Posts Tagged ‘Ice Water Games’

Tenderfoot is a window into another world

Take a deep breath — in through the nose, and hold two three, then out through the mouth — and open a window into another world with Tenderfoot [official site]. It’s a small virtual scene staring out a window in a futuristic (and possibly post-apocalyptic?) city. Green creeps up glass-fronted buildings, wind turbines rotate slowly on rooftops, a creature snoozes on a leaf, flocks of birds loop around the city, thick green clouds pass by, and occasionally a putrid sun brightens the mood, all while chill music plays. We can look around a bit, but we’re really there to stare. It’s very pleasant. Read the rest of this entry »

Build a virtual fire with Eidolon dev’s Yule Log

On Christmas Eve in 1966, a New York television station broadcast several hours of a festive fireplace so people in fireless flats could tune into The Yule Log and feel Christmassy too. A modern tradition was born. You might have seen fireplace videos in Christmas shops on VHS and DVD, Netflix has three of ’em (I favour the birchwood fire), one ad has Nick Offerman sipping whisky by a fire for 45 minutes, and of course virtual logs exist too. The latest is Yule Log [official site] from Ice Water Games, the makers of Eidolon and Viridi. It lets you watch nice virtual logs burn. Isn’t that enough? Read the rest of this entry »

RPS Feature A real-time plant simulator.

Wot I Think (And Wot I Murdered): Viridi

Viridi is a kind of free-to-play desktop potted plant companion. What you get is a pot full of succulents which apparently grow in real time. I have no idea if this is true because I am not good at plants IRL. The developer Ice Water Games (who also made Eidolon) describes it as a “safe haven”, “a place you can return to for a moment of peace and quiet whenever you need it.”

Except I lost my temper and shouted and then aggressively watered a snail.

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Watch Your Garden Grow: Viridi

Grow, my pretties!

People are puzzled enough by the whole swimming-in-icy-ponds lark that I don’t often mention my second greatest pleasure in life is watching plants grow. Every spare surface in my tiny box room is bristling with green, from ivy and ferns to alien succulents. Despite living in a minigreenhouse, I am still super stoked for the next game from Eidolon developers Ice Water Games.

Viridi [official site] is a far cry from the gorgeous explore-o-survive ’em up, but does have a similar wonder-of-nature thing going on. Viridi, see, is a “potted plant app” where you watch plants grow.

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RPS Feature Surviving & Journaling

Eidolon Diary: Diarising Eidolon

Eidolon is a beautiful survival game inside which John starved to death on video back in August. We asked Jack de Quidt, writer for The Tall Trees, to live a little longer and write a little more about his experiences with the game.

When you first open up your journal in Eidolon you’re met with wonderful, terrifying blankness. You have no objective. You have no map. You have nothing in your inventory. There are spaces for these things, but they’re utterly empty. One icon in particular drew my attention – a little hand-drawn pencil that opened a tab with a single blinking cursor. I closed my journal. I looked out at the landscape. I opened my journal again.

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RPS Feature It ate my face

Video: Slowly Starving To Death In Eidolon

The extremely pretty Eidolon is out now – an explore-them-up set in a future Washington that has been reclaimed by Nature. Unquestionably looking like Shelter meets Proteus, it plays differently to both, this game primarily a survival simulator. However, with no information at all, including that bit, I started playing and recorded my efforts. You can watch them below.

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Survivor: Proteus Edition – Eidolon Gets First Trailer

gee, it sure is easier to catch the best fish now that all of humanity is dead

As expected after a few non-moving screenshots and some of those positively primitive runes otherwise known as “words,” developer Ice Water Games has elected to release a trailer of upcoming survivalthing Eidolon. And oh what a trailer it is. It really does look like a gloomier, more traditionally “game”-like Proteus, riddled with gnarled scraps of our culture’s smoldering past for good measure. Like a butterfly all done up in goth makeup, this one’s beautifully serene but it’s also got moods. See snippets of hunting, gathering, and exploration below.

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Eidolon Is A Survival Game About Mystery, Beauty, And Life

No sudden movements, trees. I'm watching you.

I am very good at surviving. So far, I’ve made it 24 years, and I’ve only forgotten how to eat, panicked, fashioned a spear out of a busted broom and a butter knife, and attempted to slay my refrigerator, like, six or seven times. But I can’t take all of the credit for that sterling record. Games taught me countless survival tips and tricks, like how to punch another grown adult until they disappear and leave behind a fully cooked turkey. Eidolon, however, might just elevate my skills to a whole new level – while also delighting me with natural wonderment in the process. It looks to be a fusion of the ever-popular survival sandbox genre and Proteus, so basically the game that a lot of people wanted Proteus to be.

The twist? Eidolon takes place in “a dreary and mystical Western Washington” circa the year 2400. You, meanwhile, are digging up the bones and books that make up humanity’s collective corpse. Proteus meets Fallout? Yes please.

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