Celebrate AAPI Heritage Month with these great games

While the video game industry has a long history in Asian countries like China, Japan, and South Korea, it’s important to note that Asian Americans also play an important role in the community. co-developed since this industry took shape. Asian-American creators have helped create some of the most unique, innovative, and influential games of the past decade, especially when it comes to groundbreaking games.

In honor of AAPI Heritage Month, we wanted to highlight some of the best indie games from Asian-American creators. Given that we’re going through a relatively quiet season for AAA games right now, consider it a great time to check out these titles this May.

Spelunky 2

If you haven’t played them yet, Derek Yu’s roguelikes are all must-play titles. This platformer game is rated as simple, as the player advances further and further down the deadly caves of the moon with a limited set of tools. The game is challenging and rewards thoughtful planning and quick reaction times to a variety of traps and obstacles. Spelunky 2’s The roguelike setup also makes it a great pick and play game that constantly makes you just want to run it one more time.

Quadrilateral cowboys

Data-stealing minigames are common in video games, but very few games actually make the activity appealing. Quadrilateral cowboy, from Brandon Chung of Blendo Games, defies that point with an excellent game that’s almost entirely about hacking. In Quadrilateral cowboys, you control a hacker assisting the secret service to carry out a heist. You enter the code and create the program to progress, really making you feel like an expert hacker.

Its unique gameplay approach will keep the game and its puzzles ingrained in your mind long after the game is over. Quadrilateral cowboys only available for PC, Mac and Linux. If you like Blendo Games’ work here, check out Chung’s other games like Gravity Bone, Thirty Flights of Loveand coming soon Thick skin.

Wild outside

Wild outside is an ambitious adventure game where the player explores a vast solar system that resets every 22 minutes. Thanks to its gripping time loop story about a lost civilization, clever puzzles, and the amount of player agencies it allows, Wild outside is one of the smartest sci-fi games out there. Wild outside‘developer, Mobius Digital, founded by former Hero and Hawaii 5-0 star Masi Oka, who served as the film’s executive producer.

Rakuen

Rakuen created by Laura Shigihara, a musician known for her work on Plants vs Zombies scored. In 2017, she released her own simple yet heartfelt adventure game. Of course, this game has a great soundtrack, but it’s also a poignant adventure game about a boy who explores both the hospital and the fantasy world with his mother.

Fans of classic games will enjoy the 16-bit aesthetic of RakuenBut the engaging and emotional story and the incredible soundtrack are what will ensure you’ll stick around. Rakuen It’s currently only available on PC, Mac, and Linux, and it’s only $3 until May 12 on Steam as part of its 5th anniversary celebration.

Anodyne 2: Return to the dust

Anodyne 2: Return to the dust is a unique 3D platformer and 2D adventure game where you control a character named Nova who is trying to help free people whose minds have been taken over by Nano Dust. While the adventure begins with a 3D platformer style after games from the early 2000s, diving into the character’s mindset shifts the experience into a 2D style reminiscent of old Zelda games. dictionary. It’s an ambitious mix of styles to be more epic and meta than you might expect.

Sean Han Tani and Marina Kittaka of Analgesic Productions created the game, and they’ve proven themselves to be some of the smartest indie developers working today. Anodyne 2: Return to the dust available on PC, PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. And if you like Anodyne 2then you might want to see the original pain relief, available on all the same platforms.

Combat Chefs Brigade

A cute genre mash-up from Trinket Studios’ Eric Huang, Combat Chefs Brigade is part side scrolling puzzle game and part matching puzzle game. Players battle monsters for certain elemental ingredients and then must cook dishes through a reminiscent match-3 puzzle minigame Puyo Puyo. Done well, and your dish will be appreciated by the judges.