Weekly Overview of the Bundle For Ukraine | Gaming
Weekly Overview of the Bundle For Ukraine 29: The Return of the Duplicity Void
I’m starting to fear that we may be here for a while.
Overview
Obviously I’m doing a lot of exaggeration, but I’m not kidding when I say that we’re in for a lot of unique and new titles in this bundle. At a glorious split of 20/10, the bundle has moved towards a lack of duplicates as we march towards the end.
Many of the games are still in 2D, which may be a fun stat that I may look into for later on how many games prefer that 2D style over 3D. Obviously when it comes to resources and accessibility 2D is much easier, but with the constant technological advances I did assume we’d see more 3D titles.
Nevertheless we’re also getting that surge of asset packs that I assumed we would, so that is also helping to round out the bundle. It’s coming along nicely, even if I’m having to slow down the blog release dates because of how many games there are and how few of them are duplicates.
Video Games
Software
Duplicates
Video Games
1993 Space Machine
Aurora Punks are back at it again, but this time they aren’t here to frustrate with a game about a hopping square. Instead we get 1993 Space Machine, a retro-inspired arcade bullet hell that wants to honor the classic space shooters of the yesteryears such as Life Force, R-Type, and Xenon II. Here’s the kicker about it though — this isn’t a retro game. This is actually a game from 1993.
1993 Space Machine is a game lost in time, originally called Shenandoah: Daughter of the Stars and was slotted to release back in 1993 for the Amiga. Unfortunately, life happens fast, and it hit the dev team hard mere days before its launch, shelving the project indefinitely and causing it to disappear into the void as the dev team wrestled with their own personal issues.
But this wasn’t the end for the game. Artist and designer of the game Krister Karlsson kept it in a box by accident, and decided to resurrect it after showing off to friends. If you want an extensive outlook on the history of the game, Polygon did a fantastic article back in 2014 all about it, linked here.
So why does it hold up? Outside of the obvious nostalgia that many have for that era, the game now dubbed ‘1993 Space Machine’ polishes up a solid co-op space shooter that focuses on the fun of presentation and customization. You’ve got lots of ships to choose from with upgrades slots and weapons to add, all built off of the currency gained from each level. Other players can join in on the fun to help you out as you shoot through waves of enemies, dodge walls, and uncover strange bosses.
The other thing is the shield system, an intuitive mechanic that gives way to making a normally passive system much more active. Each ship starts with a shield, represented in strength by its dots, but it only covers so much of the ship. Instead, you can rotate it around to block shots, and each dot has the chance to regenerate if given ample recovery time. You now have to think about where you want to position your protection, where to allow for certain parts of it to recover before getting destroyed, and when to let it die for a bit more damage.
It’s so compelling to play in a time-capsule like way, with its gorgeously illustrated backdrops that look like they’ve been ripped straight out of the Amiga — because they were. It’s a situation that doesn’t come around often, and it’s hard to argue with just how much fun it is.
Revolver and Co
Revolver and Co is what you’d get if you were really into trivia and guns. Created by Chequered Ink, a duo indie team from the UK, players join the fun as the newest recruit to Randco Izzy Buspec. Her mission? To destroy passive robots throughout various biomes. Because they’re wealthy, and you are here to take their wealth. Are you the bad guy? Probably, but worry about that later!
The story is there to enable the silly gameplay which centres on reaching the end of the level with at least a single bullet remaining. How you use bullets is determined through the trivia questions that each robot poses. Your job is to give an accurate answer with the number range given, such as between 1 and 100 or 1 and a billion. For each number you are off (or decimal places for the billions) you use a single bullet to get passed the boss.
This means that getting as close as possible is the name of the game, no matter the circumstances. You’re rewarded for your educated guesses, and punished for choosing random nonsense since you must restart the level if you run out of bullets. The questions vary in themes depending on the region and range, so one second you’ll be asked about ages and another the number of people that were on the moon in a set year.
It’s hard to really say why I love this game outside of the obvious: I love trivia games. Knowing random facts is always fun, and seeing how few bullets I can use each round is utterly satisfying. The art style and hilarious narrative help to keep things engaging even if the questions are feeling strange, so I can’t help but keep playing. This might be a game tailor made for me, but I know there are more like me out there.
Redd’s Runaway
Redd’s Runaway is an infinite runner adventure created by BeWolf Studio, a solo indie developer in Mexico. This tale follows the familiar protagonist Redd, inspired by the fairy tail Little Red Riding Hood, on her quest to stop an Underworld invasion that threatens to wipe out Brock City.
When infinite running adventures get added, many inevitably think of the mobile games that have flooded the world with their presence. Redd’s Runaway instead goes for the arcade retro feeling, as you are running in a 2D world trying to dodge out enemies and reach the highest score possible before the boss appears. Each of the 6 levels have a chunk of an amulet, and collecting all three will spawn the final boss that challenges your positioning and reactions.
Each amulet also unlocks new spells to use, which are fired infinitely in a shoot-em-up style. The default blast is quick but low damaging, but you’ll soon get new spells to cycle between as you collect more amulets. For example, the first amulet grants the ‘solar’ spell, which fires infrequent blasts of sunlight for large amounts of damage. All spells can be upgraded with the coins that are collected in the levels, so there’s even scalability to these power-ups.
What makes Redd’s Runaway so memorable is not just its actively engaging (yet difficult) combat, but its commitment to a gorgeous aesthetic. True to its arcade inspirations, the CRT filter flickers slightly and curves at the edges to give the ultimate retro feeling. The art and style aim for a Day of the Dead mixed with Halloween, so the bosses are colourful and sinister while you run through 6 fantastic locations.
Add on a story that is much more engaging than I was expecting and different modes to play depending on how you feel and you’ve got a fantastic retro adventure that brings out the best of the genre. It’s hard and can take a while to get the hang of, but it’ll always entice you to come back.
Sarawak
A narrative game by indie duo Cowleyfornia Studios, Sarawak blends traditional conversations with interactive fiction as you follow Mia Green in her attempts to clear the name of her mother for the murder of a university professor.
Split into specific chapters to give that feeling of reading a novel, Sarawak has you navigate social interactions to the best of your ability while attempting to solve puzzles and mysteries. It’s up to you how much of your quest you let on to those you talk with, from the police officer that first interrogates you to the oblivious student minding their own business. Each decision will affect how the narrative plays out by altering how each person feels about you; if you spill your guts to this person, will they be receptive of your honesty or use it against you? There’s no way of knowing ahead of time, but the story gives you a lot of context clues in order to discern the intentions of the other people.
After all, the art pieces for each scene aren’t just there for show, but can be integrated into both the story’s ability to give clues and to force you to solve puzzles. There are numerous instances where the story seems to ‘stop’, and it is up to you to figure out how to continue the plot through puzzles. They reward those that keep clicking things, similar to a ‘point and click adventure’, and there are many instances where the only clues you’ll get are your own deductions.
The art is crisp and clean, and the puzzles are extremely engaging while feeling integrated into the plot. What more could you want from a murder mystery novel? Sure the ending is a bit abrupt, but that can be excused for the fun and tension that you get throughout the rest of the game.
We go hard
Vulture
Vulture is a modular bullet hell created by Cubic Timeline Productions, and focuses on a simple premise; what if you could build your ship as you see fit for your bullet hell adventures? Focusing on this modularity, you will join the military to fly a block-based drone that you build to complete levels and shoot all the enemies. Each level is scored to give extra currency and rewards, incentivizing both smart building and careful planning of your drone. This currency then helps you buy and upgrade your drone to further your exploits, whether it be to tank the ship up to block shots, make it more aerodynamic, or just add as many guns as possible and hope for the best.
The other neat thing about Vulture is that your ‘block-based’ ship building isn’t limited to you as the enemies are also block-based. This means that blocks can be destroyed on a ship, crippling certain systems to make fights easier. This comes in extra handy during boss fights, when certain systems can make the fight a nightmare. If you’ve wanted more customization in your bullet hells, this is a great game to try out.
Regina & Mac
The studio ‘Diplodocus Games’ may not be familiar, but the developers of Regina & Mac are also frequent collaborators and developers with Toree 3D dev Siactro. As you might imagine, Regina & Mac is also a 3D arcade platformer straight out of the N64 era, with its influences of Banjo-Kazooie being blatant. You are a macaw and tyrannosaurus duo navigating a research lab, finding golden floppy discs to restore the exit while exploring a blocky paradise. Those that love the nostalgia will fall in love instantly.
do note: similar to Toree, DualShock controllers are wonky — the game doesn’t work without a controller, so whatever work arounds you used for the other Unity games should work here.
PROVIDER
A quaint game is PROVIDER, a surreal experience by CakeNeq Games, a studio in Alaska. Using that landscape as inspiration, you find yourself in a tundra landscape as a titular ‘Provider’, one who traverses time to ferry those caught in between. The souls rest in these ‘Excluded Zones’, regions caught in time that are hostile to everything and everyone for various reasons, and you need to explore them in order to meet these souls and ‘rescue’ them.
The excitement is in the bleakness of it all; think Dark Souls from a strange top-down camera angle and with less ability for combat. You will find stories across all ages, people cursed by all kinds of vices and ailments, and it is your job to see if you can provide for them or die trying. Hopefully you can make it back ‘home’ before you run out of heat, because everything is frigid.
Grow Big (or Go Home): Ultimate Edition
Grow Big (or Go Home) is a vegetation puzzle game created by Quarant Inc, a remote co-operative in Europe. You play as Bruce, the greatest indoor gardener in the world™ in his contracts to grow plants for different individuals from Santa to witches. Each level revolves around attempting to grow specific plants within the timeframe of the light as it passes overhead from one side to another.
To get the plants to grow, they need light, water, and time. The light is fixed as it goes across the level, but you have a mirror that can be angled to direct the sunlight to the plants. So you need to run around, getting the plants to grow as efficiently as possible by angling the light and watering them, and hoping that your efficiency is good enough. Each level brings stranger ways to make this challenging, from walls to hazards to creatures. Best of luck to you, master gardener.
The Wishing Stone
A curious collaboration of visual novel and point-and-click adventure, The Wishing Stone follows Ailsa after she was gifted a ‘wishing stone’ from a witch. After making a simple wish on the stone, she is granted her wish through the strangest means which result in her questioning the reality she views in front of her. Her memory isn’t consistently updating, and the more she interacts with magic the more holes open in the story of her life. What is real? What is manipulating her memories? The only way to find out is to keep looking.
The mystery puzzles allow for the game to branch into different endings, along with cleverly making the game more challenging than it first appears. If you enjoy mystery games with a strong focus on heartwarming stories, this might be the game for you.
WarpThrough
How much do you think about movement? WarpThrough by Ramon Huiskamp dares you to think about it all the time, as this is an action platformer all about using movement as its own form of attack. You’ll be following the strange story of Charlotte, also known as Red, as she dives into an interdimensional portal in order to save her friends and rescue the planet from constant monster attacks.
On the surface, WarpThrough looks similar to other 2D action platformers in the combat-centric sphere like TowerFall, where you’ll beat up monsters as they spawn to progress. Unlike those games, however, there is one button missing; the attack button. To perform an attack, you’ll have to stop moving. This charges up your character, and then your next movement will unleash the attack. This puts the entire idea of movement on its head, because now you must always move with some semblance of purpose if you wish to rid the level of monsters. Sure you can just jump around constantly, but the only other way to defeat monsters is to get a stage wipe bomb, which is infrequent at best.
Progression in WarpThrough centres around green portals that open in a sequential order. These represent the ‘level’ that you have reached, and will spawn shortly after entering the previous one. They could be anywhere, and that delay means that you need to survive while you wait. Each portal also alters the stage, sending you to a new zone that alters the kind of enemies that spawn. The farther you go, the harder/weirder the enemies that spawn become, and you’ll catch on quick which zones you want to escape as fast as possible.
I honestly wasn’t expecting to enjoy WarpThrough as much as I did. Maybe it was the cute campaign, or the unique way that it incorporated the progression design into the plot itself. Maybe I’m just a major sucker for games that take a simple mechanic and crank it up to 11 to showcase how much fun it can be. There’s so much under the surface at work here that it would be hard for me not to recommend it to everyone.
A Planet of Mine
Unfortunately this game has been removed from the store, and there is no pathway that I can find to retrieve it. The creator, Tuesday Quest, does not exist either on the website.
Cardful Planning
Time to flip the script: Cardful Planning is a puzzle game by Walk Home Games, a solo indie dev from Canada. You are put into rooms full of squares as a singular card, tasked with reaching the ‘faded’ card’ to open the door and leave. The door only opens if the card you are controlling has the same value as the faded one, so you’ll need to raise or lower the card through green and red ‘card spaces’. Here’s the catch; the card moves by flipping itself, and if the card is face down it cannot perform any of the space actions.
This means that movement and positioning are critical for both avoiding additional arithmatic or getting that final 1 in order to exit. This includes the importance of the abilities that are introduced through the suits you can pick up, such as how diamond allows you to move blocks. It’s a tight game that constantly updates to take you for a ride.
Where the Snow Settles
A gorgeous tale by Myriad Games Studio, Where the Snow Settles is a narrative game following Aurelia on a journey through different realms of the world. After interacting with the Sacred Stones on a dare, she finds herself in the spirit world, entangled in a new plot and must grow up quickly in order to save herself, her sister, and Mother Earth.
It’s more an interactive piece of fiction as you simply wander through the snow covered mountains, learning what Aurelia feels as she figures out which path to take. Aurelia’s growth is paramount to the story, and you see how she reacts to the changes both around her and within. It’s a coming of age tale that takes place within an hour, one with strong environmental messaging. Give it a shot if you’re in need of a picturesque story.
Mini’s Magic World
A cute little platformer reminiscent of the original greats, Mini’s Magic World follows the titular Mini as they attempt to save the world from an evil wizard. As a young wizard yourself, you can create blasts of magic in front of you to help in the fight against all the monsters that appear, be they quaint or sinister. Across the various levels you’ll be finding coins to collect that can boost your final score, or perhaps you skip them to speedrun your way to the chest. Maybe you just want to see how fast you can go?
That’s the beauty in the simplicity of platformers. They allow you to play how you wish. The controls are a bit strange, but otherwise Mini’s Magic World is an adorable little game.
Type The Entire Of Ulysses. That’s it. That’s the game.
In a hilarious twist of fate, the title of this game is exactly what it is. This is a typing game by Edward Atkin, a solo dev seen earlier with Other Minds and self proclaimed enjoyer of the novel Ulysses. For those unaware, Ulysses is a modernist novel by James Joyce, infamous for its inability to be ‘comprehended’ and its masterful use of errors as it follows characters similar to Homer’s Odyssey. It’s a controversially brilliant novel of modernism that is hard to describe otherwise.
Normally I’d say after something like “If you are intrigued, please read it before playing this” but there is no need. After all, this is a game where you type the entire novel word for word. Created for the “This Game is Way Too Long” jam, it separates the chapters into ‘typing challenges’ for you to test your skills while you read the book by proxy. It’s actually a mod of Atkin’s other game ‘A Relaxing Typing Game’, so if you enjoy this you may enjoy the original as well.
Maze Of Bears
Tile-based puzzling has never been more complicated. Maze of Bears is a massive puzzle game created by Stuart Bray of SnappyFingers, a solo indie dev in the UK. Your goal is simple; you fall asleep, and must find all of your cats in a puzzle world that bends at the edges to give a feeling of infinity.
Where things get complicated is that each region introduces new abilities to manipulate the map, totalling 16 by the end. These include pushing blocks, pulling blocks, defusing bombs, stealthing around, lighting things on fire, and cloning yourself. It’s truly a smorgasbord of puzzle mechanics all wrapped up into one giant game. If you like the mother of all puzzles, this may be right up your alley.
Resynth
Resynth is a rhythm puzzle game created by Polyphonic LP, an indie developer in Australia. This little game involves you as a square stuck in a world where the loop is unfinished, and it is your goal to right that wrong through sokoban-like grids. Each level starts with a standard 4/4 music countdown, along with squares scattered throughout the level that need to be pushed or rotated to their correct position. The tricky part is that the levels require specific paths and patterns in order to fully finish, which can require a lot of repetition in order to figure out the optimal path.
The other fun part is that because its a rhythm game you’ll be hearing incomplete songs the entire time, which may drive you up a wall. Each correctly placed item will flesh the song out to make it sound even better, but until you figure out the best possible way you’ll be listening to a half-finished song. Good luck righting that wrong!
Bouncy Cars
An adorable racing game, Bouncy Cars by asset creator and game developer assertchris brings your most chaotic fantasies to their simplest. You and one other person drive around a track, and each wall crash causes your car to lose life. Whoever loses all of their life is the ultimate loser, which means that getting the most laps isn’t necessarily the goal; better to survive longer than to burn out after all.
It only allows for two players, but it’s got a digger and a race car that you can drive as, so honestly that’s good enough for me. Tracks are generated by three keywords, so create whatever tracks your heart desires.
Gimmick in the Chaos Dimension
If you ever thought Pac-Man was too limiting, Gimmick in the Chaos Dimension is the game for you. created by SpaceMouse, Gimmick is the titular hero who is looking to finish her Graduate Thesis by delving into the Chaos Dimension. This dimension looks suspiciously like a game of Pac-Man, where you’ll collect stars to gain power and use the three abilities that she has available to navigate the dangerous space. Coins can be found to buy new unlockables and customization abilities, with a secret one found at 256 coins. If you enjoy the aesthetic and adorableness of it all, give it a shot.
Safari Zone
Released by indie dev Tiger Collins, Safari Zone is our final game of the page and a roguelike “collectathon” title. Originally released in 2021, it’s a game that focuses on your exploration of the titular Safari Zone, a world full of strange creature mutations, and your desire to document them all.
If you’ve ever heard of a little game called ‘Pokemon’, the premise of Safari Zone sounds extremely familiar. Given a documentation guide and a thirst for knowledge, your goal is to explore the regions of the Safari Zone to find every creature that exists so that it can be properly catalogued. Your time in the zone is limited to a specific number of meters however, hence the roguelike aspects of continuously learning the most efficient way to navigate the different wilds to find your targets. Each run will teach you something else about the particular biome you set out into, from what items are most useful to what creatures hide in plain sight.
You keep up your investigative abilities as you go in the hopes of being the first to see the mythical “Solarin”, a creature few believe exists. It aims for that relaxing feeling of simply exploring and finding new creatures, a “Pokemon without battling” so to speak. It can be a bit rough around the edges at times, but if you’re dedicated to the cause of discovery this might be a perfect game for you.
Software
Tiny Tales: Human NPC Nobility Sprite Pack
Mega Tiles is back once more, seen twice last page, but this time with a character sprite sheet aimed at nobility. Included in this pack are 20 sprites total, with a Prince, Princess, Noble and Monarch for you to use in your games.
Fantasy RPG Cursors (copper) & Fantasy RPG Cursors (gold)
A double-header from Leonid Deburger, these are two asset packs to alter the curser of your mouse. The aim is for fantasy games that want to spice up the curser used by the player for a bit more immersion, but you can just simply alter your cursor on your computer if you’re feeling spicy.
As labelled, the packs are either a copper-coloured aesthetic or a gold-finished aesthetic, so pick whichever you need — or mix and match to make things interesting.
Transmission for Them
Transmission for Them is a solo journaling game created by Eryk Sawicki within the traditional setting of being alone in space. I don’t know why so many journaling games are in space, although the isolation of the cosmos does set the mood quite quickly. This one is a tad bit different than the many others that exist out there, for Transmission for Them is a game about searching for a specific thing, a ‘them’ that exists out there. Because of this, it’s a lot more emotionally driven in your hunt, which I think makes it way more compelling. Give it a shot if you like playing alone and feeling a lot of emotions.
Technicolour
A GM-less TTRPG for 3–6 players, Technicolour follows the relationships of a friend group with the bizarre ability to teleport at the moment of strong emotions. The setting is agnostic, meaning that you can put this game in any environment that you see fit, as the system itself focuses on the storytelling rather than a specific setting. After all, when strong emotions occur, the teleportation phase activates, and you are at the mercy of the where and when — but you always teleport back. It’s an interesting way of diving into how relationships affect individuals, so it could be fun to dive in.
Widdershins [Keepsakes, first edition]
If you’re like me, you watched Toy Story as a kid and became paranoid about your toys watching you, eventually leading to fear that they would hate you if you stopped playing with them. Widdershins by Fool’s Moon Entertainment is a TTRPG that preys on this feeling, because it is a game of lost toys and where they went. You tell the tale of where this toy went, heightened by the possibility of it being a toy that you personally had as a kid. Dive into the possibility and see where it leads you.
Sallow-Séance
Let’s get weirder with Sallow-Seance, a TTRPG by BakkhosBlood. You and your friends have summoned a demon at your slumber party, almost like the plot of a B-list horror movie. Unfortunately for you, this demon adores gossip, and it is up to each of you to spread as many rumors as possible about each other to keep the demon satiated. After all, the demon will eat the souls of those it deems the most ‘horrid’, so the more you can convince it that you are a saint, the better your odds of survival. Playing into the trope about teenagers and their ability to gossip and be horrible people, you’ll do whatever you can to keep yourself alive.
Drinking & Intoxication: A D&D 5e Supplement
Drinking and D&D have gone hand in hand for decades, but pastellexists has decided to take this to the next level. This is a supplement for fifth edition that attempts to simulate the effects of alcohol beyond the currently written rules of ‘just getting poisoned’. It has modifiers and thresholds for different races, variable drink strength, and even hangover rules to spice things up. Perfect for those wanting to add a bit more silliness to their already rampant adventuring.
SimonWL — The Art of 2020
The last time we saw SimonWL was last bundle with their comic Weirdogs 01. This time, we’re graced with the entirety of their artwork drawn during the 2020 year, all conveniently within a single pdf. It has works related to the comic, along with sketches, commissions, fanart, and more. Many things weren’t shared online, so this is an exclusive look at their 2020 creativity.
Endless Lands
Our last software entry is a TTRPG by Mundos Infinitos, and takes you on a high fantasy adventure with a simple dice system. The characters are highly unique thanks to the extensive character books that allow for a lot of variability and personality to flow. Everything is here to heighten the fantasy world that you create, and there are even ways to customize the system to maximize your fun. Give it a try if you’re looking for something simple yet highly customizable.
Duplicates
~Silence~
