Starting from May 21 through May 25, 2020, [email protected] will be highlighting creators, stories, and characters it finds truly unique during its fifth annual online Gamefest 2020.
Xbox’s [email protected] Gamefest is a way for the platform to shine a light on indie games that often don’t get the AAA marketing budgets to become household names, normally. In 2020, as a more captivated “shelter-in-place” audience looks for more stories, characters, and creative content to pass the hours, the new Gamefest list couldn’t have come at a better time.
- Fractured Minds – A game created by a young woman as a means to cope with her own struggles with mental illness, an immersive artistic experience that explores anxiety and mental health issues. Fractured Minds is available with Xbox Game Pass on console.
- HyperDot – A minimalist action arcade masterpiece with one rule: dodge everything. In the development process, the game’s creator partnered with disabled content creators to stream the game and use their feedback to make the game playable and uniquely accessible for everyone. HyperDot is available with Xbox Game Pass on console and PC.
- Celeste – A game hailed by many as a modern classic, uses its platforming gameplay to provide a window into how those who deal with depression, anxiety or dread can learn to visualize their out-of-control moments and bring them back under control. Celeste is currently on sale for 50% off.
- Night in the Woods – An award-winning adventure game about a college dropout, her friends, and the small town they live in. While it’s ostensibly a mystery about strange things happening in the town, it’s also an insightful allegory about class, small-town America, and young people discovering a place in the new world. Night in the Woods is currently on sale for 40% off.
- Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice – The game follows a broken Celtic warrior on a vision quest, but it’s so much more than that. Created in collaboration with neuroscientists and people who experience psychosis, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is a deep exploration of mental illness. It’s currently on sale for 50% off.
- In Between – In Between follows the story of an African American man facing his impending death, brought on by a diagnosis of lung cancer. Each level explores an aspect of him coping with grief via mind-bending puzzles that are solved by manipulating your surroundings and gravity itself. In Between is currently on sale for 60% off.
- Stone – Stone is an interactive story that features a Koala detective who wakes up with a hangover and must save his kidnapped boyfriend. Stone is currently on sale for 50% off.
- What Remains of Edith Finch – What Remains of Edith Finch is a truly incredible story of a young woman exploring a remote and fantastical family house to uncover the secrets behind the untimely deaths of her entire family tree. Each family member’s story is told in a different style with distinct gameplay elements. What Remains of Edith Finch is currently on sale for 50% off.
[email protected] Game Fest 2020
Starting from May 21 through May 25, 2020, [email protected] will be highlighting creators, stories, and characters it finds truly unique during its fifth annual online Gamefest 2020. Xbox’s [email protected] Gamefest is a way for the platform to shine a light on indie games that often don’t get the AAA marketing budge
These are just a few showcased titles from this year’s list of 50 indie games that are currently discounted as low as $1.19 or free with Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass. Check out the full list here, or drop into the [email protected] portion of the store on your console.
