A FISTFUL OF INDIES: JULY 2012

After another month’s break, and a little bit too much time since I showed these games live, presented below is the latest in our regular series of indie games both local and global worth paying attention to, fully annotated & linked up for your pleasure.

Gravity Rush

Developer: Sony | Platform: PS Vita | Get it: PSN

“an action/adventure about this girl & her cat who you can see here. The twist here is that this cat grants her the power to shift gravity in any direction, allowing her to move around the world by falling toward & moving across all the sides of the world. It’s an incredibly beautifully crafted universe & story, and I can’t recommend it enough.”

DayZ

Developer: Dean “Rocket” Hall | Platform: PC | Get it: Here

“a free mod for the PC war game ARMA 2 that entirely transforms it into basically the best apocalyptic survival game ever made. The key point is that zombies are a secondary threat: the most terrifying thing in its world are the other humans scattered out in the world trying to scavenge & survive at the same time. If you’re not sold, track one of us down & we’ll spin a yarn for you about why this is so brilliant.”

ASTRONOT

Developer: Wade McGillis | Platform: PC/Mac/iOS | Get it: Here (PC/Mac + free demos) / App Store (App Store demo)

“…seems to be an answer to the question: what if METROID was made for the Commodore 64. It’s an incredibly stripped down exploration game, and compelling in all the same ways that all these games are.”

Europa

Developer: Quickfingers | Platform: PC/Mac | Get it: Here

“…made for the recent 7-Day First Person Shooter game jam, it’s still in early concept days, but stunning for what they were able to do in that time. The premise is that you’ve crash landed one of Jupiter’s moons, and have to reconstruct, like, everything: the memory of your mission, as well as your tools, through a sort of minecraft-ey crafting system. Definitely spend some time with this, it’s got some smart tricks up its sleeve.”

Diluvium

Developer: Les Collégiennes | Platform: PC/Mac | Get it: Here

“…a simple little experimental multiplayer game where you’re frantically hammering out the names of animals — like PANDA LION RABBIT — in order to summon totems to attack the other player, which ends up being stressful in the same way a game like Scribblenauts stretches your imagination to its limits.”

The Act

Developer: React Entertainment | Platform: iOS | Get it: App Store

“…first proposed as a high-budget hand-animated arcade game in the vein of DRAGON’S LAIR but quietly cancelled in 2007 and just re-emerged as an iPhone game, it’s a short story that gives you fluid control over how strongly you want to react to situation based on visual cues, like how directly to flirt with this girl here, by sliding your finger across the screen. I came into this a bit skeptical, but it charmed the hell out of me.”

PixelJunk 4AM

Developer: Q-Games | Platform: PS3 | Get it: PSN

“…not so much a game as it is a motion-based dance music composition & remix tool that broadcasts your live performance out to other PS3 users, and, aside from J.S. JOUST, it’s the other best reason to own PlayStation Move controllers.”

The Real Texas

Developer: Kitty Lambda | Platform: PC/Mac/Linux | Get it: Here

“…self described as a cross between ZELDA & ULTIMA, this takes place in this sort of netherworld version of Texas that you reach by going through a portal in a British countryside chalet. Definitely check this one out, it’s super interesting and has an aesthetic all its own.”

McPixel

Developer: Sos | Platform: PC/Mac/Linux | Get it: Here

“The premise here is really simple: a disaster is about to happen in each of its 100+ levels, and you’ve got 20 seconds to click around and figure out how to avert the crisis. It’s one of the best examples of a slapstick-comedy game I’ve seen in forever, and as you can see here, one of your options is ALWAYS to kick someone in the junk, although to mixed results.”

Spelunky

Developer: Mossmouth | Platform: Xbox 360 | Get it: Xbox Live (freeware PC original, Mac port of freeware original)

“If you haven’t played the original freeware version of this before, SPELUNKY’s a procedurally generated platform exploration game — each level is entirely different every time you play. It’s tough as HELL, but also unbelievably smart and funny and rewarding and compelling. This is one of the best games you’ll play this year, and probably honestly totally not-hyperbolically, one of the best videogames of all time.”