exploration, photography, light puzzle solving and encounters with other characters. It is available on Steam for Windows and Steam Deck Verified, Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2, Xbox Series X/S and Xbox for PC. It usually costs $20, with a 10 percent launch discount, and is also available on Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass.

Engadget's reviewer wrote that Forever Ago has clumsy storytelling at times and functionally clunky moments, such as interaction prompts that disappear and take a few moments to return. Despite those issues, the reviewer felt the game was meant to be played now and found the story affecting, if not particularly novel.