Orcs Must Die Unchained
Developer: Robot Entertainment
Platforms: Windows
Available: Late 2014
Website
Robot Entertainment’s first two Orcs Must Die games were big enough successes that they aren’t as indie as some of the other developers on this list (for definitions where indie implies “small”). But the latest entry in the well-established active tower defense series has taken an interesting and decidedly MOBA-influenced turn.
What used to be a defensive battle against computer-controlled opponents charging your base in previous games is now a team-based battle between two sides, both trying to be the first to force their minions past the other team’s defense and into their base. Like previous Orcs Must Die games, players can set up automated defenses and also take direct part in battles against opposing minions and their human-controlled masters.
Teams have to find a good balance between the new classes of heroes, which include a fair share of damage-absorbing tanks and more defensive-minded magic-users. Players also have to manage a number of in-game resources in real time to level up their traps and “spawn camps” that regularly release the computer-controlled minions.
Unchained will be the first free-to-play game in the series, making money by selling packs of power cards.
-Kyle Orland
Nom Nom Galaxy
Developer: Q entertainment
Platforms: Windows
Available: Available now (Early access), final version TBD
Website
“This is my first time demoing today, so bear with me,” the Q Games rep said as he readied his company’s latest build of Nom Nom Galaxy (though it was known as Pixeljunk INC at the time. After 15 minutes with the game, it’s hard to imagine that he did much better demoing as his day went on. Quite frankly, there’s a lot going on in NNG, which makes the game a startling break from the Pixeljunk series’ simplicity and pick-up-and-play reputation.
Much like Terraria, players are given an open-ended 2D world to dig through and craft within, only with a mission-driven sci-fi twist. Players have been sent from their home planet to dig through a foreign land, find ingredients and materials, and build an underground soup factory–complete with an above-ground space-station that can launch soup back home.
Before long, the planet’s insect-like natives grow restless, so players will have to be more aggressive than in games like Minecraft or Terraria. That means building defense systems, helper robots, and upgraded weapons to keep the home base humming while exploring the planet’s furthest reaches to create rarer, more potent soup recipes.
On occasion, the Q Games rep tapped a button to fast-forward the game, revealing far more expansive bases humming with helper robots and suffering from annoying aliens. I could’ve used a few more minutes getting the hang of the game’s building sequences before the fast-forward button happened. Still, such complications and expansion potential should be good news for crafting-crazy gamers looking for a new take on the Minecraft archetype.
-Sam Machkovech
Push Me Pull You
Developer: House House
Platforms: Windows
Available: TBD 2014
Website
In recent years, games festivals like GDC and PAX have seen a rise in the presence of “couch sports”—non-combat multiplayer games that put twists on real-life sports, often drawing inspiration from simplified NES classics like Ice Hockey and Tecmo Bowl. The upcoming PC/PS3/PS4 compilation Sportsfriends is a clear example of the trend, and Push Me Pull You stands out as the best—and certainly weirdest—in the genre’s newest wave.
To win this two-on-two couch sport, your team must keep a little ball on its side of a court long enough to fill a victory timer. The gimmick is that each team controls a single, bizarre worm, with a head and feet on each end. Thus, nobody can simply grab the ball. Instead, the duos have to bend and walk their shared bodies to wrap around the ball, move it to their side of the court, and somehow block out the other worm.
You and your teammate will want to coordinate where each head runs, along with the “grow/shrink” mechanic that adjusts the worm’s size much like a vacuum cleaner’s automatic cord. Bigger worms can block better, but smaller worms can push more forcefully, so you’ll need to actively switch shapes and sizes to win. There’s also a genius “safety groove” around the court that the ball can fall into, stopping either team from scoring until someone dislodges it with a well-bent worm-shove.
The art style, with its blank-slate faces and melty bodies, makes the whole thing feel like a bizarre Adult Swim production, and that reputation is only confirmed by such delightful, bendy-shovy co-op play.
-Sam Machkovech
Rollers of the Realm
Developer: Phantom Compass
Platforms: Windows
Available: TBD 2014
Website
Rollers of the Realm isn’t the first game to mix virtual pinball and role-playing games; Pinball Quest on the NES beat it by a good two decades, and Odama on the Gamecube did something similar a bit more recently. Still, it feels like a concept whose time has finally come.
It’s pretty incredible how many standard RPG trappings the developers have managed to squeeze into the pinball infrastructure. Instead of points, players collect gold and spell-casting mana by launching the ball into obstacles and enemies. Party members are represented by swappable balls that each have their own strengths and weaknesses—the knight has more power but can’t fit through tiny openings, for instance. Items, special abilities, leveling up between boards, it’s all there. There’s even a bit of platforming in trying to make it through some of the maze-like corridors.
-Kyle Orland
Roundabout
Developer: No Goblin
Platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux
Available: TBD 2014
Website
Considering how good Crazy Taxi was, it’s kind of surprising the game didn’t inspire an entire generation of copy cat games based exclusively around chauffeuring people around. Roundabout is one of the few games to share that central concept, though the gameplay is more similar to an obscure Game Boy Advance release called Kuru Kuru Kururin.
As in that game, you’re in control of a long, thin vehicle that is constantly spinning in a circle for some reason. This makes it harder than normal to navigate the narrow alleyways and thoroughfares in the city without bumping into walls or obstacles. Just getting around the game’s open world can be difficult, especially if you don’t want to get around without tearing into a lot of the innocent bystanders that litter the streets. Then again, why would you want to avoid that?
Eventually, the game opens up to the third dimension with a wild spinning jumping ability, among other skills. It’s all tied together with some so-bad-they’re-good live-action scenes when you pick up a new fare. It comes off as endearing.
-Kyle Orland
Save the Date
Developer: Paper Dino Software
Platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux
Available: Now
Website
I’ve played these sorts of hip, modern, choose-your-own-adventure games before. I click through a story and make seemingly inconsequential choices about a sad relationship and first-world ennui. I usually go through the game again after reaching a conclusion, figuring I’ll get a different, plodding story if I click slightly differently.
But something about Save the Date seems different. It starts off pretty droll, choosing between cuisine like burgers or tacos, and then picking through tame first-date questions. I notice a weird bit of text at the end of one of the stories, and not just because, er, my date died due to a random act of public violence. The weird line begs for a second look, so I queue that story up once more. This time, I see a new option in my dialogue choices—a very small one—that reflects on something my character heard last time through. I pick it.
Basically, I am now playing “Groundhog Day: The Video Game.” Save the Date’s twists reach beyond such familiar “live another day” moments, so I’m hesitant to even spoil that much, but if you like the idea of a “Choose Your Own Adventure” story that adapts in tricky, high-tech ways and is backed by surprisingly sturdy, self-aware writing, do yourself a favor and download the game—free with a donation option—as soon as possible.
-Sam Machkovech
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