8 posts were split to a new topic: Webbed: a game about being a spider
I picked up Swordship just before the Summer Sale started for some score-chasing with friends and it’s just been an absolute blast.
Few games manage to get me into a ‘flow state’ but this did alongside the likes of Ecstatic, Doom Eternal and Rollerdrome. The cool thing with Swordship is that it’s all defence and survival so you have to use enemy attacks against themselves while ducking and diving (literally). Everything is well telegraphed, attack patterns are varied and the whole thing is super slick and clean.
My favourite element though is the risk/reward system of depositing collected containers for points vs keeping them for extra lives and a choice of upgrades. That’s just devilishly delicious, especially with the threat of the tough finale looming in the distance. I just beat the ‘normal’ mode (it’s short but still tough while you learn) which has opened up the leaderboard, expert difficulty and added a bunch of twists which I’m really excited about.
I don’t think this gets enough love:
Nice recommendation. I run out of patience with arcade experiences, usually, and this was no exception, but I’m certain there are a lot of folks around here who would enjoy Swordship a lot.
Yeah, I’m wondering how long my brother will last with it for the same reason!
I also wanted to note that it’s wonderful on the Steam Deck; it controls beautifully, looks and runs great and doesn’t eat my battery for breakfast.
I just finished playing Treasures of the Aegean, and it was a delight. I think 6-8 hours overall, with me doing 90% of the stuff that seemed doable. It’s back on sale. Thanks for the recommendation, @Nightgaunt!
YES, so glad you liked it! Definitely a great deal right now during the sale!
I picked up The Wild Eight for $1.00 as a Fanatical Star deal a couple days ago (I posted the deal in the Bargain Thread as well, I hope folks took advantage). I started playing the day after I purchased.
Wild Eight is essentially what would happen if the dev teams from The Long Dark and Don’t Starve got together to binge watch Lost and a few key episodes of the X-Files then decided to make a game afterwards. You choose one of eight ready made plane crash survivors, each with a special skill set, and try to survive the Alaskan wilderness in winter while also looking for anything that might help you get rescued or get back to civilization. Along the way you’ll battle the elements and the wildlife while discovering locations and encounters ranging from the mundane to the mysterious including things like secret bunkers, werewolves and more.
I’m only a few hours in, and I restarted twice already as I learned the UI and system, but so far it’s pretty entertaining. I’ve got the basics of survival down (stay warm, stay fed, stay healthy), have allocated skill points to improve my character, have built and upgraded a shelter, workshop and smelter, and have discovered a radio tower and the bunker that has become my home base. I’m now working on gathering enough resources to upgrade my equipment and build up my food stores so that I can venture out further from the bunker and investigate the power lines to see where they may lead.
It’s a very task oriented game, you’re always doing something, but at least in these early stages the rewards for staying on task are nice and nothing feels too grindy because you’re always on the path to some sort of upgrade or discovery. The bunker and other weird locations (and sounds, and creatures) give the whole thing a fun mystery vibe to go alongside the survival one, and so far it’s a lot of fun.
Lunacid is an homage to From Software’s PS1 & PS2 era of proto-Souls first-person action RPGs like King’s Field. I played the beginning, and from what I saw, it nails the disquieting atmosphere and methodical exploration that I remember.
I put it aside to wait for it to come out of EA before playing further, and they’ve just announced that it’s going to hit 1.0 at the end of the month.
96% positive, and Steam Deck Verified. Only $6.99 for the moment, but the price is planned to increase at release, so I’d recommend grabbing it now if you like the looks of it.
Oh that looks really cool. I’ve zero experience with King’s Field but love some good atmospheric exploration so just picked it up, thanks.
Warn me when it’s out of EA ! :)
I this a bit?
Anyway, Lunacid slaps. Definite recommend from me.
It’s IGF judging time, so I will be jamming indie games into every pocket of free time I can find. I can’t talk publicly about all the games, but most of them are fine with judges sharing details about the game online (they can use as much exposure as possible!), so when I play something cool I’ll share it here if I can.
Last night I played Growth, a terrain-centric procedural strategy/puzzle game that launched back in October.
May as well just share my judging comments:
On going through the tutorial, my first impression was that the mechanics are just not intuitive enough. A deer sent out of the forest to an empty space creates more forest? Which then somehow creates more deer? But once out of the scripted tutorial, the brilliance of the “indicator tiles” became apparent. The game loop is to scan the edges of your territory for hints of forest clusters that you can jump to and claim. In no time, you’re “reading” the map and recognizing dead ends and opportunities. And once you’ve digested that, you get access to bees from flower beds and now you’re scanning across water tiles for a new set of opportunities. Then if you’re anything like me, you’re swept away for the next several hours.
The game is quick to hand out new special map tiles, many of which give you access to new tools, so that was a big part of what hooked me. Assuming those unlocks will eventually to slow down, I do anticipate the game’s relative shallowness to stand out more over time. I suspect this is a snackable game, not a full meal–and that’s just fine! It puts this in the category of one of my favorite games of all time, Defense of the Oasis (which has its own system of indicator tiles). This has a similar “multi-dimensional Minesweeper” kind of vibe.
I also want to call out how helpful it is for a competition game to know itself and describe itself well. The developers could call this a strategy game, but if they did, they’d probably have a whole lot of reviewers knocking it for lack of depth or its casual, disposable structure. But I find the descriptor “soft-strategy” to be both apt for this particular game, and potentially broadly useful vocabulary within the strategy genre. “Cozy” is great–I love cozy–but it doesn’t identify that this is a game that presents you with a wide decision space while simultaneously being very forgiving of how you navigate that space. (At least, until your animal stocks start to dwindle and the mountains close in around you…) Yay for soft-strategy!
The “soft-strategy” term got a chuckle out of me. Never heard that before.
How long does a game take?
Any idea if they plan to bring it to iOS?
I see there’s a demo on Steam. I’ll have to give this a look.
A round takes about 15 or 20 minutes, if you do decently well and don’t stall out early. Each session takes place on a procedurally generated map, so it’s a thing where you just go back for another run, usually with some new elements added in as rewards for the previous run.
Not sure about iOS!
I really like games that play quickly like that. Knizia’s Through the Desert comes to mind. Thanks for bringing this one up.
Edit: and naturally, Tom found a softlock. “Poorly tested boondoggles” sounds a bit harsh, though. Has an old man yelling at clouds sort of vibe.
Oh yeah, that’s a great game, I haven’t played it in forever.
After trying the Growth demo, it’s not nearly as quick playing as that, at least for me. ofc, it was the first time playing, but it seemed pretty thoughtful to me. I think it revolves around moves that are free in the recursive sense (e.g. use a deer to gain a deer) while expanding your habitats in smart ways (either towards other habitats or exploratory), plus careful use of the more rare animals.