Remember that game you used to play when you were a child, when you and a friend would make up a story, one word or sentence at a time. Usually it made little or no sense, but 90% of the time it was still hilarious somehow! Well, this is that game, but instead of just words, it’s pictures, actions, characters, and directing. It’s a story.. which is also a game.. which is also a basic form of Photoshop. Sound confusing? That’s because it’s so absurdly, ingeniously unique! It’s great fun once you pick up the controls and options available to you.
Sleep is Death is a simple game created by indie developer Jason Rohrer that came out on April 17th last year, which is when we first got it, but sadly it seems to have never quite taken off, where we have seen the insane success of other indie games such as Minecraft, this one seems to have remained underground ever since its release. Thankfully though, there’s a page devoted to the stories people make with SiD, where you can upload your bizarre adventures about flying frogs that smoke tree trunks and drive delorians through the Taj Mahal whilst bathing in a tomato-juice filled tea pot that can talk, for everybody else to enjoy. It’s only playable by two people, no more and no less, but this back-and-forth dynamic between two players (one ‘playing’ the game/story, and the other ‘directing’ it) makes for some outstanding random scenes that you neither of you will expect or see coming.
We’ve had a lot of fun playing with Sleep is Death; so much so that we even attempted to start our own mini-series that would attempt to break the mold of the incredibly insane – but ultimately hilarious – stories that make the bulk of what pops up on the submission site. So we started a random story, increased the time limit per turn from 30 seconds to 9999 seconds so we would have as much time as we wanted to make each scene as cool as possible, and then quite simply had a blast! We made the first ‘episode’ probably around 7 months ago, Mr Black – Episode One, and we had a lot of fun making it (go see it!), and then after kind of forgetting about Sleep is Death for a rather long while, we came back to it yesterday and decided to have a crack at the inevitable Mr Black – Episode Two, which is now online as well, and we had a whale of a time playing (writing?) this one too.
Sleep is Death is only a cheap little indie game, and yet it proves that imagination and a bit of spare time can yield some of the most unique two-player fun you’ll be able to get playing a game online with a buddy, or even someone you don’t know!
Your imagination truly is the only limit here. Well, that and your grasp on the glorified MS-Paint style functions…
Dome Keeper is an excellent little spin on the tower defense game, in which you play the role of a jetpacking miner defending his base from swarms of aliens, whilst searching for a hidden relic buried somewhere beneath him. And now, with this huge free update, you can play it with friends.
I want to talk about Cloudpunk, a game where you get to be a flying-car delivery driver in a futuristic cyberpunk city. Its world is an incredible achievement of environmental design, and while the gameplay itself may be basic, the city of Nivalis is a thing of beauty to behold. Nivalis is built out of hundreds of hand-modelled cuboid buildings; there’s nothing procedural about it. Apparently it took 3 years for the devs to design the city, and it really shows.
I do love me some quality pixel art, and it doesn’t get much better than this. Cast n Chill is a cozy side-scrolling fishing game by small indie dev team Wombat Brawler, with absolutely gorgeous visuals. It’s simple to play, and you you can dip in and out of it at your leisure, making it a fine addition to our collection of coffee break games.
It’s safe to say that Fumito Ueda’s third game was one of my most anticipated titles of the previous generation. Announced in 2009, I eagerly watched every gameplay trailer and read up every snippet of information I could. Ico and Shadow of the Colossus remain two of my most beloved games, and I found the idea of another game by the same studio a mouth-watering temptation. A multitude of delays and long periods of silence from both Sony and the developers led many to believe it would never see the light of day, not to mention the troubling news that Ueda himself had left the project due to creative differences with Sony. The game lingered in development hell for several years and its fate was uncertain. Ueda and his team remained with the project as consultants and the game eventually had a release date set for December 2016. My excitement rekindled and I wondered how it could ever live upto 7 years of anticipation. So, was it worth the wait?
Beyond: Two Souls is a paranormal action thriller starring Ellen Page and Willem Dafoe. You’d be forgiven for assuming it’s a Hollywood film based on that description, but it is in fact the latest game from Quantic Dream, the studio behind the equally cinematic Heavy Rain. It’s tempting to compare the two, but Beyond is a different experience, opting to tell a linear story with fewer choices and consequences. As a big fan of Heavy Rain’s dynamic storytelling approach, I expected to be disappointed but as soon as I started playing I realised what writer and director David Cage was trying to achieve and felt satisfied to go along for the ride. Because what a ride it is…
Doki Doki Literature Club has dug its way into my chest and ripped me apart over the last couple of nights. It’s a free visual novel game where you get to know a bunch of girls in an afterschool book club… except not really. It looks exactly like any other tropey Japanese dating sim type game, but what lurks underneath this cutesy exterior is something really quite sinister and thought-provoking. The game’s tagline does a good job of reminding you that all is not what it seems: “This game is not suitable for children or those who are easily disturbed.”
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