Farewell, 2021!
With this year coming to a close, we’ve decided to collect all our accomplishments into a single video for your viewing pleasure. Before I go into any specifics, though, I’d like to thank all the fans of our games for making the year such a success as well as the devs on our teams that put in such amazing work!
The Games of 2021!
The Darkside Detective: A Fumble in the Dark
It may be a world where nothing matters and everything’s a joke but you better believe that I (and everyone else in the Spooky Doorway Discord) would literally kill anyone that threatened poor, innocent Patrick Dooley. McQueen we could take or leave, though, he’s fine, I guess. Walking that fine line between making fun ofand celebrating the point-and-click genre, The Darkside Detective: A Fumble in the Dark leaves 2021 with the sharpest writing, coolest puzzles, and best soundtrack (yeah, I said it!) from us in 2021! It There’s plenty more coming down the pike for McQueen and Dooley’s adventures so keep an eye out for more cases releasing in 2022!
Our biggest game ever, GRIME combines the brutal precision of a soulslike RPG with the exploration and discovery of a metroidvania. When I’m talking to players, though, the thing that sticks out about GRIME is its cryptic world. The malproportioned rockheads, fierce yr, and craggy rockgiants breathe life into a world of sand, stone, teeth, gums, nerves, nerves, skin, eyes and opulence. The incredibly talented and hardworking devs at Clover Bite have put their heart and soul into this title and they’re going to continue doing so in 2022! If you want to get the inside scoop on what’s coming in the game’s new content or leave a little feedback yourself on what you’d like to see next, make sure you stop by the GRIME Discord and introduce yourself. And by the way, you can get a month of Google Stadia Pro on us by clicking this link for GRIME!
When I first played Behind the Frame, I thought I was such a genius. “Oh, I know where this is going. I see what’s happening here,” I told myself, finishing the game’s first chapter. Imagine my surprise telling everyone “I never saw that coming!” by the time I finished the game. Just a fundamentally gorgeous title from beginning to end, Behind the Frame clicked with so many of our fans, I couldn’t be happier. It’s not telling the same kind of story or using the same kind of mechanics like Mutazione, Whispering Willows or Keep in Mind, but all of these games prioritize emotionality and empathy among their characters which really feels like home for some indie games. We’re not done with Behind the Frame in 2022 either, so be prepared to see a little more orange grumpy cat in the future.
The Accomplishments of 2021!
Awards
Every single game we published this year won multiple awards across the industry and we’re so thankful to all the judges, juries and fans rewarding their quality. Some highlights include Behind the Frame winning Excellence in Visual Art at the Asia Games Awards and Best Visual Art at the Nyx Awards, The Darkside Detective: A Fumble in the Dark winning Best Lines of Dialogue at the Agoty Awards and GRIME winning Best Character Design at the Unfold Game Awards and a Gold medal at the GWB Game Awards. The full list of awards, nominations and event selections is as long as my arms, so I’ll spare you the details, but it feels spectacular having three award-winning titles come out in 2021!
Announcements
We didn’t just release games in 2021 but also announced a number of new games coming soon. On top of bringing some of our fan favorite games like Mutazione, The Darkside Detective, and Relic Hunters: Zero to new platforms, we also announced three new titles (so far!) for 2022 and beyond! Kardboard Kings, the card shop management sim from Desert Child creator Oscar Brittain and Rob Gross, has been featured in the Yogscast Tiny Team event and is just around the corner. Be on the lookout for news about the card game warlock very soon. We’ve also announced Absolute Tactics: Daughters of Mercy, a turn-based, tactical RPG that’s aiming to bring veterans and newcomers to the genre. We’ve done a bunch of player testing and folks absolutely love the modular class and gear system for Absolute Tactics, and you can play through the demo now on Steam. Finally, we just announced Astrea: Six-Sided Oracles! A roguelite deckbuilder that features dice instead of cards, I’ve been especially excited to feature Astrea on our Twitch channel, with in-development streams showing off new features as they’re being added to the game! If “dice-deck-building roguelite” appeals to your gaming sensibilities, I’d recommend taking a moment to join the Astrea Discord!
The Industry
Finally, I want to highlight the strides we’ve made at fulfilling that motto you hear from us over and over again: We’re an indie for indies. You’re probably familiar with some of our established efforts, like this blog and members of our development team giving talks at conferences. This year, I gave a presentation called Don’t Panic! How to Save Your Game from a Buggy Launch, and published a deep dive series called “Dissecting Discord” that breaks down the fundamentals of Discord for any indie dev. But our most significant effort industry-focused effort this year was the launch of The Indie Houses initiative with several other prominent indie games publishers like Raw Fury, Whitethorn Games and Toge Productions! Together, we put together a massive Steam Event at the end of August and donated almost $50,000 to the African Game Developer Prototype Fund. We remain deeply committed to this initiative, so look forward to more from the Indie Houses in 2022 and beyond.
Thank You
Between GRIME’s breakout popularity, Behind the Frame’s award-winning narrative and The Darkside Detective: A Fumble in the Dark’s fan favorite follow up, 2021 has quite literally been the best year ever for Akupara Games. But that’s also put us in a fantastic place moving forward to 2022, where the games we’re working on are going to blow you away. Plus we have a special treat launching next week that I hope you’re excited for. In fact, if you tune into the Twitch Stream on Friday, you’ll get a sneak peak at a small, cool thing we’re giving away to fans. We’re publishing a set of game jam prototypes we made at the end of December free.
Thanks for coming with us on that journey!
If you want to connect with us for all the new developments in 2021, make sure you join us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or Discord!