Rock, Paper, Shotgun

While Mars: War Logs prepares to lumber into view, news reaches us today that Spiders Studio are also working on a larger project, Bound By Flame, an “action/role-playing game [that] lets you play a mercenary possessed by a flame demon in an ambitious Dark Fantasy universe”. The press release doesn’t specify whether the real-time combat can be paused but the words ‘Dark Fantasy’ followed by some wittering about sidequests, companions, romance and rivalry makes me think of Dragon Age. My brain has been sorely infected by a blight from long ago, truth be told, and the rumble of dark fantasy RPGs in the distance still sets me to thinking about copious blood-spatter and Marilyn Manson.

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The press release for side-scrolling co-op monster masher Obscure states that the new title is a resurrection of “the survival-horror game from Hydravision that terrorized over a million players in the middle of the last decade.” I do remember Obscure and its sequel but the multi-character school-based horror of the first did seem to live up to its title somewhat. The series return is less survival horror and more Splatterhouse judging by the debut trailer, and while it can be played alone, multiplayer seems to be the main draw.

Split up to fill your objectives as fast as possible, or stay together in a cohesive team to increase your chances of survival!

As you might expect, I’ve embedded the video below.

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In a never to be repeated adventure game news roundup, I bring you trailers and release dates for two – count ‘em – two adventure games of the pointing and clicking variety. First up is The Testament of Sherlock Holmes in which the the world’s first consulting detective goes on a murder spree. Or perhaps he doesn’t and the whole thing turns out to be an overwhelmingly obtuse setup, but the trailer would not have you believe that. It is dramatic in a way that only occurrences within the pea soupers of Old London Town can be. The second trailer is for Chaos on Deponia, second in the trilogy. John shared his thoughts on the first, concluding thusly: “I spent more time being frustrated than entertained, and perhaps too much time somewhere between the two.” Watch both trailers now.

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The title of Wargame: European Escalation makes me think of all those grey-and-white products you see in the background of adverts for washing powder. There in the front is the packed of Whizzi-Wash, bright and colourful, and behind are stacked greyscale box after box of “SOAP” and “CLEANING POWDER”. I’m saying it’s a bland name. Is that clear? Bland. But it doesn’t look bland at all, as the launch trailer below proves.

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Apparently it’s a Monday, which means Garfield is probably absolutely hating his coddled life somewhere, the comical ingrate. I’ll never get tired of his feline japes. To alleviate the start of another working week I bring you a browser game that is far more intense than it first appears. It goes by the name of Focus and is a Flash version of a downloadable game made by Jesse Venbrux, creator of the Karoshi series. Although it rapidly becomes rather difficult, death is a minor inconvenience, if you can abide the textual mockery that follows. Play here now.

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The 600Mb-and-a-bit Dracula: Origin Demo attracts my attention this morning on Gamers Hell, if only because of a splendid title line: “Can you imagine what it feels to be an immortal vampire, to love and hate eternally?”. Well, we’re not sure about the immortal vampire bit, but Alec especialy is well up to speed on the hate eternally thing. Not so sure about the love, as it sounds like it may involve hand holding and smelly girls, and we despise all forms of human intimacy. Anyway – haven’t had a chance to play the point and click adventure yet, but there’s a trailer out beneath the cut, along with one of those second-by-second breakdown things.
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