Fighting Games Friday: Indie Fighters’ Megamix 2023

I spent a bit of time discussing the fighting games releasing this year from big publishers in last week’s Fighting Games Friday post, which was hardly a large list. We no longer live in a time when updated versions of fighters release physically and digitally every other year, with publishers instead providing those through downloadable content. This is a better alternative thanks to how it’s possible for the production teams to keep their games updated, and eliminates the requirement to purchase updated versions of the same games several times. The small number of releases shouldn’t fool anyone either, as there are still too many current fighting games for anyone with other priorities in life to keep up with.

It’s even tougher to focus on all those fighters when also considering indie titles, with lower and mid-tier budgets. They don’t receive as much attention, but they’re far more plentiful compared to their big-budget brethren.

Plenty of new indie titles tend to be inspired by older games. Among these are Blazing Strike, a 2D fighter with great sprite work reminiscent, though hardly on par, with the likes of the Street Fighter III games and Garou/Fatal Fury: Mark of the Wolves. The game has been in development for several years, but could finally release this year. Another is Die By the Blade, a weapons-based fighter in which opponents can be dispatched in one blow, reminiscent of long-deceased Squaresoft series Bushido Blade. This is also the case with Sclash, though presented in 2D rather than 3D. Resistance 204X also qualifies to a lesser extent, the style in which is a combination of Street Fighter and Nidhogg.

There are plenty more — too many to list here — but there’s uncertainty as to whether most of these will actually release by the end of 2023. Those include dark fantasy 2.5D title Umbral Core, the horror and mythological figure-driven Omen of Sorrow, another weapons-based fighter with Metal Revolution (which has more in common with Last Blade thanks to its combo usage), and another one-hit kill 2D fighter known as First Cut Samurai Duel. There’s quite a noticeable theme among the weapons-based fighters.

There’s also the charming-looking FightNJokes, which captures the niche 90s fighting game look incredibly well. The colorful stills reminded me of games I’d often see previews for in a GameFan issue for Sega Saturn in the 90s. Blazing Worldstars’ aesthetic should stick out to some writers on this blog in particular. The fighters resemble Fatal Furries, a hardly-original pun that I won’t apologize for using. I also keep forgetting about Fraymakers when making these posts, a Super Smash Bros.-style game that includes characters from an assortment of other indie titles. Just don’t expect the playable cast to be anywhere near on par with a Smash Bros. game, especially with how pretty the animations are.

I also like the look of Trajes Fatais: Suits of Fate, a 2D fighter channeling the likes of the older Guilty Gear games and the many other fighters that wanted to mimic its style in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The animation isn’t on par with the earlier Arc System Works titles, but this was inevitable given the budgetary and staffing differences indie games tend to have compared to what GG’s team had access to back in the day. That’s nowhere near enough to prevent me from thinking its sprites and backdrops look good in screenshots, another game that captures the “would have been previewed in GameFan” aesthetic.

There’s an incredible number of indie fighters coming soon, but several have uncertain release timeframes, which is why I’m hesitant to list them all here. The uncertainty makes sense given how indie games tend to be released. They’re unlikely to generate as much hype through marketing unless they’re lucky enough to be part of a big first-party publisher showcase, so there’s little reason for the developers to announce a release date too far in advance. Not to mention that some developers like to make sure that every element of their base product is as good as can be before they release it.

Like the AAA and mid-range titles, existing indie games will receive downloadable content too. But there aren’t as many of them. Skullgirls is remarkably still receiving new content after being on the market for nearly eleven years now, including Black Dahlia in full (she’s available in Alpha form on Steam) and Marie. Whether they have further content planned or if Future Club finally plans on announcing a full-on sequel remains to be seen. Them’s Fightin’ Herds, which is nowhere near as old but is just as solid quality-wise, is also actively receiving new characters and should continue to do so for years to come.

This semi-list of upcoming and still-supported indie fighting games won’t be anywhere near exhaustive by the time summer 2023 arrives, or perhaps even spring 2023. To reiterate: Several indie games tend to get release dates mere weeks in advance. I wouldn’t be surprised if many listed in this post with no release timeframe arrive in the first half of this year. Most, unfortunately, are unlikely to be covered by many websites due to both the gaming audience’s too-lacking enthusiasm for indie titles and how threadbare website staff tends to be these days. Hopefully they’ll find other ways to stick out.