Posts from ‘Previews’ Category

Trailer: LISA

By: Derek Yu

On: October 26th, 2014

A game about survival, sacrifice, and perverts…

Lisa is a quirky side-scrolling RPG set in a post apocalyptic wasteland. Beneath the charming and funny exterior is a world full of disgust and moral destruction. Players will learn what kind of person they are by being FORCED to make choices. These choices permanently effect the game play. If you want to save a party member from death, you will have to sacrifice the strength of your character. Whether it’s taking a beating for them, or losing limbs in a Yakuza style apology, or some other inhuman way. You will learn that in this world being selfish and heartless is the only way to survive…

LISA was successfully funded on Kickstarter on December 14, 2013.

Steam Greenlight: LISA

Preview: Drift Stage

By: Derek Yu

On: August 25th, 2014

Very cool 80’s aesthetic going on in Drift Stage, a “modern evolution of the classic arcade racer”. Planned features include a roster of cars inspired by 80’s and early 90’s designs, local and online multiplayer, and a host of single-player modes, including circuit races, time trials, and a character-oriented career mode. No release date set, but the team is targeting PC/Mac with mobile and console possibly to follow.

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Comiket 86: Preview Video

By: Derek Yu

On: August 12th, 2014

This is a video that mashes up quite a few trailers for doujin games that will be available at this year’s Comiket (Comic Market), a Japanese self-published comic book festival (and the largest in the world, with over half a million attendees last year). Edelweiss, the doujin shmup developer behind Ether Vapor and Astebreed, has been putting these videos together for the past few years. The festival is taking place this weekend on August 15-17.

Links to each of the games featured in the video are available here on Edelweiss’s website.

Kickstart This: Sunset

By: Derek Yu

On: June 18th, 2014

Tale of Tales is Kickstarting their latest project, Sunset. The premise is a cool one:

Sunset is a narrative-driven first-person videogame that takes place in a single apartment in a fictional South American city in the early 1970s. You play a housekeeper called Angela Burnes. Every week, an hour before sunset, you visit the swanky bachelor pad of Gabriel Ortega. You are given a number of tasks to do, but the temptation to go through his stuff is irresistible. As you get to know your mysterious employer better, you are sucked into a rebellious plot against a notorious dictator Generalísimo Ricardo Miraflores.

The Kickstarter description likens the game to Gone Home, which I personally enjoyed. Hopefully it’s another step in the right direction for this genre.

E3 2014: No Man’s Sky

By: Derek Yu

On: June 9th, 2014

New gameplay footage of the procedurally-generated open world game No Man’s Sky, which is coming to PlayStation 4 as well as PC (EDIT: PC is actually unconfirmed). From the creators of Joe Danger.

Announced: Nova-111

By: Alehkhs

On: February 25th, 2014

In a turn-based reality, an alternate spacetime of real-time has been discovered. Unfortunately, the conflicting spacetimes have ripped apart the cosmos in a “real-time/turn-based time-vortex.” That is the setup for Funktronic Labs’ upcoming game, Nova-111, where turn-based strategic planning meets real-time reactions and urgency. The player is placed at the helm of the titular Nova-111, a relatively harmless research vessel tasked with exploring cavern after cavern in an effort to rescue survivors stranded after the vortex smashed the two spacetimes together.

Along the way, players will discover powerful upgrades to their ship and encounter many different types of obstacles in the form of environmental dangers and monsters. Some of these monsters will attack in turn-based time, and some in real-time. These two time scales, along with the monsters’ differing attacks, fuse together to create an almost puzzle-like experience, and the player is quickly taught to approach enemy encounters more in dances of infighting and timing rather than simply engaging in direct combat.

Funktronic Labs hopes to release Nova-111 for Windows, Mac, and Linux later this year. For more information, head on over to the game’s website or Funktronic Labs’ blog.

Preview: Ace Ferrara and The Dino Menace

By: Alehkhs

On: February 15th, 2014

Do you remember sitting in front of the TV on Saturday mornings with a big bowl of sugary cereal, watching the latest adventures of Proton Rider (Intern) Ace Ferrara as he fought off the Dino Menace? Wait – what? That was never a real Saturday-morning cartoon? Developer Philipp Seifried sure could have fooled me with his announcement trailer for the upcoming Ace Ferrara And The Dino Menace.

Described as “a space combat simulation game featuring mystery, romance, cat-augmentation, electronic brains, the Dino Wars, a scientific genius, his niece and her dog Ranger and a heartfelt appreciation for 80s sci-fi cartoons,” Ace Ferrara And The Dino Menace places players in the role of the titular Ace Ferrara, who has managed to gain an internship working with his heroes – the elite Proton Riders. Inspired by classic space-dogfighting games like the Wing Commander series, the game will offer a campaign of objective-based missions, with the story progressing through briefings and downtime interactions on board the Proton Riders’ flagship, Discordia. Philipp Seifried (the game’s sole developer in charge of “graphics, code, music, writing and cat-petting”) aims to launch the game on iOS devices this spring, with planned releases for Android, PC, and Mac following not too long after. You can keep up with the game’s development through its DevLog on TIGForums.

Hit the jump for some early gameplay footage and screenshots of Ace Ferrara and The Dino Menace.

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Teaser: Monstrum

By: Alehkhs

On: February 13th, 2014

The teaser trailer above comes from Team Junkfish, announcing their next game, Monstrum. Previously known as Project: Maize, the game promises to be “Like Alien, but at sea.” Team Junkfish hopes to “[focus] on the oft forgotten ‘survival’ element of survival horror games,” by thrusting players into the dark corridors of an abandoned cargo ship, cut-off and alone – except for the presence of a deadly beast that stalks their every move. Players will have to avoid the monster as they search the ship for a possible way to escape, ” using their wits and guile to evade the monster hunting them, running, hiding and luring it away with distractions to avoid getting killed.” Offering permadeath and a procedurally-generated ship that changes each playthrough, Monstrum will also support the Oculus Rift for added immersion pucker factor.

Team Junkfish plans to show off some gameplay at this year’s GDC (Booth 1238) and EGX Rezzed in March, but curious players can follow the team’s postings on on the Team Junkfish website or the Monstrum Facebook page for more information as it surfaces.

Announced: Subnautica

By: Alehkhs

On: December 16th, 2013


 
Following their namesake, indie studio Unknown Worlds (Natural Selection 2) has decided to explore new ground with their next project and will be taking a plunge into the unexplored depths. Titled Subnautica, the game “will combine elements of role playing, sandbox, exploration and cinematic games” in an underwater setting. Players will be able to construct and customize submersibles that they will then pilot into the unknown as they explore an alien ocean. Not much is known yet beyond these outlined gameplay goals just yet, but Unknown Worlds plans to keep the public up-to-date with a widespread social presence, including an official project website, blog, Twitter, and YouTube.

Teaser: No Man’s Sky

By: Alehkhs

On: December 8th, 2013

Boldly making its presence known last night during the Spike VGX Awards, No Man’s Sky is the latest project by indie studio Hello Games (Joe Danger), and the latest title to emerge in the apparent Space-Sim Revival of 2013. Alongside the gorgeous combat of Enemy Starfighter and the trade-and-fleet management of Limit Theory, No Man’s Sky looks to focus primarily on planetary discovery and exploration, offering the player endless solar systems of procedurally-generated planets that they can seamlessly land on and explore by foot.

I’m getting strong Noctis vibes from the concept and trailer, and I’m pleased to see yet another amazing-looking space sim coming from the indie community. It’s a good time to game.