Betrayal at Club Low is a strange little indie game that took home this year’s Nuovo Award and the Seumas McNally Grand Prize. This game is a surreal journey through a silly story that is sure to delight its players.
An old acquaintance goes missing in the town’s new nightclub. You must put your skills of deception to the test as you go undercover to bring him back. Do you have what it takes to sneak in without being noticed?
The game borrows from mechanics from tabletop RPGs that are well-implemented. Outcomes hinge on the luck of the dice, and your decisions matter. The game promises 11 different endings, securing its replay value. I only got to play this game a bit during GDC, and I liked the vibe it gave out. It was weird, silly, and it has a fantastic soundtrack.
If you like tabletop RPGs and want a unique experience, check out Betrayal at Club Low. I’ll be trying to get myself a copy to review, but you can buy it on Steam for $9.99.
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I had a blast trying out Second Waveat GDC this year. I want to give a shoutout to the two young ladies I faced off against in that accidental mirror match. We were evenly matched, and it helped me get the perfect first impression. Wherever you are, thank you!
Second Wave is a cute little anime 1st/3rd person shooter that pits two teams in arena-style combat reminiscent of Overwatch. The characters are unique with some fantastic art, the abilities are a lot of fun, and combat is fun. I only got to try the alpha build during my demo, but it was enough to make me curious.
I got to meet the COO and lead developer of the game, and they were passionate about their project. They were super friendly guys who took the time to answer all my questions, and I appreciate them for that. I also got some cute little figures to decorate my desk, which I put up immediately.
images taken from the official website
The Second Wave will release on PC, all major consoles, and mobile devices. While there will be cross-play between consoles, players on mobile devices will only be able to play against each other. This is to keep matchmaking fair, and I support the choice. Do not think that this is a cheap cash grab in a popular genre. Challengers Games has worked on other popular games such as Tera, Black Desert Online, and Elden Ring. They are also an official partner of Microsoft.
The demo was a solid experience, and I can only imagine how much fun a full release with more players will be. The combat was fast and fluid, and I loved the art. I will be keeping a close eye on this project so I can join the beta as soon as it is available. If you are in the market for a game to supplement or replace your Overwatch grind, keep an eye out for Second Wind. Challengers Games are active across all their socials; make sure you follow them to keep up to date on the news. You can follow them on Discord, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.
This year’s winner for the IGF’s Excellence in Narrative award went to Immorality, a fantastically done mystery about the cinema. Marissa Marcel was a prominent actress with great promises, but she disappeared after making three unreleased movies. With your ability, you must jump between these movies to piece together what happened to Marissa Marcel.
Immorality is a beautiful mystery as you get to jump between scenes filmed with real actors. It is a very creative way to tell a story and one with many choices to make. I have always missed this genre of gaming, but I was fortunate to try this for a few minutes. My experience left me wanting more because everything was well done. I love the grainy feel of the footage you sift through, the acting is fantastic, and the concept is so good. I will be trying to get myself a copy of this for review, but till then, you should at least Wishlist this.
You can buy Immorality on Steam, Xbox, and GOG for $19.99. The game is currently on sale at GOG for $14.99 or free on Game Pass if you have a subscription.
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This year’s winner of the IGF’s award for Excellence in Design went to the quirky mystery game, The Case of the Golden Idol. Take the role of the detective as you gather clues, pick your suspects, determine motives, and solve the mystery of twelve gruesome murders. The game has a unique art style that grows on you the more you play. The music is soothing, and its unique gameplay can be relaxing if you like solving mysteries. I felt overwhelmed by the amount of freedom I was given to solve the mystery, but I can see myself obsessing over this title if I had more time to explore it at my own pace.
If you love mysteries, this is a great one to look into. You can get your copy on Steam or GOG for $17.99. I suggest you at least try the demo and keep an open mind. I didn’t get enough time with this title to decide if I like it, but I will be adding The Case of the Golden Idol to the list of games I need to try. I will let you know how it goes if I can ever find the time.
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This year’s winner of the IGF award for Excellence in Audio was a delightful little puzzle adventure game, The Forest Quartet. Take control of a recently deceased singer, Nina, as she travels into the minds of her old bandmates, attempting to reignite their love for music as they grieve for their lost friend. Can you solve the puzzles that will help the band move through the stages of grief?
The Forest Quartet’s minimalistic style and music score create a soothing gaming experience, but one that leads to a powerful narrative. While I was only able to play the game for a bit, I was struck by its pleasing art and music. I love Jazz, so there might be some bias in my assessment. If you love jazz or are in the market for a new puzzle game, The Forest Quartet is worth looking into. I didn’t play it enough to be able to critique it, but I am at least interested to try it out. Hopefully, I can find the time. The Forest Quartet is available on Steam and PlayStation for $9.99. PlayStation has it on sale for $7.49 ($5.99 for gold members) until March 29, 2023.
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All Media was taken from the official discord
I didn’t get a chance to try out Drakantos at GDC because the venue’s wifi was giving a lot of presenters issues. I did get the opportunity to speak with a couple of the game’s developers, and they succeeded in making me excited about their game. I want to take this moment to thank them for their time. I know I had a lot of questions, and I appreciate your patience.
Drakantos is a pixel art MMORPG from Brazil that will be playable on your favorite browser. I love the art style, and the trailer was enough to get me interested. The voice acting in this game is fantastic, and I recommend you check out their official discord for samples.
Unlike your traditional MMO, Drakantos will not have a character creation. Instead, the game will release with 21 predesigned characters, with more planned for future releases. You’ll be able to unlock characters through the battle pass or by playing the game. However you may feel about battle passes in gaming, they are now a feature in the industry, and there is no going back. The game will be free to play, so I won’t blame them for trying to make money. All I can hope is that it won’t become pay-to-win. Only 20 characters have been revealed so far. You can find more information on their official discord, but I will post an album for your convenience.
1 / 20
PVE for this game seems promising. The story is fully voice acted, with support coming in different languages. There will also be world bosses, events, and dungeons to help foster a healthy endgame and community. Drakantos will also have PVP arenas with weekly tournaments and a ranking system. Arenes will be 3v3, and the gear won’t matter to avoid power creep. Players will have access to the same pool of characters, making the experience more skill-based than gear reliant. Characters will be locked behind a battle pass and achievements, I just hope it’s not pay to win. I can’t blame them for trying to make money, but I hope that free to play is viable.
I will be trying this game as soon as I can. I suggest you keep tabs on Drakantos by following them on their socials. They are very active with news and updates, and they are always happy to answer any questions. You can find them on Discord, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
The Independent Games Festival (IGF) awards have just wrapped and it was a pretty impressive lineup of games. I got to try a few of them and was impressed by the unique collection put on display. I will be covering all the games that were nominated, but I will start. I think it is only fair to give these games their own posts because they were all so different and deserving of the same time and attention.
The winner for the Excellence in Visual Art category was the adventure game RPG Time: The Legend of Wright by the publisher, DeskWorks Inc. This quirky little RPG combines a series of genres with its unique hand-drawn art style. The game feels like it happens on top of a desktop as you shift between different game types. It is cool to see this game come to life. I can see why it has already one a lot of awards. If you are looking for something truly unique and quirky, check out RPG Time: The Legend of Wright. You can play this game on the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox, and Steam for $29.99. Its on sale on Nintendo for $15.99 till March 31, 2023, and Xbox has it for $16.49 till March 28, 2023. Now might be a great time to pick it up if you have either of those consoles. I’ll be adding this to the games I need to try, and hopefully, come back with a full review soon.
On the first day of the Expo, I got to try out the pixel art MMORPG Kakale. This cute little MMO is available on PC, Android, and IOS devices. If you enjoy the game and wish to support it, you can buy cosmetics, support their Patreon, or become a premium subscriber for $6.99 a month. The devs suggested there might be a battle pass implemented in the future, but was assured that none of the paid options offer a competitive advantage. The premium subscription seems to only offer quality-of-life benefits like more storage, a bigger friends list, access to larger instances, and more. You can find the full list of premium benefits on the official site.
Pictures are from presskit
Kakele has five classes: berserker, mage, warrior, hunter, and alchemist. Each will have its role to play, especially when you get to end-game content. I have already made my mage and will return with my impressions once I’ve gotten far enough. Aside from your class, you choose the type of experience you want. Kakele offers two kinds of servers, one for PVP and another for PVE. For those who don’t enjoy PVP, there are dungeons, world bosses, and seasonal events to keep you busy. If you join a guild, you fight over castles that will grant you bonuses if captured. You will also need to defend the castles you capture. The game is young, but there already seems lots to do.
One of my favorite aspects of this game right off the bat is that the UI is completely customizable. You can rearrange your hotkeys where ever you want so that you can always have an optimized experience. On mobile devices and tablets, you can even move the D-pad.
So what were my first impressions? This game is super cute, and it brings me back to a time when the only online gaming I could afford was through a browser on a library computer. The art is great and easy to see, the maps are easy to navigate over, and the early leveling experience is fine. Combat at the beginning is laid back as it slowly teaches you how to play, but I can already see its potential to be complex at the end of the game. The game already seems to have a healthy population. At least in the North American servers, the starting zone is populated. The game is from Brazil, so a lot of the activity seems to be in the Portuguese channels, but with time, I am sure this will change.
It is unfair to critique the game with how little I have played it, so I will reserve my judgment for a later date. At the moment, I think the game is at least worth checking out since it is free. If you are looking for a new MMO that you can play almost anywhere, Kakele is worth looking into. You can download this game on Steam, the IOS Appstore, or the Google PlayStore. The game is a cross-play between all devices, and your saves will transfer too.
Thank you to the devs for taking the time to talk to me about their game! I know I am small, but I appreciate your time, patience, and warm reception.
I am attending GDC this week, so my posting schedule will be a bit sporadic and more focused on gaming. I am very excited about the opportunity and will share everything I can. If you’d like to aid me on my adventure, please consider buying me a coffee
Pictures and Gifs are from the Press Kit
During GDC I was allowed to try out Liberte for PC. Liberte is a rogue-like isometric ARPG themed after the French Revolution, but this isn’t a historical game.
What sets this game apart from others in the genre is its deck-building mechanic. As you progress through the story, you find cards that will grant abilities, traits, and items. You can upgrade or swap out the cards to fit your playstyle. To play a card, you must sacrifice others to pay its cost. This creates this loop of constantly cycling through your cards to find a combination that best fits your playstyle. I was distracted by conversation and kept forgetting to build my deck. I wouldn’t advise trying to beat the game with just the basic attack.
The bit of combat I tried was a lot of fun. The dodge feels fantastic, and successfully avoiding attacks was very satisfying. I liked that unlocking new abilities changed the combat. The first ability I unlocked was a guitar bash that gave my character a nice acoustic guitar to carry on his back. I appreciate the attention to detail and love smashing my enemies with this ability. There were other fun flavor texts sprinkled throughout my playthrough that make me believe that a lot of love was put into this game.
I can’t speak on the story because I skipped through the cutscenes to get to the combat, but it seems interesting based on the summary on Steam. I did get to see a lot of the art for the cutscenes. I love the art and aesthetic of this game. One issue I had with this game is that some of the paths are a bit hard to see. I played an older build, and they might have fixed it for the release. It isn’t a terrible deal breaker, but it is something I noticed. If they didn’t, it isn’t a huge deal because there is a nice little guiding mechanic available if you ever get stuck.
I liked what I was able to try out and will be trying to get a copy for a full review. If you like ARPGs, Liberte is at least worth looking into. You can buy it for early access on Steam now, or wait till its full release on April 6, 2023. At the moment, Liberte is only planned for PC.
I am attending GDC this week, so my posting schedule will be a bit sporadic and more focused on gaming. I am very excited about the opportunity and will share everything I can. If you’d like to aid me on my adventure, please consider buying me a coffee
The first game I got to try out at GDC was Pixel Ripped 1978, a VR game that lets gamers relieve their Atari nostalgia through a quirky meta experience. You play as Dot as she works alongside her human counterpart Bug, a programmer at Atari. Together you work to perfect a game, but the evil Cyblin Lord has gone back in time to make sure he is the hero of your game. Can you stop him before it is too late?
Pixel Ripped 1978 is the third game of the series, but the developers assured me that 1978 will be a standalone story. There will be references to the previous games, but you won’t need to play them to understand what is going on. You should still go out and play them, and I am hoping to make some time to try them out before the game’s release this summer.
Images and gifs from press kit
Pixel Ripped attempts to capture the love of gaming by creating an homage to its different eras. With the Atari partnership, the developers were able to implement games from the Atari era without running into licensing issues. This love can be apparent when you look at the protagonist. Dot was inspired by the many heroes from the games the creator played growing up. Characteristics from characters like Princes Peach, Link, Samus, and Megan can be seen in Dot’s design. Ana Riberio, the creator, wanted to create a strong female character that was cool because there weren’t many back then. I think she was successful. Dot is a cool character with fun and interesting powers. You can shoot with your laser, hit things with randomly generated melee weapons, and build code that changes the game. Playing the demo left me wanting to see what else she has in store.
Pixel Ripped 1978is an interesting meta experience where you are playing a game about playing a game. In parts, you will pick up the controller and play a game on the classic Atari in a virtual world where deal with real-world distractions. While playing the Atari, people will come to ask you questions, try to talk to you, and just try to get your attention. There was a moment I had to move my head to see around the person blocking my TV. It was incredibly immersive, and I was easily distracted by the people walking around in the background. It creates this neat dynamic between an adventure puzzle game and a simulator.
The other feature of this game is that you get to go into the game world and play as Dot. You get to move through this beautifully stylized pixel world fighting enemies. The combat in this game was arcadey and fun. The world is vibrant and colorful, and enemies are beautifully nostalgic. It was very reminiscent of the Adventure Box event in Guild Wars 2, but here you get to be in it.
This game will release on the Oculus, Steam VR, and PSVR. I tried it on the PSVR, and it was spectacular. I almost want to buy a PS5 because I felt it to be a superior VR experience to my current Meta Quest 2. Everything looked great, there was a minimal light leak, and the tracking felt great. But this isn’t a review about that.
Pixel Ripped 1978is looking to be a fantastic dive into a nostalgic era that everyone can enjoy. The gameplay is fun, the tone is quirky, and it is a solid VR experience. Keep an eye out for news, or try out the previous two.
