Tiny & Big in: Up That Mountain – Black Pants’ Instant (Even As A Work In Progress) Classic

Posted on January 14, 2011 by geelw

I absolutely love independent games and this year's crop of IGF 2011 entrants and finalists just may be the most creative to date. From the super-popular and amazingly successful Minecraft or Super Meat Boy, innovative gems such as Desktop Dungeons, Amnesia: The Dark Descent and more, there's something for every taste (as well as plenty of games a non-gamer would try). A few of the nicer surprises have been the as yet unfinished projects that show off some amazing innovation in visuals as well as gameplay.

For me, the best example of this is the beta demo of Tiny and Big in: Up That Mountain, developer Black Pants Game Studio's wonderfully fresh and funny episodic 3D adventure/platformer (for PC, Mac and Linux) that features stunning comic-styled visuals and excellently implemented game mechanics that are simple to understand while allowing for a number of ways to tackle environment navigation. The current demo build is a bit raw and definitely needs more work, but what's here will make you crack a smile that lasts for as long as you're playing.

Review: Amnesia: The Dark Descent

Posted on January 5, 2011 by geelw

Platform: PC/Mac/Linux

Developer: Frictional Games

Publisher: Frictional Games

# of Players: 1

ESRB Rating: M (Mature)

Official Site

Score: A

If you think a good survival horror game involves big guns and running around shooting monsters ’til the cows come home, you really don’t know much about the genre at all. There’s a distinct difference between scooting around with a big grin ready to take on all comers and being too damn terrified to move, but being forced to because you have no choice but to do so or die. Based out of Helsingborg, Sweden, indie developer/publisher Frictional Games has been quietly crafting some truly terrifying horror experiences that go above and beyond the “expected” genre cliches. From 2006 to 2009, there were the three excellently frightening Penumbra games, first-person horror/adventures with great physics-based puzzles and death lurking where it was least expected. Their latest work, Amnesia: The Dark Descent should put them on the map and in the minds of more gamers who crave an innovative, purely fear-filled and brutally direct horror experience. If you want to play a game that will have you sleeping with under the bed with the lights on, a baseball bat, guard dog and security blanket, this one’s for you.

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Review: Desktop Dungeons

Posted on January 4, 2011 by geelw

Platform: PC

Developer: QCF Design

Publisher: QCF Design

# of Players: 1

ESRB Rating: N/A

Official Site

Score: A+

I made a rather interesting “mistake” a few months back and I don't think I'll recover anytime soon, nor do I want to. I'd stopped playing Fallout: New Vegas while waiting for a patch to be released and one thing I did during that downtime was check out QCF Design's Desktop Dungeon, a free rogue-like RPG that condenses hours of gameplay into quick ten minute (or less) sessions. The “mistake” was downloading, then playing the game, thinking it would be yet another well-intentioned indie with a few too many charming flaws. Oops. That ten minute session (which was actually twelve, according to my PC clock) hooked me in and I've ended up finding a few minutes every other day or so to dive into DD for a quick session or eight. Best mistake I've ever made, but definitely very lousy for productivity, laundry and a few other non-Desktop Dungeons related things.