FAHM2021: 3 Philippine-made Games You Should Know About

Although we’re celebrating Filipino American History Month, we’d also like to celebrate the work of the many passionate Filipino game developers overseas. You might not know that the Philippines has a thriving games industry, including solo indie developers, regional offices of AAA companies, and homegrown studios that have achieved success in their own right. Here are three recent/upcoming titles developed locally in the Philippines that stood out to us!

Vita Fighters

• Developer: AngryDevs
• Platform: Android, GooglePlay, iOS

Vita Fighters is a 1v1 mobile fighting game featuring a blocky art style, reminiscent of Virtua Fighter. Solo developer Angrydevs, a fighting game veteran, sought to create a simplified fighter that’s playable with touch controls, while still retaining the potential for creative anime-style combos. The game features a cast of 20 zany characters spanning the whole gamut of fighting game archetypes. Some characters are thinly veiled references of beloved video game and anime characters, like “Lady K, a sweet but murderous 9 foot woman,” and “Alexis, the red Sentai from a cancelled TV show.” Vita Fighters is free to download for Android and iOS.

Project Xandata

• Developer: Secret 6
• Platforms: Steam

Project Xandata is an upcoming competitive 3v3 arena shooter developed by veteran studio Secret 6. Historically, Secret 6 has specialized in supporting the development of AAA franchises like The Last of Us and Uncharted. Project Xandata will be their debut title. The game combines precise gunplay with a highly customizable class system, including a variety of different gun perks and elemental abilities. Project Xandata’s lore is inspired by Philippine culture (“sandata” means “weapons” in Tagalog). The setting is the futuristic world of Xandaigdig, whose seven tribes each control an elemental magitech artifact inspired by Philippine mythology. While there’s no release date yet, in the meantime you can wishlist Project Xandata on Steam and follow the dev team on Twitter!

Academia: School Simulator

• Developer: Squeaky Wheel
• Platforms: Steam

Academia: School Simulator is a management game where you design, build, and manage a high school. Developed by Squeaky Wheel, a studio founded by the artist of Prison Architect, Academia is perhaps the most content rich Philippine-made indie game on the market. While Early Access reviews often criticized the lack of replay value, the dev team has since delivered a steady stream of updates to student AI, faculty, facilities, events, scenarios, achievements, and mod support, culminating in the game’s 1.0 launch earlier this year. In Academia, you truly can build the high school of your dreams (or nightmares)! Academia is available on Steam.