Pocketpair's publishing manager, John 'Bucky' Buckley, has discussed his preference for indies over AAA games, saying that big-budget titles are "overwhelmingly about graphic quality and fidelity" and that he doesn't "have much interest in their gameplay mechanics," admitting that he hasn't really touched them. Pocketpair focuses its publishing on small projects like pixel-art, puzzle RPG Cassette Boy, and Game Boy-style horror game Normal Fishing. The publishing arm recently announced Never Grave: The Witch and The Curse at this month's State of Play, a roguelike and metroidvania, which is one of the more ambitious games in its portfolio. "'I’ve never seen this kind of game before'": Ex PlayStation boss Shuhei Yoshida says AAA devs stick to a "proven formula" while indies are "always" the ones to explore something new God of War Ragnarok lead says AAA studios should "diversify into double-A and single-A, and then perhaps indie" even if blockbuster releases result in "potentially really large" payoffs Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 director says AAA-sized "scope and budget" might have made it worse, actually, because "not artificially padding out the game time excessively" was key to the RPG's success "Indie games have so many interesting mechanics and different styles of gameplay," Bucky says. "I think AAA titles are overwhelmingly about graphic quality and fidelity, and that's great. But I personally don't have much interest in their gameplay mechanics. On the other hand, recent indie games are incredibly unique, and often include the kind of systems you can't find in other games." Bucky admits that his affection for indie games has a lot to do with his preferred style of play. "The way I like to play games, once I've finished playing something, I want the next game to be something completely different," Bucky explains. "I like to keep jumping between different genres, which means I think indie games make more sense for me." Variety is the spice of life, but I think the AAA scene has more than a few delightfully unique gems. This stunning 2D roguelike with Hollow Knight vibes is the latest indie being published by Palworld developer's publishing arm, and it even includes 4-player online co-op.