#backlands

Ok, I wasn’t around for a while. Now, I logged back in to some of my accounts just to see my most anticipated original game out! Whoa, good news out of nowhere and me grabbing my wallet. Almost. So, I decided to sum last three months up. Especially the last week of August was juicy with several high profile indies dropping on shelves.

First several honorable mentions. The developers of Far Blade came with yet another beautiful small piece, Backlands. In this delightfully red, orange and brown game you play as a little fella hiding from both robots and weather.  I don’t know what Turok: Escape from Lost Valley is about, but the excellent trailer presents a cute take on the classic video game character. Personally, It reminds me of Scribblenauts combined with rhythm based games. And because I’m a fan of non-linear platformers, I noticed a whole bunch of excellent ones getting released. I think I’ll make a list eventually but let’s just mention what is out. 1.0 of REDO! is out. This one’s interesting because of the kicking environments and a mysterious BLAME! inspired storyline. Next on, It’s Minoria, a spiritual successor to Momodora with interesting 3d graphics I find definitely prettier than Bloodstained’s. Momodora was great and I expect the new game taking things even further. Also, I’m as excited about Bloodstained as I’m about the new Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom. The game has flawless production and a hoard of interesting gameplay. I think this is a exemplary remake. Eagle Island has stellar reviews and I gotta admit that despite little bland pixel art, the trailer got me hooked. This might be an ideal game for several otherwise dull evenings. And finally Grizzland is an artsy micro-vania, which looks mighty interesting with all the shrinking and changes in pace.

1. Knights and Bikes

As a child I loved driving my bike and pretending to be a knight in a pretend kingdom. The game having this as a theme feels making natural sense. Games are for children, so a game about children playing is for growlers, isn’t it? Ok, this might be an ordinary slightly clunky hack and slash in terms of mechanics, but there’s so much more to it, because of all the little details and personality. You heal with high fives and drive around a bike and upgrade it and listen to cute punk. All this with melancholy and nostalgia hiding behind a curtain of joyful graphics. If I get around to play it, it might be my game of the year contender.

2. Anodyne 2

That’s another weird zeldalike, if that’s a genre. The original Anodyne was a captivating quirky game clever in every way its creators decided to take it. In the sequel, they replaced broom with a vacuum cleaner. They added 3d graphics and driving sections and left some 2d sections in. It’s way too complicated for me to even understand it and that’s why the devs made an explanatory video. Anyway, Anodyne 2 looks like it builds up on its predecessor’s themes successfully. It looks and sounds great too, if you want to hear so.

3. Telling Lies

It would be a travesty to leave out the latest project of Sam Barlow. Her Story was a forming experience of mine and it stars Kerry Bishé. I guess it’s more of non-linear tv or something else than a game but I also guess Telling Lies are an exceptional disturbing story. Definitely want to get my hands on it later.

4. The Sands of Voltark

Colorfiction recently published Ode to a Moon, which is a free demo right now. It looks little too shiny and like too much of a psych fest for my personal taste. The Sands of Voltark used to be a free game from 2018 with loads of orange in it. From the description I can’t really imagine the gameplay, but your movement causing destruction of natural order sounds like an interesting interaction with a lifeless world. Now, the devs updated it with more content and added a price tag. For some reason I decided to feature it instead of any of the above mentioned metroidvanias or Ode to a Moon. You can purchase it for mere 3 dollars.

5. Guardian Sphere

Now this game from Pixel Boy is colorful, action packed and free. Just grab it on itch, sit down with a friend and play till you beat it. It looks really fun. It’s some kind of reversed shmup, originally prototyped for ludum dare 44. I think the core mechanic of you spending you hp on upgrades is genius. You can choose from several characters and ram through 5 worlds. Also, it’s the first bigger finished project from the creator with one of the cleanest pixel art around.