We were at PlayNYC this weekend and went hands-on with a few dozen indie games from small local teams. Among them, we noticed a line forming for Signal Creek, a pixel-art RPG by a handful of NYU students. The yet-to-be-dated game will release sometime on Mac and PC in the future. It seems like something that would work out well on a Steam Deck or Rog Ally.
The team describes the story as, “Nour, a 22-year-old college student, sneaks into the soon-to-be-demolished Signal Creek mall, but quickly finds herself trapped with her little brother’s best friend and her professional mentor. In order to escape the dreamlike reality of the mall, Nour must guide everyone—including herself— through a journey of reconciliation.”
The game takes place in a fictional New Jersey town called, Signal Creek. Specifically, it takes place in the very 90s-inspired setting of a local mall. The entire team worked as narrative designers on the game. The narrative leans on identity and dealing with unreconciled trauma. The nostalgic pixel art, blended with the 90s movie setting, feels cute and comfortable. The small team has done a fantastic job creating a presentation that could reach a broad audience.
Signal Creek has been in development for over a year now. We would love to see how much further the game could go with the help of a larger indie publisher. Right now it appears the team is developing and self-publishing.
What we saw was fairly impressive given the circumstances. You can check out the demo here yourself on their itch.io page. As well follow the team for updates on X (Twitter?) here.
