Well-received Taiwanese indie horror game Detention (whose developers Red Candle Games went on to create Devotion, the game pulled from Steam due to complaints against it's mocking of the Chinese government) is getting a movie adaptation later this year: (cw: suicide)
I've had my eye on this one for a while, I'll definitely try a demo.
I played this.
Seems good. Very lush and detailed pixel art, as the trailer already shows. Combat is similar to games that look like this. One difference is that you can attack with X or the right stick. Right stick lets you aim more precisely. It’s more important for the second character who is an archer. Feels a little weird at first but the accuracy is necessary. Characters move kinda slow and have limited dodge rolls, so positioning is important. The first character is the dad with a sword and a shield, he gets a worse dodge but can hold up the shield to block and do some thorns damage.
At least in the demo, the only upgrade system is spending gold at the uncle’s forge to upgrade attack, health, and other attributes. Looks like there might be more later?
I haven't beat the demo. Made it to the boss with the dad but got killed pretty fast. I hope it doesn’t have the problem that made me never finish Dead Cells. I get good enough at the regular levels but the boses kill me quick and another run is 15 minutes before I get back for another try. Makes it hard to practice and is deflating.
KBAM isn’t too bad (wasd movement, mouse aiming and attacking). Controller is probably better?
The first guy didn’t really click with me. I liked the second more, so seeing that there will be different styles was reassuring. The upgrade system seems potentially interesting too, but it quickly got to the point where I decided to wait until it’s a complete game before it sucks me in and leaves me waiting.
Heaven's Vault was extremely good. It's a bit slow and clunky, but the story and the way you interact with the world is amazing. I need to commit to a replay of it already.
So I just saw an ad for what looks like a mobile game, based on the show Breaking Bad! You can design your own meth lab, and organize your drug supplies, and buy clothes for your digital Walter White, and as someone who binged the show I am really really twitching angry at the world right now. If 2019 wasn't already some kind of elaborate surrealist experience, I'd be convinced it was a Tim and Eric sketch, but nope
Orange Island is a new retro single-player 8-bit action-adventure platformer game being developed by former SEGA designer Ted Sterchi.
This game is being carefully developed to be a completely authentic experience, fully created under the graphic and audio specifications of the NES.
Players will explore a vast island, swapping between five different playable characters who have their own unique magical abilities and discovering who is best suited for different areas and obstacles. This is an island that will reward the curious with plentiful secrets and hidden ancient relics to be found.
We think every kind of gamer can enjoy the experience of a slightly obtuse old-school game that's balanced to be friendlier to modern gamers.
One normal Summer vacation soon turns into a generational tale about family, friendship, hope, bravery, and our impact on the environment.
You’ll want to spend all summer here.
it's on Kickstarter now and has blown past its $19k goal
+4
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Shortytouching the meatIntergalactic Cool CourtRegistered Userregular
It has enough similarities to Stardew while being a very unique game in its own right.
- the similar elements are: You get gifted a homestead, you can mine, fish, fight and farm, there’s a town of people to interact with and date, and time moves at the exact same pace (a minute a second, and there are four 28 day seasons in a year).
- the focus is definitely on building, not farming. You can actually only grow crops and trees in planter boxes, and your animals remain in their pens (and, on the Switch at least, they’re buggy and will occasionally disappear for a day).
- unlike Stardew you start off with a tiny amount of land, which also discourages the farming aspect. You can buy bigger plots as you earn money.
- the mining mechanic is neat.
- the town is really interesting and fun to explore. It’s set in a post-apocalyptic world and it’s definitely a little more interesting, visually, than Stardew Valley.
- you also get a horse, which helps with transportation (tip: you can rent a horse for only 500g per week from the local farm. This is cheap and the horse is 100% loyal to you for that week. I highly recommend going this route asap).
- some minor improvements over a game like Stardew include: The horse follows you around, so you can hop on a bus and get off at a later stop and your horse will be there for you!
- relationship building in the game is slow and is probably my major complaint, but you only really have to get people up to 2 hearts to receive most backstories & rewards
- there is a sizable cast, with some very likable characters. I’d say the level of dialogue each character has is similar to Stardew Valley’s.
- I prefer the mission system to the errands you can run in Stardew Valley. The missions in My Time at Portia generally have longer periods of time in which they can be completed (usually a week).
- Like Stardew Valley, there are seasonal events. These are slightly more interactive than Stardew Valley’s events.
- you don’t receive any penalties if you pass out at 3 am. So it’s actually beneficial to just keep playing as long as possible.
- It’s a decent size world. There are four major areas you unlock as you progress through the story.
- The story is quite long and has surprising depth! There is a good 100+ hours of main story quests.
- The only rush to complete quests comes from your in-game competition. There is a character who is written to be your nemesis (you can’t ever increase hearts with him) and he steals some of your quests if you take too long to complete them. The time limits are still very generous, however.
- The first two mines you unlock are free of enemies, which is quite nice!
- There’s a few fun, unique things you unlock in the game like: You build a hot balloon platform and some hot balloons and after that you can take scenic rides through the game. You turn an old cave you cleared of enemies into a ghostly grotto, complete with a shooting mini-game. Overall this helps you to feel more part of the community than in Stardew Valley.
It has enough similarities to Stardew while being a very unique game in its own right.
- the similar elements are: You get gifted a homestead, you can mine, fish, fight and farm, there’s a town of people to interact with and date, and time moves at the exact same pace (a minute a second, and there are four 28 day seasons in a year).
- the focus is definitely on building, not farming. You can actually only grow crops and trees in planter boxes, and your animals remain in their pens (and, on the Switch at least, they’re buggy and will occasionally disappear for a day).
- unlike Stardew you start off with a tiny amount of land, which also discourages the farming aspect. You can buy bigger plots as you earn money.
- the mining mechanic is neat.
- the town is really interesting and fun to explore. It’s set in a post-apocalyptic world and it’s definitely a little more interesting, visually, than Stardew Valley.
- you also get a horse, which helps with transportation (tip: you can rent a horse for only 500g per week from the local farm. This is cheap and the horse is 100% loyal to you for that week. I highly recommend going this route asap).
- some minor improvements over a game like Stardew include: The horse follows you around, so you can hop on a bus and get off at a later stop and your horse will be there for you!
- relationship building in the game is slow and is probably my major complaint, but you only really have to get people up to 2 hearts to receive most backstories & rewards
- there is a sizable cast, with some very likable characters. I’d say the level of dialogue each character has is similar to Stardew Valley’s.
- I prefer the mission system to the errands you can run in Stardew Valley. The missions in My Time at Portia generally have longer periods of time in which they can be completed (usually a week).
- Like Stardew Valley, there are seasonal events. These are slightly more interactive than Stardew Valley’s events.
- you don’t receive any penalties if you pass out at 3 am. So it’s actually beneficial to just keep playing as long as possible.
- It’s a decent size world. There are four major areas you unlock as you progress through the story.
- The story is quite long and has surprising depth! There is a good 100+ hours of main story quests.
- The only rush to complete quests comes from your in-game competition. There is a character who is written to be your nemesis (you can’t ever increase hearts with him) and he steals some of your quests if you take too long to complete them. The time limits are still very generous, however.
- The first two mines you unlock are free of enemies, which is quite nice!
- There’s a few fun, unique things you unlock in the game like: You build a hot balloon platform and some hot balloons and after that you can take scenic rides through the game. You turn an old cave you cleared of enemies into a ghostly grotto, complete with a shooting mini-game. Overall this helps you to feel more part of the community than in Stardew Valley.
Can you address the aforementioned jank? Are we talking like run-of-the-mill bugs, or like sometimes your game gets deleted, or like some missions can't be completed?
I kinda want to get back into My Time At Portia but it's been a while and i've forgotten everything so i'd probably be better off starting over. And 129 hours is a lot to redo.
I felt like it ended pretty weakly and some of the courses weren't all that great, but it was a pretty fun time while it lasted! I wouldn't put it in a top 10 of metroidvanias and don't really know how it would stack up against pinball boards, but as its own thing it stands out as something worth trying. Especially if you can get it for "free", like with the game pass.
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BroloBroseidonLord of the BroceanRegistered Userregular
I felt like it ended pretty weakly and some of the courses weren't all that great, but it was a pretty fun time while it lasted! I wouldn't put it in a top 10 of metroidvanias and don't really know how it would stack up against pinball boards, but as its own thing it stands out as something worth trying. Especially if you can get it for "free", like with the game pass.
yeah it's such a charming game, I really need to go back to it
The character designs there feel kind of bland to me, but the sprite work looks sick enough to make up for it, and WayForward gameplay is generally super solid
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Indie Winterdie KräheRudi Hurzlmeier (German, b. 1952)Registered Userregular
edited July 2019
It's once again election season in Fallen London! They'll be unveiling the candidates over the weekend, and the first is:
Mrs. Plenty runs the Circus in Fallen London and is definitely not a reformed cultist who once looked for the hidden identity of a betrayed spirit of vengeance
Indie Winter on
+3
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Indie Winterdie KräheRudi Hurzlmeier (German, b. 1952)Registered Userregular
edited July 2019
Also, they're still doing Exceptional Stories for people who sign up for the monthly subscription. The last one included a lovely hog named Priscilla, a visit to an exclusive gala held in a winery based on mushrooms, a flu that forces you to rhyme, and ancient sidereal engines kept sedated by liquid sadness
Posts
I played this.
Seems good. Very lush and detailed pixel art, as the trailer already shows. Combat is similar to games that look like this. One difference is that you can attack with X or the right stick. Right stick lets you aim more precisely. It’s more important for the second character who is an archer. Feels a little weird at first but the accuracy is necessary. Characters move kinda slow and have limited dodge rolls, so positioning is important. The first character is the dad with a sword and a shield, he gets a worse dodge but can hold up the shield to block and do some thorns damage.
At least in the demo, the only upgrade system is spending gold at the uncle’s forge to upgrade attack, health, and other attributes. Looks like there might be more later?
I haven't beat the demo. Made it to the boss with the dad but got killed pretty fast. I hope it doesn’t have the problem that made me never finish Dead Cells. I get good enough at the regular levels but the boses kill me quick and another run is 15 minutes before I get back for another try. Makes it hard to practice and is deflating.
KBAM isn’t too bad (wasd movement, mouse aiming and attacking). Controller is probably better?
The first guy didn’t really click with me. I liked the second more, so seeing that there will be different styles was reassuring. The upgrade system seems potentially interesting too, but it quickly got to the point where I decided to wait until it’s a complete game before it sucks me in and leaves me waiting.
I ended up doing pretty well with the son and the youngest daughter
it's on Kickstarter now and has blown past its $19k goal
XB1/PC:
My Time at Portia
Bad North
GoNNER
The Banner Saga 3
Yoku's Island Express
Worms W.M.D.
PC Xbox Game Pass only:
Undertale
Timespinner
Unavowed
Machinarium
For the King
I'm looking forward to trying Unavowed! And Timespinner is really good.
But @Janson can attest to if you can push through the jank, it's quite a neat little game.
HELLO YES, does anyone need me to praise My Time at Portia I have things to say
I played through the intro but haven't really gotten into the meat of the game
My wife loves it and loves Stardew. She does not love many things.
- the similar elements are: You get gifted a homestead, you can mine, fish, fight and farm, there’s a town of people to interact with and date, and time moves at the exact same pace (a minute a second, and there are four 28 day seasons in a year).
- the focus is definitely on building, not farming. You can actually only grow crops and trees in planter boxes, and your animals remain in their pens (and, on the Switch at least, they’re buggy and will occasionally disappear for a day).
- unlike Stardew you start off with a tiny amount of land, which also discourages the farming aspect. You can buy bigger plots as you earn money.
- the mining mechanic is neat.
- the town is really interesting and fun to explore. It’s set in a post-apocalyptic world and it’s definitely a little more interesting, visually, than Stardew Valley.
- you also get a horse, which helps with transportation (tip: you can rent a horse for only 500g per week from the local farm. This is cheap and the horse is 100% loyal to you for that week. I highly recommend going this route asap).
- some minor improvements over a game like Stardew include: The horse follows you around, so you can hop on a bus and get off at a later stop and your horse will be there for you!
- relationship building in the game is slow and is probably my major complaint, but you only really have to get people up to 2 hearts to receive most backstories & rewards
- there is a sizable cast, with some very likable characters. I’d say the level of dialogue each character has is similar to Stardew Valley’s.
- I prefer the mission system to the errands you can run in Stardew Valley. The missions in My Time at Portia generally have longer periods of time in which they can be completed (usually a week).
- Like Stardew Valley, there are seasonal events. These are slightly more interactive than Stardew Valley’s events.
- you don’t receive any penalties if you pass out at 3 am.
- It’s a decent size world. There are four major areas you unlock as you progress through the story.
- The story is quite long and has surprising depth! There is a good 100+ hours of main story quests.
- The only rush to complete quests comes from your in-game competition. There is a character who is written to be your nemesis (you can’t ever increase hearts with him) and he steals some of your quests if you take too long to complete them. The time limits are still very generous, however.
- The first two mines you unlock are free of enemies, which is quite nice!
- There’s a few fun, unique things you unlock in the game like: You build a hot balloon platform and some hot balloons and after that you can take scenic rides through the game. You turn an old cave you cleared of enemies into a ghostly grotto, complete with a shooting mini-game. Overall this helps you to feel more part of the community than in Stardew Valley.
I am in Spring of Year 2 and I’m scrambling to make carbon steel bars for the fifty million things that require steel.
Can you address the aforementioned jank? Are we talking like run-of-the-mill bugs, or like sometimes your game gets deleted, or like some missions can't be completed?
It was mainly: long loading times, some lag, and my character would sometimes get stuck in a looking-up or looking-down position.
I felt like it ended pretty weakly and some of the courses weren't all that great, but it was a pretty fun time while it lasted! I wouldn't put it in a top 10 of metroidvanias and don't really know how it would stack up against pinball boards, but as its own thing it stands out as something worth trying. Especially if you can get it for "free", like with the game pass.
yeah it's such a charming game, I really need to go back to it
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And if someone could post that Call of Duty way to redeem, I'll throw that on here. got it, it's in the PC games thread
I claimed this one! Thanks, it's a game that I've been wanting to try for awhile now!
This is gorgeous, holy moly
Ah shit
I'm gonna buy Transistor a third time
Steam Switch FC: 2799-7909-4852
River City Girls, by WayForward, coming September 5th
I loved double dragon neon.
I wonder if they will get Jake Kaufman to compose again?
Mrs. Plenty runs the Circus in Fallen London and is definitely not a reformed cultist who once looked for the hidden identity of a betrayed spirit of vengeance