Games developers from around the world are set to participate in this month’s London Games Festival, which today unveils the line-up for its third Official Selection.
The London Games Festival 2023 runs from Wednesday, March 29th to Sunday, April 9th. The festival’s Official Selection returns with over 30 games and apps representing quality, innovation, and diversity. The selection highlights games across five categories: Best of British, High Energy, Historical Adventure, International Innovators, and Pixel Power.
Once again, the games will be presented via a dedicated online showcase site available from the start of the festival, with associated store promotions at digital retailers and online profile videos produced by London Games Festival. Some of the titles will release special content during the festival period, while others have free demos available.
BEST OF BRITISH
SENTRY (Fireblade Software)
Time Team Games (Shadow Tor Studios)
John Wyndham’s The Kraken Wakes (Charisma Entertainment)
Mechinus (Huey Games)
Glam Pursuit (Larkylabs)
Rhythm Towers (Innoloop)
HIGH ENERGY
KAKU: Ancient Seal (BINGOBELL)
Robobeat (Simon Fredholm)
Fool’s Gold (Solar Flare London)
SquadBlast (UltraHorse)
Demonschool (Necrosoft Games)
HISTORICAL ADVENTURES
Let Me Out (4Happy Studio)
It’s a Wrap! (Chanko Studios)
Brewess (Fairer Games)
Mexico, 1921: A Deep Slumber (Mácula Interactive)
Crime O’Clock (Bad Seed)
Castle Craft (Twin Earth)
Midnight Girl (Italic)
INTERNATIONAL INNOVATORS
Lost Twins 2 (Playdew)
Stories of Blossom (Soft Leaf Studios)
Paleo Pines (Italic Pig)
Forever Lost (Altered Gene)
DREDGE (Black Salt Games)
Bramble: The Mountain King (Dimfrost Studio)
Arctic Awakening (GoldFire Studios)
Gift (Toydium)
LetterMe (Undone Games)
Pixel Power
Vessels of Decay (Aurora Punks)
Bilkins’ Folly (Webbysoft)
The Tartarus Key (Vertical Reach)
Mega City Police (Undreamed Games)
Gourdlets (Aunty Games)
For in-person attendees, some games will be showcased at Platform Bar in Shoreditch on Tuesday, April 4th, and Wednesday, April 5th, while some individual titles are also on show elsewhere across the festival. Further details will be announced nearer the festival on special events promoting select games in the line-up.
The Official Selection is just one facet of the returning London Games Festival – other highlights include:
- Ensemble – profiling underrepresented ethnicities working in video games, the new cohort for which will be unveiled at the end of March.
- Games Finance Market – which connects investors and publishers with game creators.
- Tentpole partner events Now Play This, W.A.S.D, and the BAFTA Games Awards.
The festival also includes a suite of Official Side Events delivered by the games community. These include:
- GDLX a one day indie showcase by Game Dev London, running on Wednesday, March 29th.
- The annual Stand Up For GamesAid comedy night is on Monday, April 3rd.
- Plus daily screenings of The Gallery, an interactive movie game, at venues across the city.
London Games Festival is backed by the Mayor of London. It is delivered by Games London, an initiative from Film London, the capital’s screen industries agency, and video games trade body Ukie (The Association for UK Interactive Entertainment).
And as delegates and studios prepare to visit or connect with London, a range of businesses from across the sector have pledged support for the Festival.
These include Associate Partners Coutts and Taylor Wessing and festival partners Jagex, Outright Games, Rocksteady, The Story Mob, Tiny Build, and Wizards of the Coast.
London Games Festival continues to grow year and year and in 2023 is set to include over 600 games studios and businesses across all its programming, making for its biggest showing since the festival started in 2016.
