Rystel is Giving Us Major GBA Nostalgia, Plus More Intriguing Indies From TGS 2022
One of the nicest features of the annual Tokyo Game Show is the co-mingling of blockbuster AAA video game franchises and small projects made by small teams or even solitary individuals. For years, TGS has dedicated floor space to universities, pavilions from nations around the world, and independent developers of all sizes.
With the show returning to an in-person event in 2022, getting a chance to see these up-and-coming titles and meet the people behind them was one of the things I enjoyed most about returning to TGS. Here are my favorite finds:
Most mobile games in my experience aim towards the lighter side of the medium, featuring bright colors, chipper music, and offer players a breezy means to pass the time while waiting for the bus. Shambles delivers the exact opposite of that across the board, offering gloomy shades of gray and brown, muted tunes, and a demanding combination of story-based decision making and deck-building combat.
Shambles, as the name suggests, is a post-apocalyptic tale set 500 years after war devastated human society. Players build a character, RPG-style, assigning stat points to determine their abilities, navigating a complex skill tree as they level up, and equipping weapons, armor, and items to build their strength. As they scroll through the story, which is largely text-based with limited animations, players make choices regarding their next move. Should you search that dead body, or leave it be? Is it safe to approach that stranger, or should you hide?
When the time comes to fight for your life, the turn-based battle system deals a random selection of cards from a deck of available actions. Each action requires stamina, and players only have so many available points per turn before they must
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