For the last week of May, 2DBoy’s Ron Carmel is orchestrating roughly 180 developers in an enormous sale event titled “Because We May.” The event’s website acts as a portal, allowing you to view all the offered games and link to their purchase pages. The sale features 383 games (some of which are duplicates on different platforms), including 60 games on Steam, 56 on GooglePlay, 139 for iOS, and many more for purchase from other sources or even directly from the developers. It really is quite impressive how large this sale is, so head on over to Because We May and see if there’s anything on sale that you’d like to grab.

When graphic designer Jon Caplin found himself with time on his hands while recovering from a broken jaw, he began work on a personal art-design project that drew from his memories of playing the classic god game Populous. What began as a simple hobby project arrives today as a full, completed game. Titled “Reprisal,” the finished product features one of the most gorgeous presentations of pixel art I’ve seen and is free to play in-browser.

Reprisal has its roots in the classic 1989 game Populous, by Bullfrog. Remembering his time with the game, Caplin says, “playing Populous, I realized the power of capturing someone’s attention making them lose hours of their lives playing games. I fell in love with those little pixel guys!” With Reprisal, he hopes to capture that same feeling and “re-introduce gamers to the original, simplistic genius of the early ‘god’ games.”

I would certainly say he has achieved that goal. The art of Reprisal is presented as a tilt-shift view of a tiny pixel world, providing the player with a sensation of looming over that in-game realm as if they were a deity. Over a campaign of 30 island levels, players must direct a tribe of followers as they collect scattered totems and rid the land of competing tribes. Collecting totems allows for the player to use elemental powers to aid their people, such as the ability to raise and lower land or to call forth natural disasters like volcanoes or tsunamis. All the while, the leaders of the other tribes will be doing the same against you.

Beyond the graphical presentation, Revival also boasts a full soundtrack of eight fantastic chiptunes by Eric Skiff. These tunes really add to the nostalgic aesthetic of the game while never distracting the player from the gameplay itself. I highly encourage this game not only for its old-school gameplay in homage to the god games of yore, but also for the fantastic audio-visual presentation – I would love to see a screensaver of the AI simply playing against itself in a full-screen world. Be sure to head on over to Reprisal Universe and check it out.

The Dream Machine is an episodic horror adventure game that stars Victor Neff, a young man who just moved into an apartment with his wife. The first three chapters of the five chapter story have already come out and are now available on Steam. With each short chapter costing $5, it really makes the most sense to try chapter one for free at the game’s website and then buy the full $15 bundle on Steam if you enjoy it.

Confusing distribution options aside, The Dream Machine has a wonderfully eerie and surrealistic atmosphere, and when I played it a year or so back, I remember the story and puzzles being quite interesting. Hopefully the final two chapters will be released soon.

A fantastic take on the classic Lunar Lander-style game, Lunar Flight is currently discounted 75% until May 25th. This drops the price of this challenging and (perhaps unexpectedly) atmospheric game to only $2.50 on Steam, Desura, and simMarket.

I’ve mentioned before that I enjoy my low-gravity maneuvers, and drifting over the surface of the Moon in Lunar Flight really captured my attention. Whether the mission is transporting cargo from one base to another, recovering lost items, or simply exploring the lunar surface, this game provides an incredibly immersive experience that’s still approachable by people not looking for a entirely hardcore simulation.

Announcing TIGJam UK 7! A weekend of making games in Cambridge, UK. Everyone’s welcome to come and make games, regardless of experience or background :) More information on this forum thread.

Get tickets here: http://tigjamuk7.eventbrite.com/

This is a teaser for Chasing Aurora, a new game from Broken Rules (And Yet It Moves). You play a bird person who has to “return the aurora to the skies”. An older teaser, from 2011, shows off what appears to be a competitive multiplayer mode.

Coming this year.

Iron Tower Studio has released a public beta for Age of Decadence, their up-and-coming role-playing game, and opened it for preorders. As far as I can tell, there’s a lot here to get hardcore CRPG players excited: AoD appears to put a heavy emphasis on role-playing, dialogue, and combat, with the three carefully intertwined. Quests are designed not only with multiple solutions, but also multiple starting points. One playthrough, for example, may have you assassinating a certain character while the other will have you protecting them – it all depends on how you choose to play. And the combat, which is turn-based, promises to be extremely punishing to players without the requisite stats and skills.

AoD takes place in the shadow of a crumbling, Roman-themed empire, where various political factions are vying for their own agendas. According to the FAQ, these factions play a strong role in the game, and as a player you can make and break alliances and even double- or triple-cross your allies. Or, if you want, you could try to ignore them and remain unentangled.

It sounds like Iron Tower is hellbent on delivering a complex CRPG in which your choices truly have deep consequences and role-playing is at the forefront. Enjoy the beta while you wait – Age of Decadence is slated for a 2013 release.

(Source: Chef Boyardee)

Nicalis has decided to suddenly cancel the North American and European release of La Mulana, citing declining sales on WiiWare and developmental issues as the cause. Nicalis’s Tyrone Rodriguez told GoNintendo: “With the Wii U in the not too distant future and WiiWare sales almost non-existent, I had to make a call today. I wish them the best. They’re good game developers and good guys.” Click the link for the full statement, which points to the DLC as the main reason why La Mulana was having trouble passing certification in North America and Europe (it’s apparently more strict than in Japan, where NIGORO already self-published the game). You may also want to check the Twitter accounts of NIGORO and Nicalis for more details.

Thankfully, it’s not all bad news: according to NIGORO, a PC release of the new La Mulana is almost finished and will also be self-published. Distribution has yet to be determined.

A number of previously-released games have been added to Steam recently.

First off is Joakim “Konjak” Sandberg’s Noitu Love 2, a fast-paced platformer that was put out four years ago. Even if you already played it, you may want to relive the good times to support the development of Konjak’s latest project, The Iconoclasts.

Wizorb is a Breakout game with RPG elements that came out on XBLIG last year. Developed by Tribute Games with some help from Paul Robertson, Wizorb has great pixel art and adds a number of fun, new ideas to the classic genre.

Capybara Games has ported the popular iPad adventure game Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP to PC. If a lack of iThing was preventing you from experiencing the sweet sights and sounds of Craig Adams and Jim Guthrie, now’s your chance!

Lone Survivor, the creepy survival horror title from Jasper Byrne, was released on Steam 20% off… the first sale since the game arrived last month.

Finally, David Williamson’s casual roguelike Hack, Slash, Loot is also available on Steam. With cutesy graphics and a simple mouse interface, this seems like a good release for those new to dungeon crawling. The OST was released today, as well.

If you’re interested in NES homebrew, you should check out Zooming Secretary, an original action game from programmer Shiru and artist PinWizz. In the game you play a secretary who has to answer phone calls after visiting the appropriate filing cabinet. Various co-workers will hamper your progress, but a coffee power-up will offer a speed boost to help you get through each of the eight work days.

Zooming Secretary is simple but polished, making it a good study for people interested in making their own NES games. The source code of the game is available here. A NES emulator like FCEUX is required to play.

Also, FEMICOM has an interview with PinWizz here.