IOS Review #93: rop

Title: rop
Developer: Gamebra.in
Platforms: IOS Universal
Price: $0.99
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Don't be fooled by rop's early levels. It's quite fitting that the game's network of ropes and nodes resemble the threads of a web, as those beginning challenges introduce the core idea and mechanics before entangling your brain in tricky head-scratching puzzles.

rop Trailer

Rop's set-up is deceptively simple. The screen is divided in the two parts: the top half depicted a figure, the bottom of hexagonal grid and a network of interconnected ropes and nodes used to replicate the above figure. By manipulating the ropes, you're able to mimic triangle, rectangles, and other shapes. But soon those simple shapes grow increasingly complex and you find ropes connected and crisscrossing in odd ways. There's no time limit here, no move counter, no pressure or need to rush; rop is a calm test of your spatial aptitude, challenging you to consider the effect of every move you make. Thankfully rop is simple to control; manipulating ropes is tactile, fun, and easy. It's satisfying to see your figures take shape as you drag and shift nodes across the grid.

Rop offers a wealth of challenging puzzles built around a simple core mechanic and minimalist presentation. The developer is currently working on a second level pack which will introduce a new gameplay element. You can purchase rop for $0.99.

Quick Fix: Screenshot Saturday 3/14

Observer
Developer: AeroJoust
OBSERVER takes you on a journey through eldritch, strange worlds. OBSERVER is a minimalistic, cryptic first person adventure game. OBSERVER will always be there.

Project Ascension
Developer: Emotion Theory
Project Ascension is a puzzle adventure game about remotely manipulating the environment with the power of light. Each level introduces new and increasingly complex mechanics that alter the way you think about puzzles and progression. It is mostly inspired by the dungeon design and perspective seen in the top-down Zelda titles such as A Link Between Worlds and The Phantom Hourglass.

Venturi
Developer: Negative Zero Inc
Venturi features fast paced and rewarding combat, a deep and evolving story that you shape as you play, and arena style multiplayer that will test your tactical skills. Build a loyal party to venture with you while you explore the massive galaxy, alive with intelligent AI controlled denizens with their own schedules and goals. The galaxy is full of mystery and secrets for you to find.

Blossom Tales
Developer: Castle Pixels
Blossom Tales is a refreshing combination of classic Action-RPG gameplay and modern design. Players can expect a one-of-a-kind experience as they explore hand-crafted dungeons that cleverly combine pre-designed layouts and randomized areas, all while using the handy target-lock system to take out specific enemies, lock onto a boss’ weak spot, and interact with puzzle elements and game world objects. The young Lily will also keep players on their toes by occasionally introducing enemies, story events, and more as she helps her Grandpa tell the tale.

Asylum
Developer: Senscape
Decay surrounds you, dread around every corner. You feel imprisoned while traversing the endless corridors…
Asylum is a chilling journey through the intricate floors of the Hanwell Mental Institute, in which unimaginable atrocities have occurred in the past. Over four years in production, this horror adventure aims to marry cutting edge visuals with thrilling storytelling to give you the ultimate experience in fear. From the designer of the award-winning and cult sleeper hit Scratches.

No Money, No Problem: [encrypted]

Title: [encrypted]
Developer: Niall Moody
Platforms: PC, Mac
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[encrypted] is an abstract and minimalist roguelike, stripped of stats and gear and focused purely on discovery, experimentation, and tactical maneuvering. In a world of odd glyphs and roaming enemies, you must survive. There is zero handholding here, no tooltips, no tutorials. Your first few attempts will be confusing, but each death is a learning experience as you slowly but surely learn how enemies behave, how spells work, and grasp the game's other systems and mechanics. Evading challenging enemies and using abilities at the best time is rewarding, especially as you piece together the rules of the game and use the knowledge to your advantage.

[encrypted]'s development is currently on hold, but the available build is relatively complete in terms of mechanics. You can download the game here.

The Watchlist: Deadbolt

Title: Deadbolt

Developer: Hopoo Games

Platforms: PC

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Grim reapers are commonly displayed as a hooded figure in a scythe, sending people to the afterlife. This was good back in the old days, but today, with the invention of doors with locks and guns, the grim reaper is having a hard time reaping lives. That is where you come in, as the modern day grim reaper, with modern day equipment, ready to kill modern day undead.

Hopoo Games's last title - the popular roguelite action game Risk of Rain - had you fighting alien foes and beasts across dangerous planets, but their new game Deadbolt leaves the sci-fi world behind for the gritty buildings of undead gangs. As a modern-day Grim Reaper, you arm yourself with guns and knives, reducing your foes to bloody smears. Hopoo Games describes Deadbolt as mix of Hotline Miami's fast-paced shooting and gore and Gunpoint's tactical movement. Able to move between vents with ease, you can flank your enemies, blowing them away from behind cover or taking out the lights so you can get close with a blade and other melee weapons. Ammo is limited and a single hit kills the reaper, so planning your approach and choosing the best weapon at the right moment is critical to clearing stages.

The current alpha build consists of five stages against zombie gangs. For an alpha, Deadbolt is already fun, challenging, and polished. Blood sprays stain the walls, heads and body parts fly with every blast of a sawed-off shotgun or revolver. Luring enemies by knocking on doors and then flanking them by moving through the vents is fun and satisfying. The little details stand out, such as opening a fridge door to use as cover or pulling out knives from knife blocks. The developers plan to expand on the core gameplay by adding features, such as more factions, more weapons, and more environmental interactions.

Deadbolt is still only a few months into development, but it shows a lot of promise and feels fun to play. You can download the alpha from itch.io and learn more about Deadbolt from its TIGSource devlog and the Hopoo Games Tumblr.

Quick Fix: Screenshot Saturday 3/7

Ritual
Developer: Ellen Brown
Ritual is a 2D horror game where you play as a girl searching for her little brother in an old, haunted school. Players must partake in a twisted take on hide and seek whilst trying to find and close 3 portals to another realm, opened as part of a ritual by an unknown being trying to hunt them down!

Razed
Developer: Warpfish
Razed is a fast paced platform racer about finding kindred spirits in a lethal developing world. The controls are simple because the player has just one ability, a shout. The player must learn to use their shout creatively to collect sympathisers and interact with the evolving world around them. The abstract levels are filled with a wide variety of threats and obstacles which the player must navigate in ten seconds or less in order to reach the goal and prevent the wrecking ball from finding its target.

.Age
Developer: Michele Pirovano
.Age is an hybrid between a roguelike(-like) and an european board game village simulator (Agricola-style), as well as a reverse god-game. In .Age, you take the role of the village elder, spritual guide of a secluded village in the middle ages. A dark omen is cast upon your land, and you must help your villagers survive the forthcoming years of travail. Build, produce, assign your Pips and watch as the heavens unfold their wrath on your puny village. Also, make sure you stay alive.

Luckless Seven
Developer: Deckpoint Studio
Luckless Seven is a card game RPG set in land of Arithia. Throughout Arithia, playing card games is a common method of social interaction. The most popular game played is Ekosi (also referred to as 20), a card game in which players use decks of numbered cards to try and reach as close to 20 as possible. Players can use a side deck containing a variety of cards to manipulate their score. While Ekosi is commonly played for gambling purposes, it is also a primary source of recreation.

SitRep: Rain World (PAX build)

Title: Rain World
Developer: Videocult
Platforms: PC, Mac
Releasing Summer 2015 (Steam)
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I've written about Rain World four times on my blog. I participate in the game's devlog regularly and update the Rain World thread on NeoGAF. Suffice to say, I'm a big fan and can say, without a doubt, that it's my most anticipated indie game. So after following Rain World's progress for months, I was very excited to finally play the latest build, which will be available at PAX and soon for Kickstarter backers.

First a refresher: Rain World is a platformer with a focus on stealth, exploration, atmosphere, and AI. It's set in a world once inhabited by some intelligent civilization; now only the local ecosystem roams and thrives in the weathered, ruined industrial landscape. You play as a slugcat, a lithe agile creature, both predator to the fluttering bats that migrate throughout the world, and prey to the beasts that hunt you such as deadly lizards and terrifying alien vultures. Rain batters the surface periodically, crushing and killing everything, so between downpours, you need to leave your den and gather food while evading and dealing with predators. Rain World's procedural animations and atmospheric visuals bring this struggle for survival to life.

The PAX build consists of four regions out of a planned twelve: the overgrowth-choked rooms of Suburban, the dank water-logged tunnels of Drainage System, the rusted machinery of Heavy Industrial, and the open spaces and heights of Chimney Canopy. Lizards roam the lower regions, leeches swarm in the sewer water, and vultures rule the skies around the canopy. Your goal in this build is simple: explore, eat bats, and return to your shelter before the rain comes.

Visually, Rain World has progressed massively since the early screenshots and videos seen on the game's Kickstarter page over a year ago. This alien world feels alive, as shadows shift across the background, water drips from above, and the sky rumbles. The game's ecosystem cements the atmosphere. Each lizard looks unique, with different body sizes, spines, ridges, tail turfs, and each species reacts to each other and to your slugcat in their own unique way. White lizards blend into the environment, surprising you with their chameleon-like tongue, while heavy green lizards charge forward with unexpected speed. Blue lizards scale walls and ceilings and pink lizards chase you down relentlessly.

Enter a room and you might see lizards of the same species fighting for dominance or hunting another lizard. But lizards pale in comparison to the vultures. These aerial creatures swoop down from above, their fleeting shadow your only warning before they descend for the kill. Using biological thrusters and their tentacled appendages as both wings and walking limbs, vultures are fast, agile, near-unstoppable apex predators. As a slugcat, your best options are to flee and hide or...better yet, lure a lizard into the vulture's waiting mandibles.

The world of Rain World isn't the only aspect that's been improved. Your slugcat is more agile than ever before, able to backflip over lizards, roll and perform high jumps, and chain these new maneuvers together. These skills are your greatest strength, allowing you to deftly evade predators and scurry out of sight or provide some breathing room to nail a devastating spear throw. Jumping and climbing around is fun thanks to the fluid animations, and using your agility to avoid or fight predators makes each encounter a tense game of cat-and-mouse.

Rain World is far from complete. New creatures and regions in development, such as the pack-hunting yellow lizards and the Garbage Wastes, promise to evolve the game even further. But even now, as an alpha with a few (albeit quite large) regions and species, it's already an impressive and engaging experience.

You can follow Rain World's progress and find many more GIFs and in-depth development updates in the game's TIGForum devlog. You can also add Rain World to your wishlist on Steam.

Quick Fix: Screenshot Saturday 2/28

MegaSphere
Developer: Anton Kudin
MegaSphere is a sci-fi themed action platformer with a big shiny gun, mad battle robots and unpredictable world that is different each time you play. Fight enemies, search for loot, hack AI's, upgrade weapons and your suit. No hand holding, no tutorials — play like a grown-up!

Courier
Developer: Adam Creations
Experience a role-playing game where the focus is on the world, exploration, characters, puzzles, and avoidance instead of battling. Peacefully reverse an evil plot to bring a kingdom to its knees while uncovering ancient secrets, hidden conspiracies, and helping the lives of all in Veilend. Communication routes have been severed and all signs point to retaliation by Veilend's neighboring enemies, the Ignetiles. Help restore routes and stop the conflict from the inside before it erupts into a second war between the two kingdoms.

Scrap Mechanic
Developer: Axolot Games
Scrap Mechanic is a multiplayer survival game with creativity and ingenuity at its core. In Scrap Mechanic’s interactive open world, you explore, scavenge and collect objects and then use them to build shelters, impressive moving vehicles and other machines that will help you survive the treacherous adventures lying ahead! Team up with friends or fight against robots and other players who are out to steal your stuff.

Flotsam
Developer: Pajama Llama Games
Flotsam is a building sim where you try to survive and build a functioning society in a world flooded by water.