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Indie Games 2016 [January] New Year, New Games, New Discussions

Anew: The Distant Light - ????
Anew_Screenshot_01.jpg

http://anewthegame.com/

Anew: The Distant Light is an open-world, dual-stick action game which showcases a beautifully painted, storybook environment. You are a child with limited resources, waking up on a distant alien moon, twenty light years from Earth. You must carry out a mission of critical importance. Battle, puzzle, and journey through an exotic and dangerous world.

Yaga - ????
SmugFalseBoubou.gif

http://breadcrumbsinteractive.com/

Yaga is an action RPG allowing you to shape your own east-european folktales through the actions and choices you make. Your choices are combined with procedural generation to tell the story of a one-handed blacksmith roaming the world in search of adventure

Pode - PC
6gJe4Np.png

http://henchmangoon.tumblr.com/tagged/Pode

Pode is a puzzle adventure about friendship and cooperation. Join Bulder the rock and Stella the star on a wonderful journey through an ancient, lush underground world filled with riddles and mysteries.

Mortido - ????
CZZ_5vHWYAA8xil.jpg

https://twitter.com/CSmortido

A platformer through a incredibly colourful and fantastic world.

Six - PC, Oculus
CZY3weCUkAIAoch.jpg

http://www.sixhorror.com/

Six will take you on a paranormal investigation through an old school to discover its dark past and end the hauntings for good.

Long Gone Days - ????
TUId6tY.gif

http://lgdays.tumblr.com/

An RPG following the story of Rourke, a young man who was designated to be a soldier at birth. Rourke was born in the core of the earth, a place technically invisible to the rest of the world.

Life In A Box - 2017
0gtQbKv.png

https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=50942.0

A pixel art point 'n click about a physicist who has lost his daughter and tries to return her by building a time machine.

Gunmetal Arcadia - 2016 (PC, Mac, Linux)
a5d1CB0.png

http://gunmetalarcadia.com/wordpress/

Gunmetal Arcadia‘s long-term structure takes cues from modern-day roguelikes and their derivatives, emphasizing replayability across multiple bite-sized sessions, while Gunmetal Arcadia Zero focuses on classic action and skillful play across a number of handcrafted levels.

Previously Mentioned

Innerspace

A Place For The Unwilling

Beyond Human
 
Dead End Road - $2.99 (PC, Mac)
dwGMud.jpg

http://dddwares.itch.io/dead-end-road

Dead End Road is an atmospheric driving game, with a low-fi aesthetic and procedurally generated elements. Complete your journey in a race against time to seek the assistance of the old witch at Dead End Road, and get there before daybreak and perhaps, just perhaps, you can escape this nightmare that you find yourself unable to wake up from.

Helium - Free alpha demo (PC)
Zv0CukC.gif

http://gamejolt.com/games/helium/36511

Helium is an arthouse game in a genre of "action-adventure".
The 27th crew member of a board of "Stellar-VI" appears in the middle of the unknown planet absolutely alone. The only thing that could explain something - the voice proceeding on the holographic panel from astronaut corpse.
Whose voice and should it be trusted?
 
I know most people are interested with the new hottest Indie games, but I started playing Revolver360 Re:Actor on a whim found deep in my steam library.

I'm not generally into bullet hell games, but Revolver's presentation is really top-notch and I found the basics nice and easy to pick up.

So if you're after an approachable beginner friendly bullet hell game, you can't go far wrong with Revolver360 Re:Actor.
 
Hggh

The Witness is a puzzle/game design master class destined to be a classic. It's just amazing.

Hhgggghh

Podcast Beyond Episode 427
- "This game is awesome...incredible"
- "Feels like Myst in terms of its atmosphere, its loneliness...you arrive at a place that has a history and you're uncovering that history"
- "Freaking gorgeous", with some "mindblowingly difficult" puzzles
- "Amazing aha moments"

Eurogamer Podcast #1
-"Fairly close to Portal or Portal 2 in terms of a game that has obvious scale and production values but zero combat and is very much focused on quite involved puzzling"
- "Discovery of the game world.. of the mechanics is everything"
- "Even if this came from a no-name developer...the word would get around that it was something unique and quite special"
- "Quite lavish, a really really beautiful game"

Hhhgggggghhhhhh

There's something massive about The Witness that won't reveal itself to most players until many many hours in, fyi. To say anything more is a spoiler.

This is a special game, and I strongly encourage everyone to truly let puzzles sit with them, rather than resorting to a walkthrough or wiki. I think most gamers (including me!) are willing to give a tricky puzzle an honest shot, but then if they're stumped, on to an IGN wiki or GameFAQS they go.

Please do not do that, with The Witness. It's an open world game - go mess with another part of the island. Come back after you've slept on it or a few days later. To do anything else is to deprive yourself of something really special. Just this once, really try to let the puzzles and let the game soak in and sit with you.

Think about it like this - you only get to play The Witness for the first time once. If you give in and look up puzzle solutions, you'll enjoy the game. It's very pretty, you'll feel smart at parts, etc. But if you resist doing that, and truly solve everything youself, you'll enjoy it on an entirely different level.

To put it another way - the puzzles are the game. Looking up solutions is akin to letting someone else beat a tough shooter level for you, or giving in to the kiddie star after failing a tough Mario stage enough times.

...and plus every time you look at a walkthrough you run the risk of having The Thing spoiled for you, which you do not want.
 
I know, I know :p

It's crazy. I went from "Huh, I remember this. Looks cool" to Witness being one of my most anticipated games, within the space of a week. Listening to interviews and hearing Blow speak about the game and his design philosophies and how The Witness was born from this grand ambitious idea he had 8 years ago...I'm practically counting down the hours till tomorrow

It reminds me of Rain World in a way. When you look at the early devlog posts, you can see how much of the game's ideas and concepts and design remains the same, it's a testament to how strong the developer's vision for the game is

The Witness is the same. Hearing Blow talk about the game and looking at six year old pre-alpha footage and concept art, and seeing the same puzzles and ideas in the current game...this was a strong concept from the start
 

Moobabe

Member
I know, I know :p

It's crazy. I went from "Huh, I remember this. Looks cool" to Witness being one of my most anticipated games, within the space of a week. Listening to interviews and hearing Blow speak about the game and his design philosophies and how The Witness was born from this grand ambitious idea he had 8 years ago...I'm practically counting down the hours till tomorrow

It reminds me of Rain World in a way. When you look at the early devlog posts, you can see how much of the game's ideas and concepts and design remains the same, it's a testament to how strong the developer's vision for the game is

The Witness is the same. Hearing Blow talk about the game and looking at six year old pre-alpha footage and concept art, and seeing the same puzzles and ideas in the current game...this was a strong concept from the start

I'm going in blind as anything. Been on a blackout since those early trailers.

Will look at scores and top line reviews. Then that's it.
 

Wok

Member
I'm going in blind as anything. Been on a blackout since those early trailers.

Will look at scores and top line reviews. Then that's it.

Be ultra wary then. I got spoiled a bit by reading a post in one of the Witness threads.
 
I would love to go into blackout Witness mode myself but annoyingly due to outside reasons I'm not going to be able to play much on my PC this week so I won't be able to really dig into it till next Monday or so. I'll try to keep my ears closed but I imagine that by that point most people will be screaming spoilers from the rooftops.
 

Wok

Member
Leave the ship.

bhbqLA0.png


I hope the
tilt your head stuff
that got spoilt to me is not a MASSIVE spoiler, but just a little easter egg. I hope...
 
Braid sold 55,000 in its first week. I wonder how The Witness will do in its first week

SOMA was probably the most recent "big" indie game to launch on PS4/PC and that sold 92,000 in 10 days.

With Witness already at the top of Top Sellers, I imagine it's going to...blow Braid's sales numbers away.
 

Moobabe

Member
Braid sold 55,000 in its first week. I wonder how The Witness will do in its first week

SOMA was probably the most recent "big" indie game to launch on PS4/PC and that sold 92,000 in 10 days.

With Witness already at the top of Top Sellers, I imagine it's going to...blow Braid's sales numbers away.

How many more of these puns do you have up your sleeve?
 
Castaway Paradise

header.jpg


The first thing that caught my attention about Castaway Paradise was the clear inspiration it takes from Animal Crossing a serie that I always was interested but never played because I haven't owned a Nintendo system besides a NES clone.

Castaway Paradise has a charming look, and in my opinion it's essential to a game like this and there are a lot of options regarding the customization of your character and the island, talking about the island customization there are various items you can buy to give your touch to the place. Each NPC's that inhabit the island has a different personality and the random dialogues make me smile mostly of the time because of how casual and silly they are.

The NPC's also gives quests to you rewarding with items, gems, puzzle pieces and xp. The quests are very simple, like growing crops, delivering things to another NPC's, catching specifics bugs/fishes and so on. So it's perfect for that time you want a more casual thing to play. The game incentive you to logging everyday to receive awards like more customization packs, items and etc I'm not fond on it but in the end it doesn't bother me because the developers keep adding more and more content in the game, like seasonal events and theme packs all for free.

In the end I'm having a positive experience with the game, it's fun, colorful and my young brother likes to play it with me so that's a huge plus for me. I recommend it.
 
How many more of these puns do you have up your sleeve?
The fact that people thought this would bomb was just mystifying. But I think The Witness, along with stuff like SOMA, Divinity, and other $30/$40 games, have drawn a line in the sand between smaller indies and the new array of mid-budget games
 

Wok

Member
The fact that people thought this would be bomb was just mystifying. But I think The Witness, along with stuff like SOMA, Divinity, and other $30/$40 games, have drawn a line in the sand between smaller indies and the new array of mid-budget games

Your puns are the food of my brain, the bread of my thoughts.

Now, I am going back offline, on my remote island, making sure not to read any spoiler line.

Better experience the game with a virgin mind, this is a wonderful chance, do not miss it.

Blow, prepare your best work, my mind is ready to be driven to new horizons.

What a great time to be alive, what a really great time to witness.
 
Haven't played much stuff from the OP, been replaying Braid in preparation for The Witness. Will try to tackle stuff on Wednesday

Also don't forget to help out with blurbs and such for the Indie GOTY thread if you can
 
So One Finger Death Punch is one of the highest rated games on Steam, has sold hundreds of thousands of copies...and the devs have been silent on social media for months and haven't made any other games

Seems odd. But mainly because a OFDP sequel could be so good
 

Moobabe

Member
Haven't played much stuff from the OP, been replaying Braid in preparation for The Witness. Will try to tackle stuff on Wednesday

Also don't forget to help out with blurbs and such for the Indie GOTY thread if you can

Forgot about that - I'll draw some blurbs up today.

Braid is a wonder. I think it's probably the game that opened me up to indies - I didn't even sit there thinking "Wow, THIS is an indie game!?", I was just blown away by how inventive and beautiful it was.

From there Fez is the best indie game I've played, and maybe one of my favourite games of all time. I know Fish is divisive but, honestly, it's a masterpiece of game design.

The Witness could well be the next on that list.
 
Ugh, this wait for The Witness on Steam is painful. And of course, it's the day I don't have classes

Anyway, some cool crowdfunding stuff going on atm:

Planet Nomads
Imagine yourself in the shoes of a lone scientist crash-landing on an unknown alien planet full of dangers to avoid and secrets to be uncovered. Building useful things is your only hope for survival. Use your wit and the hi-tech tools salvaged from the ship-wreck.
vf4Wk6i.gif

Dujanah
Dujanah is an interactive narrative with a focus on exploration set in a fictional Islamic majority country that has an occupying military force. The protagonist and player character is a woman called Dujanah who has grievances with the intervening forces.
ir5sRq8.gif

Wandersong
Wandersong takes you on a whimsical, musical journey around the world! Use your singing to solve people's problems, solve puzzles, and hopefully, ultimately, save the world!
yccFtAt.gif

Dual Gear
Pilot your mech and keep a tactical play by turn based system. The system is the combination between 2 types of gameplay.
Giving the player experience of the pilot themselves and at the same time, the player needed to think about the tactic and strategy. Making the reaction, management of resource and awareness of the mission extremely important.

MlkOKO4.gif
 
The Witness - $39.99 (PC, PS4)
21300018618_5d31521b57_z.jpg

http://store.steampowered.com/app/210970/

You wake up, alone, on a strange island full of puzzles that will challenge and surprise you.

Torment: Tides of Numenera - $44.99 (PC)
h5qwHx8.jpg

http://store.steampowered.com/app/272270/

Torment: Tides of Numenera is the thematic successor to Planescape: Torment, one of the most critically acclaimed role-playing games of all time. Immerse yourself in a single-player, isometric, story-driven RPG set in Monte Cook’s Numenera universe. What does one life matter? Find your answer.

Dangerous Golf - May (PC, PS4, Xbox One)
dg_screen_01_diningroom.png

http://www.dangerousgolf.com/dangerous-golf/

Dangerous Golf is an irreverent, silly, fun approach to golf games that challenges players to break the rules and wreak havoc on more than 100 holes in four unexpected locations.
 

Moobabe

Member
Not happy with Torment on Early Access. I backed it, obviously not enough at the right level, and now if I want to get access I need to pay £30?
 

epmode

Member
Not happy with Torment on Early Access. I backed it, obviously not enough at the right level, and now if I want to get access I need to pay £30?

Really tacky stuff. They should have just gone the Larian route and given everyone access regardless of what the campaign said.

Then again, this was inXile's second campaign and they should have already learned this lesson after Wasteland 2. I'd have to double-check the timing.
 

Balthuk

Member
I have been playing Dark Echo over the last few days. I'm on level 37 at the moment and there is a total of 80, at least the steam page says so. It is a really interesting ride so far. The experience of slowly finding your way through a completely silent environment, with nothing but the sound of your footsteps and just a small part of the level visible makes it tense throughout. The eerie sounds of the red orbs hearing you and coming towards you makes you shiver, start to walk slower or freeze in place, throw rocks at every direction and just hope.
I believe this one was recommended by Dusk Golem in an indie thread or the steam OT. It is cheap as well, so give it a look.
 
So any IndieGAF thoughts on The Witness?

Personally, I'm loving it. There's something really compelling about its dense open world, there's always something interesting to see over the next hill. The puzzles are simple in execution but layered with complexities. It's less like solving puzzles and more like learning some odd language. A language that once you can translate, allows you to activate machines and unlock doors and so on. And of course the game is absolutely gorgeous.

I have been playing Dark Echo over the last few days. I'm on level 37 at the moment and there is a total of 80, at least the steam page says so. It is a really interesting ride so far. The experience of slowly finding your way through a completely silent environment, with nothing but the sound of your footsteps and just a small part of the level visible makes it tense throughout. The eerie sounds of the red orbs hearing you and coming towards you makes you shiver, start to walk slower or freeze in place, throw rocks at every direction and just hope.
I believe this one was recommended by Dusk Golem in an indie thread or the steam OT. It is cheap as well, so give it a look.
Yeah, great game. I think it plays better on mobile. The connection between steps and physically tapping makes the cautious movement and stomps that much more tense.
 

Balthuk

Member
Yeah, great game. I think it plays better on mobile. The connection between steps and physically tapping makes the cautious movement and stomps that much more tense.

I just don't know how that atmosphere carries over to mobile gaming.
--
I'm also playing Apotheon and I'm on the
Hades
part. Really liking how they blend mythological elements together with their own touches. I'm specifically in the
crossing the four rivers
part and like how each one presents a different kind of challenge. Recommend that one as well
 

Balthuk

Member
Actually it was on mobile first. It's just way more immersive and intuitive on touch IMO

Yeah I do see how the touch-soundwave would make it better.
Oh and the devs have put up videos on youtube on how to get past levels you are stuck on. I did google once or twice about solutions and was surprised to see videos uploaded by them. Interesting choice for sure.
 

epmode

Member
This probably goes without saying but I absolutely love the look of The Witness. Goddamn, those colors. And those pristine lakes!

The sound design is great too. Besides the excellent ambient work, most puzzle solutions coincide with a satisfying sound effect, be it a heavy door opening or a power grid buzzing into existence. Not sure if it beats that perfect sound from The Talos Principle but it's definitely more varied!
 

Moobabe

Member
Really tacky stuff. They should have just gone the Larian route and given everyone access regardless of what the campaign said.

Then again, this was inXile's second campaign and they should have already learned this lesson after Wasteland 2. I'd have to double-check the timing.

Yeah exactly - not best pleased. I think I backed like £25 (which wasn't enough) but people who didn't back only have to pay £30 for the full game AND early access? Oh well.

So any IndieGAF thoughts on The Witness?

Personally, I'm loving it. There's something really compelling about its dense open world, there's always something interesting to see over the next hill. The puzzles are simple in execution but layered with complexities. It's less like solving puzzles and more like learning some odd language. A language that once you can translate, allows you to activate machines and unlock doors and so on. And of course the game is absolutely gorgeous.

I'm loving it. Played through a bit with a friend of mine last night over teamspeak - a lot of fun working stuff out together. I was still having bugs with my sound though which was disappointing - hopefully there's a patch soon.
 
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