Games We Played (And Loved) At Dreamhack Atlanta 2024

Mike, Kyle, Harry, and Becca from the Six One Indie team were recently invited to Dreamhack 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia. Dreamhack is a gaming convention with professional esports tournaments, amateur and high school gaming tournaments, bring-your-own-computer LAN parties, cosplay, the indie playground, panels and much more. Now that we’ve had time to process all of the amazing indie developers we met and games we played over the weekend (and have thoroughly digested the questionable number of Monster Energy Drinks we drank), we wanted to put together a list of some of our favorites.

Rogue Duck Interactive

Publisher Rogue Duck Interactive was at the event showing off multiple different games that they’ve been working on including one of our favorite deck builders from this year Dice ‘N Fold. The team was also showing off some of their other titles which include: Neoduel: Backpack Monsters, a PvP inventory auto-battler, Stellar Settlers: Space Base Builder, a space base/city builder and colony sim game and Cardboard Town a city-building card game. Rogue Duck is definitely paving the way for some awesome card and dice games. All of the games mentioned above are available on Steam right now. 

Stormy Nights Interactive LLC

Breeze in the Clouds is a combo-fueled 2D action-adventure game that instantly grabbed our attention while at the Indie Playground. The adorable characters on screen promotes an inviting aura of fun, while also challenging players to juggle enemies, platform around the areas, and master all the techniques available to you. The highlight of the demo during Dreamhack was the fantastic fluidity of switching between character stances to drastically change your attacks and flow of the fight. We’ve only seen a bit of the game, but what we did see was polished, focused, and an absolute blast to play!

Button Factory Games

Six One Indie Showcase alumnus The Edge of Allegoria also had a booth at the Indie Playground and we were so excited to see Developer Joe and his dad at their gorgeous green booth. The Edge of Allegoria is an anything but normal pixelated adventure game reminiscent of classic gameboy games like Pokemon, but a little bit on the mature side. Basically, the characters in Edge of Allegoria aren’t afraid of a little foul language and general overall violence. Take down creatures, grab new weapons, level up and kick some fu**ing ass. We can’t wait to play more. 

Playful Systems

A brilliant multiplayer game from Playful Systems that we got the chance to play was Sloppy Forgeries. In Sloppy Forgeries, two players go head-to-head to see who can create the most accurate depiction of famous paintings from history. The catch is, you’re only equipped with a few colors and a few brushes. Oh, and you’ve only got a few short minutes to do it. We could see ourselves bringing out Sloppy Forgeries at parties to see who can prove themselves as the best artist. Trust us, you’d be surprised whose best with a brush. 

Noeski LLC

One of the most impressive games in the Indie Booth was The Song of Awakening from Noeski LLC. An action RPG, souls-like game, The Song of Awakening has players exploring a dangerous world as a Lyramancer - a wielder of music-magic. The Lyramancer’s were all but forced into extinction by a mad king and now it is your goal, as one of the last remaining, to defeat the god of silence and restore harmony to the world. The Song of Awakening made a huge impression on us and we’re waiting impatiently to hear when we might next be able to pick it up again.

Fiveamp

NIMRODS: GunCraft Survivor, interestingly enough, was one of the first games we played at Dreamhack and stayed in the front of our minds all weekend. As a member of an experimental testing force, you’re challenged to literally test out gun tech and scavenge an alien planet. This rogue-lite features plenty of abilities, varied characters, and a whole slew of enemies to eliminate. The fun twist on this rogue-lite Vampire-Survivors-esque game is that you robot companion has the gun you used in your previous run. Within seconds, we were hooked and knew that this would be a game to check out. It just recently released into Early Access, so be sure to give it a look on Steam today.

Punkzilla

All four of us got the chance to try out the demo for Combo Devils, a game we’ve seen floating around for a while that we've all been looking forward to seeing more from. A platform-fighting game from Developer Punkzilla, Combi Devils has players working together in a Super Smash Bros.-like style roguelite. Each player has their own move set and abilities that upgrade and change as you progress. At the end of a series of levels, you’ll fight a powerful boss making planning ahead and strategizing key. Combo Devils takes the fun of fighting games and makes it co-op so you won’t have to worry about ruining friendships by pushing your besties to their deaths. 

Quail Button LLC

Quail Button LLC caught our eyes with their booth for their upcoming point-and-click title A Week in the Life of Asocial Giraffe. Many of us have days where we just can’t face talking to other people. And that’s exactly what Giraffe is going through in A Week in the Life of Asocial Giraffe where your goal is to get through his day without talking or interacting with any people. It plays like your classic point-and-click but with an adorable art style and incredibly relatable premise.

Deev Interactive

Another game that caught our eye was LightBreak, a music-based puzzle game that the team have been working on for quite a while. In the game you visit different floating islands, discover the secret hidden there and uncover the memories of a voiceless girl. And you do this all with the power of music. We loved the cozy feel of LightBreak and the soundtrack is truly relaxing. We hope to see more of this one very soon. 

Boltz Entertainment

Boltz Entertainment spoke with us for a long while about their upcoming writing game Write Warz. In the game, you and your friends compete against each other to create an epic story where your imagination alone moves the story along. A lot like Jackbox games, each round players will write a sentence to continue the story and everyone else votes on which is their favorite. IN the end, you’ll all have created a unique and exciting story to share. The game is fast-paced and fun and, in the full version, will include different kick off points and genres so you’ll never write the same story twice. 

Feature by Becca Smith & Harry Loizides