Welcome to our latest roundup of what’s going on in the indie game space. If you’re looking for something new to play this weekend, we’ve got a bunch of options for you. We’ve also got some interesting upcoming games to tell you about as well.

In a press release announcing that Playdate Season 3 is coming later this year, Panic included a line that I’ve been thinking about a lot this week. “Panic is currently relieved and happy that people can make amazing games for Playdate with just 16 megabytes of RAM,” it said, a nod toward the ongoing RAM crisis.

The Playdate doesn’t exactly have a lot of technical oomph, and I’m frequently delighted by what developers are able to do within its limitations. Restrictions foster creativity — many folks had to get pretty inventive on Twitter back when they only had 140 characters to play with. Here, Panic offered a welcome reminder that you don’t necessarily need an ultra-powerful rig or console to have access to more great games than you’ll ever actually be able to play.

For instance, my favorite game of the year so far, Titanium Court, works on Macs that are capable of running macOS 11 (the 2020 version of the operating system) or later. On PC, you’ll need a graphics card that’s compatible with OpenGL or DirectX 9, the latter of which was released in 2002. For what it’s worth, the game would also fit on a CD-ROM.

There are tons of other great indie games new and old that’ll run just fine on lower-powered machines. Bear that in mind the next time a current-gen console or other gaming system gets a price increase because of the RAM shortage. The DLSS 5 debacle aside, you probably don’t need a 50-series NVIDIA GPU either. Maybe just pick up a Playdate instead.

New releases

While many of the weapons, characters and enemies are the same, Vampire Crawlers is a fresh spin on Vampire Survivors. It’s a turn-based roguelite deckbuilder. Instead of automatically firing whatever weapons you have at nearby enemies, you’ll play cards to conquer the mob that you face in each fight. You can still modify and evolve your weapons and abilities.

Each card has a casting cost, so you’ll need to consider which ones to play in a given moment and the order in which you do so. As such, it’s a slower-paced, more strategic take on the original game, albeit with a similar level of visual chaos should you put together a particularly powerful build.

I’ve played a ton of Vampire Survivors and the Vampire Crawlers demo lured me in too. Its approach to turn-based battles is working for me. I’ve only played a little of the full game so far, but there’s every chance I could lose days of my life to it.

Vampire Crawlers — from Survivors creator Poncle and co-developer Nosebleed Interactive — is available now on Steam (for PC and Mac), Xbox for PC, Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and Nintendo Switch for $10. It’s included with Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass.

Fable creator Peter Molyneux and his studio 22cans are back with another god game. In Masters of Albion, you can construct and modify settlements as a literal hand of god. You’ll design buildings (which are immediately constructed and usable) and manage workers. You can also assume control of a human or animal in the world to take on quests and hunt for treasure.

There’s a tower defense element to this as well. You’ll need to prepare your towns from nighttime attacks from various creatures. You can fend off these foes as the god or battle them on the ground as a hero. There’s a lot going on here, but perhaps my favorite part is this apparent warning in the mature content description section of the Steam page: “Players are also able to use crude, adult hand gestures at will in the game.” Yes, that means you can flip the bird while playing as the god hand. Yes, I am very mature.

Masters of Albion is now available in early access on Steam. It typically costs $25, but there’s a 10 percent discount until April 29.

Snap & Grab caught our attention at last summer’s edition of the Day of the Devs showcase. This is a cartoonish heist game in which you’ll carry out your robberies in two parts. You play as Nifty, a famous fashion photographer. In the setup phase, you’ll take advantage of your position to take snaps of loot, threats and opportunities and then use those to construct a plan. With the help of some henchman, you’ll then try to execute the heist.

The game’s developer No Goblin is taking an episodic approach to Snap & Grab as it’s releasing the game in five parts over the course of this year. The first episode is available now on Steam (usually $8, though there’s a 10 percent discount until May 1).

Snow Day Software’s follow-up to Indoor Kickball is Indoor Baseball. It’s an arcade game in which you play baseball inside buildings, funnily enough. You’ll play 1v1 matches against the CPU or a friend in local multiplayer. You can also dive into a 14-game season or check out the story mode, in which you’ll try to play your way back onto your school’s baseball team (and maybe do some chores to make up for smashing too many things at home).

There are several different levels, each of which has a variety of ways for you to make a home run, from smashing a window to landing the ball in a toilet. It seems light and fun and as a burgeoning baseball guy, I dig the idea of this one.

Indoor Baseball is available now on Steam, Xbox for PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and Nintendo Switch. It costs $15.

Upcoming

I love Another Crab’s Treasure very much and so I’ll always be interested in whatever Aggro Crab is up to. Given that the studio also co-developed the smash hit Peak (alongside Landfall), I imagine many other folks feel the same way.

Crashout Crew is another multiplayer game from Aggro Crab. This one adopts the chaotic co-op formula of games like Overcooked. As a team of forklift drivers, you and your buds will work together to fill orders in warehouses while dealing with obstacles like blackouts, cacti, fire and bees.

It’s coming to Steam, Xbox on PC and Xbox Series X/S on May 28. It’ll be available on Game Pass on day one.

I’m very much here for slice-of-life games based around soccer (I still need to play Despelote!). Kick is another such title. This is a side-scrolling, anime-inspired game from solo developer nospacelost and publisher Shoreline Games, in which you dribble a ball as you make your way to school.

There are 23 levels with people to dodge and obstacles to overcome. You’ll need to avoid damaging anything as you try to pull off tricks by kicking the ball at the correct angle, all while making sure you get to class on time (you can switch off the timer for a more relaxed experience). It looks pretty, and it never hurts a game’s prospects to have a pup accompanying the main character.

No release date for Kick has been announced. It’s coming to Steam at some point.

Elfie: A Sand Plan is a cozy sandcastle building game from Pressed Elephant and Sol’s Atelier. There are more than 180 levels in which you’ll build sand sculptures to match what Elfie, a small elephant, has in mind. There are three difficulty levels too.

It looks cute and I adore elephants (oops, I just started fostering another one), so I’m interested in checking it out. Elfie: A Sand Plan is coming to Steam for PC and Mac on May 12. It’ll cost $7, and there’ll be a 10 percent launch discount.

It took the team at Realmsoft 14 years to bring Clockwork Ambrosia to fruition and if this latest trailer is any indication, that long development cycle could have well been worthwhile. This is a side-scrolling action platformer in which you can customize half a dozen weapons using more than 150 modifiers.

You play as an airship engineer who tries to survive on a steampunk island full of aggressive robots and creatures following a crash. I really dig the art direction here, which features lush hand-drawn pixel art and lovely animations. Realmsoft made the game using a custom engine the team built from scratch.

I’m looking forward to checking out Clockwork Ambrosia. It’s coming to Steam on May 12.

The company raised $23m last year to expand its workforce.

Belfast software company Cloudsmith has raised $72m in Series C funding led by the investment firm TCV.

The raise, Cloudsmith said, would position the company for “massive growth” as it eyes the AI-generated software market. The funds will help accelerate product development and expand its go-to-market capabilities. Insight Partners and other existing investors also supported the round.

The latest funding comes just a year after the company raised $23m in a Series B to expand its workforce across departments and invest in AI R&D. TVC also led this round.

Founded in 2016 by Lee Skillen and Alan Carson, Cloudsmith helps businesses manage software on the cloud, and is used by companies that need control, security and scalability in their software supply chain. The company made two Series A raises – $15m in 2021 and $11m in 2023.

The new investment follows a period of strong year-over-year growth, Cloudsmith said, as companies seek modern infrastructure to keep pace with the speed and scale of AI-generated software.

Businesses also rely on software companies such as Cloudsmith to provide guardrails and governance when adopting AI-coding agents.

The investment comes at a time when AI coding is seeing unprecedented uptake by enterprises, which brings with it an ever-expanding threat surface.

Enterprises need to manage an growing software supply chain, while facing regulatory pressures and their own security requirements to ensure their AI-generated software is secure by design.

“AI agents generate so much software, so fast, it’s nearly impossible for humans to carefully review it all,” said Glenn Weinstein, the CEO of Cloudsmith.

Weinstein said Cloudsmith has the capacity to protect enterprises against the new kinds of threats that AI-driven development introduces.

“TCV and Insight Partners both recognise this profound shift, and their backing is helping Cloudsmith scale up for the massive wave of adoption of AI agents across enterprise software teams.”

Thomas Krane, the managing director at Insight Partners added: “In an era increasingly defined by AI-driven development, securing the software supply chain is critical.

“As a cloud-native offering, Cloudsmith is well positioned to do this – providing the scale and reliability needed to help power enterprise and AI-driven builds and mitigate emerging risks.”

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Cohere, the Canada-based enterprise AI unicorn, announced Friday that it would merge with the Germany-based enterprise AI company Aleph Alpha.

The deal, which has yet to close, will value the newly formed company at $20 billion, the FT reported. Schwarz Group, one of Aleph Alpha’s top backers, will also invest $600 million in Cohere’s Series E round, which is expected to close later this year, CNBC reported.

A handful of Silicon Valley players continue to dominate the AI commercial landscape, which is busy with consolidation activity.

A press release announcing the Cohere-Aleph Alpha union said one goal of the merger was to give businesses and governments an alternative to these dominant tech players, one that offers greater independence and control over their data. It also hopes to combine the talent pool across Canada and Germany to create a “transatlantic AI powerhouse.” 

Most video doorbells make you choose between a wide-angle view of your porch or a tight shot of whoever’s face is at the door, but the Ring Battery Doorbell doesn’t ask you to compromise.

Right on that premise, the Ring Battery Doorbell is currently down from $99.99 to $59.99 at Amazon, putting $40 back in your pocket for a camera that covers significantly more of your front door area.