This is an odd game. It's billed as a "minimalistic real-time tactics roguelite about Vikings," which just seems to be missing IN SPACE or GONE WRONG. Being a gentleman of a certain age, it reminds me a bit of Mega-Lo-Mania in 3D.
12 Oct 2020
🏹 Valentina | Nintendo Switch | Review | "A Micro-Budget Title From Brazil" 🏹 #GameDev #IndieGames
11 Oct 2020
😈 Lust From Beyond: Scarlet | PC | Review | "Get Ready To Clutch Those Pearls" 😈 @MGLunarium #IndieGames #GameDev
Back in 2017 I wrote a preview for a game called Lust For Darkness (I never played the finished version) which I concluded was essentially “pretty… but tame” in how it supposedly was to show the extreme lines between pleasure, fantasy and pain.
It’s effectively the Hellraiser thang (most memorably illustrated in the first movie by a man sneering at a woman’s back during love-making) and the preview version of Lust for Darkness suffered from the same issue I had with the original Hellraiser movie, it felt somewhat muted.
When someone tells me ‘I want to show you the boundaries of human endurance between pleasure and pain’ my mind goes beyond the purchasing of a risqué bronze statuette with a coquettish grin on its face and its bum out.
Lust From Beyond: Scarlet is again a preview of a final game, a sort of self-contained tech demo that exists to show off the gameplay features that will be included in the full game. Scarlet is a separate story that acts as a preamble to the tale that will be told in that final product.
🕊️🦉🦜 Feather | Review | PS4 | "Do you want to fly away (yeah, yeah yeah)?" 🕊️🦉🦜 #IndieGames #GameDev
10 Oct 2020
⚽️ Ganbare! Super Strikers | PS4 | Review | Better Than Captain Tsubasa? ⚽️ @_rese @RatalaikaGames #IndieGames #GameDev
Ganbare! Super Strikers is a mix between an anime Tactical RPG and a Soccer game.
You need to Win matches to level up your players and also to earn new equipment that will allow your players to learn up to 35 special abilities.
These abilities will boost your players' stats or protect them against altered status effects inflicted by opposition players
In story mode, you can create your own team to take on the rival teams in Japan in a 7v7 competition which takes place over 7 matches.
If you win the Japan competition you then get the opportunity to play in the World Cup in a 11v11 tournament.
You can also play a local multiplayer mode with up to 8 players with quick match, league, and tournament modes.
🎙️ Not For Broadcast | PC | Review | "Chuck Five Nights At Freddy’s and Papers Please Into The Telepods From The Fly" 🎙️ @PixelHunted @notgamesuk #GameDev #IndieGames
9 Oct 2020
🪓 The Long Dark | PC| Ten Minute Taster | "Totally Bleak and Totally Engrossing" 🪓 @IntoTheLongDark @HinterlandGames #GameDev #IndieGames
Bright lights flare across the night sky. The wind rages outside the thin walls of your wooden cabin. A wolf howls in the distance.
You look at the meagre supplies in your pack and wish for the days before the power mysteriously went out. How much longer will you survive?
Welcome to THE LONG DARK, the innovative exploration-survival experience Wired magazine calls "the pinnacle of an entire genre"
The Long Dark is a thoughtful, exploration-survival experience that challenges solo players to think for themselves as they explore an expansive frozen wilderness in the aftermath of a geomagnetic disaster.
There are no zombies -- only you, the cold, and all the threats Mother Nature can muster.
👁️ Witcheye | Review | Nintendo Switch | A Nintendo eShop Hidden Gem! 👁️ @devolverdigital #GameDev #IndieGames
Witcheye is a colourful, old-school pixel art platform adventure with a unique control system.
You set off on an adventure as a mild-mannered witch who transforms into a flying eyeball of vengeance after a smarmy knight and wizard steal her spell ingredients.
❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️
🕹️ GAME LINK:🕹️
8 Oct 2020
💻🎮 4 Reasons Why Online Gaming Has Risen In Popularity 💻🎮
The UK has an estimated 20 million people who regularly play video games, with the gaming industry experiencing growth throughout its mobile, console, and PC platforms.
Online gaming is one trend in the gaming market that has fast gained popularity globally.
According to a 2013 study, there are at least 700 million online gamers, which is equivalent to nearly 45% of all users online.
Research shows that traditional online gaming has evolved to include trendy additions like Esports, virtual, and augmented reality.
These additions are slowly gaining ground in the UK online game market, and experts predict their rapid rise. Here are four such reasons that account for the increase in online gaming.
🦅 Feather | Samurai pink interview with Nicholas McDonnell 🦅 @samuraipunk #GameDev #IndieGames
We took some time out to speak to Nicholas McDonnell who is the Managing Director of Samurai Punk games who have just released their hit PC game Feather on PS4/Xbox One and Nintendo Switch.
💦🍆Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Don’t Dry | XBOX | Review | "A surprisingly good-natured, innuendo-filled rump, er, romp" 💦🍆 @CrazyBunchTeam #IndieGames #GameDev
Developer: CrazyBunch
Looking back over Leisure Suit Larry’s release history is long and hard. First exposing himself on our screens back in 1987, the adventures of Larry Laffer have been received in a range of ways, from standing so achingly proud that you feel worryingly light-headed to depressingly flaccid, with the last major entry in the series, Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust, being as welcome in my bed as a genital-eating spider comprised entirely of clones of my father’s disapproving eyes that can only be thwarted by watching a looped, grainy VHS tape of myself weeping into a hessian sack filled with physical manifestations of suppressed memories as I’m force-fed burnt clown-hair.
7 Oct 2020
📼 💻Telling Lies | Review | Nintendo Switch | "An interesting concept, if you have the patience for it to reveal itself" 📼 💻 @A_i @mrsambarlow #GameDev #IndieGames
Naturally, the order in which you watch the clips is scrambled and thus the player must make the story cohesive in their own mind from what they have seen.
This approach reminded me a lot of Simon Meek’s performance piece, Marnie Wakes, which is presented as 32 cards with fragmented thoughts and dialogue on each. This means that the order in which you approach the information dictates how the story plays out in your head, a different story for each person but the same cards are provided. Saucy.
🏎️ Inertial Drift | Review | Nintendo Switch | "A Sleek, Cool and Very Pure Racer" 🏎️ @InertialDrift #GameDev #IndieGames
Platform Reviewed: Switch
Rating: Ice Cool
Inertial Drift is a stylish racing title that may take a few minutes to click with but boy, when you get the hang of it… you’ll feel like Cole Trickle (but you probably have a name with more gravitas).
There really is a lot to love about Inertial Drift, Level 91 Entertainment’s retro-futuristic racer. The music is vinyl-purchasingly good with its moody, synth beats that bleed neon, the perfect match to the intense, focused racing.
6 Oct 2020
🎙️ Super Rare Games - Ryan Brown Interview - "Head of Saying Stuff at Super Rare Games" 🎙️ @Toadsanime @SuperRareGames
Britt: Hi Ryan! I know we’ve met at game conventions over the years but for those unfamiliar, could you give an overview of your personal gaming history and current position at Super Rare Games?
Ryan: Absolutely - hey readers, I'm Ryan Brown, perhaps better known as Toadsanime in the gaming sphere. I'm the Head of Saying Stuff at Super Rare Games, a company that publishes a rare print physical Nintendo Switch game every 3 weeks.
If you see newsletters, social media posts, marketing campaigns, or even press releases, that'll be from lil ol' me! I previously worked in a similar role for video game merchandise and games publisher Numskull, and as a video games journalist for The Mirror, etc.
🏔️⛺️🗻Kholat | PC | Review | “I tried so hard, and got so far, but, in the end, it doesn’t even matter.” 🏔️⛺️🗻 @PixelHunted #GameDev #IndieGame
Chester Bennington once sang: “I tried so hard, and got so far, but, in the end, it doesn’t even matter.” This could be the motto of Kholat, an indie horror title from IMGN.PRO that starts strong but gradually becomes less and less enjoyable
Kholat is inspired by the notorious Dyatlov Pass Incident in which nine Russian hikers died in Ural mountains in 1959.
An investigation revealed that they’d frantically clawed their way out of their tents in the middle of the night, with their bodies found naked and mutilated in the mountains - some reports claiming that high levels of radiation were found on the bodies.
5 Oct 2020
🏚️🏰🏚️ Westmark Manor PC | Review | "You can’t toss a stone in the horror genre without disturbing something vile..." 🏚️🏰🏚️ @PixelHunted #GameDev #IndieGames
HP Lovecraft may have been a daft turbo-racist, but man, that guy could nail creepy.
His Cthulhu Mythos has blossomed far beyond his books, spreading its tentacles into every facet of pop culture, finding a particularly sticky purchase in games.
You can’t toss a stone in the horror genre without disturbing something vile, ancient and unknowable.
Eternal Darkness, Darkwood, World of Horror, The Sinking City, Moons of Madness, Call of Cthulhu, Sunless Sea/Skies, Bloodborne… Hell, even the venerable Quake ends with you telefragging the pulsating and veiny Shub Niggureth.
Do we really need more Lovecraft games?
Well, Nodbrim Interactive and Toadman Interactive think there’s room for just one more…
🔪 Party Hard 2 | Nintendo Switch | Review | @partyhardgame #IndieGames #GameDev🔪
“Andrew... Buddy. What’s up?
Yeah, it’s Jimmy here.
Yeah, JIMMY. Ya fuggin’ agent. Calling up to see how ya doin’. Don’t mean to bust ya balls, but the guys up here at Island Records are getting real twitchy.
They loved Party Hard man, LOVED it. Great tune.
But that was then and this is now. They need another hit. Tell me you got another hit in that monkey brain a yours? Another smash for your pal, Jimmy?
You have? Really? So what’s it called? Party Hard 2...
Oh, ok. Just as long as it’s not a rehash of the first one…”
4 Oct 2020
💻 Zasluke Game Capture Card | Unboxing & Tutorial | Nintendo Switch | OBS 💻 #CaptureCard
⛵️ Spiritfarer DEMO | PC | Ten Minute Taster | "Row Row Row Your Boat" ⛵️ @ThunderLotus #GameDev #IndieGame
3 Oct 2020
🕴️ Peaky Blinders Mastermind | PS4 | Review | "By Order Of The Peaky Blinders!" 🕴️ @FuturLab #GameDev #IndieGames
It’s obviously based on the multi-award-winning TV show Peaky Blinders and it tasks you with becoming the Mastermind as you control key characters in puzzle box levels and attempt to pull off perfectly synchronized plans by moving each character into positions to utilise their special skills.
🚀🪐🛸 Stellaris | PC | Ten-minute Taster | "Tactical Space Exploration & Diplomacy At Its Finest" 🚀🪐🛸 @StellarisGame #GameDev #IndieGames
Which lets you Explore a galaxy full of wonder!
2 Oct 2020
🚴♂️🚴🚴♀️ Descenders | Review | PS4 | "Fast, Frantic, Fun and Filthy" 🚴♂️🚴🚴♀️ @RageSquid #GameDev #IndieGames
At its heart, Descenders is a simple idea – get your bike to the bottom of the hill – but done with some really neat touches. This intrinsically accessible gameplay means that whilst the game can be challenging - and boy, does it get challenging – players of all skill levels can dive in and get involved.
Art of Rally | PC | Ten Minute Taster | "An Outstandingly Beautiful Rally Game" 🏎️💨🏁 #GameDev #IndieGames
Art Of Rally Lets YOU Race in the golden era of rally.
Drive iconic cars from the 60s to Group B on challenging stages through stylized environments inspired by real worldwide locations.
Will you master the art of rally?
❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️
1 Oct 2020
💻 Becoming A PlayStation Animator 💻
https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-holding-game-pads-1174746/
Do you have dreams of becoming an animator for PlayStation games, video promos, and such like?
To become an animator, it goes without saying that there are various software programs you need to be familiar with and be able to utilize in order to do so.
Whilst at any animation institute or school for animation, you should be learning to use the following interactive design and software programs as they are quite frankly crucial:
📽️📺 £16 Mayeah Video Card | Budget Video Card Unboxing & Review | Nintendo Switch Compatible 📽️📺
30 Sept 2020
👁️ As Far As The Eye | PC | Ten Minute Taster | "Here Comes the Wave" 👁️ @AFATEGAME #GameDev #IndieGames
🧟♀️🔪🧭 Night Of the Dead | PC | Gameplay | Part 3 | Coordinates Episode 🧟♀️🔪🧭 #GameDev #IndieGames
29 Sept 2020
💥 Freedom Fighters | PC | Ten Minute Taster | " FreedomFighters2020 " 💥 #FreedomFighters2020
It’s been 17 years since iO Interactive released Freedom Fighters and it has never been available digitally – until now!
See how Rich rises to the challenge and proves himself as a true Freedom Fighter!
28 Sept 2020
⚽️📓 Championship Manager 2 - Nottingham Forest vs Birmingham City - Episode 35: "Bennett Blocks Balls" ⚽️📓 #RetroGaming #ChampionshipManager #CreatorsUnite
Come see how my season unfolds in these short sharp Champ Manager vids.
📽️Please Subscribe to our channel📽️
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTXmH31QkkBMtLvGHzQxt2w
27 Sept 2020
🏨 The Suicide of Rachel Foster | Review | PS4 | "A walking simulator you perhaps shouldn’t ‘Overlook’" 🏨 @One_O_One_Games #GameDev #IndieGames
Platform Reviewed: PS4
Rating: Melting
I was in the perfect zone for The Suicide of Rachel Foster. My partner had some stuff to sort out in the apartment and I had just been given a load of wine as a gift so I settled down on the couch in my usual, unusual but unusually comfortable position and turned up to the Timberline hotel.
26 Sept 2020
🔪🩸 Night Of The Dead | Gameplay | PART 2 | PC | "Crafting & Zombie Killing" 🧟♀️🧟♂️ #GameDev #IndieGames
25 Sept 2020
🌋 Welcome To Elk | PC | Ten Minute Taster | "Hello f**kheads!" 🌋 @TripleTopping #IndieGames #GameDev
GAME LINK: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1015940/Welcome_to_Elk
24 Sept 2020
🍗 Bite The Bullet| Review | "I love a good virtual nosh" 🍗 @megacatstudios #IndieGames #GameDev
23 Sept 2020
🧟♂️🧟♀️ Night Of The Dead | PC | Early Access | Ten Minute Taster PART 1 | "Seeds and Axes" 🧟♂️🧟♀️ @8uDui6pcA5Vv51w #IndieGames #GameDev
22 Sept 2020
🐛 Metamorphosis | PC | Review | "Its A Bug's Life For Us" 🐛 @metamorphgame #GameDev #IndieGames
In Metamorphosis, you Play as Gregor, who has been turned into a tiny bug and sets out on an extraordinary journey to unravel the mystery of your transformation.
Your main aim at the start of the game is to find your way to the Tower!
The game plays out as a first-person 3D platform puzzle adventure game set in a surrealist world inspired by Franz Kafka’s novella of the same name.
You will use your new-found Bug abilities in order to traverse the world and inch your way to the tower to reclaim your human form.
21 Sept 2020
Re: Turn One Way Trip | PC | Ten Minute Taster | A Creepy Pixel Play-through #IndieGames #GameDev
Trapped in a ghostly train, Saki must search the past and present to find and save her friends. More importantly, Saki must use her wits if she is to survive against an unspeakable evil hellbent on avenging unrequited love.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1195360/ReTurn__One_Way_Trip/
20 Sept 2020
🧭 DANDARA | Review | Switch | "A Pixel-Art Metroidvania With a Movement-Based Twist" 🧭 @RawFury #IndieGames #GameDev
Platform Reviewed: Switch
Rating: Melting
A pixel-art Metroidvania with a movement-based twist, Dandara’s neat approach to the genre really opens it up to some interesting puzzles and a fresh vibe in terms of exploration.
‘The world of Salt hangs on the brink of collapse. The citizens, once free spirits, now stand oppressed and isolated. But not all is lost, for out of this aether of fear arises a heroine, a ray of hope. Her name is Dandara’
19 Sept 2020
🏎️🏁 Mini Motor Racing X | Review | Switch | "I Am On a Personal Quest To Find The Perfect Top-Down Racer" 🏎️🏁 @TheBinaryMill #GameDev #IndieGames
Nintendo Switch
The Binary Mill
A wonderfully playable game that is packed with content and some really neat touches but feels subtly tarnished by its mobile roots.
As longtime readers will know, I am on a personal quest to find the perfect top-down racer. There have been many contestants but games such as Mashed and Wrecked still hold the top spot in my heart.
Whilst some are fundamentally flawed - such as the controls and physics in Tiny Racer - most are decent but lack the punch to really shake the genre. I’m pleased to say that Mini Motor Racing X is a very solid and fun experience, especially in multiplayer!
18 Sept 2020
🏎️💨🏁Hotshot Racing | PS4 | Review | "A Game That Should Definitely Be Drifting Into Your Game Library" 🏎️💨🏁 @CurveDigital #IndieGames #GameDev #HotshotRacing
Publisher: Curve Digital
Platform Reviewed: PS4
Rating: Ice Cool
I’ve been on a bit of a racing binge the last week or so with a few games skidding into the GF virtual office that needs the flaming gavel of justice to cast judgment upon them.
Hotshot Racing really stood out with its accessibility, stylish visuals, smooth gameplay and a great sense of balance.
17 Sept 2020
🧟♀️🧟♂️ Outbreak: The New Nightmare | Review | PS4 | "A Lo-Fi Survival Horror" 🧟♀️🧟♂️ @deaddropstudios #GameDev #IndieGames
Developer: Dead Drop Studios LLC
Platform Reviewed: PlayStation 4
Rating: Melting
I am always surprised by what one-man development studios can achieve and whilst there are some noticeable flaws here and the game really won’t appeal to everyone, Outbreak: The New Nightmare is a labour of love that has its moments.
16 Sept 2020
🌳🌲 Cloud Gardens | PC | Ten Minute Taster 🌳🌲 @noio_games #IndieGames
15 Sept 2020
🎺 CrossCode on Nintendo Switch Gets an EU Boxed Release! 🎺 @ININ_Games @HoundPicked #CrossCode #IndieGames #GameDev
🎶🎸 No Straight Roads | Nintendo Switch | Review | "Great Licks and Solos But Not Always Bang on The Beat" 🎸🎶 #GameDev #IndieGames @MetronomikIncEN
Platform Reviewed: Nintendo Switch
Developer: Metronomik
Rating: MELTING
From the minds of Wan Hazmer (Lead Game Designer of Final Fantasy XV) and Daim Dziaudin (Concept Artist of Streetfighter V), No Straight Roads puts you in control of May and Zuke, a duo that make up the band Bunk Bed Junction and who use the power of rock to defeat the ‘evil’ EDM that has completely taken over Vinyl City, their hometown.
A game that dances around several genres, No Straight Roads has some really tasty ideas and great moments but it does feel like it is spinning too many records at once and this adds up to a game that doesn’t feel as flowing and cohesive as the amazing soundtrack and artwork that backs it all up.
14 Sept 2020
💀🏔️ KHOLAT Nintendo Switch Classic Horror Is Getting Physical (Based on True Events)... 💀🏔️ @REDARTGAMES #IndieGames #GameDev
Red Art Games has announced that the online pre-order for the physical boxed version of Kholat on Nintendo Switch is available now, with a limited edition of 3800 copies (€29.99/£27/$35)
Pre-Order Link: www.redartgames.com
Billed as the most terrifying journey of your life, Nintendo gamers can experience this epic adventure game, which was created by Polish indie developer IMGN.PRO and narrated by British actor Sean Bean.
📜 A Fold Apart | PS4 | Review | "An Emotionally Charged Origami Puzzle Platformer" 📜 @LRGthunder @AFoldApart #IndieGames #GameDev
13 Sept 2020
⚔️🛡️ The Vale: Shadow of the Crown | PC | Ten Minute Taster | " A Game That Requires You To listen" ⚔️🛡️ @FallingSquirrel #IndieGames #GameDev
The Vale is a story-driven, action-adventure that utilizes the full potential of 3D audio and haptic controller feedback to deliver visceral gameplay that shatters the barrier between player and character.
As an audio-based game, The Vale sets out to breathe new life into medieval combat and provide a truly novel experience for visually impaired and sighted gamers alike.
12 Sept 2020
🧃 Britt’s Brief Bulletin | Drink More Glurp / Haunted Halloween '86 🧃 #GameDev #IndieGames #Nindies
Rating: MELTING
Billed as ‘a wacky physics, sports(ish), hot seat, party game set on a distant world where aliens have copied Earth's summer games and got everything slightly wrong.
Having binge-watched broadcasts of Earth TV the aliens are convinced that advertising is the most important part of any sporting event.’
Drink More Glurp uses purposefully loose controls –the flailing of limbs, mostly - to create humorous events in which you must either traverse the landscape, collect items or use one of the sponsored items (such as the brilliant turbo glove) to boost your way around ad complete the many events.
The single-player experience does offer an online leader board and whilst it is surprisingly fun to see yourself inch your way (hopefully) closer to the top with each event, much like Heave-Ho, this really needs multiple players to get the most out of it.
The fact that it is so easy to pick up and play means that it’s open to gamers of all ages and is definitely worth a purchase if you like physics-based comedy multiplayer mayhem with some folks who drink liquids with a percentage marked on the bottle that they glug from.
Haunted: Halloween ‘86
Rating: MELTING
There are two types of modern retro-styled games. The first type - such as Crosscode – which utilises the base characteristics of the console it intends to evoke (in the case of Crosscode, the SNES) whilst clearly doing things far beyond the abilities of the system it apes.
The second example is HAUNTED: Halloween ’86 which is built within the limitations of the original console, in this case, the NES. Available to purchase as an actual NES cartridge, the musical and visual stylings of the game are ones that are very much from that era of 80’s gaming.
The 8-bit nostalgia evoked here is almost palpable and the dynamic of flicking between the male and female characters to extend your health bar is a nice touch that eases off on the difficulty naturally present in this type of 2D platformer from the era.
This is a smooth ride and, aside from the occasional difficulty spike and confusion in background/foreground during some platforming segments, HALLOWEEN ’86 plays very well, especially in portable mode.
You’ll be surprised how quickly you naturally move from the thumbsticks to D-pad when those rad bleeps start pumping out of your Switch and chunky pixels fill your vision.