I Played This Indie Game and You Should Too!

Shame :( I like all of their games, and Toki Tori 2 was one of my favourite games of whatever year I played it in. Very charming and clever puzzle game. If Jonathan Blow had made it it’d be as hyped as The Witness.

Block’hood is a unique city-building and resource management game with an emphasis on sustainability and building vertically. It’s just entered early access on Steam and GOG for $10.

Although there are rough edges (like selecting spaces in the isometric view and some gaps in the UI features), it’s already pretty compelling. Quite a few resource types including various kinds of waste and pollution that you need to dispose of. Every building uses a pretty simple system of taking in certain resources and generating others. You accumulate anything that is produced faster than it is consumed (which seems a little thematically dissonant with a resource like “labor,” but at least it’s simple). There are synergies from putting two beneficial buildings next to each other; these aren’t spelled out for you, you’re meant to discover them. You can play the Challenge modes–essentially more and more involved tutorials–that require you to master a particular industry, like to produce X amount of beer while not overproducing the wheat you need for the beer. Or you can play in Sandbox mode with everything unlocked and as big of a space to build as you like.

So far I find it interesting, although when space is limited the logistics of building vertically can be brain-burning. Only some buildings can be built on top of, and stairs and elevators can be complicated to deploy correctly. But it’s relaxing. Very much a game of tuning little dials until your economy hums.

I like the look of that!

TotalBiscuit praises Gremlins, Inc.

For some reason I have a 30% discount ticket on Steam for Gremlins inc. If anyone wants that after watching The Biscuit, just send me a Steam friend request.

Rightly so. And for some reason, it reminds me of the best parts of Solium Infernum - the mind games, the backstabbing, that lingering feeling of dread and excitement.

In other words, it’s really good.

Damn it rhamorim, why’d you have to go and mention Solium Infernum? :)

They’ve now sold over 15k units.

And this just in: they’re developing a SP-only version (Gremlins, Inc. – Offline Edition) for those averse to the always-online requirement of the current version. Free for those who already own Gremlins, Inc., $9.99 for those who don’t. They’ll also offer an upgrade path from Gremlins, Inc. – Offline Edition to Gremlins, Inc.

Well, to make sure more enlightened people buy Gremlins Inc., that’s why. ;)

Less than one week later, they’ve now sold over 20k units. That’s pretty impressive for such a niche title.

Assuming we’re still talking about Gremlins, Inc., I bought it, partly based on this thread, and partly based on the fact that I had that damn coupon.

I do like it… with reservations. It can take a long time to play, depending on the victory conditions. And you can’t save your single-player games during a session, which is awful (but hopefully will be fixed in a patch) [edit – wrong, you can continue a single-player game]. Playing with other people on-line is a bit unsatisfying. There isn’t enough player interaction to make it worth the wait between turns. There is player interaction, but not that you really have to deal with; you can alt-tab out until your turn comes around, then alt-tab back in and see if you’ve been sent to prison or whatever. Then maybe you get to pick a misfortune for someone. Woot.

The game is pretty random. You have a hand of cards, and you can make a short-term plan (I’ll go to the market and play this card, then try to get to the casino to play that card), but it will probably be disrupted by a misfortune, or getting arrested, or having your hand ripped from you by one thing or another. It’s goofy, which isn’t necessarily bad. It’s good for some light fun, but if I’m looking for a serious strategy game I’ll look elsewhere.

Single player games auto-save when you quit. At least they did in an earlier build. It would be pretty stupid if that was removed.

Well, I’ll have to try that. I didn’t see any “continue” button though.

Ubermosh is great fun for $2. But, and i mean this without exaggeration, it doesn’t really work without a great set of speakers.

You can continue a single-player game that you quit in Gremlins, Inc. You click ‘single player’ then you click ‘Load Session’ in the upper right. It’s confusing because there’s no “Save Session”, you just “Quit Session”.

I didn’t even realize that Gremlins Inc was online only. I guess that’s great for server-side tweaks and quick fixes, but it’s weird that there wasn’t even an offline version.

An offline version is on the way, but the developers have said that the current version is the one that will get all the love as far as patches, DLC, etc. is concerned.

I see Highlands is on sale this weekend, has anyone played it? I love the art style.

Some ‘freeloader’ action over here (in particular i really like shapeshifterbiker, very chill and fun to roll around in (do bikes ‘roll’?). RPS link ahead:

I’ve been digging Factory Idle. Like it says in the name it’s an idle style game with conveyor belts instead of clicking.