Rock, Paper, Shotgun

One day there will be a tag, ‘indie games that Adam honestly intends to play for hours and hours but hasn’t had a chance to yet’. It’d cover all the hundreds of exciting projects people write to me about, or that I discover on my many nocturnal voyages around the internet, but never quite find the time to become properly acquainted with. I’ve played Warbarons, a browser-based strategy game inspired by Warlords, but I’ve certainly not explored Warbarons. Maybe it’d be easier if I didn’t insist on enjoying this sort of thing and plumped for games that have a more obvious and concrete narrative route instead. Maybe now and then, but here’s to all the stories that are mine and mine alone. Warbarons might provide a few.

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I spent most of last night and this morning punching things so hard that their skin had no option but to fall off. Most of the time I don’t actually want to play the murderous hero though, even when that hero is a monk who thinks the path to holiness is a fist-inflicted form of trepanning. Sure, that guy’s got chutzpah, but I’d rather be watching him go about his business, perhaps tactically teasing the best out of him instead of steering him around in a more hands-on fashion. If you like the idea of visiting Tristram but don’t have an internet permanently plugged into your face, or simply don’t care for Diablo III, it’d be a fine idea to play Towns instead.

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Bioware send word that they’re having another free-to-party party this weekend. It’s taking place from Thursday, May 17th at 12:01AM CDT / 5:01AM GMT, and ends on Monday, May 21st at 2:00AM CDT / 7:00AM GMT. The usual limits apply: Level 15 cap, but you can freely play PvP zones. Only people (or email addresses?) that have not played the game previously will be able to participate in this free weekend.

Assuming you’re not busy, of course. You’re probably busy. That’s fine too.

I’m pretty sure McPixel is a point-and-click adventure. Kind of? I mean, there’s definitely pointing, and clicking typically follows – as is its tradition – but events from level-to-level make almost no coherent sense. As a result, it seems less like an adventure and more like a series of incredibly silly, largely unrelated events. Oh, also, you have 20 seconds to finish each level before it, well, explodes. Currently, there’s only a demo, but it spans more locations – from abandoned World War II trenches to prehistoric times to the Death Star – than most full games. And while this demo packs a scant six levels, the final version’s bringing more than 100 on June 6. There’s also a secret ending, but, uh, you probably want to avoid it. Fair warning. Fortunately, the rest stays on the fun side of “dumb fun.” If you’re still on the fence, you have 20 seconds to watch the trailer after the break before this post explodes.

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I’ve never been a fan of designating things “games” and “not games” – primarily because that paints the uniquely minimal Proteuses of the world as somehow inferior to the rootin’-tootin’ shoot ‘em ups, high-flying hop ‘n’ bops, and other more traditional genres that have so characterized this medium’s past decade. Kyoto, in my mind, occupies a similar space.

Part tech demo, part experimental homage to the Japanese city of the same name, it’s positively languid – but more like a peaceful, moonlit river and less like a half-salted snail. Basically, you interact with a neon-lit tree and the celestial landscape around it, poking and prodding to figure out how/if things function. Resulting sights range from barely noticeable to glorious rainbow eruptions worthy of the end segment from Peggle. However, a word of warning: Kyoto definitely requires patience. I really wasn’t feeling it at first, but I’m also terrible at relaxing. So consume it slowly – like a warm glass of milk. Maybe even consume it with a warm glass of milk. But don’t literally consume Kyoto. The game or the city, I mean. I should stop talking now.

Just for the weekend, of course. Mr Zacny – who has a review coming up right after this article! – rather liked the fourth iteration of the colourful dictate ‘em up. You’ll be able to download and play the game on Steam tonight last night from 8pm GMT, and play it through the weekend. Should a purchase be aroused in your wallet, then there’s a 66% discount, too. So that’s pleasant. (And sort of appropriately timed.)

Reversion is a freeware adventure game set in a collapsing Buenos Aires, with civil war and other excitement going on in the background. I know that all sorts of exciting things have happened in the recent past because a doctor told me. He had to tell me because I’ve woken up in a hospital bed with a severe case of amnesia. Whenever I find myself in control of an amnesiac I smash the emergency glass that covers my Hat Of Exposition Deflection immediately. That once robust garment is now in tatters and every time I breathe, I regurgitate a fragment of the couple of decades’ worth of fictional Argentinian future-history that’s been inflicted on me.

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Experimental FPS game Souvenir is, well, a bit broken. It’s a work in progress, though – part of a Design and Technology MFA – and not certainly broken enough to obscure the fact that there’s a tremendous idea in here: a gravity-plane-changing mechanic that pushes into the territory of Psychonaut’s Milkman level, while playing with spatial relations in impossible Escher-like surroundings. The glitchiness of the main mechanic was a little frustrating, but only because I was tantalised by this work in progress. If they can get the bumps in the road sorted out, make the play as polished as the dreamlike visuals, and bolt an end on, then it could be a fascinating experience. You can try it for free on PC and Mac just here.

Good heavens, Saturday was the 20th anniversary of Wolfenstein 3D. That makes us all older than the oldest oak tree. The classic robo-Nazi-shooting FPS is credited with having made the first-person shooter a thing that people knew existed, and if you’ve played it recently, you’ll know it’s still brilliant. You haven’t played it recently? Oh, well now you can.

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That was unexpected. I saw a link over at IndieGamesMagazine and half an hour later I sit here barefooted, the socks charmed off me by the demo version of Lilly Looking Through which is one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever pointed at and clicked on. There’s a short trailer below in which you’ll be able to see that the heroine might just be one of the most delightfully and attentively animated characters to ever grace a game. It’s more Amanita than Lucasarts, with hotspots to click and activate rather than the freedom of the environment, although the short demo ends with a magnificent introduction to a wider world.

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