OP impressions at the speed of light:
For SCIENCE!
Interesting concept that is mostly bogged down by accessibility issues and the necessity of making it into more of a game. The game basically offers you empty spaces on the world map, in which you can build your own factories and research labs. I like how the different areas of the world have different stats, as in "expensive market, but cheap undergrads", which will affect how the exact effectivity of your buildings turn out to be. A basic example would be to build a manufactory that creates computational parts, then set up a few work shops that need to be linked to the manufactory to increase its output, and then link the manufactory to a storage space to have a simple, but working production chain. The design of these seems to be modelled after real life counterparts, which is a cool touch, however it also makes the layout a bit confusing since its hard to tell at one glance what each building is doing if their design does not clearly represent its purpose. One example of that would be the library, the mail desk and the normal work desk all being desk with a chair and stuff around them. Sure, you eventually get used to the nuances of these, but its an additional hurdle that makes the concept a bit hard to grasp, in addition to other issues like building descriptions that dont clearly tell a player how that building will need to be used in ingame concepts and some seemingly arbitrary rules about how some buildings need to be connected to give output, while others dont, for example how a research lab needs to be connected to a work desk to create biology papers (which lets you research more advanced technology), while a cubicle desk doesnt need to be connected at all and does... something? I am really not all that dense when it comes to games, but the game really would need someone to improve the accessibility before it has any chance of gathering some interest. Still, intriguing nonetheless.
Grid Legion, Voyage
Sooo, there you have it. My highlight for this month.Apparently for SP, there really are only the tutorial levels and 4 "proper" levels with 4 difficulties, but even those should keep you plenty busy if you like the combat system, with the promise of competetive, cooperative and draft plays coming soon. Its a Collectible Card battle game with quite a few interesting ideas, of which the most important one is the battle arena itself. The battle area has 5 rows, which limits the usability of the cards as most cards can only be placed in certain rows, which creates a very interesting dynamic to considera certain combination of cards in favor of others or whether to waste action points on relocating cards to make space for others. That aspect is even further developed by the individual grid tiles, which have different effects and bonusses, that may range from "no unit can be build here", over "any building here gets will be activated faster" to "a unit here gets +5 damage". The amount of different possibilities and ways to plan/restructure a battle layout is incredibly appealing as there is quite a lot to consider. The tutorials do a great job of easing you into the game, but unfortunately, and here is my biggest gripe, it seems like the "Single Player campaign" really only consists of tutorials and 4 (challenging) levels in the end. You'll still probably get 6-8 hours of content out of this game if you want to finish the content, but its a bit of a wasted opportunity to downright unlock all cards of every color instead of earning them a bit slower in a better paced campaign with different and eventually more devious arena grids. Anyway, even considering this, the concept and current execution is very, very good (outside of the stupid fog filter). Bonus points for an intuitive and easily usable control scheme even without a mouse and the ability to marvel at the full size art work done by several DevianArtists, for which I assume he got the permission.(Press A on a card and then S on the picture). Very well thought out battle system, nice art work, deep tactical possibilities and challenging combat. Ace.
Icebound
More of a visual novel than a game with about 90% reading and 10% puzzle game. The puzzle parts are rather weak, and even though the integration of the puzzle game makes sense since its moments in which the main character actively adjusts/solves a problem in the story, I would have preferred a more interesting puzzle mechanic. The story itself is pretty interesting however, with unique races/characters and a mysterious background story in a setup that I like (I have a thing for worlds covered in snow and ice). If you like visual novels and want some relaxed "gaming" while reading, this might be worth looking into, but to be fair, I wont play more than the free demo myself (unless it gets an IGS deal or something).
Jet Force
Surprisingly another highlight for me this month. As you see from the screenshot, its a retro inspired run&gun shooter with varied enemy designs, interesting boss battles, a decent amount of challenge without being overly punishing (you can restart from "checkpoints" by writing down passwords), VERY good movement "physics", which are emphasized with the games jet mechanic which allows you to steer very precisely onto a platform and a rather satisfying powerup system, which emphasizes quick play by only giving you 30-40 seconds of each power up. The jet movement in particular stands out quite positively once you got into the hang of positioning yourself properly in fights by flying or hovering instead of only walking forward. One example is a boss I couldnt defeat due to him coming up from the ground and eventually killing me because I took damage every time appeared. I finally understood that I was supposed to hover slightly above the ground shortly before the boss comes out and then decide where to land and to attack the boss. Neat game, if you like games similar to Oniken, you need to check this out.
Kitsuni
A puzzle adventure game of sorts in which you are tasked with collecting gems to solve a mystery. While the overall game goal (collect gems) is rather derivative, the art style and individual puzzles manage to be rather interesting at times when you need to manipulate different enemies to solve each puzzle with their corresponding ability. Some puzzles are a bit obtuse, while others are painfully obvious, but its still an intriguing affair overall, even if most of my enjoyment derived from looking at the pretty art style. Worth checking out in any case, even if a bit simplistic.
Prisoned
A short story, wrapped in pretty graphics. The story and message might be personal to the dev itself, but the execution and message I got from it felt a bit... redundant? Its not all that bad, but I didnt get much out of it, other than the very nice art style and some minor twists with color.
>----------< Highly Recommended >----------<
Grid Legion, Voyage
Jet Force
Epic Flail
>----------< Recommended >----------<
Antisquad
Fearless Fantasy
400 years
Kitsuni
Icebound
Ascendant
>----------< Decent-ish >----------<
8BitBoy
Among the Sleep
Deity Quest
For Science!
Farsh
Prisoned
>----------< Bleh >----------<
Crashed Lander
AnimalAlbum
Random Notes:
- I wont play Hackn Slash because it seems too expensive (for me) for something that can be finished in apparently 2 hours and maybe 3 upon full release. Figured I'd mention this for anyone else interested.
- I moved Insanity's Blade to the future games section, because they removed the free beta, and the game can currently only be played by the KS backers.
- Moved OTTTD to the future games section because PC release coming "soon".
