Video GamesIndie games to play this spring: Grapple, Heartbeats, Sunset
Spring is almost here and it's time to look ahead to all the cultural happenings coming up once winter has thawed. These are the some indie games looking forward to playing.
Spring is coming: Soon, our fancies will turn to love. Drinks will be consumed outdoors. Frisbees will be thrown and caught by man and dog alike. With all these distractions, it's awfully easy to write off playing video games during warmer weather; still, though, you're going to need something to do when you're hungover, or when it's thunderstorm-ing. We've got you covered.
March 3
White Night
PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, Mac, and Linux
The arresting, literally-black-and-white art style underscores the noir and horror atmospherics in this "classic survival-horror" game from OSome Studio. Solve puzzles in an abandoned mansion. Get hassled by deadly apparitions. Get to the bottom of something. It's a classic formula, but when's the last time a Fatal Frame or Alone In the Dark (or, cough, Resident Evil) game came out that looked this good?
March 9
Grapple
PC
Play as a little ball of viscous liquid that flies, bounces, and glides all around a psychedelic outer-space environment to reach your goal. Grapple's real test will be the design of its puzzles, but with notes of instant classics like Portal, World of Goo, and English Country Tune, Midnight City has laid down the foundation for something great.
"Middle of March"
Heartbeats
iOS
The Scandinavian masterminds behind this iOS "hardcore puzzle in a graphic novel format" put so much of their resources into its art and puzzles that they were unable to include a soundtrack. They were resourceful enough, however, to ask some friends to create Spotify playlists (accessible from inside the game) to go along with the experience.
"First Quarter 2015"
Titan Souls
Linux, Mac, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita and Windows PC
A tiny hero with one measly arrow faces off against a series of bosses much stronger and faster than he is. One hit kills the player, Lord knows how many expertly timed hits kills the boss. I played the updated version of this Ludum Dare hit at IndieCade East this year, and it made me frustrated enough to almost swear in front of a bunch of small children.
Spring 2015
A Fistful of Gun
PC
Just about any game published by Devolver Digital guarantees a certain amount of tactical, stylized insanity. Even with the existence of games like Hotline Miami and Luftrausers, however, watching a few seconds of A Fistful of Gun's run-and-gun neon old west gameplay instantly caused me to imagine myself shouting at my television, sending cats and empty food containers sailing across my living room.
SPRING 2015
Sunset
PC, Mac, Linux
As an American trapped in a Latin American dictatorship, clean the apartment of one of its wealthy residents. The latest game from Tale of Tales continues their exploration of quiet experiments with how interactivity relates to one's personal agency, and how they both can relate to experiencing a narrative.
Just 2015, possibly spring
Chasm
Win, Mac, & Linux and Playstation 4
You can't swing my still-simmering addiction to Spelunky without hitting a new procedurally generated adventure game, but Chasm's focus on lushly detailed pixel art and emphasis on telling a story set it apart from its brothers in randomly generated arms.