By Kieron Gillen on December 10th, 2009 at 12:54 pm.
We’re had a few people write to us about this Indie Platformer – not least the developer – so I started my day with a quick run through the demo. And it’s actually pretty neat, reminding me of the smarter breed of 90s Amiga Platformers with an RPG twist. The trailer certainly shows off the sort of escapades you get up to – I didn’t get to it, but there’s something which is pretty reminiscent of the coin-op Ramparts. Also, the Owl reminds me of the one out of Agony (Though without its famous tranquil theme music). There was one example of an odd instant death when going down a hole in water – which raises an eyebrow, because it’s in water – but it keeps its charm. Demo here, full game for just over a tenner and the launch trailer follows…
10/12/2009 at 13:12 Helm says:
Good call on this looking pretty Amiga in scope.
10/12/2009 at 13:15 Mike says:
Absolutely. Makes me feel warm inside. Will definitely check out the demo, great link.
10/12/2009 at 14:33 RuySan says:
Looks awesome. Reminds me of Ruff n’ Tumble, Traps n’ Treasures and Agony certainly.
10/12/2009 at 14:54 noom says:
Watching that trailer made me feel like a nipper again. Definitely giving this a look.
10/12/2009 at 15:22 Pod says:
I LIKE IT.
10/12/2009 at 17:49 Ben L. says:
It is very Amiga-ish. I only wish it had support for higher fullscreen resolutions though, it’s too attractive for 960×600 or whatever it runs at.
10/12/2009 at 18:07 duel says:
I LOVE ramparts! :)
10/12/2009 at 18:31 jsutcliffe says:
re: Agony, Psygnosis made the prettiest games — I would love for someone to remake Killing Game Show.
11/12/2009 at 00:49 noom says:
I have vague memories of the Killing Game Show… think I only had a demo. Was that the one with the slowly rising instadeath water or something and you made your way upwards?
11/12/2009 at 16:44 jsutcliffe says:
@noom
Yep, that’s the fella. It was insanely difficult (or it was to my young self), too. Lots of having to find keys for doors that might not necessarily lead to the exit and might just leave you trapped near the water with no way back out.
HAPPY NOW KG?
10/12/2009 at 18:43 suibhne says:
That trailer was surprisingly compelling.
10/12/2009 at 23:36 MD says:
It’s probably just because someone mentioned Psygnosis, but now I can’t stop thinking about Lomax.
Definitely going to at least try the demo, there’s something super-duper charming about the style shown in that trailer. It’s weird, from the screenshot I was going to overlook this, but in motion and full context I love the visual style.
11/12/2009 at 04:50 Jack says:
Looks like Jazz Jackrabbit to me!
11/12/2009 at 04:57 MD says:
That’s the other game it made me think of!
11/12/2009 at 05:03 Psychopomp says:
Now I remember when I respected CliffyB :(
11/12/2009 at 05:14 Jack says:
That and its sequel are two of my most cherished platforming memories. Weird to think CliffyB went from that to selling DLC for sawing-aliens-in-half-with-chainsaws games.
11/12/2009 at 10:02 RuySan says:
The demo is fine, but i can’t seem to play with gamepad. And also, the widescreen resolution hides some of the stuff.
11/12/2009 at 10:59 Thermal Ions says:
Anyone know what level of DRM is used (limited activations etc)? I can’t seem to find any info on TimeTrap’s site or from eSellerate’s site. Additionally I can’t find how long for or how many times you can download the actual game if you don’t opt to buy their eDS “service”.
20/12/2009 at 06:38 Thermal Ions says:
Just to update. Sent Erik (developer) an email and he confirmed no DRM:
“No, we’re strongly against all forms of DRM, we trust people will see the great effort and time we’ve invested in the game and will want to support us to do more games.
So, no there’s no DRM when you buy it off our site, just a simple installer (or dmg if you’re running mac) that pops an executable into a folder and sets up some shortcuts.”
From the rest of his email seems like a great guy, and representing a team which has customer service at heart. Game’s getting so much action here that I almost feel bad that I only spent $12 USD on it. Will have to consider gifting a few copies I think.
11/12/2009 at 17:06 mcnubbins says:
Looks sweet, will give it a go.
12/12/2009 at 22:54 Zippy says:
Nice. The instant deaths in water holes-where-you-can’t-be-sure-whether-there-will-be-a-platform-before-you-actually-try-it are a serious source of aggravation though.