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Metroidvania month – September Kickstarter spotlight
Do you love metroidvania games? Trick question, everyone loves metroidvania games (probably). This month I came across two awesome Kickstarters that happen to be metroidvanias, and I couldn’t decide which to choose for this months spotlight. So, I chose both! If you’re not sure what a metroidvania is, they’re games where you need to gain abilities to progress to new sections. See a high ledge but can’t jump up onto it? Maybe you’ll get double-jump later. Examples of excellent metroidvanias are Hollow Knight and Ori and the Blind Forest. If that sounds interesting to you, check out these Kickstarter campaigns: Haiku, the Robot Kickstarter | Twitter | Wishlist | Demo…
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Play at PAX Online – Awesome demos to try
PAX is here again, and this time it goes for nine whole days! That isn’t the only difference, this year PAX is all online, so it doesn’t matter where you live, you can join in! Though, the panel schedule might not work out quite so nicely as a physical PAX event does. As part of PAX, there are some excellent demos to try out, here are some that I enjoyed playing: Button City Website | Twitter | Wishlist Genre: Adventure, cute Platforms: PC Release date: Unknown Join Fennel the fox and his animal friends as they try to save their local game arcade from the greedy fat cat Peppermint Pepperbottom!…
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Cloud Gardens – First look
Have you ever wondering what cities would like if humans ceased to exist and the plants took over? Cloud Gardens gives a glimpse of what this might look like. Create an urban jungle by collecting and placing seeds, as well as random items, then watch your plants thrive! If Cloud Gardens has taught me anything, it’s that humans will leave hundreds of trolleys strewn about as their legacy. Each level of Cloud Gardens starts with a sparsely filled scene which needs to be overgrown with plants to progress onto the next. Starting with one or two seeds and a variety of props, you’ll be able to place to your heart’s…
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Among Trees – First look
Step out of your cabin and into the lush wilderness. Take a deep breath of that fresh air. Among Trees is a beautiful survival game that was released into early access a few weeks ago. I’m not usually into survival games (I find them too stressful), but Among Trees was too beautiful to pass up. I’m glad the sandbox and survival components didn’t put me off, because I’m really enjoying my time with it so far. Have you ever wanted to escape your life and build a more simple life in the middle of nowhere? This is the basic premise of Among Trees. You can explore the forest, grow food…
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KeyWe – First look
Run, jump and butt-slam your way around in KeyWe to get the mail out to the people (or maybe other kiwis?). Help out Jeff and Debra as they jump, dash and peck their way through the post office as they transcribe telegrams, send letters and parcels, and all sorts of other post officey things. KeyWe is a couch co-op game but can be played through Steam Remote Play if you want to play it with online friends. It works well as a co-op game and is far less chaotic than something like Overcooked. At least in the demo. The trailer shows more complexity as the levels progress, like having to…
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6 Super Steam Game Festival recommendations
The Steam Game Festival has an impressive line up of demos (more than 900!) which can be a little overwhelming. While I haven’t played all 900, the website, unfortunately, makes it a little challenging to find them all, I have seen quite a few to love. If you haven’t had a chance to get into the demos or want some more games to enjoy before the festival ends, then check out my list of recommendations below.
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Unbound: Worlds Apart Prologue – First Look
The Unbound: Worlds Apart prologue is an exciting introduction to the world of Unbound, a 2D Metroidvania platformer coming out later this year. Unbound: Worlds Apart had a successful Kickstarter last year, and over the previous few months the game has evolved and improved and taken on a new life! The prologue gives us a chance to experience the changes and see what the game is about. Unbound: Worlds Apart uses portals to solve puzzles, and the prologue finds us thrown into chaos with Soli’s (our main character) world torn apart by unknown creatures. It is up to Soli to find out what happened and save as many villagers as…
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First Look – Faerie Afterlight
Faerie Afterlight introduces us to Kimo and Wispy who are on a mission to find the pieces of Lucentia, a glorious light that shone over Lumina. Protected by millions of fairies, Lucentia sustained the inhabitants of Lumina until one day the evil Kradyrev blew it up, sending shards across the world. A fairy, Wispy, went to find the shards but ended up falling into the underworld of Lumina where he found Kimo, a mythical creature that was always alone in the underworld. Together they are trying to find the shards of Lucentia and bring light back to Lumina. Faerie Afterlight is still in development, but there is a demo available…
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First Look – Merchant of the Skies
I could say it was the trading or the tycoon elements or the base building in Merchant of the Skies that got me interested but, it was actually the Majestic Carrot that piqued my interest. He wears a top hat! How can you say no to that? Merchant of the Skies is a relaxing trading game where you use your flying airship to travel between islands. We start the game by receiving a small airship from our Uncle Bo. It’s our birthday and, now that we’re an adult, we can finally be a merchant! This is where we start our journey of trading and exploring the world of floating islands…
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First Look – Alchemy Story
Alchemy Story is a quirky farming sim which, unlike other recent farming sims, has a story mode that is more than the usual ‘grandpa died and left you his farm’ story. It was a refreshing change to what has seemingly become a staple of the genre. In Alchemy Story we play as Arabella, an alchemist who has moved to Rosehill to help out the local professor, Edward. As we travel into town we find out that Edward failed to mention that, well, uhh… a witch cursed the village and turned all the villagers into animals for… reasons. Thanks Edward, you’re a real pal. So, now it’s up to us to…
