Eastward
Eastward is my most anticipated video game right now. It’s this little RPG developed by a small studio called Pixpil and published by Chucklefish Games, the people who put out Stardew Valley. It has everything I love in it: an Earthbound meets The Legend of Zelda aesthetic, amazing chiptune music, old school anime vibes, and AMAZING pixel art. Seriously, this is some of the most expressive pixel art I’ve seen in a while.

The game is set in the rundown world on the verge of apocalypse, and, from the trailer, it looks like you’ll be playing as a grown man and a young white-haired girl solving puzzles and beating up monsters. I’m hoping for a fun, quirky game with a touching story.

I’m not sure when it’s coming out, but it’ll be releasing on Switch and Steam where you can wishlist it.

Carrion
Carrion is a “reverse horror game” where you play as a big, red, amorphous blob that sticks to walls and eats people. If that premise doesn’t intrigue you, I don’t know what’s going on in your brain because that sounds absolutely ridiculous.

I’ve watched the gameplay footage for this a few times now and, lemme tell ya, it looks satisfying to play. I’m not sure what the story is, but it looks like it’s going to be the most heavy metal video game ever made. It’s like a horror/monster flick but you’re the monster.

According to the Steam page, it’s slated to come out sometime in 2020, and I cannot wait.

Ikenfell

Ikenfell is the Harry Potter game we all deserve. It’s another Earthbound-y game about a bunch of magic kids in magic school. The art style is simple and cute, the music is pleasant and bubbly, and the combat has a turn-based system with timed mechanics.

It’s being developed by one man named Chevy Ray Johnson and the music is being composed by Aivi and Surasshu who are most well known for their involvement with Steven Universe.

The trailer has this really charming rap song that’s been stuck in my head for months and I dunno how much of that is playing a role in my excitement for the game, but it’s certainly effective.

A quick Google search says the game is coming out in 2019, but that’s just a placeholder date. I have a feeling it won’t be out for a little while and that’s okay. More time to refine a game is better than putting out something mediocre.

Dylan has been playing games since he was a wee lad. For the last 25 years, he has built up a terrifying backlog of games he claims he will get to “eventually.” Unfortunately, this backlog continues to grow because of his crippling Tetris addiction, and his horrible attention span.

His other interests include: thinking up Dungeons & Dragons characters he never ends up playing, watching compilations of sad anime scenes, and trying to be funny.

You can find him occasionally tweeting here: @dylanproy