Easily one of the most captivating new indie action games is the ninja fighting adventure, "Overgrowth", from developers Wolfire Games. The sequel to their first game, "Lugaru: Overgrowth" follows the journey of the heroic warrior, Turner, an anthropomorphic Rabbit who is fighting to free his homeland from the regime of an evil overlord. While it might sound like a twisted cross between a Beatrix Potter book and the Tarantino universe, "Overgrowth" (and "Lugaru," which is included with the game on Steam) is a beautiful and gripping action-packed adventure.

A rabbit ninja fighting adventure

My favorite part of the game was the excellent gameplay. The game's movement system captures exactly how you'd think a person-shaped rabbit ninja would run, jump and fight. In "Overgrowth," the player controls Turner, and battles a variety of opponents, from lithe cats to dangerous wolves, in a slew of scenarios, such as stealthy camp raids or life-and-death arena melees. As Turner, the player can use a flurry of punches and kicks to subdue their enemies, as well as sneaky choke holds and powerful weapons. These weapons are easily picked up by any character, including NPCs, so every battle must be treated as a strategic struggle for survival as opposed to a haphazard, hack-and-slash brawl.

The game also features a clean and conducive climbing/free-run engine, rivaling that of "Mirror's Edge" or "Assassin's Creed." Throughout the story, the player is faced with several challenging climbing puzzles, which, I'll admit, often killed me more than the combat did. Once you master the sleek leaps, wall runs, and other acrobatic feats, however, scaling massive cliffs becomes a breeze, and your newfound skills are certainly going to give you an edge while battling, too.

Thoughts

Honestly, I was pleasantly surprised by "Overgrowth." While the graphics aren't super crisp, there's the occasional bug and the game sometimes crashes every few cutscenes, it is surely an entertaining experience. The game's developers, Wolfire Games, seem to be actively interested in its improvement. Just during this last week or so I played it, the devs released a slick update that cleaned up several of the game's issues and improved QoL for players as a whole.

The game also features a very accessible modding platform. I, myself, didn't really dive into it all that much, but the game's community has been actively creating mods for the nine years that the engine has been out. Included in "Overgrowth" are three of Wolfire's mods, an arena fight simulator, a climbing sandbox and a "Mortal Kombat"-esque PvP fighting mode, but there are hundreds of others out there to suit your wishes, including new campaigns, weapons and even urban settings with human characters.

"Overgrowth" is definitely my favorite game that I have played recently. The enthralling adventure gameplay and the responsive developers seem to me like a breath of fresh air in this market so saturated by BRs and MOBAs.

If "Overgrowth" seems as fun to you as it was for me, be sure to check out Wolfire's website and buy it on Steam for only $29.99, which includes both "Overgrowth", "Lugaru," and an additional Wolfire title, "Receiver".
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