Imagine Call of Duty except cartoon squids at a Nickelodeon game show. Okay bye I just sold you Splatoon have a nice day.
Still not convinced? Splatoon is Nintendo’s best new series since Animal Crossing, and you’re probably going to fall in love with it in ways you don’t expect, even if action-y shooters aren’t typically your bag. (more…)
Even if you miss the tribute to Lynch and Jodorowski in the game’s description, it’ll take only a few minutes of play to see where A Box Full of Joy’s inspirations lie. Set in a dreamscape of confusing images and unreality, Daniil Ermakov‘s latest is a must-play for anyone looking for something a bit…different.
From the opening screen, you’re character’s bloody injury tells a tale of things gone wrong, and things only escalate from there. You’ll pick up a knife and stumble from an alley into a bar, where you’re warned that things may only get worse.
Movies like Mulholland Drive start by drawing you in with a relatable, or at least, understandable, premise, and then rip the rug out from under you just when you’ve started putting the pieces together. A Box Full of Joy condenses this process into a wonderful 10 minute short-story, woven through the context of a point-and-click adventure game. You’ll point and click your way through some stunning environments that evolve as you progress, and change even more once you start abusing the nondescript pills found in the trash.
The grainy visuals and odd dialogue come together to create an unnerving atmosphere, and a game I can recommend to anyone who isn’t dead-set on having a traditional narrative. I still have little idea about what really happened, but as with much of this type of surreal fiction, the journey is still worth taking regardless of what you take away from it. There’s already some interesting discussion on the game’s page if you’re ready to dig a little deeper.
-One quick warning though, the ending that I got led to me walking indefinitely through an empty field, so don’t waste too much time if you get stuck there too, I’m pretty sure that’s just it.-
If you’re up for a disturbing jaunt through another world, try the game on GameJolt for free, here.
One of MANY thoughts going through my head as I played Glasses Protector 2000 was “Everyone has to know about this. All games should be this.”
Ludum Dare 32’s theme of “An Unconventional Weapon” has given birth to Glasses Protector 2000, a new game from itch.io founder Leaf Corcoran.
Starting off with the greatest instructions of all time “Use -1- and -2- to flick tongue,” it takes about five seconds to see what GP2000 is all about. It’s a rhythm game in which you lick flying candy off of your face to the beat of some jammin’ tracks.
If you’re not already downloading it, I’m not sure you understood me correctly. It’s like Rock Band, except tongues.
Have a nice day.
Hard to believe this all happened in one month, right? March was a huge month for great games, and I’m still trying to work my way through all of them, even now in May. With the disgusting amount of time I keep putting into Bloodborne and now the remake of Dark Souls 2, while still trying to finish Axiom Verge, I’m not sure how long that’ll be. I really hope we end up with a month better than this one by the end of the year, because it’s already been an incredible year for games, and we’re barely four months in. Here’s to games, here’s to another few dozens hours of Bloodborne, and here’s to the rest of 2015. Good luck, other months.
Whoa what’s this thing?
The more time I spend with it, the more I love it. After spending a dozen hours with it after “finishing” it, I realize there’s a lot to Bloodborne that I’ve yet to see. As I’ve said before, Miyazaki is my favorite guy working in the business, and Bloodborne doesn’t disappoint, even as fourth in a line of my favorite games ever.
It’s a new staple in my “let’s bust out some local multiplayer” collection, and I’m super happy that it exists. After rocky first ten minutes or so, I understood what Paperbound was aiming for. It’s a frantic game that makes you kill your friends as fast as possible, and doesn’t worry that it’s not as polished as Smash Bros. or Towerfall, it exists to be played for an hour and then remembered in time for the next party. There’s a huge variety of levels too, and playing through each of them in one sitting is a good way to keep the game feeling fresh. If you’re looking for your next Samurai Gunn or even co-op Binding of Isaac to bring out when you’re friends are over, Paperbound is an easy recommendation.
This one still hasn’t clicked with me 100%, but I can appreciate that it’s trying some very interesting things. A (sometimes) fun game to get lost in, Axiom Verge’s huge world has plenty of secrets to uncover. The world is so big, though, it’s easy to get lost and have to wander for a half-hour figuring out what’s next. You’ll almost certainly find a new area or item between you and your actual destination, but these feel like “things to make me slightly less frustrated” than actual rewards. I’m still enjoying it, but I’m always enjoying it with a podcast on in the background, keeping me slightly distracted from the aimless wandering that’s never too far away. The upgrades and bosses are super neat though, and I still think it’s worth chugging through some chaff to see the next great setpiece. I still think Castle in the Darkness is the better Metroidvania.
Another great, great, great episode, but more of the same from the first. If you’re not playing this series, get on it immediately. It’s like a TellTale game with a couple extra doses of nostalgia and earnestness, and 100% fewer zombie related deaths.
An incredibly beautiful and challenging Metroidvania, try this if you’re up for being blown away by style.
More Hotline Miami is a good thing, but this is just that, a bunch more of a game you’ve already played. The soundtrack is unstoppable.
If the original Hotline Miami is to be seen by the developers as a too-small first draft, Hotline Miami 2 is their second rewrite that overcompensates a bit too hard. Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number wants to put more, more, MORE than the first game, and makes everything bigger in every way. There is an exponentially larger story with more characters, there are way more amazing tracks to jam to, and the levels themselves dwarf the originals by comparison. But how much of that did we need? (more…)
hippochippies 