Brandish is dope and streamlined as heck. Like talk about vertical SLICE. The first couple levels just feed into each other and show you how the game works while keeping some surprises
The PSP version doesn’t have any of the disorientation, and feels great to play on a 4k tv with the pssspsppsppsspspss emulator
While being at risk of turning this into my personal “what are you playing” - weird edition, I think it’s important or at the very least interesting if we provide thoughts/feedback on the games recommended here.
I played PRODUCER 2021, the Visual Novel/Adventure Game hybrid by Stuffed Wombat.
The game is pretty interesting. While it sticks to the palette of, essentially, Japanese adventure games such as Famicom Detective, Metal Slader Glory or Snatcher, it’s really remarkable how fast-paced, engaging and constantly interesting the game remains. It feels almost like an arcade, which is kind of amazing given that this kind of adventure tends to be the one of the most slow-paced kind of game.
In terms of tone and texture it feels kind of a mix between the quirky and dreamy nature of something like Earthbound, mixed with some of the most brainy bits of like Disco Elysium (I’m aware I’m dropping all time classics here, the game is good). Basically, imagine an adventure game which plays like a Wario Ware run of minigames. That’s PRODUCER 2021.
What ended up surprising the most though is that even though the nature of the game remains whimsical, silly and humorous, it subtly keeps building up ideas and offering thoughts that, in the end, amount to a quite interesting, well-thought and very articulate reflection on the nature of creativity and the art of making something worthwhile.
This is the Steam review I left for the game. It’s easily one of the best things I’ve played this year, give it a chance.
+1 for PRODUCER 2021 heck yeah. Played it earlier this year. The only thing that sticks with me now is the visual style, which I liked very much. Seems like it hit you a bit harder than it did me, though.
I will say that the original Doom is abstract and disorienting, especially when you get to episode 3 and 4. There are also plenty of mods for it that fit the bill as well.
Yeah… it was mostly because of this scene and the ramifications and implications it has for the rest of the game.
The way the game reflected on how art is neither something magical/romantic/idealistic nor hard cold objective truth resonated with me a lot. You need a little bit of luck, motivation to see things through and the ability to detach yourself, reflect on mistakes and iterate what works.
It’s a process that involves imagination, feeling, spontaneity and all those elusive X-factors, but also something rational that can be optimized and improved upon. I really like the intelligence and clarity with which the game presented the idea.
Nathalie Lawhead’s new game-essay is good and a bit disorienting. The web page also has a spinning comments section to play with!
I had played one game by that developer before, BlueSuburbia, which I liked but got stuck in at one point.
That essay one is good, and I also just tried Everything Is Going to Be OK. It’s a little overwhelming at first but impressive and worth a look.
Cape Hideous by Jake Clover just came out and it’s excellent. You can easily complete it in one sitting and it’s quite an experience.
just whjat the doctor ordered
Just hung out with this on your recommendation. Absolutely striking and unique, in and out in thirty minutes. Excellent. Thanks for sharing, hope others hop on this too
Wanted to drop in and share this, it’s from someone in the Chicago Indie Discord I’m in. It’s a pretty cool little game IMO that I think fits the bill of this thread.
this game has an interactive Polish food calender
Just another reason to love it
This looks like it has the stuff
F J O R D S by KYLE REIMERGARTIN saw someone compare this to animal well, and i’m sold before seeing any screenshots
Here’s a new one, released today. It’s a little bit like Scorn in that you have to figure out how to manipulate alien objects to progress, but with none of the horror or darkness of Scorn.
This is kind of the direction I prefer 3D graphics to go, rather than striving for realism.
Has anybody played GADGET: Past As Future? Looks pretty cool, apparently it was praised by David Lynch and Guillermo del Toro at some point or another, and a lot of its ideas are kind of foundational to the Half Life universe (there was a tie-in novel for it written by Marc Laidlaw, who went on to write HL). The original was released in 1993 and it’s definitely in the aesthetic universe of Baroque and City of Lost Children. The sound for it is quite something. The reviews I can find are all like “perhaps if I was a bigger fan of performance art, it might have engaged me more” and “evaluating iGADGET ‘s plot would be a little like evaluating the famed “numbers stations” radio phenomenon without benefit of knowing the Cold War history attached to that oddity”… which are very strong endorsements in my book. I mean look at this:
Not sure how to emulate it… there was an iphone version but it was taken down shortly after release and is considered lost media.
