Tripwire Presents expands indie publishing support with five initial games

Tripwire Presents is expanding its publishing business with a support program for smaller independent games, beginning with five titles already at different stages of release. Announced on November 4, the initiative focuses on helping developers reach players through promotion, storefront relationships and commercial planning.

The initial selection comprises The Boss Gangster: Criminal Empire, Starforged Legacy, Mars Attracts, One-Eyed Likho and Eslabong. This is a portfolio announcement rather than a simultaneous launch: some participants are complete releases, while others remain in Early Access.

Support can begin after a game launches

Tripwire’s announcement describes flexible arrangements covering pre-release, Early Access and post-launch projects. The services include public relations, creator outreach, events, cross-promotion and advice on pricing, discounts and sales timing.

The distinction from a conventional release announcement is that the work being offered extends to games that their developers have already made and promoted themselves. The program does not require every selected title to begin again with a new launch date. Tripwire has not published a universal funding amount, revenue split or contractual model for the partnerships.

The Boss Gangster, from BEF Games, combines action with criminal-empire management and left Early Access on October 27. Second Shift Games’ Starforged Legacy remains an Early Access space-combat roguelike. Morteshka’s One-Eyed Likho supplies a different kind of experience: a first-person folk-horror adventure built around Slavic folklore and fire-related puzzles.

Two management games show the range

Outlier’s Mars Attracts turns the Mars Attacks setting into a theme-park simulation. Players build enclosures, employ staff and abduct humans to entertain Martian visitors. The Steam listing identifies its full release as September 24, following its earlier Early Access period.

Its premise makes clear that inclusion in this program is not limited to shooters or to games resembling Tripwire’s own development catalogue. The publisher is grouping projects around the support they need rather than presenting them as a shared series or a single genre collection.

Eslabong approaches management from another direction. The developer’s overview describes a mercenary club whose roster competes through leagues and cups. Players recruit and equip fighters, then choose direct control of their captain or automated battle tactics. The longer-term squad decisions sit alongside real-time positioning and aimed abilities.

Its modes include cooperative PvE and asynchronous matches against other players’ rosters. The developer also offers a Steam demo. That makes it a distinct proposition from Mars Attracts’ park-building loop, even though both involve managing a group over time.

The immediate result is visibility, not a shared update

For players, the practical outcome is a curated route to five existing projects. Joining the program does not by itself announce a new expansion, console conversion or mechanical overhaul for any of them. Those would require separate announcements from the relevant teams.

The varied release states are also worth keeping visible. Someone seeking a finished game and someone comfortable following Early Access development are evaluating different things. Tripwire’s role is to help the games find audiences across those stages; the November announcement does not erase the differences between them.