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[Krystof Koreni]

BroForce - Free Alpha (PC)

http://www.freelives.net/?p=225

Sidescrolling Coop Contra-style shoot em up with a great art style and destructible environments. You only have 1 life, and once you are dead, your character switches to another character archetype with a different weapon. This thing is quite frantic and due to the 1 hit kill also surprisingly exciting. This is a Bro game people should check out this month. Local coop too.

Tried out BroForce this evening and had an amazing time! Really looking forward to giving the co-op a go tomorrow.

In related news, not only was the dev's Ludum Dare 25 entry some sort of prep work for the online multiplayer mode, it was also rated overall top in the jam's 72hr category. Here: it's called Ore Chasm.

 

[Messofanego]

DreadOut

An indie PC Fatal Frame, where you wander about as a high schooler, lost on a trip, taking pictures of the various hauntings/ghosts/etc. It's crowd funding through IndieGoGo at the moment if any of you are interested.

Demo here

Gaf thread: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=533796

My impressions from that thread:

Why did I just play this without friends to back me up? I'm sweating all over! At least I finished the demo. Even when I knew the first phone scare, still had a visceral reaction. Goddamnit. God Fucking Damnit. I'm not desensitised to horror games like you, Dusk Golem! I've never even played a Fatal Frame, just watched others.

I saw the swings at the start, and didn't take out my camera, so the ghost pops out and scares the shit out of me and then I went into limbo. Is there any way to kill this main ghost, like following her laughing and taking the photos? What are the fail states or are the blackouts scripted?

I got this black cat following me, go into a room, room closes GOD DAMN IT girl facing wall now is all up my grill with her long face!

The main girl is cute with those sneakers.

And the limbo place is pretty.

Did you notice the cat follows you in limbo?

 

[Hofmann]

DreadOut

An indie PC Fatal Frame, where you wander about as a high schooler, lost on a trip, taking pictures of the various hauntings/ghosts/etc. It's crowd funding through IndieGoGo at the moment if any of you are interested.

Demo here

Gaf thread: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=533796

Thanks, it looks great.

It brings memories of golden age in ''AAA'' gaming: Silent Hill 2, Ico, Shadow of Memories and of course Fatal Frame (although I was to afraid to finish this one).

 

[Toma]

Thanks, it looks great.

It brings memories of golden age in ''AAA'' gaming: Silent Hill 2, Ico, Shadow of Memories and of course Fatal Frame (although I was to afraid to finish this one).

Aw man, I've been meaning to replay Shadows of Memories for ages now. I loved that game back then. I wonder how it holds up.

 

[Hofmann]

Thanks for posting, some interesting games mentioned there.

Don't remember anyone mentioned Miegakure in this thread before - it's been hyped by Jonathan Blow for a long time, so it's definitely worth taking a closer look - and there are some other cool looking games I've never heard of - like Mushroom 11 and Kachina.

Aw man, I've been meaning to replay Shadows of Memories for ages now. I loved that game back then. I wonder how it holds up.

Yeah, me to. I gave my PS2 to a younger generation, so I hope the game works well with PCSX2.

Oh, and thanks for constantly reminding us how awesome Waking Mars is - I feel bad for paying only $1, it's easy worth the full price. Back to the game.

 

[Toma]

Don't remember anyone mentioned Miegakure in this thread before - it's been hyped by Jonathan Blow for a long time, so it's definitely worth taking a closer look - and there are some other cool looking games I've never heard of - like Mushroom 11 and Kachina.



Yeah, me to. I gave my PS2 to a younger generation, so I hope the game works well with PCSX2.

Oh, and thanks for constantly reminding us how awesome Waking Mars is - I feel bad for paying only $1, it's easy worth the full price. Back to the game.

Glad some more picked it up Lovely little game. And on the matter of SoM, I actually played the PC version, so maybe you can hunt that down for cheap on Amazon? My Amazon lists it for 3 bucks.

 

[Hofmann]

Glad some more picked it up Lovely little game. And on the matter of SoM, I actually played the PC version, so maybe you can hunt that down for cheap on Amazon? My Amazon lists it for 3 bucks.

I regret not buying more for giveaways.

I didn't know there was a PC version, does it look much better compared to an emulated one?

 

[Toma]

I regret not buying more for giveaways.

I didn't know there was a PC version, does it look much better compared to an emulated one?

That was aaaaaaaaaaaaages ago. I have seriously no clue how it looked. I was pretty hardcore back then when I wanted to play something. There was a PC version of MGS2 as well if you remember that, but the initial raining scene was too hardcore for my PC. I literally played the whole area on 5FPS, and the rest of the game at maybe 10-15FPS.

Shit, I have no clue how I put up with that. But I seriously loved it.

 

[Hofmann]

That was aaaaaaaaaaaaages ago. I have seriously no clue how it looked. I was pretty hardcore back then when I wanted to play something. There was a PC version of MGS2 as well if you remember that, but the initial raining scene was too hardcore for my PC. I literally played the whole area on 5FPS, and the rest of the game at maybe 10-15FPS.

Shit, I have no clue how I put up with that. But I seriously loved it.

Yeah, the beginning of MGS2 was a showcase of PS2 power, so I can imagine that.
As for SoM, I've got a feeling that emulation might work better on a modern PC, than original PC version, lol. Gonna try it later.

 

[Messofanego]

The Plan

A lot more limited than I expected. It nails the fly's sounds, animations, scale. Absolutely love the almost photorealistic/depth of field Limbo-style aesthetic. There are two surprises in terms of where you go in your ascent that were surreal. Great music. No matter where you go, it's the same journey up where you get stuck on a web but no matter how long you wait, no spider comes. Would have liked more exploration and interaction.

Slave of God

Ooooook? Hallucinogenic first-person club experience where sometimes you get stuck in the vortex of this one dude Donnie Darko-style on the dance floor. Not much else to say, other than it's a sensational assault. Once you figure out the level design, apparently you're a male since you can't go into the ladies' toilet, it's fun to be on top on the roof with your drinks surveying the people below. If there's anything else to discover, tell me.

Atum

By far, the most impressive of the three. This is the coolest thing ever! I wish there's a full game. First-person, you're in some physics dude's office and end up on your computer. It mixes a sidescrolling 2D game with the first-person 3D outside realm where you can use real-world items to interact with the 2D game. Such as bringing your lighter to some flammable cans that are an obstacle. Or using cigarette smoke to obscure a CCTV camera's beam that you need to get past. I liked that there was no overt hand-holding, just subtle clues sometimes spoken by the main character.

Very virtual reality. Similar 2D-3D experience to Perspective, that digipen student game. Although wish it wasn't just a browser game since there are some cool moments that I would have wanted to screencap or GIF.

 

[Toma]

Yeah, I didnt quite "get" Slave of God either, but thats personal taste for you, I guess! There must be something to it if so many voted for it ;p

 

[Alex Connolly]

Gave half an hour of my eve tonight to Signal Ops.

Endearing game. If Raymond Briggs made a 3D Lost Vikings of sorts, that's what Signal Ops is. Bit finnicky, but overall, a tidy piece of two-man dev work.

More impressions when scheduling allows.

 

[Messofanego]

Yeah, I didnt quite "get" Slave of God either, but thats personal taste for you, I guess! There must be something to it if so many voted for it ;p

I've never tried drugs or ever liked clubbing, so all I appreciated were the trippy visuals. Maybe other people appreciate those other things

I wonder what the effect of trippy games is actually on drugged people, I'd imagine they would negate each other rather than enhance the experience.

 

[FlyinJ]

Gave half an hour of my eve tonight to Signal Ops.

Endearing game. If Raymond Briggs made a 3D Lost Vikings of sorts, that's what Signal Ops is. Bit finnicky, but overall, a tidy piece of two-man dev work.

More impressions when scheduling allows.

Bought it last night. The game crashes if you have a controller plugged in (I want to play on my TV, so it's unplayable for me). Lots of bug reports on the GOG forums as well, I'd say wait for a few patches before buying.

 

[Toma]

I've never tried drugs or ever liked clubbing, so all I appreciated were the trippy visuals. Maybe other people appreciate those other things

I wonder what the effect of trippy games is actually on drugged people, I'd imagine they would negate each other rather than enhance the experience.

From what I've heard its more likely these effects multiply

 

[Messofanego]

From what I've heard its more likely these effects multiply

To infinity and beyond!

 

[One Foul Note]

I've never tried drugs or ever liked clubbing, so all I appreciated were the trippy visuals. Maybe other people appreciate those other things

I wonder what the effect of trippy games is actually on drugged people, I'd imagine they would negate each other rather than enhance the experience.

That's possible, Slave of God is a bit of a simulation overall and if you don't relate to it at all then I can see it being nothing more then meaningless strobe lighting.

As for playing trippy games while on something. It is actually surprisingly unexciting because the effect of the enhanced senses with the slowed brain just makes quick moving games be unprocessable. It's like looking at a ceiling light while turning it on and off. It is often the slower paced games that have deeper impacts. In fact I've heard for several sources that horror games on drugs are some of the most intense but also unpleasant experiences you will ever have. I haven't done anything harder then alcohol for years now, but I imagine that playing a game like Slender on an hallucinogen would nightmarish.

Also, just moved on VESPER.5.

 

[Messofanego]

That's possible, Slave of God is a bit of a simulation overall and if you don't relate to it at all then I can see it being nothing more then meaningless strobe lighting.

As for playing trippy games while on something. It is actually surprisingly unexciting because the effect of the enhanced senses with the slowed brain just makes quick moving games be unprocessable. It's like looking at a ceiling light while turning it on and off. It is often the slower paced games that have deeper impacts. In fact I've heard for several sources that horror games on drugs are some of the most intense but also unpleasant experiences you will ever have. I haven't done anything harder then alcohol for years now, but I imagine that playing a game like Slender on an hallucinogen would nightmarish.

Also, just moved on VESPER.5.

Huh, that sounds interesting. Maybe playing a horror game on drugs would make someone actually shit their pants?

 

[Noogy]

I'm hoping to spend a couple days catching up on all the awesome that has been posted in this (and the March) threads. Booted up Broforce last night, and that game is the business. I love when a game makes the decision to upvote via Greenlight so easy.

 

[Hofmann]

Yeah, I didnt quite "get" Slave of God either, but thats personal taste for you, I guess! There must be something to it if so many voted for it ;p

I've never tried drugs or ever liked clubbing, so all I appreciated were the trippy visuals. Maybe other people appreciate those other things

I wonder what the effect of trippy games is actually on drugged people, I'd imagine they would negate each other rather than enhance the experience.

From my impressions this game is actually mocking this whole club culture, comparing it to some kind of hedonistic, primitive religious ritual.

If there's anything else to discover, tell me.

There are a lot of small details, like those people gathering outside of dancefloor drowned in their own thoughts, the way you act at the urinal, the second floor, and have you reached the end?

 

[Wok]

Don't remember anyone mentioned Miegakure in this thread before - it's been hyped by Jonathan Blow for a long time, so it's definitely worth taking a closer look - and there are some other cool looking games I've never heard of - like Mushroom 11 and Kachina.

Miegakure is one of my most awaited upcoming indie games. I had put a short list in the previous thread:

In this case, I will just post some links to indie games I am waiting for, mostly on Steam. Although I feel they are well-known, I could be wrong.

1. Contrast (dev, Greenlight)
2. Gunpoint (dev)
3. Miegakure (dev)
4. Owlboy (dev)
5. The Stanley Parable: HD Remix (dev, Greenlight)
6. The Witness (dev)
7. OIO - The Game - Enlarged (standalone extension of desura)
8. La-Mulana (desura)
9. The Oil Blue (desura)

I also suggest you check Perspective and Farsh.

If you want another game from Indie Fund, prepare your wallet for The Swapper (trailer).

 

[CheesecakeRecipe]

I played Slave of God twice and I never knew there was an upstairs.

Time to go get psychedelic again.

 

[Hofmann]

The Plan

A lot more limited than I expected. It nails the fly's sounds, animations, scale. Absolutely love the almost photorealistic/depth of field Limbo-style aesthetic. There are two surprises in terms of where you go in your ascent that were surreal. Great music. No matter where you go, it's the same journey up where you get stuck on a web but no matter how long you wait, no spider comes. Would have liked more exploration and interaction.

For me, the simplicity is the main strength of this game. It's even more stripped down version of Journey, but unlike it, it ends at the right moment.

Miegakure is one of my most awaited upcoming indie games. I had put a short list in the previous thread:

Oh yeah, sorry for that. I checked all of your suggestions and somehow I forgot it's been included on the list.

Edit: The Swapper looks incredible.

 

[Hofmann]

I played Slave of God twice and I never knew there was an upstairs.

Time to go get psychedelic again.

You can chill out behind the bar.

And how do you feel about MOABD?

 

[Messofanego]

From my impressions this game is actually mocking this whole club culture, comparing it to some kind of hedonistic, primitive religious ritual.

There are a lot of small details, like those people gathering outside of dancefloor drowned in their own thoughts, the way you act at the urinal, the second floor, and have you reached the end?

There's a second floor? Might have to try it again. Also, yeah the peeing was hilarious.

 

[Hofmann]

There's a second floor? Might have to try it again. Also, yeah the peeing was hilarious.

Don't get your hopes up - it's just one small area.

 

[Messofanego]

Don't get your hopes up - it's just one small area.

It's not just the bit of roof that you can stand over and see the dancefloor below, is it?

 

[Hofmann]

It's not just the bit of roof that you can stand over and see the dancefloor below, is it?

You mean the tall structure you can climb, there's a rounding corridor behind it, leading down to the basement? I was thinking about the ramp/stairs behind the bar with different kind of music when you reach it.

Spoiler

And I was wondering about that guy sitting on the other side of the dancefloor from the bar, did he have a car accident, or what was that image?

 

[Toma]

Random Heads up, Lords of Football (releasing on Steam tomorrow) seems to be a total dud. I asked someone else who had already access and it basically is not only dumbed down FM, but really unfun in regard to its social aspects too because they amount to nothing more than "player in a bad mood? -> send to bar" style gameplay.

 

[Toma]

Finally some more game testing! Really need to play more of these games. Next up is Atum.

 

[Messofanego]

You mean the tall structure you can climb, there's a rounding corridor behind it, leading down to the basement? I was thinking about the ramp/stairs behind the bar with different kind of music when you reach it.

Spoiler

And I was wondering about that guy sitting on the other side of the dancefloor from the bar, did he have a car accident, or what was that image?

What what what nope didn't encounter any of this, cool thanks!

 

[Hofmann]

What what what nope didn't encounter any of this, cool thanks!

Too bad you can't enter the place bellow, behind those two bodyguards.
Oh, and by ending I mean

Spoiler

getting out of the club and watching the sunrise

.
That's what I like about this game. It may seem shallow, but there's a lot more going out there beneath the surface.

 

[Toma]

Atum is a nice little visualization of the Poincare Occurence theorem. I mean, I didnt know about it before, but read up a bit about it just now. More games should explore scientific concepts and possible metaphors. There is probably some games exploring Schrödingers Cat too, since its rather popular. I should search for that if I find the time.

Other than that, that was a lovely little game for the way they made you interact with the game. Was I the only one thinking that I want to do this for real on my monitor? I'd love to have an elaborate setup on an Indie Game convention or something, that would track these items so that I could use them myself. Wasnt too long, but lovely idea and style. Too bad they didnt introduce more ways to interact, I think they barely scratched the surface with whats possible with that concept. You could even make it half adventure by having an open house environment in which you need to search for items, half jump&run where you would need to use those items to advance.

Anyway, lovely pick, whoever mentioned it.

Edit: Random aside, Atum is the god of creation in the classic egyptian mythology with his direct translation meaning "to finish". Neat little touch on the naming there.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Other Impressions:
1. A Nation of Wind

 

[Messofanego]

Atum is a nice little visualization of the Poincare Occurence theorem. I mean, I didnt know about it before, but read up a bit about it just now. More games should explore scientific concepts and possible metaphors. There is probably some games exploring Schrödingers Cat too, since its rather popular. I should search for that if I find the time.

Other than that, that was a lovely little game for the way they made you interact with the game. Was I the only one thinking that I want to do this for real on my monitor? I'd love to have an elaborate setup on an Indie Game convention or something, that would track these items so that I could use them myself. Wasnt too long, but lovely idea and style. Too bad they didnt introduce more ways to interact, I think they barely scratched the surface with whats possible with that concept. You could even make it half adventure by having an open house environment in which you need to search for items, half jump&run where you would need to use those items to advance.

Anyway, lovely pick, whoever mentioned it.

Edit: Random aside, Atum is the god of creation in the classic egyptian mythology with his direct translation meaning "to finish". Neat little touch on the naming there.

I'm sure everyone was thinking that . Now with all this NFC (near field communication) Skylanders and Microsoft Surface stuff, I can see this type of interface in the future.

 

[Toma]

I'm sure everyone was thinking that . Now with all this NFC (near field communication) Skylanders and Microsoft Surface stuff, I can see this type of interface in the future.

Yeah, that was rather obvious, but there are sooo many applications for this gameplay wise.

 

[Hofmann]

Waking Mars keys for Desura and GOG hidden in this post.

 

[gabbo]

Waking Mars keys for Desura and GOG hidden in this post.

grabbed the gog key. Thanks

 

[youtoo]

Papo & Yo launches on Steam on April 18th.

Pre-order is available from now, with a 10% discount and full soundtrack

 

[Drakken]

Thanks for all your work on this thread, Toma! This is a great resource. Now if only I had more time to try more of these games!

Here's a simple but really fun & at-times challenging gravity-flipping puzzle platformer that was just released:

Howmonica (playable for free in-browser)

You play as a cute little cupcake bunny (?) called Minni who has to paint all the blocks in each level pink before she can advance to the next one. Along the way you have to contend with spikes, trampoline blocks, teleporters, and more. There are 50 levels total.

I should note my recommendation is a bit biased, as I composed the main background song for the game. Regardless of that though, I've played through it myself and it's a lot of fun!

For anyone who enjoys the music, the soundtrack is available for free @ Bandcamp here: Howmonica OST

 

[Toma]

grabbed the gog key. Thanks

Have fun! Relaxing and surprisingly well made game.

 

[timetokill]

Waking Mars keys for Desura and GOG hidden in this post.

Somebody took the Desura key (Iditxa) and didn't post here to let us know

Bad form

 

[Hofmann]

grabbed the gog key. Thanks

I was surprised how good the game is. Started it yesterday just to see what it is and suddenly lost ten hours of my life. If you have an option use a gamepad. Have fun.

Somebody took the Desura key (Iditxa) and didn't post here to let us know

Bad form

It's probably due to shyness.

 

[One Foul Note]

Howmonica (playable for free in-browser)

Good grab, that is a very enjoyable little game. Between that and 6018 the Moon I've been playing a fair few screen wrapping gravity crazy games.

 

[Messofanego]

Somebody took the Desura key (Iditxa) and didn't post here to let us know

Bad form

heh

 

[One Foul Note]

While we are in the key giveaway mindset, I have the steam code for Anodyne. To get it you must pass the challenge of 'can you click the quote button.' Many have died trying, good luck.

 

[Toma]

While we are in the key giveaway mindset, I have the steam code for Anodyne. To get it you must pass the challenge of 'can you click the quote button.' Many have died trying, good luck.

Aaaand... much appreciated

 

[Hofmann]

Finally, I can play more of Waking Mars, gonna try to reach true ending with biomass enhanced by Murcof, Fennesz and maybe Jelinek.

 

[Toma]

Random aside, there is another contest in the OP. If we dont see any entries for that, I'll just switch it out for another highscore contest, I guess.

 

[Toma]

Next on the List, BroForce.

I am usually not that much into brainless action type games, but why the hell is this so much fun? Doesnt hurt either that its a game that has a very fun and solid coop mode integrated as well. I think what I enjoy the most is that the game is subtly forcing you to overthink your actions due to the fact that you only have one hitpoint. While its a game, where you can and often do go in guns blazing, it still rewards the player with better chances of getting through the level if he goes the backroute, blows up the wall and surprises enemies from behind. Or if you blow up a hole in the ground, agitate a suicide bomber to follow you and fall down the hole to another group of soldiers which get bombed away.

The touch on how to change your weapon type is a cue taken from shmups I guess, basically as "random" powerups in the game, but it actually works pretty well in this type of game too. The destructible environments were a genius idea. Stupidly fun game. Definitely looking forward to the full version with boss encounters, more player characters and more multiplayer.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Other Impressions:
1. A Nation of Wind
2. Atum

 

[Toma]

Next, Bloomfairy:

Hm, I was the one who put decided to put it in this thread, so I should like it, right? Yeah... not really unfortunately. While I do appreciate the general mechanic of growing plants, which is sometimes very nice to look at in this game, I cant find this game too fun. The menu system is also SUPER weird, although you get used to it after while (You press the right arrow for entering a menu/choosing an option and left for back).
The basic premise is that you are guiding your fairy through a set of levels in a forest where you are helping the forest to grow back the plants its missing. The seeds are there, so you hover over it and help them grow. Afterwards, you get some seeds in return that you can keep and go on to the next level. This is a rather relaxing process, but it feels too "tedious" still. Some seeds require to to over and wait/come back since they wont grow if you dont stay for 1 second or so. On the other hand, they started to mix in obstacles in these levels, which arent helping the game's case either. They are basically just moving platforms that you need to avoid to continue your love spreading mission, which feels highly unimaginative and uninteresting.
I wish they went for more of a Waking Mars approach here, where the plants should allow you to progress within the levels, instead of only using the plants as a decorative element you can earn to plant in your home levels. On top of that, that planting in these home levels (which you are working for by playing through the levels and earning seeds), is a bit tiresome as well due to the menu structure, negating any incentive I'd have to play through this game. Cool idea, but not really well executed. Unfortunate, I'd love some more gardening/growing type games like these that allow you to zone out.
I really wanted to like this game, but it didnt let me

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Other Impressions:
1. A Nation of Wind
2. Atum
3. BroForce