Gunpoint‘s opening might seem familiar to anyone with experience in noir detective stories: freelance spy Richard Conway is contacted by a mysterious woman with a problem that needs to be solved. The twist that sets the stage for Gunpoint‘s blend of noir with snarky humor is that Conway is contacted after he inadvertently threw himself out of his apartment window while testing his new Bullfrog Hypertrousers. In any case, in typical noir fashion, the woman ends up murdered and Conway is the prime suspect. What starts as a mission to clear his name and find the real killer gradually unravels a plot about corporate espionage, blackmail, corruption, and betrayal.

Each level in this stealth-puzzle game requires you to navigate your way to a room containing either a computer terminal that needs to be hacked or some device that needs to be stolen. Your two primary gadgets for accomplishing this task are the Hypertrousers, which allow you to jump great distances and climb walls, and the Crosslink.

The Crosslink is the core gameplay mechanic of Gunpoint and your main means of solving each level’s puzzles. This device allows you to rewire various electronics throughout the level, affecting how they work and interact with other devices in the environment. This is done by simply opening your Crosslink and using your mouse to delete current connections and draw new ones. The most basic example of this might be rewiring a locked door so that a nearby light switch opens it, but cunning players can come up with some truly ingenious solutions.

Things gradually get more complicated later on with the introduction of multiple networks. Some devices will be locked behind secure networks, so you’ll need to figure out how to get to their terminal before you can tamper with them. Devices on different networks can’t be intermixed either, so you can’t connect a light switch on a red network to a light on a yellow network. The interface in the Crosslink mode gives you everything you need to know about what devices are connected to what network.

You get paid for completing each mission. Money can be used to buy a variety of secondary gadgets that give you more options to solve a level, like redirecting electricity from a socket to knock out guards or even the ability to connect a guard’s gun to objects so that they’ll turn off a light or open a door when they try to shoot you. Many of these gadgets require batteries to be used, which can be found in some levels or bought in the store.

Unlike many puzzle games, Gunpoint offers a fairly impressive level of freedom to approaching each level. A lot of the fun is in trying to figure out new, insane ways of beating each level. I’ve gone back and replayed several levels just because I liked the level’s layout and wanted to try a new way of completing it. There is a rating system in the game based on how many guards saw you, how much violence you used, and how long it took you, but in an interesting twist, Gunpoint actually rewards you for taking your time instead of trying to speed run a level. Your clients may also give you optional objectives, like minimal violence. Each level contains a laptop as well, which can be hacked to gain more information about the characters and setting. These ratings and optional objectives have nothing to do with how much you are paid after each mission, serving only as a scoreboard for the completionists.

The story in Gunpoint is surprisingly engaging. There is no voice acting; the story is told entirely through text messages before and after missions, and emails on the laptops in each level. The dialogue is well-written and the snappy humor is genuinely pretty funny; the game manages to hit that perfect blend of a serious story with enough humor to keep the seriousness from being too overwhelming. There is a small degree of choice and decision-making as well. Some of your choices lead to slightly branching dialogue trees, and the final mission has a bit of a moral dilemma attached to it. None of it really affects the story all that much, but it is a nice touch.

The graphics and music are simple and do a nice job of complimenting the gameplay. The game has a sort of pixelart, zoomed-out view that looks pretty nice in motion. The soundtrack mostly consists of soft jazz that fits the setting and themes of the game, and more importantly it isn’t distracting or too loud during the actual gameplay.

If there was one downside to Gunpoint, it would be that it isn’t very long. You can complete the 20 or so levels in under 5 hours, maybe a bit more if you want to replay missions to get better ratings. That said, the quality of the content is pretty high, and I’ve replayed missions multiple times now just to experiment. There is also a level editor, so we’ll likely see tons of devious new levels crafted by the community.

While somewhat short, Gunpoint is loads of fun. It’s probably one of my favorite games thus far this year. The gameplay is simple and pretty easy to grasp, with most of the fun coming from figuring out new and interesting ways to solve levels. It can be really satisfying to link electronics together into some insane Rube Goldberg contraption. I’m normally pretty bad at puzzle games, but like Trine, Gunpoint offers so much freedom in solving the puzzles that I could eventually work out solutions that may have not really been “intended.” Even if the experience is a bit short, it is still well-worth the $10 price tag. Or, you can buy one of the two special editions that offer extras like a copy of the soundtrack, developer commentary, or access to betas for future Suspicious Developments games. You can find Gunpoint on Steam.

This news seems to have slipped past most people’s radar in the wake of last week’s E3 fervor. Once again continuing the trend of smaller, more frequent batches of Greenlit titles, Valve recently announced that six new games and a piece of software have made it through Greenlight:

• Assetto Corsa
• DreadOut
• Ether One
• GunZ 2: The Second Duel
• Heaven Benchmark (Software)
• Stonehearth
• The Forest

Seems like the survival horror fans have been browsing Greenlight a lot lately. The games that jump out the most, to me at least, are The Forest, Stonehearth, and Ether One. I highlighted The Forest in my previous Greenlight Spotlight, so it is good to see it Greenlit. I recall Stonehearth getting a lot of hype not too long ago due to a highly successful Kickstarter that generated 626% of its original target goal. I haven’t really paid any attention to Ether One until recently, but it seems to have a cool concept. You play as a “Restorer,” someone who is sent into the minds of people with severe mental illnesses and trauma so that they can restructure their shattered memories and help them lead a normal life. DreadOut looks like Fatal Frame with a smart phone and an Indonesian setting.

The only game on this list I’m weary of is GunZ 2: The Second Duel. I know nothing about this sequel, but I remember playing the original game many years back. It was kind of fun, but it was also a really grindy Korean free-to-play that tried to “encourage” you to buy boosts and weapons by making the progression process as slow as possible, so forgive me for not being too enthusiastic about the sequel.

In our previous article on indie games at E3, we covered four amazing titles that will be eschewing the trappings of Microsoft’s millstone console for the glitz and dev-friendly offerings of the PS4. Let’s take a look at four titles presented at Sony’s E3 press conference that’ll be sure to please fans of many gaming eras:

Secret Ponchos

The moment you hear the spaghetti western soundtrack to this one, you know you’re in for something special. Debuting exclusively on the PS4 in 2014, Secret Ponchos from Switchblade Monkeys puts you in the role of an outlaw gunfighter in the cutthroat town of Lonetree against others of similar ilk. An online combat game, Secret Ponchos sports five characters to choose from (looking like a sixth to be added soon), each with different stats that affect their play style. With a fun visual style, amazing soundtrack, and intriguing characters that hearken to the quirky uniqueness brought to us in Team Fortress 2, Secret Ponchos has the goods to be a surefire hit early next year.

Galak-Z: The Dimensional

Galak-Z: The Dimensional is a side-scrolling open-world space shooter from 17-Bit Games, makers of this year’s Skulls of the Shogun. Highly reminiscent of old school classics Asteroids (Atari, 1979) and Sub-Terrania (Sega, 1993), it features tight controls and fast-paced action in tight caverns with lots of enemy fire swarming the player ship. Look for Galak-Z this fall.

Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty

Anyone who doesn’t remember Oddworld: Abe’s Oddyssey was born a generation too late. A groundbreaking 2.5d game released to Windows in 1997, Oddworld Inhabitants is now set to release a high-definition remake of the titular series titled New ‘n’ Tasty. Although not a sequel, this remix of the action/puzzle classic features all-new graphics, remastered soundtrack, and other special goodies, Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty will be served up this Christmas on a range of platforms. Just not the Xbox One…

Outlast

Taking place in the Colorado Rockies, you take on the role of a journalist infiltrating an infamous and long-abandoned asylum (now re-opened by a multinational corporation), in which you stumble upon an indescribable terror in which the only escape is to journey deeper within. Red Barrels’ survival horror game is one of the most atmospheric games we’ve ever witnessed and one that, if effective, will usher in a new survival horror classic that is sure to keep us coming back for more scares and near-death experiences. Outlast is scheduled to be released later this year.

Arcen Games, the creators of A Valley Without Wind and Shattered Haven have recently released a new god game titled Skyward Collapse. As the Creator you get to build up your two civilizations of the imaginary continent Lumineth in the omniscient role while facing the challenges of large-scale cohabitation. This game stays true to the features that have become popular in the genre while at the same time adding some substantial twists to the formula. The key to succeeding in this game is maintaining balance and your victory hinges on keeping both sides alive and intact.

After a brief graphic-novel style introduction about the player’s role as the Creator and the societies that you will be developing, I jumped right into the tutorial phase. The tutorial worked nicely to explain a few complex mechanics without being too wordy or dry, which is a feat that many games try but do not accomplish. The basic gist of the game is to properly use each turn to develop your two “rival” cities in ways we are all familiar with for this genre. Pig farms, sheep pens, and bakeries must be built for food resources while also placing areas for carpenters, blacksmiths, ranches, and even fletchers around your town center to keep your people fed and safe. Just the amount of different buildings, military structures, and landscaping options make this an incredibly in-depth experience for five dollars.

For each turn that takes place in the game the various military structures will begin creating soldiers that automatically go to attack the other city. Other units are available after certain requirements are met like elves, trolls, giants, and even a trojan horse; Greek and Norse mythology play an active role in the development of your two different cultures. The challenge in this game is to continue building up your two cities and instead of gathering your forces to crush the opposition you must play both sides and keep them from destroying one another. It’s a different twist on a well-established game mechanic and once I got used to it the strategy to win began to reveal itself. A basic disaster system known as “woes” will plague each of your cities as you progress forward; floods, violent crimes, and striking guilds will all weaken the current state of your cities as you attempt to keep them together and not fall prey to the other civilization’s tools of war. Victory conditions boil down to making sure one side is never more powerful than the other and it is a satisfying experience for $4.99. Skyward Collapse is available on Steam or from Arcen Games website.

Mercenary Kings

The second game shown at Sony’s press conference that will be making its debut on the PS4 this fall, Mercenary Kings from Tribute Games is an action side-scroller with lush hand-drawn art that provides some beautiful retro eye-candy sensibilities. The premise is centered on a group of the world’s greatest mercenaries, who are sent to an island in the Central American Pacific Coast to destroy an evil crime syndicate that has assassinated the character’s former team mates. It covers a whole spectrum of elements reaching as far back as the 8-bit era, but deftly combines the tone and feel of several game systems of the nostalgic past including the SNES and the Sega Genesis. It looks like the talented team at Yacht Club Games will have a bit of healthy competition (not to mention a compatriot in the unstoppable retro niche) for their upcoming Shovel Knight release.

Octo Dad: Dadliest Catch

The sequel to “the splash hit” Octodad, the newest title from Young Horses is a 3D puzzle and action game that once again throws you into the role of an octopi husband and father that is struggling to keep his identity as an octopus a secret. With his wife’s suspicions beginning to rise and a trip to the local aquarium that ends in catastrophe, it is up to you to make sure his place as Octodad remains secure throughout the comedically irreverent story. With fluid animation and wonderful art direction, Octodad: Dadliest Catch is sure to be a runaway hit when it gets released late 2013/early 2014.

Don’t Starve

Although currently available on Steam and Chrome, Don’t Starve from Klei Entertainment is billed as “an uncompromising wilderness survival game full of science and magic” that will be making its console debut soon after the launch of the PS4, though no definite release date has been set. In Don’t Starve, you play as Wilson, a “Gentleman Scientist” who is trapped in a terror filled wilderness world by a demon. Sporting one of the best visual aesthetics in the indie market and gameplay that will suck away your spare hours, look for Don’t Starve to be available in the Indie section of the Playstation store this fall.

Ray’s the Dead

Ragtag Studios has continued the indie tradition of innovation over technology with Ray’s the Dead, a story-driven Action-Stealth-Puzzler that puts you into the role of a newly raised zombie, Ray, as he seeks to find the reason he was killed. Building up a massive zombie army and digging up the most unlikely of friendships, the game has a distinct 80’s vibe to complement its rather heartfelt and humorous take on the zombie genre. Currently hoping to release on Steam Greenlight, Ray’s the Dead will be shuffling onto a PS4 near you.

Read Part 2 of “Indie at E3″ where we will cover Secret Ponchos, Outlast, Oddworld: New and Tasty, and Galak-Z.

There is something to be said for a second chapter in a mystifying production. The plot begins to thicken, questions become downright head-scratching, and it can tend to throw you some serious mind-bending moments alongside brand new wondrous territory. KRZ: Act II shines on all counts.

The last time we saw Conway, he and his companion Shannon had managed to get out of the old mine and back to Weaver’s house. You know, the kooky math girl from the beginning of Act I. They get the old television working to reveal that the barn we looked at with perplexity all this time was hiding the secret entrance to the mysterious ‘Zero’. Act II wastes no time getting us past the fluff and into the story, where we find our three protagonists (you can’t forget Homer now) stuck at a weird crossroads that looks like a bad run in between a cavern, a cathedral, and road construction. Nestled in between all this is an office building called the Bureau of Reclaimed Spaces. It is here that Conway continues his search for the elusive ‘5 Dogwood Drive’ to deliver his last load of antiques. With his leg injury growing worse with every step, he and Shannon are beginning to feel a race against time heating up.

If you were hoping to have all your questions answered here, I’m here to tell you that you don’t get to eat dessert just yet. You will find plenty of moments that make you contort your face in intrigued confusion, things that warp your thinking and dash your notions about what in the world is going on in this place, causing us to truly question how realist our adventure is. The name of this act should have been ‘Cloudy With A Chance of Curveballs’. The third floor of the Bureau of Reclaimed Spaces houses the first of many curveball moments that forces a wry smile and raised eyebrow. Sadly, some of these moments seem to just exist as is without really giving us a reason for it. And it only grows weirder as you travel. However, there is indeed payoff for some early in the act. We finally get to travel the Zero and find out a little of what this highway is all about.

The presentation of this game keeps getting better. Even the block style graphics seem to contain a little more detail this time around, and the makers at Cardboard Computer are truly beginning to find their style. But it isn’t the level of detail that really knocks it out of the park. With a consistent vision of minimalism, we are treated with some stunning imagery even with the simple vector lines that comprise the Zero map, making the sheer composition of elements a winning combination. Where the surface was just a flat and static map, the Zero brings the ‘magical’ part of the equation into play with a 3D skeleton of the underground highway complete with varying topography. Navigating the Zero becomes a little confusing at first, but thankfully you are giving a preliminary guide in your Notes section on how to see (or in this case imagine) some of the sights, working very much like a combination lock that requires you to drive to different holographic landmarks which are likely to be familiar from the mine in Act I. In one instance you drive until you see a large feather floating in the air, drive back the other way until you see an eagle talon and the whole landscape of the route has changed offering you different places to visit. This serves only as an introduction to the Zero, as we find ourselves having to travel back to the Bureau to find our way out to the surface. That’s where the real crazy begins. But I won’t spoil any more for you. If you think the third floor of the Bureau was a crazy you-know-what moment, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet, and the game cleverly unveils it to you like turning around to face a barreling freight train.

This is really the true strength of the game. We have an intense drive to find out why all this is happening to our characters, as Shannon finally asks the question of why this delivery is so important to Conway. As always, you get to decide why the characters are doing these things or why they feel the way they do, and even what their backstory is. It is almost as if you are finishing the story yourself, being able to explore vastly different options that, while retaining the same path in the game, help flesh out who Conway and Shannon are as people. People, as it turns out, who are pretty much like us.

But the act is not without its downsides. The abrupt ending gives us no indication of what comes next, introducing another open-ended brain teaser and leaving us with so many unanswered questions it is impossible not to be a little frustrated with it. The other frustrating downside is that this act is shorter than the first. Even though its story unfolds at our own pace, one could get the whole act completed in roughly fifteen minutes (depending on how fast you like to read).

A worthy follow up to its previous chapter, KRZ: Act II continues and deepens the intrigue that hooked us the first time around and will no doubt have players returning for more, exploring other story options, and scouring the visual clues that quietly foreshadow things to come. Kentucky Route Zero: Act II is available now on Steam and directly from the developer at Kentuckyroutezero.com.

Rating: 8.0/10

Ever since I first heard this story around a week ago, I knew I would need to write something about it eventually. After all, much of my work here at Gameverse has been promoting indie games languishing in Steam Greenlight limbo. I’ve had some time to really gather my thoughts on the whole Paranautical Activity issue, and now I think it’s time I finally wrote a piece about it.

For those who haven’t heard the story yet, Paranautical Activity by Code Avarice was denied a Steam release for what seems like arbitrary and rather petty reasons. Code Avarice started a Greenlight campaign for their game some time back, however they were then approached by Adult Swim and offered a publishing deal. Adult Swim has already published two games on Steam, so this deal should have allowed Paranautical Activity to bypass Greenlight. Then, for unknown reasons, Valve stopped the release because they “didn’t want to send the message that indies can seek out publishers to bypass Greenlight.” One of members of Code Avarice even said on Twitter that he “hasn’t touched a line of code in days” after the deal fell through, because now all their efforts have been shifted away from development and towards promoting an old, abandoned Greenlight page.

I think this whole mess illustrates one thing: Valve has no clue how to make Greenlight work the way it was intended, and are just making crap up as they go. I’ve criticized Greenlight before in my Greenlight Spotlight series here on Gameverse. Valve’s approach to getting indie games on Steam is like a Cerberus, where each head has a different idea of how things should work. Greenlight was created because many quality indie games were arbitrarily denied the chance to release on Steam, with no explanation as to why. Unepic and Space Pirates and Zombies are two of the most-cited examples of this.

Greenlight has actually made the process significantly worse because of how inconsistent Valve has been. Just looking at the top 20 new release on Steam, nearly half of them are indie games that didn’t need to go through Greenlight. So…why is that? Who chooses what indie games have to go through Greenlight, and which ones get on Steam automatically? There have even been examples of games by companies who have already released successful games on Steam needing to go through Greenlight for their newest titles. Why did Mode 7 have to push Frozen Endzone through Greenlight after the success that Frozen Synapse has seen on Steam? Wadjet Eye had previously released seven games on Steam, but Primordia had to go through Greenlight for some unknown reason.

Moreover, why does it even matter that Paranautical Activity was trying to bypass Greenlight with a publisher? Isn’t the whole point of a publisher to get your game distributed and released? The whole issue just seems petty to me. Valve has hinted before that their policies are in place to keep terrible games off Steam, but bad games get on Steam all the time. I’m sure everyone remembers the War Z scandal, and even Greenlight has allowed questionable games to slip through because of the very nature of the system. Towns made it through Greenlight and is still being sold on Steam as a complete game, despite being an alpha full of bugs and unfinished content. There is no disclaimer anywhere on the Steam page about it being a paid alpha, and it hasn’t even been moved to the Early Access section yet.

According to YouTuber Jesse Cox on the latest TGS Podcast, the whole Greenlight process is even more screwed up than Valve tells. Jesse, along with Josh from IndieStatik, has a video series called The Greenlight where they highlight games struggling on Greenlight. Jesse pointed out on the podcast that indie developers waiting on Greenlight have the ability to see where they stand in the current rankings, something that is hidden to the average user. It seems that, instead of just releasing the top however many games on Greenlight, Valve picks and chooses whenever determining the next wave of Greenlit titles. This leads to situations where a game that has been sitting in the top 5 on Greenlight is passed up in favor of games further down the list. If this is indeed the case (again, we can’t be sure because of Valve’s lack of transparency) then what is the point in us voting for games on Greenlight? Just what arcane rituals does an indie developer need to perform to get the chance to be on Steam?

What this whole situation proves is that Valve is far from perfect. They clearly have no idea how Greenlight should work. Valve’s lack of transparency and inconsistent decisions can be infuriating, both for indie developers and gamers who want to see unique, good games get the attention they deserve. I’ll still continue to highlight games with my Greenlight Spotlight series. Indeed, this whole series exists because of how screwed up Greenlight is and how difficult it can be to get noticed among the sea of…not so great games waiting for votes. I may not have the same amount of influence as others that have spoken up about the subject, but I’ll continue to do what I can. Remember to go give Paranautical Activity a vote on Greenlight, if you haven’t already.

Reus markets itself as a 2D god game. Indeed, at first glance that’s exactly what it looks like, as the player controls four planet-shaping giants on a mission to help humans survive and thrive on a once barren wasteland. However, after putting over a dozen hours into Reus, I’d describe it as more of a puzzle/resource management game, where you are trying to figure out the optimal placement of resources in a very limited space. In any case, Reus can be a hard game to accurately describe because of how unique it truly is.

Each game of Reus starts out the same: The planet is an uninhabitable wasteland and you must use your four giants to create an ecosystem that allows humanity to survive. Each giant has some sort of terraforming power that allows you to create mountains, forests, swamps, oceans, and deserts. Once you have biomes you must then place resources (minerals, plants, or animals) which in turn attract nomads that set up a village near these resources.

As villages grow, they’ll start projects. These projects usually require the use of a certain number of resources, like food, tech, and/or wealth. These are generated by the resources that are within a village’s borders, which gradually expand as the village grows. Once a project is complete, it will add bonuses to the village and push it towards a certain specialization, like giving a village more wealth for each mineral within their borders or giving more food for each plant. The types of projects a village will start largely depend on the biome they are in. Deserts usually start wealth-based projects, swamps start tech-based ones, and forests food-based ones.

Besides allowing a village to grow, projects also give you ambassadors. Your giants can pick up these ambassadors, unlocking new abilities. The ability that an ambassador unlocks depends on what biome they are from and what giant is carrying them. Giving a giant more ambassadors from the same biome is useful because the extra ambassadors upgrade the power associated with ambassadors from that specific biome. This creates a situation where you have to carefully consider what ambassadors to give to what giants. You’ll need to consider what abilities you’ll need in order to advance the villages the way you want them to go. You’ll also need to think about if you would rather spread out ambassadors from specific biomes to gain a wider range of abilities, or give all the ambassadors of a specific biome to one giant so you can make his abilities more powerful.

While it can be tempting to just throw resources at a village to make them grow as fast as possible, there is a greed mechanic that makes this more difficult. If a village grows too quickly, they may become greedy and demand more from you or attack other villages. The growth of greed can be managed by awe and danger, which are generated by certain resources. Placing predatory animals is an easy way of generating danger, thus slowing a village’s expansion and keeping their greed at bay, but if there is too much danger it can cause the village to struggle to survive. Like most mechanics in this game, it can be a very fine balancing act that requires a lot of experimentation.

The way resources interact and how you can transform and modify them is a lot more complex than I originally thought it would be. Each giant has abilities that generate a generic resource like precious minerals or fruit plants, with the actual type of resource generated depending on the biome. Using the Swamp Giant’s ability to create exotic animals will create a poison dart frog in swamps, but desert tortoises in deserts. As you can imagine, this already means that the number of resources can get a bit daunting, but things get further complex with the use of Aspects.

Aspects serve two purposes. Firstly, they can increase resources generated, or modify them in different ways. Secondly, you can transform resources if there are certain Aspects attached to them. For example, adding a Leaf Aspect to blueberries allows you to make strawberries. In addition to Aspects, there are also Symbioses that give bonuses to resources that are next to certain other resources. Predatory animals typically generate more wealth or food if they are near smaller prey animals, certain plants generate more food if they are near mineral-rich ground, and so on.

This level of complexity in how specific resources interact and what Aspects are needed to make each resource can be really overwhelming later in the game. The game would greatly benefit from an in-game tech tree of some sort. As it stands, all you can do is pull up a wiki, which makes it more difficult to reference things while actually playing. As you gain access to more resources, the massive number of them and how they interact can get fiddly too, as you try to figure out the most optimal arrangement of resources for a village’s specialization. It doesn’t help that villages often start on projects that make no sense considering previous projects, like a village that focused heavily on plants suddenly starting a project that requires a lot of animals. The limited space of the world makes matters even worse. I understand that this game is mainly about managing resources in a limited space, but I’d like to see larger worlds in future updates.

Despite my complaints so far, I actually really enjoy Reus. The graphics style and music are incredibly charming, and despite the occasional awkwardness of the resource management, the game can be almost zen-like. For the most part it is a relatively stress-free, relaxing game. It’s satisfying to see your villages gradually grow and become bustling cities. The giants and their animations look great in action, and their idle animations add a lot to the game’s charm. They’ll occasionally lean down and just watch the villagers as they go about their daily lives, as proud parents watching their children play.

While the resources and the way they interact can become very complex later on, the game’s learning curve is actually brilliant. Most of the resources are locked at the start; you “level up” by playing and completing developments. Developments are a bit like achievements, but they serve an actual gameplay purpose. As you complete developments and level up, you’ll unlock more resources and tougher developments become possible. The actual game modes themselves are designed to slowly ease you in. After the tutorial, you start with 30 minute games, where many of the more complex resource interactions won’t really come into play. Then you’ll graduate to hour-long games, and eventually two hour games, where you need to carefully consider resource placement to make the best use of Symbioses, which Aspects you need, etc. Greed, and how villages may lose their faith and attack your giants, also doesn’t become a major mechanic until the two hour games. In addition to these primary modes, there is also a free play sandbox mode where you can play as long as you like, but you won’t make progress towards new resources and developments.

Reus is a really unique title that deserves your attention. I don’t think you should really go into Reus expecting a true god game along the lines of Populous, but rather a puzzle game with the façade of a god game. I’ve heard some people say that Reus lacks a real focus or objective due to the way the game is designed, but I’m not so sure I agree. It is a very charming and beautiful puzzle game that rewards you for experimenting and trying to figure out the optimal way of creating thriving villages in a limited space. If you’re looking for a relatively slower-paced, charming, and relaxing title, then Reus is definitely worth a look at only $10. You can find it on Steam and GOG.com.             

My previous few Greenlight articles focused primarily on games with active crowd-funding campaigns. Most of those campaigns are over now, so let’s take a quick look at the results: Among the Sleep was struggling for a while there, but a surge of support in the final hours allowed the Kickstarter to end with $248,358, hitting three of the five stretch goals. A.N.N.E. closed with $100,272, allowing the game to reach three of the seven stretch goals. It was pretty close, but Ghost of a Tale‘s Indiegogo campaign managed to close at 48,700€, just over the target goal of 45,000€. The Stomping Land still has a few days left, but it is already raised more than three times its original goal. Unfortunately, The Realm was over £100,000 short of its goal. The developers plan to try again sometime in the future.

There has also been some new games Greenlit since my last article, which I mentioned here. Those titles include Bleed, Game Dev Tycoon, The Legend, Legends of Eisenwald, RIOT, and Stardew Valley. The PC versions of Bleed and Game Dev Tycoon are already out, so I expect that we should be seeing Steam releases before too long. Now that the Greenlight updates are out of the way, we can get on with this week’s five game spotlights:

Cannon Brawl by Turtle Sandbox Games

Cannon Brawl is an interesting mix of a 2D RTS/artillery game. You control an airship and must use it to construct towers in an attempt to destroy your opponent’s base. The terrain is 100% destructible, and you can use this to your advantage to pull off some pretty impressive strategies. The game is close to being finished, with a set release date sometime this summer for $10. There is an alpha demo that you can try that gives you a good idea of what to expect from both the campaign and the multiplayer.

Darkwood by Acid Wizard Studios

Darkwood is a top-down, open world survival horror game that has been getting quite a bit of hype lately because of its ongoing Indiegogo campaign. It features some roguelike elements in the form of permadeath and the world’s randomly generated nature, so each playthrough will be different. The game’s use of line of sight and lighting looks fantastic, and adds a lot to the tension of the game’s already oppressive atmosphere.

Wrack by Final Boss Entertainment

Wrack is a fast-paced, old school-style FPS that borrows heavily from classics like Doom, Duke Nukem 3D, and Quake. In fact, one of their big selling points is that Bobby Prince (of Doom and Wolfenstein fame) is working on Wrack‘s music and sound effects. The level design looks to be another big plus for this game, with large, multi-tiered levels full of alternate paths, secrets, and hazardous terrain, just like in the old days. The game will ship with the so-called WrackEd software, a fully-featured level editor and suite of mod tools.

Starship Corporation by Ratakari

Starship Corporation is exactly what it says on the tin: a management sim about running a starship manufacturer. You design starships, making sure that the internal layout is optimal for the starship’s role, and sell the finished product to other companies and groups. You can create everything from mining vessels to gigantic battleships using over 50 types of rooms divided into 6 categories. You can also take on missions with your ships to gauge their performance, and even create your own private fleet to defend your interests. There is a playable alpha out right now that is really rough around the edges, but such is the nature of early builds.     

The Forest by SKS Games

I heard someone describe The Forest as a higher resolution, more survival horror-focused version of Minecraft, and that description seems fair enough. In The Forest, you play as the lone survivor of a plane crash that leaves you stranded in a mysterious forest with aggressive, cannibalistic mutants. The goal is simply to survive by any means necessary, be it by building fortifications to bunker down in at night or by crafting crude weapons to try and fight off the mutants. The environments and lighting effects look amazing, and SKS is looking to launch with full Oculus Rift support.

That’s all for this week. Remember to check some of my previous Greenlight Spotlights for more interesting games. Of all the games I’ve highlighted, only Cradle has made it through so far. My hope is that these articles can do at least a little to help change that.

By the time you’ve read this I’ve most likely re-written it half a dozen times.

I’m not usually a perfectionist but as someone who’s played a game as fantastic as Towerfall I feel it’s only right to do it justice and put more than a modicum amount of my time into helping you understand what makes this game so damn fun.

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Matt Thorson is an indie developer here in beautiful British Columbia, Canada who’s been behind some fantastic games for Adult Swim and was also the creator of the Ogmo Editor for Flash development. If you’re familiar with game development in Flash you should probably know what it is.

Matt’s been making indie games for a pretty long time and I remember getting addicted to Give Up, Robot 2 when I was studying in school a few years ago. It got to the point where, in a Flash development class, I got in trouble for playing it too much. I didn’t know however this until after the class because I was too busy with the game to hear the teacher.

Give Up, Robot 2

Matt also takes part in a large number of game jams which are usually 1-3 day sprints of game development. You lock yourself in somewhere and give yourself an incredibly short deadline to make a playable game either by yourself or with others.

It was at one of these jams that Matt created the first build of Towerfall.

I got my hands on the game at a house party some time later that Matt and his roommates had at what they’ve righteously dubbed “the indie house” of Vancouver. He’s shown it off at indie meetups and GDC since then and it’s been making great impressions all around.

Bramble arrows and original art.

When I walked into the basement to see people cheering and shouting at a screen it instantly took my attention away from whatever it is I was doing at the time. I think I was talking to a woman. The game was fast paced and insane so of course I needed to get my hands on it, no matter how daunting it seemed.

It struck me instantly that the game made me feel really damn good. It felt good on the inside but more than that it felt like this was a game I was earning some degree of skill in. After dying multiple times and winning a single round of five however I realized that I wasn’t that great. When I saw Matt and some others take up the four controllers and play I felt even worse at the game. This speaks volumes about the impact the game had on me.

Towerfall is a game about mastery and precision which is why it can dub itself an “archery combat” game. It’s so fast but incredibly simple and easy to pick up. The more you learn the better you feel but at no point will you feel bad about your skill level. The game is just too damn fun for you to ever be upset with it, like an adorable puppy that can use a bow and arrow.

The game boasts some great audio and art that brings the gameplay to life. Matt’s original art was very functional and had some charm to it. After being set up with a husband-wife pair down south, in the States, however the game’s really come into it’s own. The art compliments the gameplay and the effects it has on those playing it.

Every character plays the same but their appearances set them apart from each other and you might find yourself getting attached to them.

You kill other players in two ways: shooting them with arrows or jumping on their heads. When I played the game it was at a very, VERY early state and the most complicated pieces of the game were ladders/ropes to cling to and disappearing blocks.

I think there were shields and laser-arrows as well (they ricochet off walls) but they simply augmented the combat while the ladders and ghost-blocks were actually changing how I played the game. The most unique element of the game that I noticed however were bubbles of poison that broke apart and killed anyone below if you jumped on them.

Add in the looping pacman-esque edges of the levels then a unique scoring system and you have yourself a lively gaming experience..

When the game is finished there’s a quick replay as well that shows the final kill of the match. This lets you brag a little but it gives your stalwart enemies an idea of how you pulled it off.

Towerfall was a blast when I played it but the game didn’t have the bomb-arrows and new art-design behind it. The game’s amount of levels and match-options help keep the gameplay interesting and always fresh.

What’s so great about Towerfall’s story is that Matt’s never lost his vision of the game and it’s always stayed fun. Matt created it for a jam and it was when he realized how much fun people were having with it he just ran through development. He added solid features that augment the cerebral gameplay allowing the core of the game to stay static. It’s something a lot of developers in the AAA industry can’t afford to do when they have a million dollars in profit riding on their next project.

He’s said in an interview (watch here) that he continued to make it because of how much fun he had creating the game and iterating on it’s elements. As someone who may purchase an Ouya (or at least steal a friend’s) just for this game, I thank you Matt.

I’m expecting the game to make a huge impact when it’s coming out on June 25th, the same day the Ouya is now slated to release. I’m really looking forward to this title and you should definitely mark the 25th down on your calendar.

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See Gameverse’s article about the Ouya’s new release date here.

Catch other previews here where Ben Kuchera calls Towerfall the Ouya’s “killer app” and here where it makes Patrick Hancock want an Ouya.

All images are sourced from the Towerfall Tumblr.

The original Anomaly was a unique twist on the increasingly popular tower defense genre. Billing itself as a “tower offense” game, in Anomaly you had to guide the convoy of attacking units through the towers, using the special abilities of your character’s suit of armor to protect the convoy and help you achieve the mission’s objective. Anomaly 2 contains everything needed to make a good sequel: more of the same core gameplay, but with enough new features and improvements to keep things interesting.

In the years following the events of the first game, the alien machines (aka the towers) have returned to Earth and reduced it to a barely inhabitable wasteland stuck in a perpetual winter. It’s your job to lead your convoy in humanity’s last ditch effort to win the war with the machines and retake Earth. The writing and voice acting in Anomaly 2 are a step up from the original game, but it can still be pretty cringe-worthy in places. Luckily, that isn’t what you play this series for.

For those who are unfamiliar with the Anomaly games, the basic formula works like this: At the start of each mission, you have to buy units to fill out your convoy of up to six vehicles. You then plot your route through the map to your objectives. Each mission’s map is actually quite big and allows for many potential pathways to your objectives, and because of scripted events you’ll often find yourself returning to the tactical view to re-plot your course.

Once you are in the actual mission, you control a single commander in an advanced suit of armor that allows you to deploy various special abilities to protect or buff your convoy. This adds an element of twitch skill micromanagement to the game, as you’ll have to run your character all over the place to collect suit powers and deploy abilities at the proper time to maximize their effects. The Repair and Decoy abilities from the first game return, but the Smoke and Airstrike powers have been replaced with EMP and AIM. EMP allows you to temporarily disable towers, while AIM makes your convoy focus their fire on a particular tower, gaining a damage bonus in the process.

One of the major new features of Anomaly 2 is the introduction of the Morph mechanic. Anomaly 2 has reduced the number of units in the game down to five, but each unit has an alternate form that it can transform into by double clicking on it. For example, the basic Assault Hound is a small tank-like unit with miniguns. The miniguns start out firing slow, weak shots that gradually build up to a constant stream of fire over the course of several seconds. In its alternate form, the Hell Hound, it becomes a mech with dual flamethrowers that it can fire at two different towers simultaneously.

The Morph mechanic gives you much more flexibility. You’ll be constantly swapping modes to counter specific towers, and it also ensures that every unit will get regular usage. The larger number of units in the original game created some redundancies later on in the campaign. Once you got the tank there was little point in taking the APCs anymore since they both served similar roles–that of a heavily armored spearhead to your convoy–but the tank was just better at it.

The campaign is 14 missions long and has a nice variety of objectives and scripted events that change things up and keeps the experience fresh. The game also does a great job of pacing itself and gradually introducing you to harder and more complex objectives. The early missions are simply get from A to B. Later missions have you destroying specific towers, or giving you fragile units you must escort that take up slots in your convoy. Mission 8 is particularly memorable, where you must defend a central building as waves of towers spawn from all sides. The battles can get really hectic as you must micromanage your commander and his abilities, morph your units to best counter the current situation, and even alter your routes or switch around the formation of your convoy.

The campaign will last you a little over six hours or so, more if you obsess over getting all gold medals in every mission. Unfortunately the Baghdad Mayhem and Tokyo Raid score attack modes don’t make a return, instead being replaced with a new tower defense vs tower offense multiplayer mode. The multiplayer mode is a fun distraction, but there isn’t really enough content to keep you playing it for long. From what I’ve played, Anomaly 2 does a solid job of balancing the two sides and their special abilities, but it could use more maps and gameplay modes. I feel that the campaign is where the most enjoyment will be had with this game, with the multiplayer just being a side mode to occasionally dip into with friends.

The graphics also got a nice upgrade in Anomaly 2. The original was always a pretty nice looking game, but this time around the particle effects and explosions are noticeably better, as is the texture quality of the units, towers, and environments. The game also plays around with your keyboard’s lighting effects if you are playing on an Alienware system, a feature that you only see in a handful of games.

Anomaly 2 is a great sequel that improves upon the original in just about every way. Any fans of the original cult hit should definitely look into getting Anomaly 2. If you’ve never played an Anomaly game, this is a good place to start. It is a unique and frantic take on what is traditionally a somewhat passive genre, and there is a nice amount of content for the rather cheap price of $15. You can find Anomaly 2 on Steam, where until May 31st you can get it for 10% off if you own the first game. Alternatively, you can buy it straight from 11 Bit Studios and get a free copy of Anomaly: Korea, which as far as I know is the only way to get this mobile/tablet spin-off on PC.

Shooting ships in space will always be a fun concept. Who doesn’t get excited when thinking of climbing into the cockpit of a massive space fighter, armed to the teeth, and blasting through the hulls of enemy invaders with searing lasers and unforgiving photon torpedoes? We’ve loved it since Asteroids, and it has only gotten better with new technology. Technology like giant robotic armor suits, such as those offered in the new score-fest space shooter from  Born Ready, Strike Suit Infinity.

You play the role of a pilot specializing in an advanced starship that has the ability to turn into a Strike Suit with amped up power and precision aiming. With each level you clear waves of enemy ships that become more difficult as the game goes on. Early rounds start with basic interceptors and fighters whizzing about your head, soon progressing to heavier challenges like Frigates, Capital Ships and Transports which give you extra rewards like weapons and upgrade credits. These things often take you to opposite sides of the battle space, so fast kills and immaculate aiming are your best friends.

A view down cannon fodder alley.

But it’s that part of the game that might steer people away from enjoying the game even in the early rounds. Those who are familiar with its mission-based predecessor Strike Suit Zero will have no transition to make here. For new players, a gamepad is a big must. Controlling the Strike Suit is daunting at first and requires some time in the training module to properly calibrate your thinking. While movement is fairly fluid and responsive, aiming at enemy ships with anything but the fast unlinked Plasma Gun will prove to be a challenge. Enemies zip around you with blazing expertise, requiring you to follow their weaving and looping like a hotshot. Homing missiles help greatly in this matter, but there are times where aiming in the standard starship could use a more intuitive method of locking onto an enemy.

But that won’t stop you from getting enough kills to build up your Flux meter, a gauge which fuels your ability to switch to Strike Mode, giving you auto aiming and pin-point accurate homing missile clusters, all at vastly increased power. Blow away enemies with auto cannons, lock onto multiple targets with a homing salvo, and even dodge enemy missiles with the Dash move. Yet the disadvantage is a decreased intuitiveness in the way the suit moves, requiring a totally different control scheme to do so. This puzzling change bears no continuity with the standard control set you use when not in Strike Mode, which could have easily remained the same.

When you fly a transformer in space, nobody messes with you.

Any difficulty this presents, however, is offset by your ally ships which warp in at the beginning of every round to aid you in your fight. Any allies left alive at the end of the round will give you a bonus credit towards hiring more ships to join your effort. These range from basic speedy interceptors to hulking Capital ships packed with firepower. The goodness doesn’t stop there, as the game gives you the option of upgrading these things to better swat the enemy. The more fighters you have the better chances of going after the more challenging ships such as the Frigate or the elusive Transport ship, which warps out of the battle space at unpredictable intervals. Sometimes the transport would hang around and let me chase it, other times it would escape before I could even reach it, leaving me to wonder if it was even worth it to go after them at all.

A squadron all too eager to crush the enemy.

Nonetheless, you have a wide battle-field to traverse, which is a blessing all around. You have plenty of room to escape pursuers and give yourself distance from a target, which allows you a moment to admire a bit of the visuals. Animations are fluid. Ship models are sufficiently spacey but lack appealing texture. Looking down at planet Earth while doing some fancy maneuvers will give you a real sense of place, not to mention that gut-tickling feeling of motion and immersion. The frenetic nature of the gameplay, however, will not leave you much time to assess the details.

Crush the capital ship for extra manliness.

Yet despite all its mild shortcomings, this little shooter packs a mean wallop in a big way. It is loads of fun despite having a frustrating learning curve, and the lack of any real mission objectives does nothing to diminish the sheer enjoyment of space battles. If you’re looking for something to tide you over until the next Star Wars movie rolls out for a super bargain price, look no further than Strike Suit Infinity. It’ll blow you away.

Rating: 7.5/10

Continuing Valve’s recent push towards more frequent, smaller waves of games to make the Greenlight process faster, six new titles have been Greenlit. This time around we have Bleed, Game Dev Tycoon, The Legend, Legends of Eisenwald, RIOT, and Stardew Valley.

The games that immediately stand out to me are Bleed, Game Dev Tycoon, and RIOT. Game Dev Tycoon is perhaps best known for its ironic and novel approach to combating piracy. I own the 360 version of Bleed and it is a fun, if somewhat standard, action-platformer for a cheap price. Yes, the “16-bit indie retro platformer-thing” genre is really oversaturated at the moment, but if you have $5 to spare and want a challenging action game with old school charm and a few memorable moments then you may want to give Bleed a try.

RIOT was generating a lot of hype a while back, even finishing with a 241% funded Indiegogo campaign a few months back. It tackles some provocative subjects that don’t really get explored in video games, and the developers have a relevant message they want to express with this game. In fact, the devs are so devoted to this topic that they are apparently planning to travel around Europe and the Middle East to experience and document real, ongoing riots and civil unrest.

With this recent wave of releases, the total number of games that have been Greenlit is sitting at 93. So far, 33 of those games have made it onto Steam, either as a full release or part of the new Early Access program.

Remember when you were two years old?  Everything looked larger than life and the world was full of wonder and amazement?  Then, when the sun went down, the world became a spooky place where every bump and shadow was out to get you?  No?  Well, Krillbite Studio wants to remind you with its upcoming title Among the Sleep.

Of course, it’s up to you, the audience, to help them bring their surreal nightmare vision to life.

With only 3 days remaining on their Kickstarter campaign, and about $4K left to meet their minimum goal, this small Norwegian indie company could use everyone’s help to finish out the home stretch.

But what is Among the Sleep, and why should you spend your time and hard earned dollars to support it, you ask?  Well, savvy consumer, allow us to enlighten you.

Even the simplest settings can get awfully creepy when the lights go out – and you’re 36 inches tall.

                Among the Sleep is a first-person horror adventure that focuses on exploration and atmosphere.  The catch?  The game puts you in the role of a two-year-old child.  But the developers are quick to point out that “this is not just an FPS with the camera closer to the ground.”  The player will be immersed in the role of a child, using their small size to their advantage when seeking out places to hide from the things that go bump in the night.  Everything viewed from a child’s perspective is slightly surreal, and Krillbite seeks to capture exactly that in their environmental design.

Players will need to use the environment as well as the character’s small stature to find hiding spots when things get spooky – like this closet!

                Like any indie developer worth their salt, Krillbite’s goal is to avoid publishers and remain independent.  Take the time to watch their Kickstarter video and you’ll see a studio full of people just as charming as the project itself.  Their passion for innovation and dedication to their art is truly the embodiment of the indie spirit from which gaming greatness is born.

Support this project.  Tell your friends.  Help keep indie gaming indie.

…or this guy will haunt your dreams.  You have been warned.

For more from Krillbite Studio, check out their experimental side-project, The Plan, for free.

My previous article focused on Greenlight games with active Kickstarters. Three of those Kickstarters have since ended, and I’m happy to report that C-Wars, Chasm, and Worlds of Magic were all successfully funded. C-Wars was extremely successful, ending with $95,574 (goal was $32,000) and reaching every stretch goal. Chasm only met two stretch goals, but still made a respectable $191,897 (goal was $150,000). Worlds of Magic ended with £45,593 (goal was £30,000) and was just shy of getting its final stretch goal. Worlds of Magic also has an alpha funding campaign, and any money earned from that will go towards the content promised in the final stretch goal.

Among the Sleep has 4 days to go and has only reached $184,247 of its $200,000 goal. A.N.N.E. still has 8 days to go and is just over its goal of $70,000, with a long list of stretch goals to hit. Since my last article, I also wrote a short article about Ghost of a Tale and its Indiegogo campaign. The Indiegogo campaign has 8 days left and is sitting at 34,612€ of its 45,000€ goal.

Since my previous Greenlight article there was also a mini wave of three Greenlit games. Papers, Please, Edge of Space, and Venetica made it through this time around. It is great to see both Papers, Please and Edge of Space make it. Papers, Please is an oddball game that sounds like it wouldn’t be too interesting, but manages to be very compelling with fun gameplay and a real message worth exploring. Edge of Space looks very promising as a fun alternative to Terraria and the other increasingly popular block-based building games. Venetica is an action RPG that has been out for some time. It also wasn’t very good, but it isn’t really my place to complain about such things here. Valve has stated that they will do these mini waves more often to help speed up the Greenlight process.

Now that the updates are out of the way, time to get on with today’s Greenlight Spotlight. This time I wanted to focus on some so-called “Concept Games.” This section of Greenlight is mostly devoted to games that are extremely early in development. The goal here isn’t so much to get Greenlit as it is to get as much feedback as possible, or even find people who would be interested in helping out with development. Because of this, most of these games are primarily concept art, target renderings, and extremely early prototypes, but they are all interesting and unique in their own ways.

The Somme by TopHat Studios

The Somme is marketing itself as the first commercial attempt at making a multiplayer-focused WWI shooter. Like Red Orchestra, The Somme will be heavily focused on teamwork and tactics, and TopHat Studios is doing everything they can to make it as authentic as possible. It will use a class-based system and feature the ability to ride horses and use vehicles. The tanks in The Somme will operate much like they do in Red Orchestra, where you need a whole crew to effectively use them. So far they are looking to include Somme, Passchendaele, and The Battle of Lake Naroch as maps, with more coming later. The renderings and animations look pretty good so far; TopHat Studios is using Unreal Engine 3 to make The Somme.

Junkers by syaped

Junkers started as concept art and videos created by just one animator, and the developer is currently looking for people with the necessary skills required to make this game a reality. In Junkers, players manage a crew of scavengers in space, so-called “junkers,” as they raid derelict spaceships for anything worth selling on the black market. Gameplay will be made up of both real-time tactical battles during the raids and a management screen where you have to handle your crew’s finances, hire new crewmen, trade and sell materials that you scavenged from derelict ships, and more. The target renderings look really charming; it reminds me of Syndicate and many other classic isometric tactical games from the ’90s.

Ludus silva by Jayelinda

Ludus silva is an interesting sandbox strategy game where the goal is to build a thriving forest by using an editor to design plants best suited for the current environment. The editor looks quite robust so far, and you’ll have to consider many environmental factors to ensure that the plants survive. One example the developer gives is that plants with big, broad leaves are more effective at gathering sunlight, but also susceptible to UV damage if you don’t carefully consider where you put such plants. This means that to create a thriving forest you’ll need a diverse range of plant species of various shapes and sizes. Some examples of environments to expect are fertile plains, deserts, swamps, and mountains.

The Realm by Atomhawk Design

This game has been getting some buzz lately because of its active Kickstarter. The Realm is an adventure game set in the distant future, where some event has caused our world to be reclaimed by nature. Humanity is now limited to small, sparse rural communities where magic exists and our modern technologies have long since been abandoned and forgotten. Players will control a young girl named Sarina and her giant stone golem companion Toru on a quest to find a cure for a mysterious illness afflicting Sarina’s mother. The game will focus heavily on solving environmental puzzles using the strengths and special abilities of both characters. The Kickstarter could use a boost; The Realm is only 31% funded with just over a week left. The game is mostly a concept at this point, but the art direction is gorgeous.

The Stomping Land by Alex Fundora

Like The Realm, The Stomping Land also has an active Kickstarter, but it is already over 200% funded with nearly a month to go. The Stomping Land is an open-world multiplayer survival game where you play as a primitive hunter on an island full of dinosaurs. The goal is simply to survive by hunting smaller dinosaurs. The process of hunting is made difficult by the fact that the smell of fresh blood attracts larger carnivores, giving you a limited window to gather meat from a kill.

You can improve your chances with traps, distractions, or simply forming tribes with other players. Creating tribes and hunting parties with others is a pretty big part of the game. It not only improves your chances at a successful hunt, but also allows you to more easily stockpile food and other resources vital for your continued survival. The game also incorporates the idea of raiding other tribes and fighting for access to prime hunting grounds.

That’s all for today’s Greenlight Spotlight. Remember to check out the previous articles to find more interesting games. Of the 15 games I’ve highlighted in this series so far, only one (Cradle) has been Greenlit. Also remember to check out the Kickstarters I’ve brought up in both this article and the previous one.

Greenlight Spotlight 1

Greenlight Spotlight: Kickstarter Edition

This morning’s press release from Ouya also boasts $15M in new funding led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, most of which will be used to better meet anticipated retail demands, as well as improve the Ouya game development community.

Ouya will be available for purchase in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. on June 25th. The console will sell for $99, with additional controllers selling for $49.99. Ouya consoles can be pre-ordered through Amazon and other retailers. (Note, Amazon is still posting the June 4th release date.)

Monaco is an action game that gives you and up to three friends the opportunity to break out of jails and rob banks or rich old men. While the game attempts to give you the feel of a theft film it really hits it’s stride as a fast-paced puzzle game. While stealth exists in the game it’s clearly just a tool you’re supposed to use when breaking open vaults as fast as you can.

The game’s over-arching story isn’t quite as interesting as the dialogue between all the colorful characters. You get one of every stereotypical character of a heist movie but can only use four at any time by playing coop. If you’re playing single player you can only use one character per mission and your decision on who to play is based more on who’s best for that level and less about who you’d really like to play.

The different characters are wonderfully created and also allow for a lot of creativity on every map. If you want to run through the map and put every unsuspecting guard to sleep then you can be the Cleaner and have a few less guards to deal with. If you want to sneak around and rush in and out of vaults then you can play the Lockpick and while your friend is cleaning out the guards you can get the score. There are eight playable characters that each have one magnificent strength although if you’re not playing multiplayer you’re going to need to be more picky about who you take into each mission.

The game’s controls and mechanics are beautifully simple. Your directional controls are the standard W, A, S and D unless you are playing on an Xbox controller. If you walk up to a lock or computer you will begin to unlock or hack it. This applies to any usable object in the game including bushes you can hide in and traps you can disarm. When you pick up an item like a health pack or a shotgun it’s usable with the left-mouse button and the weapons aim with the mouse. It’s clear that the developers took steps to streamline the controls so all the mechanics work with the least buttons possible. It’s a fantastic standard they set and it makes the game feel simple while allowing you a huge variety of options to complete every mission.

The game’s visuals equal the controls in simplicity but not always in a good way. When playing the game for the first few missions you may get confused at what’s going on but that tends to lend to the mastery aspect of the game. It would be nice to assume this is entirely intended by the developers but it feels like there just wasn’t enough time to give any more depth or care to the game’s graphics. As long as you find a reason to enjoy it Monaco’s art shouldn’t bother you too much.

That being said the game uses plenty of squares and geometric figures but it’s definitely not classical pixel art. It definitely wins some points for it’s bold direction and it’s a nice breath of fresh air in an indie market that’s become saturated with retro pixel art. The way the characters animate on the screen definitely feels unique.

Although I haven’t played on a large screen (I’m playing on my PC) I hear that you’re going to need one to play coop on the same rig and I understand why. The game’s camera will keep every local player on the screen so if two players are on either side of a large map you can imagine how much harder it could be to recognize every icon in the level. This is of course something that’s hard to avoid in a game like this so if you’re going to play with friends on a couch make sure your screen is big enough.

The music sounds like it’s right out of a silent film which is a nice take. It was done by Austin Wintory who worked on Journey and it shows. The music will change depending on what you’re doing at the time and it’s a nice addition to an already great-feeling game. Sometimes it can throw you off but usually it’s a nice indicator that you’ve made a huge mistake.

Regardless of what visual setbacks may exists for certain setups the game is definitely a treat. It’s been in development since 2009 and although that seems like a long time it feels like it required a lot of trial, error and even happy-mistakes to become as great as it is now. I suggest picking this game up with a few other friends and running through the campaign in a night or two. Every mission will be better if it was with the same crew you played the last few levels with.

The only mechanic this game is missing is the option to betray your crew which happens in every heist movie but this may occur in the story somewhere.

The game has great pacing and I enjoy the story because I do love my heist movies. The game is worth fifteen of your hard-earned dollars, on Xbox or Steam.

What’s yours is mine.

As we get closer to the June 4th consumer release date for Ouya, the question on everyone’s mind is about the games that will be available. It’s well known throughout the video game console industry that what games are available at launch or soon after can make or break a successful console. We saw the value of an established catalogue of exclusive software during the last console wars when Microsoft was able to release their Xbox 360 way before Sony’s PS3 hit shelves. The lessons learned that will apply to the long-term success of the Ouya game platform are all centered on the software available – there has to be a collection of really good games or the console will fade away into technological obscurity. While the business and tech-savvy individuals behind the scenes have been great about creating a developer-friendly platform to publish on, none of us want to sift through a ton of mediocre games in the Ouya store. This issue has plagued certain mobile platforms and can leave a potential customer thinking that the console is not worth the price because none of the games are very memorable. I’ve put together a short list of some titles that will no doubt make the console not only worth the low price but also a great living room gaming experience to compete with the already established “big guns” of the console industry.

Final Fantasy III
This wonderful slice of the well-known series was originally released in Japan in 1990 on the Nintendo Famicon (known as the NES in the U.S.) A full 3D remake was done for the handheld Nintendo DS system and released in the summer of 2006 and it is this remake that will be available on the Ouya at launch. I know this will be one of the more reliable titles for Ouya because the Final Fantasy series wrote the book on replay value. It is titles like this that will continue to sell Ouya consoles.

The Ball
Tripwire Interactive’s shooter/puzzle hybrid The Ball will be a welcome addition to Ouya strictly because of the beautiful visuals. Built on the Unreal Engine, this title will push the Ouya hardware with its impressive graphics. The Ball belongs on this list because there aren’t very many Ouya games that succeed in replay value as well as top-notch graphics. Portal was an extremely successful title and this game captures some of the same feel. The Ball should be a great addition to the Ouya!

Saturday Morning RPG
This game from Mighty Rabbit Studios began as a Kickstarter project and does some interesting things with narrative and the “episodic” release timeline. SM-RPG is chock full of side quests, neat places to explore, and a bunch of 80’s pop culture references that will provide many hours of enjoyment for us gamers that remember what was popular in the 80’s. RPGs in any form are a good genre for the Ouya because they take time and offer different play-through options. I look forward to this one just because of its mis-matched, eclectic art style.

Stalagflight
This simple little Indie game is a direct product of the mobile game boom which means that it is easy to learn and difficult to master. Simple games like this are a blast to play with your friends when you are chilling out at home and they will have their place on the Ouya console. The home game console has become a center-piece in the living room entertainment and having fun, fast-paced competitive games to play with friends or family is a must. With a simple objective of “jump…. and don’t stop!” this will be the game I challenge my wife to when we don’t want to hook up our SNES and boot up Mario Kart!

Legend of Dungeon
This great title from the husband and wife team Robot Loves Kitty will be available at the Ouya launch. LoD is a great combination of true co-op gameplay, beat-em-up style combat, and RPG elements all smashed together underneath some amazing pixelated artwork. I am looking forward to this title because the devs moved into a treehouse in order to afford working on it full-time. That is dedication. All natural living arrangements aside, great gameplay and artwork will make this a hit on the Ouya platform.

Canabalt
Adam Saltsman’s indie hit Canabalt will be available for the Ouya from the launch and this will be another great living room multiplayer like Stalagflight. With a very simple control scheme of jumping when you’re supposed to, this game will port to a console with a controller really well. Similar to the way the 2D platformer genre worked so well on the early consoles, I think Canabalt will be a very popular download.

A Fist of Awesome
This game from Indie developer Nicoll Hunt features the familiar mechanics of basic beat-em-up titles such as Final Fight or Double Dragon with the addition of a lumberjack….. who fights homicidal forest creatures. Sign me up for two, please! The style of gameplay here will make it a blast to play over and over and I think there is a unique sense of humor about this game that will make it a diamond in the rough. Seriously, at what point in life will you get to punch a wild bear in the face?

StarBound
This one is my personal favorite title coming to the console and one of the main reasons I will be getting an Ouya myself. Starbound is the spiritual successor of Terraria, one of my favorite Indie game experiences of all time. Starbound developer studio Chucklefish were one of the lucky developers to win an Ouya console during the developer giveaway and team members tweeted about adapting the control scheme to the Ouya controller the moment they won. Starbound will take the best building mechanics and aesthetics we have seen from the likes of Minecraft and Terraria and add different planets to explore and quests to complete. Tiny little social life that I do maintain = gone!

Ghost of a Tale is an action-adventure game where you play as an anthropomorphic mouse in a medieval setting who finds himself on a mysterious, haunted island that was once a garrison for an army of rats. There is combat, as the alpha trailer shows, but the main focus is on exploration and trying to unravel the mystery of what happened to the island. This game is still a very early concept and is full of incomplete assets, but what is on display looks pretty promising. It heavily evokes the charm and general feel of many classic animated films from the ’80s and ’90s, which admittedly was Lionel’s goal.

In addition to the Indiegogo campaign, you can also support Ghost of a Tale on Steam Greenlight. Assuming that Lionel gets the funding he needs, the target release date is sometime in 2014.

Recently we got a chance to hop aboard with Yacht Club Games for a long chat about the already popular upcoming title, Shovel Knight. Along the way we discuss their origins as a team, their inspirations for the game, the Kickstarter campaign, the story, and other amazing details. Let’s take a look!

Could you say your name and what your responsibility on the team is?

Woz: My name is Nick, I go by Woz. I do everything that is not programming or music. I’m not solely responsible for that stuff, but I do contribute a lot of stuff to the game.

Sean: I am Sean Velasco, and generally I have designer, directorial duties [at WayForward.] That’s pretty much what I’m doing here, too, except since we’re a smaller group we have to wear a lot of hats. So I’ve been doing a lot of pixel work.

Ian: I’m Ian Floyd. I’m primarily a programmer or gameplay programmer on the project. But, just the same, I’m involved in various areas of the project.

Erin: I’m Erin. I do a lot of the illustrations, the graphic work, logos, and character design.

Sean: Yeah, every pixel model that we put together Erin does a sketch of it on paper first.

How did you all end up coming together on this project?

Woz: We worked as a pretty close team at WayForward. We did Double Dragon Neon recently.

Sean: We’re part of the team…

Woz: Right, not us exclusively, but a lot of us are part of the core team.

Sean: The majority of all our careers have been in WayForward. I assistant directed Contra 4, and then I directed A Boy and His Blob. Then there was BloodRayne: Betrayal, which Erin did concept designs for, and Woz did a lot of the effects for. So we’ve been working together for quite a while. That’s how we all got together.

What stage of development are you at right now? Alpha? Pre-alpha?

Woz: Way before that.

Sean: Basically we have kind of what you’ve seen in the PAX demo and what’s on the Kickstarter page. Other than that, we’re still in the very early stages of development. So…we’re maybe like ten or fifteen percent done.

Has it been hard to get back into development since your Kickstarter came to an end?

Nick: Once we’ve been in the weird pitch mode on Kickstarter for so long, it is a little bit daunting to get back into the actual production.

Sean: Just starting like that, it’s been all hands on deck doing the Kickstarter, doing promotion, getting the word out about the game, responding to comments. We’re just going start getting back into development now.

Often when you see the ‘making of’ footage it shows progressive character designs that resemble little of the final product. Did you guys go through a lot of variations before his final look?

Sean: There were a couple [designs]. We knew from the beginning that he was a diminutive knight with horns that carried a shovel.

Woz: We knew the basics of it. Sean did a basic sprite of it, and then I took a pass at it. It kinda went back and forth a little bit and finally landed on a sprite we all liked.

Sean: The sprite Shovel Knight and the Illustrated Shovel Knight are two different models, basically. So it was two different efforts. Shovel Knight also went through some revisions and you can even see that the models on the Kickstarter page are slightly different, because we were still getting the character design one hundred percent locked down.

Woz: Yeah, figuring out if we can get it to look right in-game and if it feels NES-y enough. The best example I can think of is if you look at the King Knight sprite on the front page. You can see he’s pretty detailed, but in the actual gameplay footage you can see he’s not totally rendered the same way and has a lot of simplifications. That way he feels more NES-y.

So what about the bosses? Did that go fairly quickly once you nailed down the Shovel Knight’s appearance? Did you have a pretty good idea of what you wanted them to look like?

Sean: I think the bosses went through more revisions than Shovel Knight. We spent a lot of time working with those.

Erin: Just seeing what we could what can we do with a knight mask, or how can we implement different masks for each boss was a big part of it. And then sewing on a simple, yet pixelable character was a big deal. Color choices came from what was available on the NES palette.

Sean: We wanted to make sure all the knights fit in together as a group, so we wanted to make sure we had good representations of big characters and little characters. We wanted to make sure each one felt different, so they went through a lot of revisions, and I think we ended up with a pretty solid lineup.

They look pretty fun. The Polar Knight is my favorite so far. What do you guys go to for inspiration? Have you found yourselves getting a little creative block, and if so what do you go to in order to alleviate that?

Sean: We play a lot of games together obviously. It’s like we’re embedded with each other. The whole Yacht Club is together almost all the time, so it’s a free flowing of ideas. Art is happening all the time. So I think generally if one of us is having a block, we just talk to the whole group and then you can work through it.

Woz: And that means writing down our ideas, having a brainstorm session the whiteboard, or just getting lunch together and hashing out a concept or an idea. If it’s a character creation, Erin spends time getting inspiration from various other artists. We kinda source everything, right?

Erin: Real knight helmets for the bosses in particular.

Sean: It’s just a big group effort for the most part. Now the cool part is, with Kickstarter we have the Director For a Day and Design Hangouts, so now we’re going to start bringing some of our Kickstarter backers into the fray to help come up with ideas and to implement cool stuff. We haven’t really started with that yet, but we have done a few livestreams where we have a lot of creativity and wackiness.

How many backers did you have for that?

A couple hundred actually.

Wow.

Sean: We probably won’t be bringing in each person individually. Instead, we’ll do like a Twitch TV stream or Google Hangout style of thing. Everyone will be in the channel, we’re going to talk through the problems, maybe we’ll be at the whiteboard, maybe we’ll be typing it into the [design] document, and then people can throw in ideas, and we can have a dialogue with the whole group.

Woz: Yeah, we want to make it feel as organic as it does when we’re actually designing stuff as a group together. If somebody has an idea and other people latch onto it, then we’ll talk about that idea. It’s not just people observing what we’re doing, it’s a lot of interaction and getting ideas from the group.

Sean: Whatever makes us laugh the loudest.

Woz: Basically.

So you’re kinda pushing the record for largest indie team with that number.

Sean: Yeah. [Laughter]

Let’s talk about the story. What kind of format are you presenting it in? Is it going to be cut-scenes? Are we going to meet characters mid-level? What can you tell us about that?

Sean: That’s something we’ve been talking about a lot recently. We’re really big on story, and theme, and tone, but we hate it when it gets bogged down with too much narrative. So imagine you’re playing a game and you stop and all your momentum is lost because you have to have a cut-scene interaction with a character. That’s something we definitely want to avoid. So we’re looking for ways to make it so we’re not stopping the action. Maybe we’ll do, like you were saying, conversations or talking heads, but it would be in a pretty limited capacity. Like maybe before boss battles, or if we were to do a town or a merchant I imagine you would have some dialogue lines there where we could inject some more personality.

Woz: But a lot of the story is going to be situational. In gameplay, what you see in the background, how we decorate certain things, you’re going to get a sense of what’s happening without being overtly told that you’re going to the last boss of the game, or whatever.

Sean: Like in Super Metroid, right before you fight Kraid, there’s a dead space marine that looks sort of similar to you. I feel like that one sprite just sitting there tells more story than a lot of other games. That type of thing. Or if you’ve played A Boy and His Blob, that’s another game that I directed that some of us worked on, that game does a lot with story without too many cut-scenes. There’s actually no written dialogue in the entire game. We want to go more that direction. That’s our approach to story.

Aside from the bosses, the level design is so neat to watch because it’s nostalgia, it’s excitement for what’s coming and what we get to do again. It hearkens to all the great things that made gaming awesome growing up. When you were designing levels, how many different games did you reference as far as your inspiration for what you wanted to do?

Woz: For the level design specifically…how did that work out?

Sean: We had a brainstorming session and the only level we’ve really gone through is the King Knight’s level from the PAX demo. We went through a ton of different gameplay objects, the falling chandeliers and the book that makes the pages appear. And even enemies, like the wizard that shoots at you that you can reflect back, the knight that you have more of an actual dual with. We planned out how the flow of the stage was going to be, so we said in the beginning that you’re going to be outside the castle, then you’ll be sort of storming the interior, and then you’ll go down into the abyss like into the actual proper interior of the castle which is the library room, and then you’ll come out of it get to the throne room where King Knight is.

We thought about it in the context of a story, and we thought about how these gameplay objects would all interact with each other and with enemies. Then we just started putting it together and iterating.

Woz: The level design comes from games we played in the past like Mega Man, or other Capcom titles like Duck Tales.

Sean: The screen transitions are entirely Mega Man.

Woz: It feels very solid. You have a good sense of what a room is, and where you can actually go. There’s not a lot of weird camera movement. That’s captured pretty well in Mega Man, and we wanted to retain that. A lot of the combat ideas we’ve been talking about have come after playing Zelda II a lot. There’s a little bit of Dark Souls in there, how we deal with the player’s value systems and how death incorporates into that so you want to keep the things you have because dying makes you lose a lot of it.

Sean: That sense of fear…

Woz: The tension, yeah. So, it is a lot of games but it is starting to feel unique. We definitely are obviously referencing Nintendo games. Nintendo is who we are, it’s in our blood, and it’s where we’re going with this game. It’s an NES palette, so it feels like it’s on the NES.

What makes it feel like its classic is that it’s done design first. How is the fun going to work, how will the interactions work, and what is the gameplay going to be like? We built everything around that. So because we did that, it’s a more abstract sense of fun, and that’s what you generally find in Nintendo. Not just ones from the past, but modern day ones.

It’s really cool to see the way that this project has spread out. It got the attention of the original Mega Man composer (Manami Matsumae), who is contributing two songs. Where will those songs appear, and how will you be collaborating?

Woz:  That was a really random thing for us, too. Like you said, she reached out to us. She was working with these guys over at Koopa Soundworks. He saw Shovel Knight and wanted to support it, so he looked us up. She’s real excited about it. She wants to get back into the Western Market, and be relevant to the current gamespace. It’s pretty cool to be able to facilitate that.

Basically they are doing chip tune album with a lot of notable composers on it, and she was one of them. So that’s how we got hooked up.

Woz: We don’t really know where she’s going to fit as far as like what songs specifically in the game. We’re hoping she does a couple level tracks.

And perhaps a collaboration with Jake. Kind of like a dueling banjos sort of thing, where they are contributing to a single song.

Erin: That’s going to awesome.

I’m sold.

Woz: Yes! I want the soundtrack so bad.

Thanks guys! Next up we’ll talk about Kickstarter rewards, Director For A Day, future game designers, and recapturing the glory of the NES days! Tune in next week for Part Two!