- By Ash
- in Indie Games
True to its name, First Cut: Samurai Duel is a 2D sword-fighting game where landing even a single blow on your opponent will instantly kill them, and the same goes in reverse! While the concept is simple, getting actually good at it is going to be quite a journey as you'll have master a wide assortment of moves that each come with their own drawbacks - everything from different attack types to defensive options like parries, pushes, dodges and blocks.
If all of this sounds oddly familiar, that would be because First Cut: Samurai Duel is a new and improved version of 2017's First Cut. Besides the various gameplay enhancements, the biggest difference is that First Cut: Samurai Duel will feature a campaign, survival mode, as well as numerous unlockables like laser swords to help spice things up and increase replayability.
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
If you're in the mood for a bit of an unusual roguelike, you might want to give the freshly released Luck be a Landlord a try. To put it quite simply, it's a deckbuilding roguelike that will task you with using an overly elaborate slot machine to earn rent money. And no, there are no microtransactions - the slot machine is mostly there to help mix things up a bit.
Since trying to explain all of this through words alone is a bit of a fruitless effort, allow me to share with you the release trailer. It should give you a decent idea of just what Luck be a Landlord is even trying to do. Have a look:
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
As I've detailed throughout my review, the biggest problem with the indie action-RPG There Is No Light is the extremely slow progression in player power. Depending on your choices and the routes you take, it's entirely possible you can go through a 10 hour chunk of gameplay without acquiring anything new to play around with, which can be quite demoralizing given how challenging some of the boss fights are.
So in order to fix this, as well as a whole bunch of other issues, the Zelart team has now unleashed the Enhanced Edition. This chunky update has rebalanced most of the enemies, improved surface readability so you don't accidentally fling yourself into the abyss in the middle of combat, fixed up a whole bunch of minor bugs, and most importantly of all, added 14 new abilities to acquire by defeating bosses!
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
[Update #2]: Vampire Survivors is getting an animated show, along with even more free updates throughout the Summer!
[Update]: Vampire Survivors' second expansion has brought in a huge new map, 8 characters and 13 weapons.
Back in early 2022 the Vampire Survivors team rather optimistically announced that they will be doing a massive engine upgrade at some point in summer. This upgrade was not only supposed to significantly increase the performance (perhaps even up to ten times), but also give the developers a lot more freedom when it comes to designing new stages, items and weapons.
Needless to say, this didn't exactly go according to plan, though you'll be happy to hear that they're not giving up! According to the latest developer update they'll be working on it throughout early 2023, so with a bit of luck we might see the big upgrade sooner rather than later. Since the two versions will likely have some notable differences, the Vampire Survivors team will be maintaining both versions until 2024, at which point they'll fully commit to the new and improved one.
Clash: Artifacts of Chaos is a wildly creative and charmingly weird brawler from the Zeno Clash team
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
If you're in the mood for something completely out of the ordinary, you might want to keep an eye on the upcoming Clash: Artifacts of Chaos. Much like the studio's previous series Zeno Clash, Clash: Artifacts of Chaos is an extraordinarily creative action-adventure about beating up all sorts of bizarre alien creatures in fast-paced hand-to-hand combat.
Before you throw hands, however, Clash: Artifacts of Chaos gives you the opportunity to engage your monstrous opponents in a game of dice! While it might sound silly, winning in the mini-game can grant you (or the opponent) a sizable advantage. This can include things like shackling the opponent to a post so they can't chase you around, baiting an additional monster into the fight to make a real mess out of things, or even covering the area in fog in order to limit visibility and open up new strategies.
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
Much like the Mega Man series from which it takes a great deal of inspiration, the upcoming Gravity Circuit is a fast-paced action-platformer that's all about smashing your way through hordes upon hordes of evil robots in order to singlehandedly save the world. Along the way you'll have to conquer twelve stages that each come with their own unique mechanics and challenges, collect a large assortment of upgrades that will enhance both your movement abilities and attack options, and naturally, scour the levels in search of numerous secrets.
How all of this looks like in action, that you can get a pretty good idea of through the gameplay trailer below. Have a gander, it's quite a charming one:
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
[Update]: Risk of Rain Returns has now arrived, and it's looking quite good!
In a bit of a surprising announcement given that Gearbox recently purchased the Risk of Rain IP, Hopoo Games have just revealed that they're working on a major remaster of the original game. The aptly named Risk of Rain Returns will bring with it a bunch of new content to explore, a ton of balance changes and gameplay tweaks to make everything run smoother, as well as overhauled multiplayer so you can team up with your friends without messing with your router settings or any such nonsense.
Speaking of content, you can expect to see two additional Survivors join the roster, on top of each character getting unlockable alternate abilities to mess around with! There will also be a bunch of new items to find throughout your adventures, some of which come from Risk of Rain 2 and some of which are entirely new creations.
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
[Update #2]: I've now reviewed World of Horror's version 1.0 and I'm happy to say that, despite some issues, it's a highly enjoyable roguelike!
[Update]: It took a while, but World of Horror will be launching on October 19th, 2023!
After nearly three years in Early Access, the Junji Ito inspired horror-adventure World of Horror is now slowly getting ready to release in full. If everything goes according to plan and no eldritch monstrosity rears its ugly head, you can expect World of Horror to land onto PC, PlayStation and Switch in Summer 2023.
No further information has been shared just yet, but judging by the previous major updates I think it's safe to say that the release version will bring with it new mysteries to solve (essentially new adventures), along with new characters with unique items and abilities. Odds are there will also be a couple of new enemies to spice up the various locations, as well as a bunch of new curses, injuries, town events and similar status effects to help make each playthrough more memorable.
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
[Update]: The Relics of the Old Faith update has now arrived with revamped bosses, new abilities, items and much more.
While Cult of the Lamb is a highly entertaining game, in its current state it's mostly a one-and-done sort of affair. There simply isn't enough depth or variety present in the gameplay to warrant going through its four dungeons over and over again, which is a darn shame since the whole idea behind Cult of the Lamb is quite a unique one.
There is a good chance that might be changing in the near future, however, as the Cult of the Lamb team is currently working on a major new update. While the exact details are still few and far between, this update will spruce up the gameplay by adding a fancy new heavy attack for all weapons, on top of a variety of other features that will bring in additional depth, difficulty, accessibility and quality-of-life options to mess around with.
Amnesia and SOMA studio's next horror game will be a non-linear sandbox set in a desolate WW1 bunker
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
[Update]: Amnesia: The Bunker has now been unleashed, and so far it's looking quite good! Best of all, there's even a free demo!
Instead of sticking with the familiar formula, Frictional Games are aiming to make their upcoming horror game Amnesia: The Bunker a non-linear experience where no two playthroughs are going to be the same. The key here is the new monster design as it'll not only be an ever-present threat skulking after you through the dimly lit rooms of a desolate World War 1 bunker, but it'll also react dynamically to your actions and thus force you to constantly adapt your playstyle in order to survive.
Combine this with a bit of randomization, a semi-open world to explore, as well as multiple potential solutions to most problems, and it becomes quite apparent that Amnesia: The Bunker is going to be rather different than its predecessors. That said, you can still expect to see some of the Frictional Games staples like a heavy focus on atmosphere and storytelling, physics-based interactions so you can muck around with the environment, as well as plenty of resources and tools to scavenge for as you slowly creep through the ruins.
