Kyoto, Japan-based indie games convention BitSummit had another great outing this July. You've seen me write about some of the VR stuff individually, but here's a quick roundup of other things I played. Maybe I can't find hundreds of words to spout about them, but a lot of these are still pretty stellar:
Me with my BFF:
I actually might go into more detail about some of those when I get more time, but man, it's summer, and summers be crazy in terms of IRL work schedule here.
BitSummit 2016 Games
-
Dead Hungry (PC with HTC Vive)
Q-Games, makers of The Tomorrow Children and the PixelJunk series, made a VR game about slapping together burgers as fast as you can, then whipping them at hungry zombies. People had fun with it, proving that you don't need too complex a premise to have a blast in a video game, especially in VR. The tight controls and amusing task made for a memorable, fun time. -
Dot Matrix Hero (PC, Xbox One, PS4)
This one mixes a classic action RPG with a sim. There was a bit of Inception going on here, because the sim part takes players through the life of an independent game developer. Since this was at BitSummit -- a big indie dev convention -- it was perhaps in the one singular place it could be most easily exposed to its core demographic. -
The Legend of Dark Witch 2 (PC, Vita, 3DS)
One to watch for fans of games that are just good enough. -
Life Goes On: Done to Death (PS4, PC, Mac, Linux)
Life Goes On picks up and runs with the premise behind an interesting platformer I played at the Tokyo Game Show, Super Rude Bear Resurrection. In SRBR, the character's corpses can be used as platforms to help in getting through the level on a second, third, or hundredth try, but every level can be done without dying at all.
rn
rnThe Life Goes On version of this mechanic will indeed require players to die, but at strategic times. In order to solve certain puzzles, you'll need to die, because your corpse might need to hold a weight, activate a switch, or any of 1,000 other things.
rn
rnIn all, it was a colorful, fun platform game.
rn -
Lost Castle (PC)
Between Lost Castle being made by "Another Indie Studio" and Dot Matrix Hero similating the life of an indie game dev, I think it's time for the development community to pump the breaks a little bit. We get it.
rn
rnThat said, it was a fine game, which the creators bill as an "action game with roguelike elements." Again, props for offline multiplayer. It didn't blow me away, but I have no complaints. -
Magical Spiral (PC)
I have no fucking idea what was going on here. -
Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight (PC)
Though following the all-too-typical trend of being an indie "Metroidvania" (can we still not think of a better name for these?), Momodora was fun, exciting, and cute. -
Moon Hunters (PC, Mac, Linux, PS4)
Nod your approval to couch co-op, cuz up to four players can team up to stomp the bad guys in Moon Hunters. This is gonna sound like fairly standard stuff, but here goes: you go around doing quests, fighting stuff, using different light and heavy attacks, and all in a beautiful world with a gorgeous color palette. Four players. Co-op. Support it for the same-screen, couch co-op, come on. rn -
Salt & Sanctuary (PS4, PC, Maybe Vita)
I guess there's talk of a Vita version, but it's like, fucking impossible to program right now? Oh and ah, this is already out for PS4 and PC, and it appeals to Dark Souls fans, according to Dark Souls fans. -
Just Shapes and Beats (Xbox One, PS4, PC)
When I heard a gong and the "Mortal Kombat" scream, I jumped out of line waiting for God-knows-what game and into the line for this thing. Good move.
rn
rnSend up another shout for couch multiplayer, as Just Shapes and Beats delivers the goods to up to four gamers. You've got jamming music playing while shapes come flying at you. Dodge them bullet-hell-style to stay alive as long as possible. This is an extremely simple premise, but it was some of the most fun I've ever seen at a game convention, as it constantly produced the loudest group cheers on the show floor. Check out its official website.
rn
rn -
Spirit: The Game
Has nothing to do with the movie, so I don't know why "The Game" is in the title. -
Thumper (PC, PS4)
I already wrote a longer thing about this here. -
Tokyo Dark (PC, Mac)
Tokyo Dark is cool as shit. It's like a point and click adventure, but with a behavior system that reminded me of the sanity thing from Eternal Darkness, but I might be fucking that up with my bad memory. But yeah, your decisions in conversations and your actions during investigation impact what future options you'll have and what turns the story might take. I don't usually play this genre, but I was digging this. -
Tokyo Dark Again
I couldn't decide which Tokyo Dark image to use. -
Wild Guns (PS4)
This is a PS4 remake of a multiplayer SNES action game. The devs had the Super Nintendo version of this up and running on an old tube TV right next to the new, shiny PS4 version and you bet your ass I played that first. I wasn't bad, but I found myself really wanting the precision of dual joysticks for aiming. And then I played the PS4 version and didn't get that. I don't know, maybe I suck. Still, I had fun, and the game's got character to spare. And couch multiplayer, gotta mention the couch multiplayer. -
YIIK: A Postmodern RPG (PC, PS4, Vita, Wii-U, Xbox One)
I've already played this and decided I like it, but it was nice to see a bigger demo that contained access to the world map (even if said access enabled further access to forbeidden areas and the booth team was all like "No don't go there"). -
Enter the Gungeon (PC, Mac, Linux, PS4)
Enter the Gungeon is already out, as was the case with several games at BitSummit, but I'd never heard of it, as was... also the case with most games at BitSummit.
rn
rnWell, to the pile of real reviews that already exist, I'll add my own take that Gungeon was fun as heck. I played multiplayer (it supports two) and had myself a grand old time. -
Illumine (PC, Linux)
This was OK. The structure was interesting. You're a character -- an actual character, meaning a letter -- in a procedurally generated room. The letter A and number 0 will try to kill you because they're assholes. The geometry stops making sense after a while, but it was kind of fun I guess. -
Redden ( iOS, Android)
This is what I want out of a mobile game. You're far the hell away from shit that needs to die, so you fire an arrow because you're bad as fuck. Guide that arrow up and down with either the touchscreen or your gyro shaking moving thingy or whatever the hell that's called. And then shit bloodsplodes gloriously. Dope. -
Replica (PC, Mac, iOS, Android)
Basically, if The Patriot Act became a video game, you'd be its protagonist in Replica. It looks like just a bunch of hitting whatever the hell if you're watching someone else play, but get behind the screen yourself and you'll learn the trick to investigation. You're trying to mine information from someone's lost cellphone to figure out the details of a terrorist attack. Heavy. -
Ace of Seafood (Android, PC, and I Think Wii-U because that\'s how I played it)
Think Ace Combat, but with fish instead of planes and the ocean instead of the sky. If you're wondering "Did you use the salmon cannon?" yes, duh, of course I used the salmon cannon. I'm not a noob. -
Back in 1995 64 (3DS)
I already played the intentionally janky Back in 1995 back in... 2015. This year's BitSummit featured Back in 1995 64, the game's Nintendo 3DS version. Yep, it sure is a complete throwback to almost every good-enough-I-guess mechanic that we now can't stand but used to so readily tolerate. -
X-Tactics (Android, iOS)
If you like the geo-related aspects of Pokemon GO but want it with a tactical RPG, hey, X-Tactics might just have you covered.
