WOBFU: Weekly Overview of the Bundle For Ukraine
Page 4 of the Bundle For Ukraine is — OBJECTION!
Nina Aquila is BACK, BABY. Oh, and there are a lot of mystery games.
Overview
A beautifully even split this page, with 15 games and 15 software. Compared to the previous bundle, however, this is a tad early for this phenomenon to be occurring. I might be jumping the gun a little, especially with how not even page 3 was, but I will say that this; in the previous bundle, we didn’t get below 20 video games until roughly page 27. Again, this might just be an outlier. But if it is not, my job reviewing this bundle might get a bit… lighter.
That’s all useless speculation though. For now, we’ve got 10 duplicates of relatively even split, making it more accurate to say that there are 9 video games and 11 software pieces. So let’s get right into it!
Video Games
Software
Duplicates
Video Games
Recommendations include:
Nina Aquila: Legal Eagle, Season One
Hang on, some might ask; wasn’t this game in the Racial Justice and Equality bundle? Well, yes, but also no.
Nina Aquila: Legal Eagle is a detective series created by Tanuki-sama Studios, the studio name for UK solo indie dev Ethan Fox. Within the series are three chapters following the titular Nina Aquila as she attempts to defend her clients from a myriad of accusations while also hoping to spin her life back around.
Spanning across three different chapters, Nina will explore crime scenes, court rooms, and her own personal struggles in order to hopefully solve the ultimate looming crime.
First off, yes this technically is a duplicate; in the sense that one of the chapters was featured in the Racial Justice bundle. Chapter 2 was the game that introduced me to the series and I wrote about it in great length here. Chapter 1 is a demo that can be played in browser, and one I admittedly (and accidentally) skipped. Chapter 3 was not included in the bundle, but Ethan actually reached out to me and gifted me a copy that I was able to dabble in a bit. So at first glance, this looks like an entire duplicate, or at least a 2/3’s duplicate in terms of the bundle.
However, this isn’t just a bundled-up version of the three, this is ‘Season One’; a complete overhaul of the entire first three games and packaged into one loving tribute to the series as the studio moves on to their fourth installment. The main difference that anyone familiar with the series will notice is the character design and portrait updates. All of the characters have been redrawn to distance themselves from the original ‘GameMaker’ aesthetic and UI, now sporting lovingly painted portraits. Nina herself has been redesigned a little, but her hilarious personality remains all the same.
Without treading over too much ground that I covered in the previous writeup, the core gameplay of the Nina Aquila games remains the same; a mixture of visual novel and detective adventure popularized by the hit series ‘Phoenix Wright’. While I never played the series, I know of its legacy, of defendants poking holes in the prosecution’s cases while yelling ‘OBJECTION’ at max volume, colourful characters, and pop culture references galore. It’s equal parts ridiculous and strategy, and popularized the style.
Nina Aquila does all of this and more by adding in the freedom to explore both crime scenes and the city itself. Nina and her ‘secretary’ Dylan will wander throughout the city as they see fit, talking to whomever they can and hoping to gleam any evidence. If that doesn’t work, sometimes they’ll have to go on elaborate schemes to achieve it, like that time they entered a Yu Gi Oh — I mean DFO — tournament to get the champs to talk.
It’s a delightfully charismatic journey enhanced by its new shiny package, giving art galleries and free roam possibilities even after the cases are done. If you loved my overview on Chapter 2 a few years back, I guarentee that this is a treat. If you hadn’t, then give it a shot; you’ll crack those cases in no time.
Cosmic Express
Ever wanted to play a puzzle game, but also wanted an adventure in space? Cosmic Express is all of this by Draknek & Friends, a studio in London that specializes in puzzle games. If you were looking at the bundle in order, you might see another one of their games earlier on in the page. This isn’t about that game, though; we’re here to talk about space trains.
Each level starts with a passenger train, containing a single cart, and at least one exit. The goal is to collect a passenger and deliver them to their respective coloured box, which builds a house for them to live. The issue, of course, is that train tracks cannot overlap — meaning that the train must be able to deliver every person in the level and reach the exit.
The single cart of the train also means that players can only transport one alien at a time, and must drop them off at a box in order to pick up someone new. This creates the entire puzzle mechanic as players need to figure out how the track can be laid out so that each person can be picked up and dropped off without running out of space and reaching the exit.
It’s a puzzle type seen before, but thanks to the adorable space aesthetic and massive scalability it does a fantastic job of sucking you in. Dragging out the tracks is extremely easy and intuitive, and tracks can be undone quite quickly in numerous ways. Each little alien picked up and droped off makes adorable little sounds, and there are even multiple exits at times to determine which direction you want to go to explore the different galaxies.
If you adore casual puzzles that scale in both size and difficulty, this is a fantastic game for you.
The other games of the page include:
A Good Snowman Is Hard To Build
Adorable little Sokoban puzzle game by Draknek & Friends, players will follow an adorable entity as they attempt to make dozens of different snowmen.
Each level is sectioned off by hedges and contains at least three snowballs in a variety of locations within the area. To make a snowman, however, requires three different sized snowballs, meaning that they need to be pushed through snow to gain sizes. This is where the Sokoban kicks in, for you’ll have to figure out pathways to push the snowballs so that there are three different sizes, and make sure they all get on top of each other. For your work, they’ll transform into a named snowman, and be as adorable as possible.
If you ever get tired, just sit on a bench and relax; the game is meant to be soothing after all.
Detective Case and Clown Bot in: Murder in The Hotel Lisbon
A detective game of a different flavour, this is a game by the Portugese-based studio Nerd Monkeys. Within, the titular Detective Case and his sidekick ‘Clown Bot’ will attempt to solve the strange case of a man who committed suicide by stabbing himself in the back 14 times.
Using your deductive reasoning, you’ll collect evidence that will fuel the interviews to gain crucial knowledge to solve the case. Unfortunately for the dynamic duo, however, there are a lot of people involved. Top it all off with a theatrical stylization and you’ve got a solid dinner mystery game.
Note: do be aware that it can crash quite frequently.
Fostering Apocalypse
A small narrative game in which you, a survivor of the apocalypse named Del, end up acquiring a small demon child to foster. The world is bleak in its red barren wastes, and Del will go from area to area hoping to avoid everyone and scavenge for food.
The issue is, with another mouth to feed, she’ll have to divert her scraps to two mouths instead of just one. At the end of each area, people may show up to talk with her, with the conversation inevitably ending up on the small child and what their fate should be. Del can try to fight her way out, or choose between two talking-based decisions. Whichever you decide will determine how the small child feels towards Del, and ultimately her fate will decide everyone else's. Good luck.
THE BLACK IRIS
Horror returns, but not the ‘jumpscare’ kind; more of the ‘how do I perceive this’ kind. Sent to an abandoned research facility with only a torch and a mission, players will hope to decommission three pieces of equipment and gather any intel before coming home. Each note paints a very different picture than the company tells, with the researchers slowly realizing that they might have unearthed something that should’ve remained buried.
Thanks to the PSX graphics and fixed camera angles, you’ll feel little control as you maneuver through the areas. Hopefully you don’t get too mesmerized.
Rusty Lake Hotel
Inspired by escape room puzzles, this is the first game in a series of point and click adventures by the team of ‘Rusty Lake’, who are keen to slowly unravel the mysteries of the world that they have created. If the name is familiar, it’s because they are also the creators of ‘The White Door’ from page 3 of the Racial Justice Bundle.
This adventure has you play as an unnamed butler, maneuvering throughout the house to collect items and gauge interests from the five guests before they retire to their rooms. From there, players will pick one of the five guests to cater towards. If struggling to pick one, there is a slight prompt; players must find ingredients for the chef, and on each Day one is hidden in the lobby. Best of luck in figuring out how to get the rest, but I’m sure it’ll be fine.
Toree 3D
A blast from the past for all you PSX gamers out there, as Toree has you platforming in a low poly 3D space with only one objective: reach the end as fast as possible. There are stars to collect to boost your final score, but get too reckless and you might find yourself falling off one of the cliffs. The music is bopping, and little Toree is adorable.
Not much more you could want from a retro game, and now that there’s a sequel you can run through the numerous levels here before hopping over there.
Software
Interesting factoid, all of the ‘software’ on this page are actually TTRPGs, making this title inaccurate. Sometimes it just happens.
Session Zero
A brilliantly intriguing game that focuses on the typical ‘session zero’ procedure of creating a character. It ‘gamifies’ this process to turn it into a deck-based game in which you go on a solo journey to experience what made your character into what they are today.
If you want to get more intimate with the character you are creating for another game, this is perfect.
Runecairn: Core Rules
Odin’s Beard has unsurprisingly created this loving adventure for two people within the Norse fantasy realm. Set after Ragnarok has consumed everything, the game is built upon the foundation of The Cairn with the added benefit of streamlining the process to dive in faster.
There’s even some Dark Souls flavour in there, as death cannot seem to hold anything anymore now that the 9 Realms have perished. If you love bleak adventures with some dynamic combat and decisions, this might be great for you.
What’s So Cool About Lucha Libre?
A spin on traditional TTRPGs coming from the ‘What is so cool about…?” jam, you will be the ultimate wrestler helping the common folk while also performing fantastical stunts in the ring. The mask you wear gives you the ability to see spirits and use magic to help fight all of the evils that arise. It’s rules-lite, so get ready to bend them all to ensure you are victorious.
Big Rock Candy Hexcrawl
In an interesting change of pace, Big Rock Candy Hexcrawl is a ‘TTRPG’ in which you use hexagonal tiles to form the pathways through calming setpieces and scenery.
It’s a system neutral adventure, only including a few files from other games, so you don’t have to worry too much about previous experiences. It also defaults to using ‘Settlers of Catan’ pieces to generate the map, but if you have any other hexagonal environment tiles those will work just as well.
APOCALYPSE FRAME
Alright, no more humans and relaxation, time for MECHA WARS. Binary Star Games crafts an entire TTRPG about a team of Ace pilots drafted into the resistance movement called the Collective to fight against the brutal regime. Pick your frames, design them to look the most stylish, and get ready to destroy everything that attempts to stop you from freeing everyone.
This current version has advanced rules for more technical explanations and dissections, and it was recently updated for even more nuance. Good luck, Ace.
Locus
The name betrays the game, for this is a horror RPG — nothing ‘nice’ and ‘fluffy’ was ever called Locus, at least not yet.
Players will take on flawed characters, exploring their morality and consequences against the supernatural danger that hunts them. You must first unravel the mystery of the world; but only by surviving it do you win. Interestingly, it utilizes a ‘negative feedback’ mechanic, as negative attributes determine how poorly your character will perform, rather than how well.
You also get to design the monsters that is hunting you! Always great to let people’s imaginations run wild to scare themselves to death.
UMBRA: A Solo Game of Final Frontiers
From the supernatural, we go off world to the land of space once again. Blackwell returns with UMBRA, a game in which workers are desperately mining out squares of a grid, hoping to find the ultimate ‘Reaper’s Gambit’ in order to win a hopeless war.
Using a deck of cards and some paper, you’ll slowly map out the planet you are trying to keep alive, and hope to lose slow enough to achieve the ultimate victory.
T-DEF
Space is scary, and T-DEF proves it by pitting you against an alien force that once befriended you, only to betray everyone. Inspired by XCOM, this is a GMless game that can go anywhere and be played at any time as long as you’ve got the game and some missions ready. Make your choices, grab your guns, and squish some bugs.
Cast Away
We step away from the supernatural and the extraterrestrial, because sometimes survival is the biggest fear. Created by Afterthought Committee, this is a densely packed survival TTRPG in which you and at least one other person are trying to survive after a disaster. What caused it doesn’t matter; you only need to survive.
Forgoing health is its ‘diminishing dice’ mechanic in which all of the dice each survivor has is their survival. Dice are needed for skills, but also for HP; run out of both, and you have failed to survive. Have no fear, though, because then you can haunt your fellow players.
It’s a great game to generate some drama, and easily one you could see played to create some tension or introduce someone to TTRPGs.
Fake Chess
If you’ve ever liked chess but not ‘really’ liked chess, then do I have a game for you. It’s a roleplaying game in which you all pretend like you are grandmaster chess players, but in reality you’re just faking it.
The whole time you go back and forth making stuff up hoping to catch the other off guard, and eventually someone will ‘win’ this game of ‘chess’. The rules look like chess, but they aren’t; and that’s the best part.
Disparateum
Back to the fantastical we go with a game about layered worlds and realities to the point of absurdity. The only link known is ‘the Disparateum’, which encompasses them all and allows the players to wander each realm and do everything and anything.
It has a similar feeling to the board game ‘Etherfields’ in that it is almost Lovecraftian in its absurdity, with reality being only what you need it to be, or what someone else is imposing on you.
Currently it is in Act 1, with 7 planned total.
Stories to Astonish the World
Our final ‘new’ software is another TTRPG, this one drawing inspiration from Chinese landscapes and the strange happenings that occur to weary travellers.
You all travel the great river for whatever reason, hoping to reach your boat and avoid any dangerous mishaps. The players all have their own traits, but only together will they overcome each obstacle. Best of luck, and enjoy the gorgeous paintings.
Duplicates
10 duplicates is a hefty amount, but after last page I’m inclined to believe that this isn’t that many. Quite a few of these are highlighted games from the previous bundle, so make sure to check them out.
Fronds of Benevolence
Troika expansion that plays upon the whimsy and excitement of the old school style. It’s super bizarre, and you can see more here.
Underhero
When the peon witnesses the hero die, it is up to them to quietly revolt against the status quo. Fantastic parody of action games from page 4.
Beglitched
Adorably aesthetic Match 3 game, you are actually hacking with battleship-like skills to save everyone. Popular page 2 game, read more here.
Golf Peaks
Who doesn’t love golfing? Me, but I do love golfing minigames, especially ones that let me relax and just put up hills. Vibe with this game, read here.
FIST
Building off of Offworlders and World of Dungeons is a brutal mercenary TTRPG in which nobody is expected to survive. Read more here.
Working For The Corp
A Descended from the Queen game where you dive into a cyberpunk world to answer: who is the Corp, and will you defend it? Page 29, more here.
The Steadfast and the Rebellious
Hacking ‘REINCARNATION REDUX’ comes a game about revolting against a demon king — hit a little too close to home given the bundle its in. Page 31.
The Lost Art of Innkeeping
My favourite game from page 32 where you inherit a massive mansion, turn it into an Inn, and discover many secrets. Read on it here.
Super Hexagon
The iconic rhythm puzzle game is finally here for your amusement. React fast, hit the right hexagons, and groove. Read more about it here.
The White Door
An unsettlingly miniscule tale about a man living his life with a white door keeping him inside. Only way to open it is to find out ‘why’. Read here.
