So I really clicked with the Howl demo which looks like the entire first chapter. It’s gorgeous but the melancholic, ambient and acoustic folk music in particular is perfect for this kind of thinky tactical puzzling. There’s a turn par (or ‘prophecy’, as it’s called), killing all the beasties and saving all civilians, and sometimes you’ll need to do a level more than once to achieve each of those. You’ll be rewarded with skulls and ‘confidence’ to unlock upgrades which in some cases will allow you to do certain challenging levels. While it is a tactical puzzler, there’s some flexibility here with undos and a two hearts health system so even if you mess up you can still sometimes hit those targets on a first try. I stopped playing the demo because it’ll be a day one purchase for me now!
Yeah I saw this on Epic and after Slipways I’m wondering whether the logistics element actually might me be more appealing to me!
you’re in classic twin-stick territory. But your arena is a raft, out at sea, and the beasts you’re up against can take chunks out of it. But! You can rebuild it! But! To do that you have to stop shooting for a bit.
Sounds like a good one try out in Steam Next Fest limited time demo thingie.
I’ve been following Pizza Tower for ages and while I’ve not picked it up yet–damn, I forgot to add that to my wallet threat–it’s been getting rave reviews. I thought I’d share this seeing as a) it’s one of said reviews, b) I really like Patrick Gill’s work, and c) @Left_Empty, @Strato and @WarpRattler all mentioned Wario Land in @Rock8man’s Nintendo Online classic games thread.
I’ve watched a couple of virtual friends play it, and they were very enthused for that same Wario-ish reason, but boy! those visuals! that horrific soundscape!
I’ve hardly been this turned off by a game since Cuphead.
Splattercat did a video on an interesting RPG today:
It’s not a looker by any means; it feels like the graphics are there merely to support the storytelling, which seems pretty thorough.
When you start a new game, the loading screen shows you all sorts of historical events and personages as they live and die, similar to the start up of Dwarf Fortress’ Adventure mode.
I was just going to post about Archmage Rises. Given some of the other stuff that Splat plays, I was VERY pleasantly surprised at how good the game looks, after the intro he gave saying it wasn’t a looker.
To me, this game is dripping with old-school nostalgia. Specifically, it reminds me of Barbarian Prince, which I loved back in the day. Given this image in the description on the Steam page, I think the visuals are quite deliberate, and not simply because of lack of budget:
This might sound crazy, but if this game continues to develop in a positive direction after it enters early access, I could see myself buying a steam deck just to play this.
It’s not quite that: the combat seems more Wizardry focused than fully tactical.
Actually, watching a bit of the footage, I have a hard time grabbing a feel for what the game is trying to be, with those strange fixed screens and their navigation.
The lost-in-translation-titled Low Magic Age, eternally in Early Access, can still cover most of your spellcasting power fantasies and is still hilariously underpriced.
It’s even on GOG, although I’d rather use the Steam version (which is DRM free as well), if only for the convenience of the very intense update schedule.
Just saw Splattercat’s video on Dust & Neon and thought I’d link it in here. It’s a roguelite game where you play a gun-toting robot taking on missions for a mad scientist because… uh… do you really need more justification than that? The guns appear to be procedurally generated ala Borderlands, so you can find some wild stuff. Game looks and plays very slick.
I’m seeing some strong reviews for Pale Beyond, a narrative survival game that comes out tomorrow. (Folks have some demo impression above.)
I played a recent version of this for the IGF (actually might have been the same demo). I really like the setting and the atmosphere, but I found the strategic decision-making a bit too harsh and the story progression too constrained. To be clear, I still enjoyed it, but I Was a Teenage Exocolonist ended up eating its lunch on almost every level (except the historical verisimilitude).
Anyway, I’m hoping its been tuned and expanded now that it’s about to release! If it has been, it’ll be another great narrative strategy game (similar to IWATE, Citizen Sleeper, Roadwarden).
