The Musical Charm of Olav & the Lute

Update: Olav & the Lute has just been made available through its official website. You can choose to play it in your browser or simply download the about 79MB file. While the creators mention it's quite a short experience with about 30 minutes worth of adventure gameplay, considering it's a completely free offer on their part there's little room for complaints. Why not simply enjoy it then?

Original report 21/07/2013: Inspired by Lucasfilm Games' 1990 classic Loom, four people have set out to create an enchanting, old school musical adventure with unique atmosphere and gameplay. Judging by the currently available information and media they're already well on their way to achieving that, though the jury will remain out until this fall when Olav & the Lute is planned to release for Windows free of charge.

Universum: One Man's Dream

Seeing the graphics and scale while reading about the rich features of Universum: War Front, a game which combines elements of the role-playing, strategy, action and MOBA genres to offer epic land, air, water and even space battles, nobody would guess that only one man is responsible for all of it. And yet that's exactly the case as the talented Cyril Megem of StarworksArt Studio has made the completion of this ambitious title, for which he has among other things become designer, programmer, artist and musician, his current life goal.

The Ambitious Heroes of a Broken Land

Heroes of a Broken Land is despite its retro graphics a very ambitious project that resembles a mixture of many loved genres, from dungeon crawling to role-playing and strategy games, while almost all of its elements will be randomly generated for each play through. Its story puts you in the shoes of a mighty wizard who although trapped in a crystal has survived a terrible disaster that split the world in many pieces of land. To restore it he will first have to assemble the magical object that caused this, something that due to his present state is impossible for himself and for which he will be using the strength of recruited parties of heroes. Having just tried the game I can say that it really feels like a long lost classic title of the 90s whose fans would definitely still fondly remember.

Celebrate the Festival of Magic

Festival of Magic is an under development role-playing game by SnowCastle Games, a small independent studio established in Norway. I've been watching it develop since the previous year and I can safely say that it's been showing tremendous progress and has already reached the level of a professional production as it appears to be full of character and gameplay depth, the latter not only aiming to offer thrilling adventures in mystical worlds with battles and riddles to solve, but also farming simulation elements as through these players will be resupplied with useful items and ammo. The first episode of the game will be released next year but for now you can watch a recent video presenting many of its features via good old fashioned gameplay.

Trading and Mining in X Rebirth

The highly anticipated sequel of the science fiction sandbox series X by Egosoft continues to impress with the latest video published to showcase improvements in the trading and mining functions of the upcoming game. With detailed functionality and impressive visual representations that's exactly the kind of feature that makes X Rebirth stand out from the crowd as it all helps in realizing a much more authentic universe with a real economy and people or situations that affect it and you can freely attempt to take advantage of, if you choose to. Enjoy.

The Rain Begins with a Raindrop

Raindrop is a first person horror adventure. Unlike titles like Amnesia that it might seem to resemble, it will throw you in a large, open and very dangerous world where you will have to survive using items found or crafted by yourself, and of course solve riddles. For now this is essentially all that is known about it, but a second teaser has just been published and while it may not show too much the game already seems rather impressive, especially for an independent production of this sort. Enjoy it.

The Adventures of Dreaming Sarah

Dreaming Sarah is a cute platform game with exploration, puzzle solving, items to find and characters to meet that I've lately been following over at the TIGForums. There won't be any weapons or enemies present in this game, though it will still be possible to die by various other hazards, after which players will merely transport to the last encountered checkpoint. Its creator plans to release the full version of the game on the first day of the coming new year but for now you can simply watch the latest teaser video and then download the game's first early demo that just became available through its Indie DB profile page. What are you waiting for?

Play Cacto Loco Now

Cacto Loco is a retro shooter with beautiful graphics and intense action of high difficulty. Resembling games like Shock Troopers the stages often change direction and scrolling isn't automatic but instead follows the character you control. Unlike that classic SNK title you are actually able to shoot in eight directions independently of your movement, kind of like an upgrade to the good old Robotron or for the younger amongst you the common "twin stick" shooters. Although the demo version you can download is quite premature the game already seems professional in every aspect, starting from the funny intro song, while the gameplay will definitely excite genre lovers. If you're still not convinced simply watch the trailer. Enjoy and stay tuned for more.

Metroid + Monkey Island = The Fall

As you can probably tell this is a game set to contain action, exploration and riddles that require interaction with the environment and objects, all of it presented in lush 2D. Its plot will give you the role of an artificial intelligence that takes control of a high tech combat suit whose unconscious owner you will be protecting. Unfortunately, you must also obey functionality rules that often hinder your progress and you need to inventively work around. For example in the gameplay video below you will see that by purposefully putting the life of the pilot in danger you will enable an emergency condition and gain access to previously locked functions.

Βeyond Eyes Looks Dreamy

Beyond Εyes will be an exploration game in which you have control of a young girl who happens to have lost her sight. The disappearance of her small friend, a cat that visited her every day, will be the incentive she needs to set out into the world, which will in your eyes gradually take form under her footsteps, after her touch or via the various sounds she hears. It's a game with a unique, pleasant artistic direction, as you will see in the first footage below.

Light: Metal Gear What?

Update:  A crowd funding Kickstarter campaign is now live, with a base goal of £20.000. The lowest tier awarding backers with the game is now £10 (which is about 12€, the £8 tier was limited and now out of stock). Check out the campaign page for more information about it.

Original report: Light is an upcoming game for Windows, Mac and Linux with minimalistic graphics and a top down view, yet strategic gameplay assigning players with targets they will only reach by avoiding guards and hacking computers that change the environment to their advantage. Although it's currently in an early alpha phase it already appears to be a serious entry in this beloved genre.

Contagion: A Source Based Zombie Game

Update: A crowd funding campaign for the game is now live. The base goal is $50.000 and the lowest tier awarding backers with the game upon its release is $10 (about 7,50€). A detailed gameplay overview video explaining various mechanics and showing off some rather polished features marks the occasion. It's certainly worth watching and may just convince some of you to help the project.

Voidnex: Frontier's Spiffy New Look

Space themed video games seem to be making a glorious comeback and Voidnex: Frontier has a different take on the subject. While the developers don't seem to explicitly describe it as such focusing instead on the strategic aspects, for now it appears to resemble a space RPG, the story mode of which will see you guiding your fleet through the universe in a race towards the fabled galactic core where fame and fortune await, while setting up trading networks and engaging in turn based battles as you establish your very own financial empire on the way there. A unique sandbox mode will also be included providing a procedurally generated quest line, while the game's features go as in-depth as the ability to recruit, train and assign ships to individual crew members. The project is, if nothing else, ambitious. The latest video showcasing its updated visuals and combat engine however shows it could be a lot more than that.

 

The Charmingly Tactical Halfway

The independent team Robotality is developing a new strategy title set to release for Windows, Linux and Mac and pit you against an alien threat that has invaded your spaceship. While playing you will need to explore its claustrophobia inducing areas and try to survive by strategically using your squad, to which new members you meet will be added. The game is turn based and each member of the crew will accept 6 basic commands, from moving and attacking to using items and personal skills. On your way you will also discover details of a story that reveals how and what exactly happened. For now, enjoy the first footage that through an early alpha displays the basics of the combat.

Eden Star Gets on Greenlight

Eden Star is a game that seems to resemble a blend of the experiences offered by titles like Minecraft, Portal and Mirror's Edge, yet it also develops its own unique identity. Within a constantly expanding world, players will be tasked with overcoming lethal enemies and environmental obstacles by using their agility and the powers of destruction and construction that will be offered. Τhe project has been in development for some time but today marks its unveiling on Steam Greenlight alongside a new trailer that is certainly worth watching.

Hyper Light Drifter

Alex Preston has a dream. A game for Windows taking place on a world with forgotten civilizations and technologies unearthed by those called Drifters, one of which will be its protagonist. The last will have the ultimate goal of a cure for the disease that torments him, yet won't be able to ignore the lost histories discovered. The game will be a 2D action RPG inspired by the best classics of the genre, with forests, ruins and more peculiar areas for exploration within a large seamless world full of secrets, enemies and puzzles similar to Zelda and with a variety of equipment reminiscent of Diablo.
 

Incognita: Turn Based Stealth

Incognita by the independent Klei Entertainment, developers of acclaimed games like Mark of the Ninja among many others, is a turn based strategy game with a twist. It initially seems to resemble XCOM with slick 2D visuals yet it is focused on the stealthy tactics employed by a small team of agents with different skills as they infiltrate target areas and in tandem complete objectives.

Tesla Effect: Tex Murphy's Return

Tesla Effect was funded via Kickstarter with the intent to be released by the end of 2012, something that sadly didn't happen. Today the second trailer of the game comes to ease the mind of anyone who was starting to get worried about the product, by extensively presenting a sequel faithful to the legacy of the classic Tex Murphy adventures, with great variety in the environments players will explore and the characters they will interact with. Naturally, humour dominates the atmosphere though many scenes seem far more serious. The new release is set simply for early 2014, for the PC through the Steam platform and other stores.

 

Child of Light: Playful Art

Ubisoft newest creation which will arrive next year for PC and next generation consoles has artistic tendencies, not only in its beautifull drawn graphics but also in the writing as poetry dominates all the dialogues. The gameplay comprises of platform style wandering - though the protagonist is able to fly which means there's no difficulty in this phase, only exploration - in two dimensions and battles obviously inspired by the JRPG series Grandia, which with the right strategy allow the interruption or even cancellation of enemy attacks. The game's faity tale of a story follows Αurora, a young girl who is transported to the painted world of Lemuria, where in order to return home she must confront the Queen of the Night and free the sun the moon and the stars, something she will do with the help of strange companions. Enjoy the first trailer.

 

Steam Marines: The First Commercial Version

Steam Marines is a science fiction roguelike with a twist as players will have to fight against hordes of aliens and robots, within levels that are randomly generated every time, by strategically utilizing the skills of not only one character but a whole four-member squad of space marines, alongside all the items they can find. The game was previously free but its developers have decided that the latest version if the point to start charging (for now $4,99 which is 4€) for the privilege of the entertainment it can offer. Watch the new trailer released for its promotion and download the versions offered as a demo before deciding if you agree.