Amongst the incredible showing Xbox put on with their 2024 Xbox Showcase were 2 third party games, Flintlock: The Siege Of Dawn and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 that stood toe to toe with many of the AAA offerings. Both were from the relatively unknown publisher Kepler Interactive. But I'm here to tell you, soon everyone will know the publisher well.
If you are unfamiliar with Kepler Interactive you probably aren't alone. The publisher has only been open for business a few years, opening offices in London and Singapore in 2021. Originally the company was self owned by 7 independent studios. A44), Alpha Channel, Awaceb, Ebb Software, Shapefarm, Sloclap and Timberline Studio. Each studio had an equal say in the day to day of Kepler Interactive and shared both the resources and financial gains of the publishing hand while remaining independent.
Kepler also received $150 million from NetEase and they became a minority shareholder. By 2022 Kepler was starting to gain some traction in the indie space by releasing a couple of timed exclusives. One being Sifu for PlayStation and the other being Scorn for Xbox. Sifu was quite well received while Scorn had a bit more of a mixed reaction. Scorn also released on Xbox Game Pass giving them some extra exposure. Both games have since released on other consoles.
On the backs of the success of Sifu and Scorn, Kepler branched out to being a full fledged publisher in 2023 for games not part of the original 7 studios. The first game to be published outside the original 7 was Eternights on PlayStation and PC. Two studios also joined the original 7 as The Gentlebros and Sandfall Interactive (more on them momentarily) joined the company. They also launched the critical indie darling Tchia in 2023. Kepler was starting to make a name for themselves within the indie space amongst gamers.
Kepler Taking Off In 2024
Now in 2024 is where Kepler has really started to take off. In February they launched two critical and commercial darlings in Pacific Drive and Ultros for PlayStation and PC. For what it's worth we at Gamer Social Club rated both Pacific Drive and Ultros a 9 out of 10. It wouldn't surprise me to see either one in the Indie of the year conversation come December.
Since those games though there has been a bit of a shift at Kepler, a much bigger shift. We’ve known about Flintlock: The Siege Of Dawn for awhile now and at the Xbox Showcase we finally got a release date for the souls-lite action-adventure game coming to PlayStation, Xbox and PC on July 18th. The game is also launching day one on Game Pass. For Kepler it is a major step up in what they have been doing. Flintlock, while not AAA it sure looks much closer to AAA than it does indie.
Also at the Xbox Showcase Kepler unveiled the debut game from Sandfall Interactive, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Expedition 33, like Flintlock before looks a lot more AAA than it does indie and is also coming to PlayStation, Xbox, PC and launching on Xbox Game Pass sometime in 2025. It was an unexpected announcement and one that from the discourse online and within our own community was met with a lot of excitement.
And if anyone is reading this and worrying Kepler might be ditching its more traditional indie style of games, don’t worry as they also have Cat Quest III coming on August 8th on all major platforms. That’s right this small publishing team is set to deliver 4 incredible games in 2024 and already has another one lined up for 2025.
Between Flintlock and Expedition 33, and earlier this year with Pacific Drive and Ultros, Kepler is quickly becoming a household name in gaming and a company that you need to keep your eye on moving forward.
