Prickly Pair: Gamma4 & Norrland

Indie dev Cactus has released two new games, both deeply different and both deeply Cactus (read: disturbing).

Gamma4 is a beautiful, disappointingly brief headtrip set to a club beat where you guide four independant lasers through various squres. I say it's disappointing, but I'm sure if it were any longer it'd just start to hurt. Norrland is a little stranger, being a kind of 8-bit simulator of a Swedish hillbilly on a hunting trip. In between shooting and punching various animals you deal with dreams of withering insecurity. Videos of (and thoughts on) both after the jump.

It's probably deliberate that Gamma4 sees you accidentally drawing a neon swastika in its opening seconds, but I'm not going to dwell on that. I love the rawness of this game. I love the simplicity of its concept and how it's been given body through stunning visuals, a fierce difficulty and an aggressive soundtrack. It's like playing a music visualisation. Not only did I finish it, I want to play through it again. I probably will when I'm done with this post. That basically never happens.

Grab Gamma4 here.

As for Norrland, the less said the better, probably. Download it here.

We're seeing more of it every day, but I'm still a a long way from getting tired of this comedy retro aesthetic. So many indie devs are getting so, so good at it.