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NEWS

September 3, 2021

Andreas Betsche

Virtual SEA Weekly News Update # 6

September 3, 2021 | Andreas Betsche

Some of you may have noticed that our weekly update had to be cancelled last week. We just had too much to do with the coverage of Gamescom 2021 and the announcement of the second part of Coffee Talk. We’re sorry if you waited for it in vain! But this week, we are back as usual with exciting news from Southeast Asia.

The Indie Houses Direct: Publisher Neon Doctrine Shows New Games from Vietnam and the Philippines

Sure, the highlight of the new livestream of the indiestudio collective The Indie Houses was undoubtedly the announcement of the second part of Coffee Talk. But publisher Neon Doctrine also had two exciting pieces of news for you: 

Firstly, Jack Axe: The Trial, a demo version of the hopefully soon-to-be-released action platformer Jack Axe, has been released on Steam. The demo is especially appealing to speedrunners because those who set the best times can win prizes; the fastest player is even immortalised as a character in the finished game.

On the other hand, there was another surprise: Devilated, which is currently under development by solo developer Trunks from Vietnam, will be published by Neon Doctrine. Devilated is a classic style 3D shooter and hell yeah, the description on Steam piqued our curiosity: “Devilated is a timeslowing, monster blasting, boomer shooter with RPG pretensions, buckets of blood and a dose of ultraviolence.” The game is already out in Early Access on Steam.

Stairway Games shows new alpha content for Coral Island

Kickstarter backers can already play the alpha version of the promising farming sim Coral Island from Indonesia. An update by the developer also gives outsiders an impression of the development process. For example, we see that in addition to growing plants, it will also be possible to keep animals; for instance, we can build a chicken coop. The developers of Stairway Games also explain how they are revising the skill system, and there are new insights into the design of the interiors and environments. 

Water Child reaches Official Release

The critically acclaimed puzzle adventure Water Child has now been published in its final version for free on itch.io. According to the developers, the student project, with desert aesthetics reminiscent of games like Journey, is now in a good playable state, even if it is still not complete. However, some team members have already switched to other projects, so we shouldn’t expect further updates or even a Steam release soon.

New Game Announcements: God’s Tear and Fragmented Memories

Two newly announced games conclude this news overview. 

God’s Tear by the Philippine developer Hobbi Games is a 2D action platformer with a focus on battles, in which we lead the demi-god demon hunter Aether against the hordes of the underworld. Visually, the whole thing reminds of classics like Castlevania or the roguelike Dead Cells. You can already download a demo on gamejolt.

Fragmented Memories is coming soon to Steam from Indonesian game makers Platonic Games Studio. According to the creators of the classic RPG series Insurgence, Fragmented Memories will this time be a psychological horror game in which we control the fortunes of a miner who has to solve his wife’s disappearance on his return to his hometown. Occult rituals and other mysterious events included! There is no release date for this game yet.

New Releases

You can look up which games from Southeast Asia were released this month in our handy release overview.


Andreas Betsche

Andreas Betsche founded Virtual SEA in early 2016 after researching Cambodian mobile games for his Master’s thesis. He has a background in Southeast Asia studies and has worked and lived in Cambodia, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Since he has been actively playing games since the early 90s, combing both worlds in Virtual SEA brought together both of his passions.

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