RPS Feature Raven about it
The latest adventure from top producers Wadjet Eye, Shardlight [official site], is out today. When I played the first half or so earlier this year I was pretty taken with what was on offer. Does the post-apocalyptic tale of oligarchies, underground rebellions and deadly plagues manage to maintain momentum? Here’s wot I think:
Adventure supremo Dave Gilbert of Wadjet Eye Games has announced a new entry into the lovely Blackwell series. The fifth game of the ghost-n-detective adventures is called Epiphany, and once again has Gilbert writing, with Ben Chandler on background painting and sprites. Which is exactly as you’d want it.
RPS Feature What A Relief
Edit: New hosting for the file! Get it here. Many thanks to the splendid Projector Games.
Do you want to be told a good story? That’s one of the purest pleasures of the adventure game – the embracing of the linear, pre-destined story that someone wants to tell you. While I often crave a divergent, dynamic and interactive game in which my choices have significance, there’s something wonderful about abandoning all of that, and being the agent that allows a story to be told.
So it was a couple of days ago that I cried out on Twitter asking for a new adventure to play. And via various responses, the creator of many superb games – Ben Chandler – linked me to his unavailable adventure, PISS. Created as part of a collection briefly available last Summer, those who missed it at the time haven’t been able to access it since. Fortunately, despite plans to sell it at a later date, Chandler has agreed to let us link to the Dropbox containing the whole game, which you can grab now.
Who would make a game called ^_^ ? How am I supposed to refer to it in conversation? I suppose I’ll call it the werebunny game and hope that there aren’t hundreds more that I don’t know about. The chap who did make it is Ben Chandler, who seems to make at least one adventure game every time he walks past a computer. ^_^ is very short and not too difficult but it’s funny and strange enough that I enjoyed my half hour with it. It helps that biting and headbutting objects is considered normal. Most of the dialogue raised a smile and I’m in an afternoon slump so it must be doing something right to coax anything even resembling joy out of me. It’s made in AGS and you can download it for free here and loads more of Ben’s games here.
Here’s five minutes of your life you won’t get back. Fortunately, you might rather enjoy them. Or you might be bewildered by them. Or you might be angered by them. I’m at a loss to accurately describe your likely reaction. Oceanspirit Dennis is a one-screen, non-complicated point’n’click adventure made in AGS, which seems to be gleefully ripping the piss out of other point’n’clicks, out of Final Fantasy, out of RPGs in general, and most of all out of itself. It may well have no purpose at all, and I kind of like it for that. I also have a headache, due to particularly sadistic use of sound. Ben Chandler’s happily stupid little creation can be found here. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Via Indiegames
I have been enjoying Ben Chandler’s indie adventures so far. Shifter’s Box was a smart collection of puzzles with a neat dimension-shifting mechanic, while Annie Android offered a cute mini-story to play through. His latest, Heed, is by far the more peculiar, and certainly the most interesting.
