Whispering Willows: A Haunting You Will Go (On Even More Platforms)

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Abstraction Games and Night Light Interactive have a nice and spooky surprise coming soon for Xbox One, Wii U, iOS and Android owners. Although the game is already out for a few platforms (PC, PS4, Vita and OUYA), I’d actually never heard of Whispering Willows until an email about the latest version popped up in my inbox. Initially set for an August 12 launch at $9.99, Xbox One owners will be seeing the game as part of Microsoft’s Deals With Gold promotion starting Friday, August 28th at 30% off ($6.99) for two weeks only (through Friday, September 11).

iOS and Android versions will also be available on the 28th with the Wii U version following shortly thereafter. The horror-themed puzzle adventure has you playing as Elena, a young girl with the ability to use astral projection. The talent comes to good use thanks to her father going missing in a creepy mansion and yes, Elena heads into that haunted palace set on finding out just where he is and what’s happened to him. I’d say more, but I’ll need to play the game and get back to you on how it turned out. I’d gather all those plaudits on the official site mean the game is worth the price and more. A half dozen screens to ogle are below.

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BUY IT! Neverending Nightmares Gets a Halloween Sale on Steam

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 Shhhh. I’ve got a secret! I actually have yet to PLAY Neverending Nightmares, Matt Gilgenbach’s psychological horror game based on his struggles with mental illness. However, I’ve gotten a few friends to buy the game and all of them have thanked me sarcastically for giving them all some pretty wild nightmares. Of course, my response was “Is that good or bad?” or “But, did you like the game?”. And the answer was always the same “Yeah, but…” followed by descriptions of stuff that happens during the horrific journey into side-scrolling madness. So, yeah, I guess I need to grab this soon over Steam, huh?


 
My problem is my backlog is SO bloody huge that I’m behind on stuff I need to review and I probably won’t get to this one for a few weeks at best. Well, this 25% off sale is kind of twisting my arms (ouch!),so I better make a decision soon, as I kind of NEED my arm. Um, and the other one, too (ouch!)…

Neverending Nightmares Out Now For Steam & OUYA (!): Welcome to a True Horror Game, Folks…


 
Sometimes, I’ll see a comment about a horror game or film where someone states that the creator(s) must be “mentally ill” or words to that effect for coming up with such visions that put audiences under or behind their seats (or both). Well, Infinitap Games’ President and creator of Neverending Nightmares, Matt Gilgenbach has struggled with OCD and depression for years and made this honest and outright frightening game in order to share the wealth in terms of showing how powerful battling an invisible enemy can be. From the game description:

Neverending Nightmares is a psychological horror game inspired by the developer’s actual battle with mental illness. In the game, you take on the role of Thomas who awakens from a terrible nightmare only to find that he is still dreaming. As he descends deeper through the layers of hellish dreamscapes, he must hide from horrifying apparitions and outrun his inner demons. He must discover which of the horrors he encounters are a manifestation of his own psychological state and figure out what reality will be when he finally wakes up.


 
As hellish as this looks, I absolutely have to give props to Gilgenbach for showing that people dealing with these conditions can actually be creative and necessary to this industry while creating content that’s deeper than it seems. Okay, for some of you the REALLY scary thing is this game is also on the OUYA because you most likely thought that micro console was DEAD and it’s clearly not going away just yet. Mua-ha-ha-haaaaa! Hmmm… perhaps Matt should have done a Wii U version as well just to cover the other console some people think is both feet in the grave. Anyway, get this game NOW for PC via Steam or if you have an OUYA, yeah, it’s a buy for that as well.

Should You Go OUYA? Probably So, As It’s Looking Like A Winner For Gamers…

I’ll admit, I was pretty skeptical about this Kickstarter project I kept hearing and reading about elsewhere to create a sub-$100 games console for Android-based games AND game development, but I was wrong. Boy, was I wrong Hey, I had every right to have that raised eyebrow, as I once sat in a room with a guy behind the Phantom console for about half an hour or so and he had me convinced the thing was coming out sooner than it never did. Anyway, The team behind the stylish-looking OUYA console not only made their $950,000 target in about eight hours, they still have close to a month to go before the funding closes. After poking about on their Kickstarter page, it looks as if they’ve got the right people at the right time and hell, there are plenty of indie games out there to go around…

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