Here’s everything shown at today’s Future of Play Direct stream

A full lineup of cool new independent games

Today, Future of Play Direct organizer Glitch showcased a bunch of new and previously announced independent projects from some neat studios. It was all organized under the Future of Play banner, running just ahead of tonight’s Game Awards 2021.

The show featured a bunch of cool trailers, as well as some musical performances and updates. So without further ado, here’s a quick recap of everything that was shown at today’s Future of Play Direct.

The show opened with some music from Spirit Swap: Lofi Beats to Match-3 To, an upcoming chill puzzle game. It’s coming in 2022 and has a Steam page up for wishlisting, as well as a demo.

Hidden Variable showcased Umbrella, a character coming to Skullgirls 2nd Encore and Mobile. She’s in Early Access now. The developer also showed a little tease of Black Dahlia, the next fighter joining the roster in the ever-expanding Skullgirls universe.

Curses is coming in 2022, and looks like a mix of spells, magic, and grunge. It’s definitely giving me Daria vibes.

Wander Stars, meanwhile, is mixing an Akira Toriyama-inspired art style with a build-your-own-attack Mad Libs-esque battle system. Definitely not like anything I’ve seen in recent memory. That’s coming soon to Kickstarter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGi88ucOO3E

The gorgeous top-down action-RPG Midautumn also made an appearance. This one’s been on my radar for a while, as it’s working with some really cool concepts and influences. Think Hades, but about the Asian diaspora and also demons and stuff. That’s available to wishlist on Steam.

One More Multiverse brought some tabletop to the Future of Play Direct, with a customizable and modifiable set of tools for organizing your very own tabletop session. It’s got a great style to it, and I imagine for those trying to organize long-distance play sessions, this definitely has some appeal.

Virtuoso Neomedia took over the stream to invite on some musical guests, showcasing some of the music coming in its upcoming slate of games.

Next up was an ominous, foreboding trailer for The Wreck, which seems like it’s going to be appealing to folks who like story-driven games. That’s coming in Spring 2022, from Bury me, my love dev The Pixel Hunt and Kowloon Nights.

Glitchhikers: The Spaces Between brings an ominous, foreboding presence to driving alone at night. It’s certainly got a look to it, and looks like it’ll appeal to the folks that liked other taxi-narratives like Neo Cab. That’s coming in 2022.

If the thought of Max Payne taking on a horde of demons with a little influence from Alan Wake appeals to you, well, welcome to El Paso Elsewhere. Am I biased just because it’s got a lil’ Texas in the title? Absolutely. But the diving, dodging, and gun-blasting looks good too. That’s available to wishlist on Steam.

That’s also the first of two Strange Scaffold games shown today, as Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulator also made an appearance. This management game about buying and trading organs on the interstellar black market is out now for PC and Xbox consoles, and is also a part of Xbox Game Pass. Also, I think it can use the Kinect? Kudos to a game using Kinect in 2021.

Hyper Gunsport is a competitive, well, gun sport featuring different teams, stages, and both local competitive gameplay and a single-player or co-op story mode. Blast the puck until it flies into the opponent’s goal. Necrosoft and Hitcents are bringing the action to PlayStation, Xbox, PC, and Switch in 2022.

The final montage featured a bevy of indies, so here’s the quick rundown if you’re looking for more to add to your Steam wishlist:

• Unbeatable – D-Cell Games
• Sword of Symphony – Stephen Ddungu
• She Dreams Elsewhere – Studio Zevere
• Sail Forth – David Evans Games
• My Work Is Not Yet Done – Spencer Yan
• Venice 2089 – Safe Place Studio
• Beacon Pines – Hiding Spot Games
• High Elo Girls – Split Fate Studios
• Skatebird – Glass Bottom Games
• No Straight Roads – Metronomik
• Nour: Play With Your Food – Terrifying Jellyfish
• Roadout – Rastrolabs
• Super Space Club – GrahamOfLegend

The Glitch team is also hosting a Steam event from now through Dec. 16, featuring demos and the full lineup from today’s show.