Title: Unclaimed World Developer: Refactored Games Platfroms: PC Price: $12.99 ---
Crash-landed, alone in an otherworldly wilderness far from home. Survival is the only option. Unclaimed World puts you in control of stranded scientists carving out a means to survive in a dangerous alien landscape.
Like other similar games, Unclaimed World tasks you with surviving a deadly world, guiding your colonists' actions, gathering resources, crafting new and better tools, fighting off the predators and ingenious species that roam the environment. Hunting food, building fences to keep creatures at bay, scouting the area for materials, learning about the world and managing your small group. In truth, in its current form, the game feels lacking, which given being in alpha and on Early Access, should be expected. At the moment, Unclaimed World is a game about survival, with deeper and more expansive colonization features planned for the future. A playthrough takes about an hour, with an option to continue surviving as long as possible. Perhaps the clearest example of Unclaimed World's current state is the fact that it lacks the ability to save progress.
Now I'm not saying Unclaimed World is a bad game. What's there is fun and challenging and intriguing. The controls are simple and intuitive. The detailed visual style and animations sets the game apart from others in the genre such as RimWorld and Outpost. But where Unclaimed World excels most at the moment is in potential. Features like disease, more wildlife, a more expansive ecosystem and agricultural system, and more colonial mechanics promise to make Unclaimed World bigger, better, and more fleshed out.
Title: Fract Developer: Phosfiend Systems Platforms: PC, Mac Price: $14.99 ---
Playing Fract, I keep being reminded of another game I had played this year: NaissanceE. Like NaissanceE, Fract immerses the player in an alien world, but while the former was an otherworldly place, the latter's environments are engaging in a different way
Fract is set in an expansive open world, an abstract landscape of machinery and geometric architecture. If NaissanceE compelled you to explore through tension and an unsettling atmosphere, Fract compels you deeper into its world through the desire to discover and understand how everything works. The world is a synthesizer dissected and magnified to create a sprawling landscape of weird music-driven technology and structures, a reactive world that moves and shifts in your presence. If anything, perhaps the world is too open; without hand-holding, objective markers, guidance, it's easy to get lost as you navigate areas. While I enjoyed this lack of direction, some might find it frustrating.
However Fract is more than just a musical exploration game. Complementing its world design, the game's puzzles are designed around learning and manipulating music. To bring the abandoned technology back to life, you must play with synth and bass and other musical elements, moving platforms into place and guiding light to reinvigorate the world with sound and life. Fract eases you into these puzzle aspects, teaching you the basics of manipulated pitch and bass and melody, eventually giving you free reign to craft your own electronic music through an in-game synthesizer. I found the puzzles challenging and different, both brain-teasing and educational in a way, but I preferred exploration and discovering the world over solving Fract's puzzles.
Fract welcomes the player to discover its abstract synthesizer landscape, a world where music, puzzles, and exploration coalesce to offer a unique and visually impressive experience. You can learn more about Fract on its website and purchase the game on Steam, Humble, and GOG.
Title: RocketsRocketsRockets Developer: Radial Games Platforms: PC, Mac, Linux Price: $4.99 ---
If it wasn't clear from the title, RocketsRocketsRockets is about rockets. Flying rockets, shooting rockets, avoiding rockets. Those with a rocket fetish will definitely be pleased here. Of course what's really important is how the game plays, and RocketsRocketsRockets is fun and fast
While the game is very bare-bones at the moment, the core gameplay is great. It really feels like you're controlling a barely in-control rocket (in a good way, the controls are tight but loose enough to feel wild and intense). The whole visual style is very appealing, with the twirling, twisting, sweeping vector lines you and your projectiles leave in their wake. RocketsRocketsRockets has a very Luftrausers-esque feel, as you circle and strafe your opponent, deftly avoiding missiles, leaving a trail of mines to intercept an enemy, rushing headlong and releasing a hailstorm of bombs. Either against the AI or in local multiplayer, matches in RocketsRockersRockets are always hectic, always beautiful, full of close calls and rapid evasion.
RocketsRocketsRockets is still early in development, and the developer plans to follow a Minecraft-style business model, increasing the price as new content and features are added. An expanded single player campaign, co-op mode, online multiplayer, rocket customization, Steam Workshop support, and more is planned for the game's future. You can purchase RocketsRocketsRockets on Steam Early Access.
Title: Bamba Developer: Simon Ducroquet Platforms: IOS Universal Price: $0.99 ---
Bamba might be one of those games where you watch the trailer and think, "Is that it?" A man on a unicycle, moving back and forth. True, Bamba is a simple game, with simple controls, but that simplicity isn't a flaw or a negative in any way. In fact, Bamba impressed me with its challenging gameplay and creative obstacles, crafted around simply tapping the screen.
Controlling your daring unicyclist couldn't be easier. No tilting, no split screen controls. All you need to do is tap the screen to move forward, tap again to move backwards. Your goal across the game's 25 levels is to last until a certain amount of time has passed, indicated by the clock in the corner of the screen. But that is no easy feat, due to the collection of unique obstacles Ducroquet has designed. It might not be apparent from the screenshots, but Bamba is a hard game. Each level is a test of observation and reaction, as you deftly maneuver between all manners of rotating, shifting, swinging objects and other more surreal hazards, learning the patterns and proper timing for each new challenge.
Like Badland and other games before it, Bamba is yet another example of a diverse challenging experience built around simple intuitive controls, and its minimal style and quirky vibe makes Bamba a joy to play. You can purchase Bamba for $0.99.
Kajo is a first-person platformer that takes the player on a journey through a mystical, floating city
Lemma, Hover, Infinity Runner, Deadcore, and now Kajo: the first person platforming genre, especially ones focused on immersion and parkour movement, is booming. Kajo is an upcoming platformer set across abstract surreal levels, tasking you with leaping, wall-running, sliding, vaulting across these floating platforms, ziplines, narrow ledges, and more. Amid the expanse of clouds and sky, your goal is to find the fastest routes through the environments, each playthrough and attempt honing your skills and allowing you to discover new secrets and paths.
Kajo is meant to be a minimalist experience, not cluttered by overwhelming mechanics, but focused on simple controls, smooth movements, and the joy of traversal as you explore the many levels and areas of this floating city. The soft vibrant art style strengthens that minimal approach and gives Kajo a unique compelling style. You can learn more about Kajo here and vote for the game on Steam Greenlight.
Title: Kelly Developer: ANIV Platforms: IOS Universal Price: $0.99 ----
Mechanically, Kelly is a simple platformer. You won't be wall-jumping or air-dashing or double jumping in this game. The controls are simple - left, right, jump - and are quite responsive. Now, while as Kelly isn't as flashy or well animated as Shadow Blade or atmospheric as Incoboto, where the game shines is in its level design and gameplay.
Kelly offers 15 levels to run and jump through and each is vibrant and colorful, with unique hazards and moving obstacles. From hinged platforms to color-coded barriers to laser-wielding spiders and shuriken-flinging robot arms, the mechanics and dangers here are varied and often combined in inventive ways. While 15 levels may seem sparse, these aren't your usual 15 second areas found in some games. Each gives about 90 seconds to earn three stars, and achieving that time is easier said than done. Kelly is a challenging game, requiring timing and precision to maneuver around the many obstacles. Similar to a game like Kid Tripp, once you learn a level, you can race through in a fast fluid manner.
Kelly surprised me. I was intrigued by the colorful art style and interesting levels in the trailer, but the game's challenging tricky gameplay and precision platforming is really well done. If you're looking for a solid platformer, I definitely recommend Kelly. The developer also said that he has plans to add more levels and possibly implement Game Center
Title: Zineth Developer: Arcane Kids Platforms: PC, Mac ---
Released in 2012, Zineth is a student-made freeware that's all about speed and style.
Similar to the upcoming Hover: Revolt of Gamers, Zineth is inspired by Jet Set Radio, freestyle skating and stunts in an expansive world. While JSR and Hover dropped players in sprawling sci-fi cities, Zineth's playground is an abstract desert landscape peppered with rails and structures to grind, wall-ride, jump, and jump off. The sense of speed and momentum makes each combo and stunt chain satisfying and the colorful visuals add to the charm and style.
