Bundle Stars Offers Up A One-Two Punch of MORE Indie Bargains!

 

Holy Cats 2: those crazies at Bundle Stars are doing it again. The UK-based indie site is offering up two more ten game deals for an insane price point. Pay what you want for two, pay $5 (Well, about $6.35 adjusted, but STILL an excellent deal) for TEN games and walk away with some cool indie games you may never have heard of that offer up dozens of hours of gameplay. Both bundles this week offer up an amazing mix of genres and visual styles. Some are great, some aren’t, but for the money, you can play them ALL and see what tickles your fancy, I say.

 

Twist my arm (gently, now – I have games to review and need both hands intact!) and I’d reveal that I’m more partial to Bundle 6 (“Catnip”), as it has a few titles I’ve wanted to try out plus some fun puzzle games. On the other hand, if you’re more in the mood for strategy, zombies galore, one online game and a handful of other games that require a slightly better system to run (well, better than what I currently use, Indie Jam #2 may be more up your alley, cats. Of course, you should get BOTH, so you can make use of those Steam and Desura accounts you’ve been not dinking around with, right?

OK, enough blabbing on this end – go get some games and go get some gaming done. You look like you can use it after the week you had, right?

 

The Cat Lady GOG.com Trailer: Go “Crazy” With This Point & Click Horror Game…


 

OK, I’m not a fan of home invasion horror flicks (as noted a few posts down), but super-stylish brain invasion psychological horror games? Count me in, especially if they’re this odd and yep, creepy. GOG.com has this one up for 25% off, so check out that trailer above and check out the game proper if your skin has suitably crawled somewhere away from your bones. Remember, folks – a good game is like a good book. You’ll go through it once, it goes back into the library and you whip it out again every so often for a fresh read. Of course, the first time through this one will put some of you under the couch, so make sure there’s room for you (and perhaps the cat{s}?)…

Deal of the Week! Bundle Stars Brings More Overkill to The Indie Game Bundling Scene…

 

bundlestars_logoOK, you head looks too tightly attached to your neck today, so here’s an amazing offer to get it spinning really fast. Put on a hat and sit in a room with a low ceiling before reading further. All set? Good. FIRST: Go to the Bundle Stars Facebook Page NOW, “Like” the page, agree to that App TOS and *BOOM!* You get Dark Matter (a fun PC space shooter) for FREE. Download that, then boogie on over to the Bundle Stars site and prepare to keel over and thank me later. Got a measly five virtual dollars in an account somewhere? You can get a whopping TEN more PC games for that fiver (Yaaaaah! Your head just flew off your neck, right? Go get it back and sit down – I’ll wait) and that ten games includes some real winners and not much “filler”, especially if you’re a more open-minded gamer looking to shake up your library or try something new.

There are TWO different bundles to choose from – I prefer the variety in Bundle Five (which has seventeen days of availability to go) over Bundle Four (this one expires in three days) but hey, it may be the opposite for you or you over there on the right. You can indeed nab all those games for five bucks, pay less for two or more if you want more of your money to go to charity. Heck, you can even buy these as GIFTS for that picky gamer on your “I dunno what a gamer wants!” list and see what happens. Hopefully they have a Steam and/or Desura account (or you do if you’re getting these for yourself). Anyway, pay up and get to the downloading, installing and PLAYING part. You won’t come up for air for weeks, people will think you’re on vacation or something and you’ll be educating yourself about some fun titles you’d have otherwise avoided. Sound like a plan? Well, stop reading and get clicking, I say!

Pathologic: GOG.com Gets A(nother) Unique Indie Horror Game…

With a name like Ice-Pick Lodge for the development team behind this Russian PC game from 2005, Pathologic was guaranteed at least some notoriety from gamers who pay attention to such things. However, this horror-themed adventure/RPG hybrid seems to have been forgotten over the years until the folks at gog.com dug it up, got it working and available as the latest game in their growing library. The surreal visual style is a bit dated (I like it a lot), so the graphics whores will get all pissy that it doesn’t look as if were made last week. Nevertheless, the game still has that odd overall charm familiar to games such as Deadly Premonition, D2, Silent Hill and a bit of Call of Cthulu: Dark Corners of the Earth (among other quirky horror games). Anyway, three playable characters, an intriguing game world and story, plenty of unsettling imagery and yep, death comes a-calling looking quite strange here. Even better – this one’s only $9.99, so definitely check it out if you’re in the mood for something weird and wild…

Divinity: Original Sin Goes the Kickstarter Route (And You Should, Too!)

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DIV_II_WIPNO, no – don’t go and post a Kickstarter for your beer collection or shoe fetish, silly! Go support Larian Studios and THEIR Kickstarter in their push to trick out their upcoming RPG in some really cool ways. The game is coming along really well as you’ll see – the team is offering up the chance to add fan-created content and some cool bonuses into the mix for those of you with some extra disposable income lying around. Personally, I want to see this or some other Divine Divinity-themed game make it to consoles (again, as Divinity II was outstanding on the Xbox 360, but could have used a PS3 port so more could play it). Anyway, poke around that link above and if you like what you see and hear (that video is quite helpful if you turn the audio up), well… drop a few dimes on this one, tell a few friends, sit back and wait for that inbox to ring when the game’s all done. This one looks as if it’ll be well worth the wait…

DARK: Realmforge’s Cel-Shaded Vampire RPG Looks Quite Intriguing…

 

DARK_logo Hmmm… it’s too bad this is Xbox 360 and PC-only at this point, as I can see Sony fans wanting in on this. DARK is coming to you from the fine folks at Realmforge Game Development Studio and based on this trailer alone, looks like a game worth more than watching. Of course, I’ll have to end up with this on a disc for the home PC or download on the laptop, as both my 360’s here are DEAD and not even a bite from a vampire, zombie or zombified vampire console repairman could bring them back to life, grrrr.

Anyway, I’m really liking the Deus Ex meets Syndicate meets Thief meets Vampire: The Masquerade vibe I’m getting here. Yeah, it’s not from a AAA developer or publisher (but these days, that’s more of a big blessing than a fatal curse), but if the controls are solid and the story memorable, it’s most certainly got all the makings of a sleeper hit. Or one that’s got a life of its own and is as hard to put down as a “real” vampire would be to a blind guy wearing sunglasses at night armed with a box of melting Popsicles. We’ll keep an eyeball peeled on this and let you know…

Random Indie Game of the Week: Overgrowth (Or: WIP Indie With Battling Bunnies Intrigues Me)

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Hmmm… I’d never heard of Overgrowth nor it’s “prequel”, Lugaru: The Rabbit’s Foot until a silly mistyped search mistake sent me to Wolfire Games‘ site, which of course meant I just HAD to download and give that Lugaru demo a try. It’s quite challenging and very well done, so of course, logic dictates that I share info on this to anyone who doesn’t know that already while pointing out that Wolfire is working on that new spiritual sequel. Above is a work in progress look at some early gameplay, so it’s going to change and change some more as the dev process continues. It’s also a bit amusing to me because of a dinner conversation had last night about cute rabbits in literature, so this is more of an anthropomorphic update on Watership Down if you think about it. Check out this “how to play” combat action from Lugaru:

Overgrowth looks to expand greatly on this, so it’s going to be a game I’m going to follow as it progresses. If it’s floating your boat as well, poke around on that game’s main page, sign up for updates, peek at the cool webcomic and get happy that you’ve just supported yet another indie developer thinking outside the box.

Hating Aliens: Colonial Marines? Well, It Could Be Better (or Worse) With A Bit of Retro Perspective…

 

ACM_PS3Given the critical drubbing that Sega’s Aliens: Colonial Marines has gotten across most of the Internet-verse, some gamers are still feeling the urge to play something that feels closer to James Cameron’s 1986 film than what ended up on store shelves. Well, allow me to assist in this matter (sort of). Track down a working Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum and MSX and a copy of Electric Dreams’ 1987 game, Aliens or the rather interesting (and free) PC remake over at Derbian Games and see what was scary to gamers of that era. Continue reading

Transistor: Supergiant Games’ Next WIP (PLUS, Buy Bastion Cheap If You Haven’t Yet!)

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Transistor_19-mar-2013_01Meet Red, heroine of Supergiant Games‘ currently in development action/RPG, Transistor. That’s a mighty big sword she’s swinging, isn’t it? Turns out that weapon is integral to the plot, as it was previously used in an attempt to kill the poor gal, but she survived and is out to find out who wanted her dead and why they used such a damn big butter knife when an accidentally dropped piano would have done the job. OK, so THAT piano stuff is probably not part of the plot (I hope), but those of you who played Supergiant’s amazing Bastion on any platform it ended up on know that Transistor will be a spectacular and memorable experience. Keep an eye on this one, folks – it’s going to be one for the ages, I predict…

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Anachronox Is $2.39 On GOG.com…(!) Yes, You Should Give It A Try.

 

anachronox coverTo some gamers, Ion Storm’s excellent 2001 role-playing game, Anachronox hasn’t aged so well in terms of visuals (the 3D character models in particular can be quite ugly thanks to the aging, but heavily modified Quake II engine), but the story, writing, art direction and turn-based combat are all prime reasons for checking this out. As usual, GOG.com comes to the rescue with a temporary price drop on this gem that makes it well worth a test drive. The game is often very funny, there are some interesting quests and NPC’s to meet, nice nods to eastern and western RPGs and film noir in all that sci-fi shininess and yeah, it’s pretty darn long. The ending is the weakest link as the game was so huge and seemed ripe for a follow-up that never got made. Nevertheless, at the end of the day there’s a lot to love about this not quite forgotten slice of gaming history, so yes indeed… I say you should set aside time to check this out…

(*whispers* It’s kind of hard to pass up a value like this, is all I’m saying…)