There have been some interesting indie games that released playable versions lately. We’ll take a look at some differing titles.

Under the Ocean released a first playable Alpha version of its 2D side-scrolling survival game. It has a ton of ideas so far. The game pits an unlucky person against nature, after being marooned on some island. Players can explore their new home, whilst trying to stay alive. In order to do so, you can collect a handful of items and from there on you’ll use your noggin to create a decent living environment. A crafting system makes it possible to create spears for hunting, items can be combined to create a fire to roast the extracted meat and players can fashion clothes from animal pelts. Under the Ocean also implements lots of health traits in the game, such as hunger, but also disease and modifiers like warmth and so on.

Judging from the Youtube walkthrough, it already looks enjoyable as an idea. The only thing we could see become troublesome is the interface that requires you to hop in and out of it constantly to handle items. As an additional quirk, the developers seem strangely at ease with people pirating their game, listing it on their site and replying on Youtube to pirate it. We advise just shelling out a few bucks for a preorder though. You can access the Alpha by ordering the game here.

Sonic and 16-bit fans can rejoice at the creation of Freedom Planet. This homage to the hedgehog’s universe released a demo version of their game that will take you back to the nineties. With bright colors, fast platform transitions and crystal collection, it couldn’t be more of a rip-off of the blue bullet, but in a good way. At least it will try to break away from the mold with some speedy features of its own as well as some decent voice acting. You can go grab the demo here.

Finally, we bring you Zombies., with the period attached. Yes, it’s a game about the undead, but more in the metaphorical sense. Gamers take the role of a pion within the bureaucratic world that needs to fight the mindless hordes. The game plays like a twin stick shooter in a pixelated lo-fi world of suits and literal boss fights. When you’re fighting bosses now, you’ll be fighting them for real. You can download a 2-stage demo here.