Great indie game reviews.
Tales of the Neon Sea is a bright pixel art in the hardboiled cyberpunk detective style. It's also borderline platformer and adheres to a very high-density environment in synch with some of the best cyberpunk cinematics out there. Explore shadowy laboratories or deep dungeons sewers. This game is not for the light-hearted but it does deliver on content. This is probably the most sophisticated pixel art game I have ever played. Let's take a look.
The word Fugl means bird in Norwegian. Fugl is a casual sandbox indie game created by a small group of dedicated developers. Its story is whatever you make it, and the gameplay is most certainly endorsed by all birds. I started as a colorful neutral voxel bird in a voxel world and glide through the treetops and oceans, plus more. Interact with your environment to test new experiences. Transform into other birds, try neat stunts, and listen to the pleasant music that guides you through the map. To the skies!
GeoGuessr... Ahh, I've waited so long to delve into this one. I present to you today a non-traditional game review to showcase a game that is on the fringe of traditional games but so fresh and fun that everybody is finding out about it. GeoGuessr is a browser-based game that uses images from Google Streetview. You are dropped off in a random lat/long on Earth or whichever area/theme you specify and you use clues from your surroundings to find out where you are. Any person could easily bend the rules to win. For purists, on the other hand, it's a wonderful way to use reasoning and deduction to sharpen your geography skills.
Universe for Sale is an upcoming title that combines sci-fi themes and metaphysical themes into a quirky and compelling visual novel/interactive fiction. I already do not recall the main character's name, and neither will you, as the shroud of mystery is an important part of this introduction. He is a self-described "cultist" with a floating head who drops into a tea shop on Jupiter to meet with a young lady named Lila. The prologue sets up a story involving Lila's special gift to create mini-universes! Hence the game title.
Magic Trick is a 3D first-person skateboarding game that combines elements of popular wholesome achievement games with a skateboarding theme. It is rich in cotton candy pastels, low poly maps, and anthropomorphic characters to interact with through each island. You can play this game with a controller or keyboard and mouse. The storyline is driven by skateboarding objectives of traditional moves like ollies, grinds, flips, and jumps. It is a fully released game and exists in the realm of dev games that are available at a very affordable price mark for lots of fun!
Astroneer is a low poly space sim with a playful and colorful, stylized atmosphere. It uses its practical fundamental mechanics and graphics to pull off an engaging and creative experience. After completing the tutorial on your basic tools and resources available, the game is essentially an open-world sandbox where you can develop your base camp or head to another planet. It is similar to games like The Outer Worlds and No Man's Sky, without the realistic graphics and more emphasis on casual, puzzle-solving gameplay. Today, I'll take you through what my experience is with this game.
Monster Pub is a neat and funny narrative wrapped up in a nice isometric, pixel art game that is ultra-casual. You're whoever you want to be, a shadow-cloaked being, approached on a dark rainy street by a bright pink monster named Pfeffer. She leads you to a mysterious location that turns out to be a public house, for monsters, apparently based on the set for 80's TV show Cheers. Only here, it's where every *monster* knows your name. Let's play some sandwiches!
Shu's Garden is a game that's part of the huge Itch.IO bundle release recently. It is essentially an open playground experience, with no strict rules or goals. Play a little space-cactus named Shu, a ball of shine with a friendly symbiotic tail that bounces around planets. This game holds up well over time, and even without any clear direction of strategy, it is still quite enjoyable as a mini-session or even tangential distraction. Let's take a look.
