Caves Ablaze is a 2D Metroidvania Platformer. Play as a ball of fire that completes puzzles deep underground by using flames and dashing abilities to unlock paths. Avoid water and slowly make your way to the surface. Playable with an X-Box Input Controller or keyboard. This was the inaugural free games post for the FGV blog. Not a lot documented here, but a perfectly enjoyable game.
Today, I plunged headfirst into the free games pile new releases over on Steam store. On my arrival, I discovered a cozy little visual novel among the listings called Fayburrow, and I decided to take a look at it. Fayburrow is a free game created by the self-named "Fayburrow Troupe" at VIA University College in Denmark. It just hit the Steam store today. What was first intrigue, turned into a fascination with the conjunction of such delightful graphics with a genre I have not covered in far too long! So, after downloading, I fired it up and took it for a spin at the courtesy of the game's student makers and you dear reader. Let's take a look at Fayburrow.
Today's game, Loading Story, listed as developed by "potatodog" on Steam is a tad quirky but genuinely satisfying. It's a very short game about a character troubleshooting a game loading error in an imaginary video game town, where the loading tube passes through. Just wander around and solve the mystery. It's good that it's free because it only takes about 20-30 minutes to play, which is fine. I'll tell you enough about it but won't go too crazy on detailing this one, since you really should just play it. Loading Story: Free and Fine Just a heads up, this game…
Doggone Hungry is a lovely little PC doggo game about an adorable pup, his favorite toy, some loveable humans, and that gosh darn cat. You'll pounce against the clock to acquire enough, and by enough I mean as many as he wants, snacks to bulk up and solve the exasperating crises of your unreachable toy duck Quackerjack. The style is a colorful pretty much low poly location-based game filled with humans relaxing and occasionally opening doors for you. Don't be so quick to bark after lunching on some prepared hot dogs they had sitting out because you will get caught! They will just put you in timeout though. This game is so cute and so pleasant, (also it's free), so I just had to choose this as today's free-for-all showcase.
Runo is a cultural indie game and a very unique project based on the Midsommer mythos from traditional Finnish culture. Its intellectual deduction and story track lead you through a complex story that involves the protagonist's grandmother and family tradition. The story takes place in a cabin next to a forested lake. The goal is to use clues from your dad's text messages, your personal journal, and what you observe around you. There is a deep mystical nature to this lake and in a simple quest to find your grandmother's hidden journal, you'll encounter a variety of exciting obstacles.
Twin Stones: The Journey of Bukka is a 3d animated fantasy platformer due for release in early July 2021, in respect to now, very soon! As it were, I've received the privilege of showcasing my first pre-release game through my community at Indie Game Collective. The game is a very intriguing story involving protagonist Bukka, a runner for lack of a better word, and a, I suppose, serpent companion identified as Shiva, the god of destruction. The obstacles are fluid and bouncy, and the graphics are beautiful. I'll tell you what you need to know about this game and where you can find it. Let's take a look.
I must have a sick sense of humor if I decided to go on this journey so eagerly in the gaming verse. I have a sense of humor, sorry for the orneriness. C'mon though "CHAIR" Simulator!? What's weird is it actually wasn't that bad. And it's free. If you literally have nothing else to do, just try it. I'm only jesting guys, obviously the creator was tongue in cheek when they created this, but I was surprised by the attention to gameplay that was put into this for being a joke game. Well, that, or it was created by aliens, which is fine too. Alright, let's unpack this, not too much though, since surely I'm doing the Lord's work today here. Launch...
Nyaa-Kuza is an illustrated half-action interactive fiction title from the self-dubbed Catzooka Studios out of the University of Utah's EAE program. Play as Mochi, an ex Nyaa-Kuza brawler cat, whose cat wife, Hime, has been "catnapped" by the syndicate. You'll traverse the outskirts of a Japanese city interacting with leads and allies in a conventional visual novel style to find Hime. At other times, the game is highly interactive with button-mashing fight scenes with cat gangsters. The game is free on Steam, and I sincerely suspect you've never seen a game like this.
Til Nord is a free open world snowmobile game released by students at Breda University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands. The gameplay is straightforward with its mobile open-world gameplay and pulls off a finished level of design from the beginning. Drive your snowmobile around the Loften Islands of Norway, day and night bright snowy roads and northern lights skies at night, solving delivery missions for enterprises around the village like lumber mills and fisheries. Or test your skill at time-lapse contests with your learned speeding abilities.
Lab Rags is an upcoming title from the student project studio Salt Mine Studios. It is an art-deco era puzzle level game that shares mechanics with games like Portal and its descendants. Get started right away as a mechanical android with a neat gun similar to the classic gravity gun. You can advance within the game by respawning and then grabbing your previous housing to fling at door-opening buttons, traverse over spike pits, and even build structures like stairs out of crushed cubes made from your metal leftovers. The environments and music are very charming, and it is an appropriate level of challenge and enjoyment.