Though the draw of E3 is obviously the show proper, every year it’s the Media Indie Exchange (the MIX) that ends up being one of greatest highlights of the show. After a long day of running around the loud, busy show floor of the convention center, being able to relax and chat with developers directly…
In a time where genres are constantly blending together, it’s hard to feel excitement about them. But Yoku’s Island Express, a pinball game mixed with a Metroid-style platformer from developer Villa Gorilla, is one of those rare exceptions. It’s a delightfully charming and inventive game that seamlessly blends pinball and platforming mechanics together to fantastic…
While E3 has always been a weird show, recent years have seen it evolve in some unexpected ways. Between companies leaving the show to hold their own events adjacent to E3 proper (EA), and the public being let into the show, this year and the last have been a strange time. Off-site demos were something…
I’m standing in a pond. The sky is a deep shade of purple, black trees with orange leaves sprouting up around me, framing the glowing monuments before me. Above, a whale gently soars through the air as long, fish-like creatures float by. The music, once pronounced and energetic, is now almost silent as if it…
A Robot Named Fight is a self-described “Metroguelite” — a Metroid-inspired roguelike with some light elements of persistent progression. It’s run-based, meaning the lay of the level changes every playthrough. On paper, that sounds like a solid idea. Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite work. Mechanically, it’s good. The game wears its Metroid inspiration on its sleeve,…
Time travel can either be a very easy or very difficult thing to pull off well in videogames. For puzzle games, it’s simply a matter of using time manipulation in clever ways. For games that use it as a narrative device more than a mechanical one, it’s a little trickier. Reliving past events and retreading…
I don’t quite recall when I first started dealing with depression. I’ve lived with it so long it feels like it’s been there from day one. Having dealt with it for so long means I’ve mostly got things under control now, but there are times when it’s really overbearing, when it feels like everything is…
Extinction is one of those games that should, on paper, work. All the elements are there, and, for a while, it’s great. A bit rough around the edges, but hey — nothing’s perfect, right? Extinction, unfortunately, is ultimately undone by those rough edges. What begins as a solid action game with a good premise soon…
My current high score in Swarmlake is 2,024 points, which amounts to almost 5 minutes of play. That might not seem like much, but for Swarmlake, an arena shooter from Dominique Greishofer (developer of the excellent Refunct), that’s a long time. Swarmlake pits you against an endless horde of foes, testing your ability to survive…
You have only 60 seconds to live. What do you do? How do you spend that brief minute before you die? Perform various odd jobs? Go on a boat ride to a distant island? Wander around an endless desert? Save the world? How about all the above? That’s the idea behind Minit, a series of…
