Devine Lu Linvega is known for his enigmatic abstract puzzle games, from the Myst-esque Hiversaires to the dimensional-hopping Oquonie. For his next game, he's taking that approach and applying it to space exploration, in Verreciel.
Verreciel sits you before the control consoles of a Glass Ship traversing the cosmos, surrounded by screens on all sides. By connecting different parts of the ship, you'll be able to power thrusters, autopilot, weapon systems, oxygen levels, shields, radio scanner, and other modules. The tactile UI looks perfect-suited for touchscreens.
In your travels, you'll discover extraterrestrial structures like the Prismatist and venture into the ashen Opal dimension. You'll collect batteries, ammo, warpgates, cloaking devices, and other items in your cargohold. You'll set autopilot coordinates to follow NPC travelers. To survive the dangers of space, Verreciel will challenge you to reroute and manage your systems amidst dangerous weather systems and hostile events.
Verreciel is slated for release on January 10th, 2016; you can learn more about the game on the developer's site and see gameplay clips on Vine..
Title: Sharp Flint Developer: EATMEAT Games Platforms: PC, Mac, PS4, Xbox One In development ---
A survival/hunting game where you can chase and hunt mammoths, wolves, and other titans of the ice age
Sharp Flint takes the popular explore/survival/crafting genre and strips out the zombies, the post-apocalyptic settings, the alien worlds, the isolated islands or voxel landscapes in favor of a low-poly experience set in the prehistoric era.
Across sprawling forests and plains, your goal in Sharp Flint is simple: survive and hunt. Inspired by games like Monster Hunter, you'll carefully traverse expansive maps filled with dynamic herds, prey and predators, and both random and scripted events.
Hunting in Sharp Flint will be more complex than simply throwing a spear at a mammoth. Wind and scent will play a role in tracking and stalking herds, and you'll need to use the environment to your advantage to craft new clothing and weapons. Hazards like quicksand and rock slides can hurt you or be used against fierce predators.
But be careful, because your life is not the only one at stake. You need to gather food and resources to support your family and clan. While the game isn't a roguelike, it will feature a lives system based on the number of children you have. Upon death, you'll take control of your oldest child and inherit your father's equipment; when you run out of characters, you'll need to start a new game. This lives/family management adds a persistent element to Sharp Flint's ice age hunting and gathering.
Sharp Flint is still in development, and is aiming for release on PC, Mac, and consoles. You can sign up for a newsletter on the game's site, and follow its progress on Twitter.
Title: Jotun Developer: Thunder Lotus Games Platforms: PC, Mac, Linux Price: $14.99 --- From Titan Quest to Kratos' gory ramapages in God of War, Greek mythology has been well-represented in gaming. In recent years, a wave of games revolving around Norse tales have released or are in development, from The Banner Saga and Eitr to Trial By Viking and Niffelheim. Jotun brings the lands and deities of Norse myth to gorgeous life through hand-drawn animations and vivid art designs. You play as Thora, a fearless Viking warrior, felled not on the battlefield but by the raging sea. But Thora has been given a second chance to impress the gods and earn entry into Valhalla. Thora must travel through purgatory and slay five massive Jotun, giant elemental beings that can go toe-to-toe with a god. What chance does a human warrior have against these towering foes?
Armed with only your battle axe and your agility, you search for runes in a set of levels to unlock the boss level. Each stage revolves around a unique puzzle element or situation. From creating constellations among the clouds around Yggdrasil's canopy to navigating the lava-encrusted crater of Muspelheim or braving the frozen wind-lashed Nine Rivers, Jotun is consistently introducing new elements or new scenery.
While you might face some dwarves or thorny vines in stages, Jotun shines most brightest when you're facing one of the titular giants. Beautifully animated and absolutely massive, these battles bring to mind the scale of the classic Shadow of the Colossus. Encounters revolve around evading telegraphed attacks as the bosses evolve across different forms.
Each battle is a spectacle of bombastic music, intricate animated Jotun, and carefully timed dodges and attacks. Isa unleashes breaths of blizzard-force winds and snow. Fé summons an army of dwarves and shakes the earth with each slam of her shield. Kaunan lunges at you with his massive flaming blade.
If axe and evasion aren't enough to fell bosses, Thora can utilize blessings from the Norse blessings, ranging from a speed boost to an ethereal hammer smash imbued with the power of Thor. These blessings are limited, so using them at the right time to augment your speed or attacks are key to surviving your battles against the Jotun.
Jotun is a gorgeously presented game, with narration spoken in the native Icelandic language, atmospheric environments to explore, and an epic soundtrack. While it's not the longest experience, Jotun is certainly a compelling and thrilling one. Each region feels unique, and each Jotun battle is a visual spectacle.
Title: Red Amazon Developer: Tom van den Boogaart Platforms: PC --- Red Amazon is a short narrative game, only lasting a few minutes, but it's still an experience fraught with tension.
You find yourself in an isolated cabin, under a grey foreboding sky. The fireplace roars, birds chirp. The minimal art style and sounds of natural create a calming atmospheric tone, but then...that all changes.
You're not alone out there in the woods.
Red Amazon is described as a thriller, and it certainly succeeds in that aspect in its short playtime. It's best to experience it without much knowledge. You can download the game here.
Title: The Nullpoint Developer: Schell Games A real-time tactical survival horror roguelike Nullpoint is a sci-fi horror game where you control a small team of survivors stranded inside a mysterious alien structure: Decipher what the Nullpoint is, and find a way to escape it– if you can.
Title: Off Grid Developer: Semaeopus Ltd Off Grid is an adventure, satire and stealth game about a mishap antihero. You play an everyman pencil pusher, who is oblivious to the city's prying and spying, corporate-sponsored government until a series of dark events unfold. The contemporary storyline follows real-world events surrounding data privacy, and gameplay utilises unique mechanics that allow you to manipulate the world and people around you with the data they unwittingly leave behind.
Title: Kill To Collect Developer: Pieces Interactive You are a Bounty Hunter. Without any remorse or judgement, you take on jobs, eliminate targets and collect Credits. Your mission objectives hide in the deeper levels, usually protected by their vile friends. You can take your chances alone, but bounty hunting is best done with friends! So choose your powers, gather your friends and go hunting in a Cyberpunk-inspired city world filled with danger, mystery and treasures.
Title: Speak of the Clouds Developer: Mechanic Moon A classical point-and-click adventure where you have to help Fenix to escape from a UFO's invasion
Title: SOMA Developer: Frictional Games Platforms: PC, Mac, Linux, PS4 Price: $29.99 --- Amnesia: The Dark Descent is considered by many to be one of the scariest experiences the medium has to offer. The supernatural game forced the player to flee and hide from monstrosities whose mere visages tore at your character's sanity.
SOMA sheds that game's Lovecraftian trappings for a research station on the ocean floor, but the horror and the oppressive atmosphere remains, anchored by a compelling and thought-provoking story influenced by the works of Harlan Ellison and Philip K. Dick. Soma puts you in the frightened and confused shoes of Simon, a man trapped in the sprawling underwater facility known as Pathos-II. Horrific things roam the dank dilapidated corridors, monstrous fusions of flesh and machine, and like Amnesia, hiding from and sneaking around these creatures is your only course of action.
Saying anything more specific about SOMA's engrossing narrative would do a disservice to its carefully-paced reveals. But rest assured, it's a journey filled with haunting moments, interesting sci-fi concepts, and compelling questions about humanity.
"Haunting" is probably the most apt way to describe SOMA's atmosphere. While there are enemies in the game, encounters are sparing, which, in turn, makes each one more memorable and unpredictable. The horror in SOMA comes less from its terrifying creatures and more from the atmosphere, the themes, the sound design and setting. Every moment is fraught with tension, enhanced by the music and the groaning of metal being crushed by the immense ocean pressure. The game is a slow-burn experience, letting the unnerving uneasy implications of grotesque sights and of your actions stew in your mind.
SOMA's sci-fi horror is spread across 8 to 10 hours of thought-provoking narrative, cautious exploration, puzzles, and desperate stealth around bio-mechanical monsters. If you're looking for a horror game that's focused on dread and vice-like tension and story rather than jump scares, or are interested in high-concept science fiction stories, SOMA is a must-play.
Title: SPL-T Developer: Simogo Platforms: IOS Universal Price: $2.99 --- If you follow mobile games, no doubt you're familiar with Simogo. Their games - from the haunting adventure game Year Walk to the enigmatic text-twisting Device 6 - are defined by how they use the touch interface and slick polished presentations to deliver unique and compelling narrative experiences. So at first glance, SPL-T doesn't appear to be a Simogo title. But as you learn its rules and master its intricacies, SPL-T reveals that it's as unique as any of their other games. Your first attempt at SPL-T is likely to be confusing. Its gameplay seems as simple as its minimal appearance. The core concept is that you need to gather points by splitting the screen into blocks. Splits alternate between horizontal and vertical divisions; by dividing an area into four or more equally-sized blocks, those blocks convert into "point blocks" marked with a number. That number indicates how many splits are required to remove those blocks from the screen.
Once you realize that those blocks disappear from the screen, SPL-T's hidden depth becomes apparent. When those blocks disappear, above blocks as well as new blocks fall down to fill in the gaps, allowing for new splits to be made. Adding to the mechanic is that point blocks that fall into an empty space have their split number halved, letting you remove them more quickly.
SPL-T evolves from a puzzler with seemingly little strategy into a game of careful planning. To earn a high score, you must be mindful of how the screen will affected several splits in the future and be careful not to create a scenario where mo more splits are possible. It's a tricky and surprisingly addictive challenge.
And not surprisingly, just like its simple puzzle mechanics blossomed with hidden depth, SPL-T is not as basic as it first appears. A plethora of secrets are waiting to be found within the game itself. To say more would spoil the mysterious nature of Simogo's puzzler, but rest assured that SPL-T might be more than just a block-splitting game.
With SPL-T, Simogo once again showcases its mastery of mobile puzzlers, delivering an engaging game hiding a strategic challenge behind its simple aesthetic.
