Right off the bat, Fugue In Void lets you know what sort of experience you’re about to get into with the words, “This is a story of my mind,” followed closely by “This is my mind.” And that little piece of Hot Topic bumper sticker rhetoric was enough to make me want to turn off my computer immediately.
Developed by Proxy Studios and released by Slitherine Limited, Gladius is one of dozens of Warhammer games that have been released in the last few years. Games Workshop is just handing out the franchise like Ork-flavored candy at this point, and as a result there’s been a ton of crap. But if you look at Proxy and Slitherine’s respective resumes, you can see why this one feels like a good fit. Both companies have had their hand in developing plenty of 4X and strategy games in the past, if on a smaller, indie scale.
The Outpost Nine. Episode 1 was released today, and while it might not bring anything terribly original to the table, it at least knows its way around atmosphere and making its player abundantly paranoid.
Dontnod has recently offered us an experience far more in line with what we’ve come to expect from them over the past few years. And while it’s true that The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit is essentially a two hour demo for the upcoming Life Is Strange 2, it was so full of heart and emotion that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it a day later.
In the process of trying to fit several mediocre pieces of gameplay into Vampyr instead of one or two solid ones, we come away with an over spiced dish. The “too many cooks” factor that’s on display in this new horror jaunt becomes quickly apparent, and it couldn’t have happened to a game that I was more looking forward to.
Developed and published by Frontier Development in June of 2018, I had incredibly high hopes for Evolution. Frontier is the developer who brought us Planet Coaster, that picked up the amusement park sim ball right where Roller Coaster Tycoon dropped it. If anyone could properly translate the fun and danger of owning your own Jurassic Park, it would probably be these guys.
Sadly, while Jurassic World: Evolution has some fun ideas and gameplay to offer, a lot of missed opportunities, shallow design choices, and day one DLC that nobody needs keeps this from being as great as it could have been.
The latest game in my “holy crap the indie scene is spectacular” sweepstakes is Far: Lone Sails. Developed by Okomotive and published by Mixtvision in May of this year, Far is the tale of a kid and the steam-driven train-mobile that he loves.
Judgment does not look good. Not even for the many low-budget, “whore with a heart of gold” games out there that are actually unique and fun if you can see over your wrinkled nose enough to at least try them out. But as an engaging town builder and demon hunting strategy game, Judgment genuinely surprised me.
Developed by All Those Moments and published by Ultimate Games S.A. on February 23rd, 2018, Earthworms actually resembles the weird horror of adventure titles like Shadow Of The Comet more than anything else. There’s a classic sci-fi theme of robots, dimensional travel, and tentacles at play throughout the gameplay, and the storyline itself is so weird that it might be worth playing based on that alone.
Having never played the original, I can say that Dragon’s Crown Pro for PS4 is a terrific way of introducing those of us who never had the exquisite joy of taking part in its particular brand of smash ‘em up chaos.
Notes From The Conquistadork 