Now many people won’t have heard about this game, Newfound Courage is an independent pixel art adventure that is currently available in early access on the Steam platform. The story revolves around our main character, Alex, who is gay and gets shunned from his previous life with his sister due to liking one of the boys he is friends with. As with all good tales, this starts with a loss of friendship and innocence.
Alex decides to run away in a bid to start a new life, he meets a lady called Nora who takes him in when he has run out of food with nowhere else to go. When you initially take control of the main character you notice just how much work and detail has gone into every single area you explore. There are some beautiful moments that take place in this perfectly realised pixelated village.
In the first section of the game, Newfound Courage has you solving small mysteries using the gameplay mechanics that are perfectly tuned to get you thinking about the possible solutions. Collecting items as well as talking to the characters in the village help immerse you in the world that is being created. As the chapter progresses you are tasked with visiting a huge building known as The Vault where you begin to do some work as a means to earn money. When you first get there you are told not to go higher than the 1st floor as it is too dangerous, you get no more explanation than that at this stage.
I won’t go any further into the story details at this time but already this first chapter of Newfound Courage shows great potential – it could really be a great game, especially for anyone in the LGBT community or for people who simply like a good story.
For me personally, I wish that there were games like this when growing up while I was also dealing with my sexuality. At that time we only had generalised swishy stereotypes of gay teens and men with little else in between. I am really excited to play more of the game, the script is top notch and there is a particular segment that moved me to tears due to it being such a beautiful moment. If you only take one thing from this preview it is that is you should buy this game to help support the developer in making this beautiful vision and story come to fruition as envisaged.
After playing through this taster I have decided that I am going to help support them over on their Patreon page. I really want to see this story continue and will be put my money where my mouth, or in this case my fingers are. I can’t give a finalised score yet but keep your eye open for this one as I plan to add to my thoughts and experiences as the additional chapters are released.
Earlier in the month we also took some time out with Curtis, the man behind Newfound Courage as part of our Creators Corner, we asked questions and he answered! Check out his thoughts –
