Kinetic Publishing was built to empower indie creators with the level of support that our founder, Daniel Knight, would have benefitted from when he was first creating Phasmophobia. Today, we had the absolute pleasure of revealing Kinetic Publishing’s upcoming slate at the first-ever Kinetic Publishing Showcase, not only showing off five incredibly exciting titles due to launch in 2027 and 2028, but also putting the spotlight on five unique teams whose own stories are just as important as the ones they are aiming to tell.
From unsettling sci-fi horror to cosy magical farming, and everything in between, Kinetic Publishing has cultivated a selection of games we know players will love, because they’re games that we want to play as well.
Contact Protocol: Hail Starships, Interrogate Their Documents, and Fire Torpedoes
Ask around the Kinetic Publishing office, and few would disagree that there’s any greater horror than piles of incomplete paperwork. In Contact Protocol, you’ll have to confront the scourge that is corporate admin aboard the starship Pale Horse. As you pass other ships on the way to Jupiter, you’ll check their details against company records and ascertain their intentions, in order to keep your crew safe. But if faced with uncertainty, all it takes is one torpedo to guarantee your safety – while dooming the other crew to death in the vacuum of space.
Contact Protocol slowly ramps up the player’s cognitive load while offering them near-impossible decisions, and we really clicked with the team’s focus on exploring what players are capable of when under pressure. It’s stressful, it’s rewarding, and it’s incredibly moreish, as players will discover for themselves when Contact Protocol launches for XBOX Series X|S and XBOX on PC in Spring 2027. Play it on both console and PC at no additional cost with XBOX Play Anywhere.
Crescent County: Ride Motorbrooms, Deliver Packages, and Kiss Girls as a Tech-Savvy Witch
Crescent County is a game that just oozes good vibes, and from the moment Electric Saint lead developer, Anna Hollinrake showed us her witch-tech open world chock full of racing, deliveries and romance, we knew we had to publish it. Anna has allowed her distinctive art style to leak into every corner of the game, including the gameplay itself. Playing the early builds, we smoothly flowed from delivery jobs to racing, and then to romance, like the stroke of a brush.
We couldn’t believe our luck when we got to meet Anna, at the very first meeting of the first event we attended as Kinetic Publishing, and immediately fell in love with Crescent County’s painterly world and unique mode of transportation.
Crescent County is something a bit special, celebrating queerness and witchcraft in a way that immediately resonated with our team, and we know will resonate with players when it launches for XBOX Series X|S and XBOX on PC in Summer 2027. Play it on both console and PC at no additional cost with XBOX Play Anywhere.
Shellbound: Explore a Land Carried on a Snail’s Shell in This Parasitic Metroidvania
Shellbound brings together everything we love about a good Metroidvania. The sense of exploration as you unlock the world piece by piece, grappling with the grand scale of a civilization whose lore is just waiting to be uncovered. And of course, razor-sharp combat and platforming that makes each challenge difficult to overcome, but incredibly satisfying once you do so. Shellbound adds an extra twist on top of this, casting players as a literal parasite travelling through a living world set upon a snail’s back.
The way the team at developer Fake Lobster has incorporated the player’s parasitic abilities – allowing them to take control over enemies and NPCs in the world and use their unique abilities in order to unlock new areas and find secrets – makes Shellbound feel fresh in a familiar genre we love. We can’t wait for Shellbound to take over your world when it launches for XBOX Series X|S and XBOX on PC in Summer 2028. Play it on both console and PC at no additional cost with XBOX Play Anywhere.
Aether Wizard Life: Rebuild a Haunted Town as an Apprentice Mage
To say that we were blown away by the sheer ambition of the dev team at Vonder Games when we were pitched Aether Wizard Life would be an understatement. Action-RPG combat, platforming and exploration, town-building, farming, dating, shopkeeping. The sheer number of things you’re able to do in the game is admirable – and what’s truly impressive is that each and every element is fleshed out enough that it form the basis of a whole game by itself.
The love and care put into every detail of Aether Wizard Life is apparent at first glance, from the gorgeous Ghibli-esque art style, to the focus on player customization and the sheer variety of activities on offer for players to get stuck into. And with a mystery to solve at the heart of it, involving a mysterious group kidnapping wizards to their own nefarious ends, we think players are going to be spellbound by Aether Wizard Life when it launches for XBOX Series X|S and XBOX on PC in Autumn 2028. Play it on both console and PC at no additional cost with XBOX Play Anywhere.
PRECOGNITION: The Latest Game from Immortality and Her Story creator Sam Barlow
We are absolutely thrilled to be able to partner with Half Mermaid Productions and give players the first official details on PRECOGNITION. Originally teased under the name ‘Project C’, PRECOGNITION is a sci-fi horror thriller being created by Sam Barlow in collaboration with acclaimed horror director Brandon Cronenberg. Here at Kinetic we’re huge fans of Sam’s previous FMV games – Her Story, Telling Lies, and IMMORTALITY – and much like those modern classics, this game will reward players who dig down into the smallest of details. You’ll want to get pencils and notebooks ready for this one.
The games that Sam makes are truly singular, and as a studio that cut its teeth on horror, we’re excited to have a game in our lineup that will make your skin crawl. Players can look forward to diving into this science fiction story of time travel, prescience, and the horrors that await when you meddle with the flow of time, when PRECOGNITION launches for XBOX Series X|S and XBOX on PC in Spring 2028. Play it on both console and PC at no additional cost with XBOX Play Anywhere.
