Apogee Entertainment has announced its arrival as the return of the 'original indie game developer', and has confirmed a title for Switch in the process. Formerly Apogee Software, it made its name backing and publishing IPs and titles such as Wolfenstein 3D, Duke Nukem and Max Payne back in the day, and this revived venture is led by the original founder Scott Miller and executive Terry Nagy.
It's interesting for veteran gamers to see the company re-emerge, but what about the game? It's Residual from developer OrangePixel, which is described as "a new breed of survival platformer". Though it utilises procedurally-generated stages, stick with us, because it looks rather interesting in approach. It's truly about survival and exploration with combat not being a major factor; it's due out later this year:
Unpredictable yet accessible, Residual welcomes players to a non-violent survival experience with limitless possibilities and no traditional combat. Jump and descend through colorful, highly detailed pixel art evoking classic 2D platformers. Solve light puzzles to reveal secrets of a long-lost civilization. Select a male, female, or non-binary protagonist. Customize survival parameters like how fast time advances. Race to repair the ship, dig up ancient secrets, or collect data entries on thousands of undiscovered objects and life forms. You’ll also have your snarky and occasionally helpful Personal Disaster Bot (PDB) with you the entire way.
One for the wishlist? Let us know, and if you're old enough to remember Apogee Software from back in the day let us know what sorts of Indie games you want to see them support.
Comments 24
Woah, taking me some ways back with Apogee. Certainly not a name I ever expected to see again.
So now both Apogee and 3D Realms are back in the publishing business, only now separately run. That’s pretty crazy. I remember playing Commander Keen back in the day on the old DOS PC. Now I feel real old.
Have people not had enough of the pixelly platformers yet?
Residual looks fun, it reminds me of early Starbound where the focus was on visiting procedurally generated planets and features to scavenge things for survival and progression.
Though this looks more accomplished in that regard, with a touch of Xeodrifter in visual design and scenario.
@Jamie_R As long as it's done well and the OST is fire I don't think I'll stop playing "pixelly platformers"
@FragRed
And I still play Monster Bash every Halloween!
Is this 3DRealms as Apogee or the other Apogee ?
Yeah, it is a bit confusing haha
Max Payne was published by Gathering of Developers.
Did a double take because I thought it said apology lol
Definitely buying this, pc if digital only, switch if physical. Not a ton of crafting focused games without combat.
@Jamie_R I have wondered that about first person shooters for years.
@CromAstronomy I've always thought indie games were meant to be innovative. From what I see on the eShop many fall into one of three categories:
2D Metroidvania
Topdown Roguelike
8/16-bit pixel platformers
The market is surely at saturation point with all these games? Would like to see some fresh ideas but will they sell?
@Jamie_R They're not really meant to be anything besides developed and released without the the support of any large publisher.
Over time though, indie games kind of got the reputation of going for the more interesting or risky ideas (game design wise) compared to AAA studio projects.
Which I personally agree with for the most part.
Of course that doesn't mean every indie game has to be like that.
They can be whatever the developer wants them to be.
That is really nice!
This reminds me of how much I enjoyed Terraria. I'll definitely have my eye on this, especially considering its interesting development pedigree.
@PLATINUM7 You and me both. I was a kid back in the 90's playing Crystal Caves and the OG Duke Nukem Platformers. I wasn't expecting to hear the name Apogee today, to say the least, but I'm damn glad to.
I could see myself giving this a try, if only I'm not forced to play only as that one character. A game like this, it would take nothing to let the player customize the avatar in some way. But I like the idea of exploration focused gameplay rather than (primarily) combat. That's what I liked about Terraria initially.
@FragRed : Commander Keen was made by iD Software (the very same boys who would later go on to make Wolfenstein 3D, DOOM, and Quake). Apogee published Episodes 1-5 and also distributed Episode 6 (publishing rights to Episode 6 was handed off to another company which had since gone bust many years ago, hence why it's tragically never been re-released). Keen Dreams was published under SoftDisk (the company that the iD boys used to work for) as they were still under contract to produce a certain number of games for them before they were finally able to leave them behind.
Monster Bash HD!?!!!!
Awwwwww, yeah!!!
I was also hoping for a Secret Agent remake considering that they had done one for Crystal Caves (and IMO Secret Agent is the much better game).
"Male, female or non-binary-"
Hard pass. Had me at Apogee, lost me at weird fringe gender politics. Gender non-binary does not exist.
@Facelord Can definitely tell you are old enough to remember Apogee......
@Tuffasagong Edit: Misread your comment. I'm 29, Apogee were important back then. Me being older just makes me more sane and normal in that area.
Will keep an eye on rhis one then.
@Jamie_R I definitely could use less roguelike games, no offense to those who like them but I really don't. But yes overall there are a lot of ideas that are way over used but there are a lot of hidden gems as well.
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