Lets talk about indie games.

HLD is well worth it, thoroughly fantastic game.

So, something I'm rather interested in and hope to pick up in the Steam Sale if there's a decent enough discount is Shrouded in Sanity. It looks just like a 2D pixelart Bloodborne, and that's got me pretty interested, because these indie Souls clones are doing some pretty cool things. This fact this one seems more akin to Bloodborne with it's Victorian setting.



It is interesting just how From Software have pretty much sparked a whole new subgenre, the 'Soulslike', and how the Dark Souls gameplay is inspiring a lot of indie games. There's quite a few upcoming games that I've got my eye on that are very inspired by the Souls games, namely Death's Gambit and Eitr:





And another that's meant to be quite good, if you can't get enough Souls in your life is Darkmaus:

Zombie Night Terror is out now, looks fantastic.

Read a very good interview with the developers of Brigador: What Happens After An Indie Game Fails On Steam

It's interesting, Brigador has been on my radar for a while now, it looks great but after pouring 5 years of hard work into it, it hasn't really sold very well at all. However, it has to be said that personally I think it's remiss to call a game a failure, because I think that often a game can take a while to find it's audience. Right now for the bulk of nearly 20 euro, it might not find too many folks biting, but it could well find it's footing in sales.

Ghost of a Tale is out in Early Access now, and... I'll just let the trailer speak for itself:



Look at the little mouse guy! LOOK AT HIM! He's got a little lute and everything! Oh my god! That's the most delightful thing I've ever seen! I want this game.

Another games that's just out (and that's a full release, not Early Access) that's piqued my interest is Headlander

So, this is absolutely one of the highlights of the haul I got during the Steam Sale, what an absolutely spectacular game. It hits a lot of indie game tropes in one go, anime-inspired pixelart Souls-like Metroidvania, but it's pretty much like crack to me because it does everything so very, very right, and despite the extremely well-trodden ground, it's just brilliant. The game just feels wonderful to play, it looks gorgeous, the music is fantastic and along with the art channels a very Ghibli-esque feeling, combat is simple but very engaging, and it is on the whole one of the best games I've played all year. That's saying a lot, considering I've played so many terrific games this year, better than Salt & Sanctuary even, though in S&S's case, it's very heavily trying to replicate all of Dark Souls' mechanics, whereas Momodora is very light on RPG elements.

Really, seriously wonderful game, and I would highly recommend it.

Seraph just popped up in the new releases section yesterday, and I was hooked from the moment I saw the trailer.



Snagged it tonight, only played about 20 minutes so far, but from what I've played it is really cool. Very fascinating concept in that there's no aiming, and it's all about dodging enemies, feels very Equlibrium, Matrix etc influenced. Great launch discount too, so it's at the right kinda price point for me.

Yeah, it does make you wonder. Even as someone who thinks Early Access is generally a good thing, I rarely take part and buy a game that is in early access, and I tend to be quite confident in the game before buying, eg; Darkest Dungeon, Ghost of a Tale. I'd say for most it would be the same, they want a finished game, and not really take many chances.

In Seraph's case, I hadn't even heard of it before release, so it must've flown very under the radar indeed. If that's the case, it makes sense that it would catch more notice on release. But either way it doesn't surprise me if people are generally more conservative with their early access purchases.

gizmo wrote: »

Ahem :pac:

Aye, it's interesting how people view the risk though. Given the 24hr post release window, buying without reviews to go by is lower down on the ladder than buying a game on Early Access, regardless of the frequency of updates.

Well I stand corrected! I had even thanked the post. I remember hearing about Tokyo 42 and that's been on my wishlist a while, looks like a more colourful Syndicate, but don't even remember if I looked at the trailer for Seraph back then. How odd.

Yeah, Early Access, much like Kickstarter, has it's risks and that's something you do have to be concerned about going into it, though I do feel that Early Access is something people will readily buy into moreso than Kickstarter. I've still only bought a handful of games while they were in Early Access, but I've backed a whopping 2 KS campaigns, only one of which is a game. That's not a condemnation of them either, I've regularly sung their praises and the quality of games they've funded and produced, but just tend to wait for a finished product.