Quick Fix: Screenshot Saturday 8/8

Title: Subaeria
Developer: Illogika
A roguelike action puzzler where players manipulate robots into destroying each other.
In Subaeria you take on the role of an outcast trying to escape a future world ruled over by technology.Armed with only your wits and the company of a personal drone, you must fight your way through droves of murderous robots by pitting them against one another.
On this desperate journey, you will uncover mysteries that lie below the depths in a battle to escape the underwater city of Subaeria.

Title: DeathTrash
Developer: Stephan Hövelbrinks
"A post-apocalyptic roleplaying game"

Title: 1st Wonder
Developer: Rogue Rocket Games
"A Spiritual Successor to MDK & Giants: Citizen Kabuto"

Title: Retool
Developer: Lovepreet
Retool is a game about hacking into computers to rewire outputs of electronics. Change the outputs to your liking to steal all the diamonds on the levels without anybody knowing, or go for the action route and eliminate all guards by any means necessary.

Title: Attuned: An Elemental Journey
Developer: Eerie Bear Games
A 3D Puzzle Platformer game. Play as Ellie, as she finds her way home through 4 worlds, and 96 different puzzles. Use the power of the elements to solve puzzles!

SitRep: Twin Souls

Title: Twin Souls
Developer: Lince Works
Platforms: PC, Mac, Linux, PS4, Xbox One
Releasing mid-2016
---
Last time I wrote about Twin Souls, back in June 2014, the game was in the midst of a Kickstarter campaign. Unfortunately Lince Works didn't meet their funding goal, but despite that setback, development continued. Now over a year later, Twin Souls is looking better than ever and is even coming to consoles.

While the core concept of a revived assassin who can control the shadows remains the same, Twin Souls has evolved in every other aspect. Aside from creating shadows to aid stealth, your powers are more versatile now, from the ranged Kunai shadow dagger and explosive Shinen trap to creating decoys with your Sakkaku ability, among others. You can devour your foes with shadow dragons and serpents, erasing their bodies from existence, or emerge from ceilings and walls to strike. A cover system and crouching compliments your powerful abilities.

However, your enemies are also better equipped to deal with your shadowy tactics. There are light barriers and runes that can block your path and make it harder to sneak around. Guards can wield light-imbued swords, use light spells to illuminate the darkness, and fire light arrows from a distance.

Twin Souls' gameplay isn't the only element to receive an upgrade. Your protagonist Aragami was given a complete re-design, now sporting a more colorful, form-fitting outfit, and brought to life through motion capture and cloth physics. The cel-shaded visuals are more vibrant and vivid, thanks to new shaders, lighting, and other graphical effects.

Twin Souls is aiming for a mid 2016 release, and is currently playable at Gamescom. You can learn more about the game here and follow development through its TIGSource Devlog and Twitter page.

The Watchlist: Bleed 2

Title: BLEED 2
Developer: Bootdisk Revolution
Platforms: PC
In development
---

Better graphics, better weapons, better gameplay, and more...Bleed 2 picks up about a week after the events of the first game.

Every once in a while, you learn that something you enjoyed - be it a movie, book, game, etc. - is getting a sequel or a follow-up or a spiritual successor...and somehow you completely missed any news about it being made. There's that moment of shock, then happiness, then "How did I miss this?" That's a pretty accurate description of me learning that the underrated triple-dashing platformer/shooter Bleed was getting a sequel.

Bleed originally released on XBIG in 2012, before coming to Steam a year later, and despite its polish, colorful quirky charm, and acrobatic blend of bullet hell and run-n-gun action, it remained relatively unknown. The notion of a sequel never even crossed my mind (or the minds of other fans, going by the NeoGAF thread about the sequel). But Bleed 2 is coming, and developer Bootdisk Revolution is promising a bigger and better game in every way.

Bleed ended with protagonist Wryn defeating the world's heroes, and the sequel picks up soon after, with Wryn having taken the mantle as the world's greatest (and only) hero. But any hero needs a villain, and now a new threat emerges to taken on the last remaining hero.

But Bleed was never about the story. The narrative served as a framework for a fast-paced arcade action and the sequel will deliver that in spades. Bullet-time and triple jumping returns, allowing you to deftly dodge projectiles and enemies while returning fire of your own. Your katana is even deadlier than before, now able to reflect bullets with a well-timed slash, and your entire arsenal of dual pistols, rocket launchers, shotguns, and other weapons can be accessed at anytime.

Levels will be more dynamic, ranging from shootouts across the tops of cars along a freeway to gunning down waves of fighters on the exterior of an enemy space ship. Bleed 2 will feature twice as many bosses as the original game, as well as new power-ups and other modes. And if the screen-filling onslaught of bullets, missiles, and enemies is too much to handle alone, co-op will also return in the sequel.

Bleed 2 is still in development, and you can follow its progress on the developer's website and Twitter page.

Quick Fix: Screenshot Saturday 8/1

Title: Wanderers
Developer: Anthony Pismarov
A four-player, open world, action-adventure game.

Title: Somewhere On Zibylon
Developer: Mykhail Konokh
A sci fi puzzle game with stealth elements in the atmosphere of cold space and zero gravity.
A repair drone sent for routine inspection to the colonization station Zibylon. Upon arrival, it detects a strange activity and loss of control over the station. Using the capabilities of the drone you have to explore Zibylon, unleash a lot of puzzles, having passed a difficult way through the station in the atmosphere of cold space and zero gravity.

Title: Sublevel Zero
Developer: SIGTRAP Games
The laws of physics are crumbling and reality is falling apart. Fly through procedurally generated zero gravity environments, looting and crafting the ancient technology needed to keep yourself and your clan alive.

Title: Omnis: The Erias Line
Developer: Elyn Studio
Omnis: The Erias Line is a 2D, story-driven game that blends the spirit and mechanics of a j-RPG with the darker themes of western sci-fi, fantasy and new-weird fiction. As you play, every decision you make can influence how you experience the story. A huge range of choices - from dialogue options picked to key-items found - change how character relationships develop, how major events play out and how you shape your path to the ending.

No Money, No Problem: AniMa

Title: AniMa
Developer: Jord Farrell, Mark Sparling
Platforms: PC, Mac, Linux
---
In AniMa, you go by many names - Reborn one, Ruthless one, Devouring one - but you only have one goal. You are a disembodied specter, given the opportunity by some mysterious being to regain your life. But returning to life requires you to take life, in this ominous puzzle platformer.

In each level, you must open a portal to exit, a portal that requires blood sacrifices to unlock. As a spirit, you can't die or pass through the portal, but the inhabitants of these trap-filled levels can. Possessing them allows you to activate switches, open gates, and, most importantly...die. Each inhabitant is different - one able to jump, another equipped with a shield that can block vaporizing lightning beams, and so on - and the challenge comes from figuring how to use their abilities, which must die, and which will be used to enter the portal.

But don't worry. You're taking nothing of value, according to your otherworldly benefactor. AniMa's gloomy, grainy art style and eerie sound design completes the game's dark atmosphere.

You can download AniMa here.

PC Review #121: Feist

Title: Feist
Developer: Bits & Beasts
Platforms: PC, Mac, Linux
Price: $14.99
---
You are not alone in Feist's dense forests and dark caverns but you certainly are on your own. Danger abounds, from traps to deadly animals, and only through quick thinking and agile platforming can you survive. At a glance, Feist may bring to mind puzzle platformers like Limbo, but this action platformer is all about desperate combat.

You're a small fuzzy creature, escaped from the clutches of the bipedal troll-like beasts that roam this atmospheric landscape. In pursuit, you traverse towering trees, overgrown marshes, and claustrophobic caves, using the environment to your advantage to overcome overwhelming odds. You have no means to defend yourself, no talons or tough hide, only your agility and size.

Feist's world is not a kind place. From the start, you're evading spiky caterpillars and buzzing flies that pounce with long stingers. Desperate is the word that describes the experience best; you're always outnumbered and overpowered, always a hair's breath away from death. You're running through logs and under mushrooms to avoid stingers, snatching up rocks and pine cones and twigs to stun and kill creatures.

But your greatest ally is the environment itself. Traps that can skewer you with flying barbs can just as easily be triggered to kill other animals. Stunning flies let you pick them up and fire their stingers. Cave-ins underground can crush leaping spiders if you're quick enough to evade the falling rocks. The reactive environments and fast-paced combat makes for frantic, challenging, and satisfying encounters. Death can occur quite frequently; thankfully frequent checkpoints alleviate some of the frustration,

Feist oozes with atmosphere, from the shadowy aesthetic of the world or hazy reflections as you run past a lake to the haunting soundtrack. It's a short experience, but the tension and challenge doesn't let up. Feist can be purchased from Steam, Humble, GOG, and itch.io.

Quick Fix: Screenshot Saturday 7/25

Title: Spirit
Developer: Rinaldo Wirz
"An isometric, narrative-focused, exploration-heavy adventure" with a possession mechanic

Title: Collecton
Developer: Daniel Branicki
Collecton is a roguelike-platformer with heavy emphasis put into interaction with the world's creatures, items and exploration.

Title: Traces of Light
Developer: Mikhail Pigichka
Traces of Light is a third person adventure game about Dirk Young, a lighthouse keeper. His life is completely changed after a devastating solar storm ruins his village home. Help him to find a new mechanism for the Lighthouse and bring it back in order to save his friends and family from mortal danger. To finish the game pass through the mazes and obstacles, solve the puzzles and find the way home. There is no time to waste, let the adventure begin!

Title: Atomic Society
Developer: Far Road Games
Atomic Society is a post-apocalyptic city building game that aims to let players decide what laws, morals and values their survivors will live by, as well as giving them the fun of managing a bustling town and its resources. You can create a dystopia, utopia, and or whatever wasteland town you desire.

Title: miniLAW
Developer: Lasso Games
Futuristic tactical law enforcement roguelike
Roam the city of New Babel in search of crimes in progress. Procedurally generated crimes and encounters make no two plays the same.