Playing Every Game in the Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality
PEGBRJE: ‘Penance’ and ‘Droid7
I am infected with Pixels.
Penance is a fast-paced FPS created by Akselmo, a Finnish game dev who also goes by Skale Games. Players are a disgraced reptilian Holy Warrior known as the Damned One, and it is up to them to destroy as much sin as they can before ultimately going down in flames.
In the traditional old-school style, players will start with only a sword and pistol to hack and shoot their way through the levels. The other five weapons are scattered throughout the castles of Hell to give players an edge over the hordes of different demonic figures. Each gun has its own ammo type, which can be collected similarly to the weapons from the floor — just remember which box colour and symbol is which, or run the risk of running out of rocket launcher ammunition when it is needed most.
Keeping with the older flavour, players do not need to reload as there is no magazine clip. All bullets are crammed in to the gun and only once the bullets are gone does the clicking sound of an empty gun play.
This is to keep with the best parts of oldschool shooters, the ‘no brakes on this freight train’ pace. For anyone that has ever played the original Doom, Wolfenstein, or any of the other dozens of ‘Doom Clones’ that were created back in the day, this constant movement and shooting will be extremely familiar. The levels are windy so that players can keep running around corners to drag enemies in to better areas to blow them all up, while never letting go of a movement button at any time. There’s some mild platforming at times, but nothing that will cause horrors of 3D platforming to kick in — only small jumps to add on to the tempo.
All that is needed to continue to the next level of Penance is a key and finding the portal and you are set to keep on diving in to Hell. From what I can tell it was originally an ‘endless’ FPS, but with the campaign can either enjoy a structured FPS or one that can theoretically go on forever. If you loved older FPS games (especially their soundtracks) then Penance is definitely a game worth trying out.
DROID7 is a time-based platformer created by Juan Colacelli, an indie developer and former software dev. Players are a small droid who gains sentience, only to realize they are stuck in a tower and are going to get mega-lasered if they don’t get hopping.
With only a double jump and movement in their arsenal, players will make their way up the ten floors of the tower as they are generated above them and destroyed by a freaking laser below them. Each level is only recognizable by the increase in the laser’s speed and a new hazard that can ruin the continuous jumping. These hazards can be dangerous spikes on a platform, enemies wandering around, and platforms that disappear after a short amount of time.
The mainstay hazard will forever be the increasing speed of the laser below, as it eats up the platforms underneath until either the player reaches the top, or the laser does. Touching it means death, unlike the rest of the hazards, so the constant pressure and fear of it ruining an entire run will always loom.
Made to be picked up and played at any time, DROID7 brings that arcade platformer style back to those of you who love it. You’ll get more points the higher you can get, but that means that it’ll be harder and harder to beat your high score — especially if the levels don’t generate in a way that works in your favour. But that’s all part of the appeal and the charm, and those of you who love that style will dive in and do it again and again.
Good luck, little droid.
