Indiecade 2017
Indiecade moved again this year to Little Tokyo – The open areas and exhibition halls of the Japanese American National Museum are certainly well suited for the type of event it is and with the proximity to restaurants and shops it was a big improvement over last year in terms of space. Perhaps not quite as good as it was back in Culver City, but more suitable than UCLA for sure.
Another change was the notable absence of Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft – I don’t know how much this was a desire from the festival organizers to go further into their niche and how much was the console manufacturers pulling out, but their presence always brought with it a series of more traditional independent games that served to ground the festival in something a little bit more accessible. This was perhaps not strictly necessary for a festival that has always strived to highlight the innovative and esoteric, but Indiecade does feel a lot smaller without them and it was hard to find enough things to do to spend more than a couple of hours there.
That said, Indiecade is always a good time and this year had some of the past year’s really strong titles on display – notably OneShot and Dream Daddy from my own favorites – and I was delighted by Penny Blue Finds a Clue. I also had the chance to meet an old friend who had the more traditional game Yoku’s Island Express on display, a gorgeous game with an interesting twist on the exploration-platforming genre.