One of my favorite gaming events from last year has set a return for 2025. Tribeca Games, the gaming showcase of the Tribeca Festival, will return this June. The event will feature nine upcoming indie games this year, two more than last year.
And what’s more, people in the New York area can check out the games for free. From June 11th to 15th, attendees can play demos for any of the nine games at the Tribeca Games Gallery at Pier 57. The nine games are as follows:
- Absolum
- Cairn
- Death Howl
- Dispatch
- MIO: Memories in Orbit
- Mixtape
- Possessor(s)
- SLEEP AWAKE
- Take Us North
There’s a lot to pour over here. As a big fan of indie horror games, I’m excited that three of these titles have horror elements. There’s Death Howl, a spooky soulslike deckbuilder. Then you have Possessor(s), a side scroller set in a scary, surreal city. And as the next game published by Blumhouse Games, SLEEP AWAKE brings a horror pedigree to the table.
But the offerings have a great deal of variety too, from teams that have made some excellent games as well. The creators of Furi will show off their new mountaineering game Cairn. And some of the designers from The Walking Dead games worked on the superhero comedy Dispatch.
Beat ’em up fans may wish to check out Absolum while sci-fi lovers can play MIO: Memories in Orbit. There are some heady themes too, with Mixtape exploring musical nostalgia and Take Us North retelling stories of real-life migrants.
Tribeca Festival’s Legacy of Games
All of these games will be eligible to win the Tribeca Games Award, but only one will take home the prize. Last year’s award went to Goodnight Universe, an innovative game utilizing facial-tracking tech. But last year had plenty of great titles. Indie darling Blue Prince made an early appearance, as did Neva which we called “gorgeous” in our review.
Mainly known for films, the Tribeca Festival has branched out into games the last few years. Notably this year doesn’t seem to have a gaming panel, as previous years’ featured the developers of Alan Wake 2 and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. But this year may make up for that with two extra games to play. You can pick up a free ticket to the event here. Ignore where it says “tickets and passes.” Instead select any game, and then “buy” for a free ticket for the day of your choice.
