The Twitch streamer Max “HandOfBlood” Knabe founded his company Instinct3 Publisher for indie games. At his own gaming fair, he announced upcoming games and took some jabs at the industry.
What kind of gaming fair was it? HandOfBlood founded his own publishing company, Instinct3 Publishing, in 2024 and released the two games Terrascape and Megaloot that same year. This year, there are more releases planned, for which HandOfBlood organized and streamed an event on Twitch. There were also some special guests, including Maurice Weber and David Hain.
He subsequently uploaded a video of the event on YouTube.
In addition to having his own publishing company, HandOfBlood also has his own e-sports team:
Game Announcements with Jabs
What games did HandOfBlood announce? A total of five games were announced for this year:
- Asgard’s Fall (on Steam): An action roguelike where players take on the roles of various heroes of Norse mythology.
- Die in the Dungeon (on Steam): A turn-based roguelike where you have to fight monsters as a frog.
- 9 Kings (on Steam): A strategic simulation where players have to defend their kingdom in roguelike scenarios.
- Dwarves: Glory, Death and Loot (on Steam): An auto battler where players build an army of dwarves and fight monsters, also roguelike.
- Deadly Days: Roadtrip (on Steam): Players take on the role of a banana that must defend itself against a zombie army using weapons. The game combines roguelike gameplay with inventory management.
How was the gaming industry criticized? Rather dramatically, but with a kernel of truth, HandOfBlood introduced the new games from Instinct3 Publishing:
In a time when games can no longer be AAA but must be AAAA; in a time when games are no longer designed by passionate creatives but by committees of suit-wearers; in a time when profit, rather than maximizing fun, is the focus, we want to be the antithesis, the rock in the tide.
He further explained that their games would not contain hidden monetizations, battle passes, and loot box gambling. With some of these exaggerated actions, HandOfBlood entertained his viewers:
- For the game Asgard’s Fall, “exclusive” live gameplay was shown by Leon Bonjwa, which turned out to be just a pre-recorded video.
- The game Dwarves: Glory, Death and Loot was supposedly created with elaborate motion capture, even though it is just a pixel art game.
- There was a “prize ceremony” in which only the game 9 Kings won the awards in all categories.
- For the game Die in the Dungeon, there was a so-called super-special-deluxe edition that could only be obtained as a pre-order bonus. This was vastly overpriced and included silly bonuses like “2 Months Late Access” and a “Real-Life Concept Art Display” consisting of an actual frog, dice, and a sword. Unfortunately, this edition was already “sold out”.
This is not the first time HandOfBlood has satirically criticized the gaming industry. He managed to share a staged exaggerated “press conference” against Riot Games and their newly introduced regulations for gambling sponsors: President Knabe introduces controversial sponsor for his team in LoL, blames 33-year-old player for everything
