Generally, when you visit a Comic Con convention, you expect a lot of promotion of films, shows, anime and, most importantly, comic books. This year’s Comic Con in Mumbai was different. While you could check out booths from film studios promoting upcoming blockbusters, a significant portion of the lot was dedicated to celebrating various made-in-India games. These included titles from PlayStation’s India Hero Project, independent games, and those supported by the ID@Xbox team, all part of the Indie Game Utsav. The booth lived up to its name, celebrating games from different cultures all made by creators of this country.
When I think of games made in India, my first thought is about mobile games. India has yet to produce truly groundbreaking titles in the console and AAA space. Sure, we’ve had titles like Raji that garnered international attention, but I’d be lying if I said its gameplay was revolutionary. Not that we absolutely need those, or fancy graphics. In that respect, IGU’s game choices covered a lot of bases, showcasing everything from third-person action adventure games to isometric multiplayer brawlers.
It was also the first time I got to see clean gameplay from highly anticipated projects like Suri the Seventh Note, Winds of Arcana, and undiscovered gems like Possessions, Spook a Boo, Twin Flames, and more. It’s nice to not have to wait for a PlayStation blog post to learn more about the games it’s funding.
As for highly anticipated titles like Mumbai Gullies, while a demo was present for attendees to try out, I’d count that one out. For a game that has been in the oven for half a decade with nothing substantial to show for it except empty promises, it sure would have been nice to get a concrete idea of what that game will be about at India’s biggest convention. I’d rather play a 2D card-battler over a half-baked 3D, open-world game coasting by blind patriotism, and to that end, Kurukshetra has you covered.
If there’s anything I learned about India’s games scene, it’s that not all titles are built off of or being carried by Indian mythology. That has been my biggest pet peeve with the country’s games output. No, I don’t care that your game is based on the Mahabharata or ancient Indian empires, I care about the quality of the gameplay. Games like Mechanical Fury, Palm Sugar, Hush Hush High, Frontier Paladin, Appa, Aslo, Sojourn Past, and more showcase a wide variety of genres that we’ve yet to master before embarrassingly tackling on the likes of GTA.
This was a good first attempt at showing off India’s best game creators, a dozen times better than the cringe-fest that was GamingCon last year.
PlayStation India also had its booth which, like last year, showcased the PS5, the PS Portal, and formerly exclusive games like Spider-Man 2 and Astro Bot. However, like last year, we still didn’t get to see the PS VR2 in action, and any teases about the PS5 Pro’s arrival were absent. It was, for the most part, a celebration of what has worked in the country, which comes down to the base console and its games. If I had to offer feedback, it would be to showcase the weird and wonderful use cases for products like the PS VR2 and the Portal, the latter of which I’ve been skeptical about since its release.
It’s conventions like these where people can actually get hands-on with products that they might be apprehensive about. Put a PS Portal in their hands, pair it with a console on the show floor, and show off the device’s capabilities to the end user. Heck, we saw other booths go all-in on VR showcases with Cricket and other games. For a more sponsor-friendly read, check out Digit’s breakdown of Comic Con ’25.
Xbox’s presence at the convention was passive. While the brand has given up on promoting its hardware and services aggressively in the country, it would have been nice to have a PC-focused booth. After all, everything is an Xbox. I saw booths from other OEMs showing off handheld systems to attendees, and with Xbox bringing out its own portable system with partners soon, along with an eventual rollout of Xbox Cloud Gaming in India, is it too much to ask for a booth teasing the same?
You can also check out most of the games featured at Indie Game Utsav on Steam.
