"Sable" is a very promising story-rich open world game with lots of punch in the aesthetics and some very captivating design qualities. Most noticeably, is the 2D illustration in a 3D environment, but also the story. Gamers will feel like they are flipping through a really high-quality graphic novel that has come to life on whatever system they're using to play it on.
Beacon Pines is a visual novel, but really it qualifies with a new level of cozy interaction and fathoms deep optimistic complexity to its characters. The basic structure of the story relies on an interesting "plot device" made of... well, plot devices! You start in a storybook tale of a young fawn, though I'd say that's up for interpretation, named Luka at his grandmother's. Through exploration and experimentation and interacting with those around you can acquire something known as "charms." Charms help change the course of the story. You may need to go back and forth to test what works and what doesn't, but with each charm, comes some new element that alters everything. Hold on to your BOOK straps, we're going in.
"OPUS Echo of Starsong" is a narrative sci-fi drama taking place in the far reaches of lawless space, created by SIGONO, the developer of the OPUS series. I covered the previous two OPUS games in the series last year, and they were very popular, accounting for a ton of traffic on my site! I also thoroughly enjoyed them. So, when I started off today learning that I would have an opportunity to cover the third OPUS game in the series, OPUS Echo of Starsong, which was just released on September 1st, I was super excited! This series has so much to offer in interpersonal character development, art design, and dramatic storytelling. It is no wonder fans love OPUS. So let's get started.
Spikes, saws, laser beams, the whole works. There are also springing platforms, stomp areas, and wall edges that you can grip to pretty well with some slight entropy, but that's no problem as you can also climb the walls before you leap to the other side. If you're not familiar with this type of game, timing is everything. Timing is everything in Kick Bot. Oh yeah, the reason it's called "Kick Bot?" ... A robot with a giant boot kicks you through the roof when you complete a level. Hey, why not?
Indie Game Collective. I was curious about Glyph, primarily because of the smooth and colorful graphics, pretty apparently Egyptian theme, and also because, while I don't excel at puzzle platformers, I am getting better. And naturally, I just wanted to test my skills at what seems to be an extremely feature-rich game. I made it peacefully through quite a bit of the intro in the recorded gameplay and learned enough to tell you about this interesting game. Take to the ground or sky, and propel into this post.
"non - The First Warp" is a unique puzzle-platformer released this summer. It stirs up themes of hypnagogic-like environments and alien sci-fi worlds, that feels like a strew of estranged organs and strange puzzles. Okay, I'm in. Play a purple alien in this squishy puzzle environment, where cluess seem to live within the structure of the game like some giant biological telephone book.
Timothy Vs The Aliens is a moderate difficulty action-adventure that takes place in a 1940s'ish era gangster-ruled city. Timothy, the protagonist, is a likable ace who derives superhuman luck from an ace of hearts given to him by a race of alien masters when he was a child. In this hardboiled work, worlds and their creatures are separated by fluorescent-colored, googly-eyed aliens and the stark black and white nighttime of the city in which Timothy resides. The story & introduction is straightforward, but the real main draw of this game is the action. Using old school weapons, it's up to you to blast away squishy aliens and get to the bottom of the alien invasion in Little Fish City. Okay, let's do this.
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.
Hoa is an intricate hand-painted character and environment art platformer released this week. Visually it succeeds wonderfully with Miyazaki-like aesthetics in illustration, animation, and special effects. It also boasts an absolutely charming ambiance in its background music plus sound effects that are cinematic in quality and effect. It also is available in 10 different languages right from its launch. I feel very relaxed playing Hoa, and even watching someone playing it can be very pleasant. If you have ever been a fan of Totoro or woodland creatures with endearing hearts, fall in love as I did with the game Hoa. Let's take a look.
Golfie is a new concept game from Triheart Studio labeled rogue-like deck-building mini-golf. They've just released a demo, and I was able to get a first-hand look at the game and its odds and ends. The environments are pleasant, gameplay fun, and I'd love to see more down the line. I had to doubletake the genre with all those tags, but it's a neat little game that actually maintained my attention quite a bit. The deck-building element was a double whammy because I know nothing of these things! Once again though, this feature is implemented in a really neat way as well. So there is plenty to observe and plenty and say. I think you're going to take an interest in this one, it's not your regular golf game. Let's get started!