You play as Victor and Alicia, a couple who’ve just moved into a new apartment. While trying to get settled in, they soon discover that all is not as it seems in the quiet, unassuming apartment building…

What We Think

Among the dozens of interesting games I saw at IndieCade 2011, I happened to stumble upon one of the finalists in a quiet back corner room where a few computers were tucked away, though their screens were being washed out by the sun blasting through a window in the later part of the afternoon.

Liking stories that explore the landscape of the subconscious and dream-states, and a long time fan of “Psychonauts,” naturally, I was immediately intrigued by the name “The Dream Machine” and then subsequently delighted by its unique look. The graphics you see, comprise hand-made stop-motion animation of clay, Popsicle sticks and other found items handled with painstaking care that would make the Quay Brothers blush.

To quote the developers:

“In order to differentiate it from most other games out there we decided to steer as far away from all things polygonal/vectoral, and are actually building all the environments, props and characters out of materials like clay and cardboard.”

The amount of creativity, and time that went into this is unlike any other I have yet seen. Whereas Telltale adapted the famous claymation franchise Wallace and Gromit for the PC with 3D graphics resembling clay, Dream Machine is literally to claymation what Dragon’s Lair was to Saturday Morning cartoons, except that it has much greater interactivity than the cut-scene style of Bluth’s standup arcade title. But I felt the same sense of awe as I did then.

Gameplay

Once I got to play a few minutes of the game I knew I was in trouble. The creepy vibe and fascinatingly mysterious story had me hooked. It wasn’t until tonight I was finally given the chance to play the first three chapters, and I can tell you that what worked in the first only gets better with the following chapters.

Beginning on a deserted island, you are taken on a journey through a surreal dream-like world, trying to solve a mystery that gets ever stranger and dire. The creepy vibe of the characters, are only made ever more captivating by the taut, but pensive ambient soundtrack that plays behind it. The music deserves a second mention; it really helps put you in the vibe of being in the dream world, that subtly and gradually becomes a nightmare.

The game is quite challenging, but not impossible, and with a little time, (and verbal brainstorming I had to do aloud), I pushed my way through the puzzles that appear within the narrative progression and often require surprising and imaginative solutions.

I want to give nothing away about the plot so I won’t delve into story points, but I believe it took me a total of three hours to finish the first three chapters, and those three hours had me at the edge of my seat and exclaiming aloud in angst when I arrived at the words TO BE CONTINUED that finally appeared across my screen.

Again bear in mind that I only played the first three chapters which are all that has been released thus far. More chapters are in production.

The HUD is clean, modern and nicely executed. Everything from my inventory to dialogue was well placed, easy to read, and never got in the way. From a mere design perspective, Dream Machine was a pleasure to navigate and interact with.

My score

This game gets 5 out of 5 stars for me: one for the plot line, brilliant, interesting, smart, captivating. One for the one-of-a-kind animation that is a character all its own – for the fact that it is so refreshing to see true art in motion in an indie game – true artisty in playable form. One for the whimsically mysterious, and sometimes hypnotic music that helps teleport you to the world of the Dream Machine and maintain the texture and tone of the game even as you migrate from daydreams to nightmares. One for the clever and challenging goals you must accomplish, that get increasingly difficult, but never so frustrating as to make you want to quit.

In other words, they were very balanced with a nice progression. One for the fact it kept me hanging, entertained, captivated and left me excited thinking about the world and characters long after it was over, just like a great bedtime fable.

To get a sense of the work, craftsmanship and thought that went into this title, I recommend visiting the developers blog for behind-the-scenes photos, musings about the game logic and their workflow.

The Dream Machine can be purchased for 5 Euros per chapter or the first 5 chapters can be purchased as an “Early Bird Bundle” for 14 Euros direct from the official site which is a 20% discount (in case you suck at math).

This should be on the top of everyone’s list in 2012. Even if you aren’t a fan of Point and Click adventures (a generic category that encompasses anything from Gemini Rue to Machinarium), I can assure you “The Dream Machine” is an amazing game experience worth your hard-earned bucks.

As a special bonus, you can play the entire chapter absolutely free within your browser at the site below. (Flash 8 or higher support required).

The Dream Machine – Official Site

Rating: ★★★★★ 

Red Eclipse is a single-player and multi-player first-person ego-shooter, built as a total conversion of Cube Engine 2, which lends itself toward a balanced gameplay, completely at the control of map makers, while maintaining a general theme of agility in a variety of environments.

What We Think

I have used Linux as well as FreeBSD for the last five years, usually as servers to make my life easier, but I have also had a good amount of experience with an open source desktop. I have played a lot of open source games and, in fact, some of my favorite games have been ones that were open source: Urban Terror and Tremulous among them.

As I played Red Eclipse I was reminded more and more of Quake or even Unreal Tournament. It’s a rather simple fast-paced shooter at its core that offers a nice range of play modes and modifiers. The gameplay is nothing short of stupendous, allowing the player to run on walls, double jump and turn jumps into flying kicks that usually translate into instant kills.

Glowing swords are always a good thing.

In modes like Medieval, wherein the player only gets a sword with insta-gib mode, (which is usually turned on in most of the communities servers), one hit of a sword instantly kills, requiring that you have a fast reaction to get close, make the kill and get out before anyone slices you up in kind. Another unique mode is Bomber-Ball which is very much like soccer except with weapons. The Capture-The-Flag mode brought a lot of fun and reminded me of my old days on Half-Life maps that provided the same experience without the same graphics or game-play capabilities.

A face full of rasberry jam brings me back to the good ol' days.

Of course I could go on forever about the mix-and-match style of the game. Mixing Bomber-Ball with expert means that only headshots kill, making a difficult but exciting game of Bomber-Ball and so on. The one interesting mode that really popped out at me was the single-player campaign mode. It was only a run and gun through a few city blocks which seem big but are, in fact, rather small and short-lived. It provided a quick and easy entertainment but the online action really provided the real thrill.

The rendering engine is the open sourced “Cube 2″ engine which was originally created for “Cube 2: Sauerbraten” but as far as I remember it never looked as good as it has in Red Eclipse. They really brought out the engine using the fluid lighting and shadowing all to their advantage, if your PC can keep up with it. The shots off the laser guns provide a glow that not only help locate the shooter in the fast-paced frenzy but allow the game to look amazing.

The weapons are very unique and consist of a pistol, shotgun, sword, flamethrower, submachine gun, plasma gun, rocket launcher, grenade, and rifle. All of these guns have secondary abilities which are more powerful but have their own drawbacks. The weapons are very much like the Unreal Tournament weapons and resemble them in action as well.

If I have gripes, they include the fact that presently the game is only on Desura, whereas I would love to see it on Steam under the free games section. Additionally, I would love to see more player models as opposed to simply having different colors to represent teams; there is presently no model differentiation. When all is said and done, however, Red Eclipse is worth your time to download and try for yourself.

Get Red Eclipse free from the official site

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

A luxuriant abstract 3D puzzle game, wherein the player explores many different rules and mechanics over 17 diverse worlds, each with their own objectives.

What We think

English Country Tune is a deviously diverse puzzle game that is eerily soothing, even as the confines of your logical mind are being dashed on the rocks.

Gleaming the Cube

Nominated for Excellence in Design for the 2012 Independent Games Festival, ECT takes the player through a bevy of different puzzles, each encased in one of the various worlds that make up the larger universe. Completing all of the puzzles in a world will open up the adjacent worlds, thus unlocking new challenging types of objectives.

The core mechanic of the game involves moving a two-dimensional square across various three-dimensional grids. Using the directional keys, the player must manipulate the targets to the end points of the each stage. The initial challenges include moving “eggs” into incubators. Unfortunately, the eggs only exhibit gravity as a defense mechanism, and will “drop” drop in the direction that would be considered down from the last motion of the player. It is every bit as confusing as it sounds, and having the 3D grid shift around drastically to track the player tile can make it easy to lose track of direction.

Up So Floating Many Bells Down

Worlds unlocked later on will require the player to move “whales” around by the beams of energy they emanate, as opposed to moving the whale itself. Players familiar with block-moving puzzles already know that corners are to be avoided, but as it is not the block itself that is being moved, taking a second to reflect on ECT’s added physical rules will help to alleviate undue frustration. Other challenges will require the player plot a course without boxing himself in. Eventually, the puzzles will require the consideration of many rules at once. Here, the game is at its best, and its most maddening.

Fortunately the player has access to an “undo” key, and it is possible to move the camera around the puzzle before taking the next step. Trial and error won’t always immediately present a solution, but it often beats resetting the stage.

Songs to Gaze into a Microscope By

Though the soundtrack is airy and calming, there is also nothing overly glamorous about the overall presentation. The tunes brought back memories of Jenova Chen’s Fl0w, as did the seemingly petri dish-like particles that float by in each stage. The musical ambiance is a nice switch-up from the deluge of 8-bit chiptune tracks that have been accompanying many puzzle games of late.

The three-dimensional stages are crafted well, but do little to jump out from the screen. The models respond well to rotation and can spin around rapidly, but this can be a blessing wrapped in a curse, depending on the stage.

The Jig is up, but up is down(??)

Ultimately, English Country Tune is a wonderfully innovative puzzle game, even if the difficulty can seem unrelenting at times. Players who can stick through the frustrating bits will uncover a seductively complex blend of puzzle styles. There is nothing in the way of bonus material, so the gratification of knowing a sinister puzzle has been bested will have to suffice as its own reward. That said, players who manage to wrap their heads around this heady collection of trials will likely come away with all the satisfaction they need.

English Country Tune official website

English Country Tune on the iTunes App Store

PC/Mac: USD $9.99
iPhone/iPad: USD $4.99

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

• Classic Roguelike gameplay with the sweet, refreshing taste of point-and-click interfaces. No longer must you press CTRL-ALT-SHIFT-x to drink a potion.
• Randomly generated dungeons entice you with the sweet, sweet promises of treasure and … things.
• Old-school pixel goodness. Face lovingly hand-animated monsters and enjoy the great taste of beautiful, individually rendered items on top of a sea of gorgeous, potent tile-work.

While you’re at it, be prepared to die. A lot. In hideous, screaming pain that makes you throw your keyboard out the window.

Realms of the Diggle Gods DLC:

• Six new skill trees: Veganism, Big Game Hunting, Werediggling, Emomancy, Piracy, and Demonology.
• One Hundred New Items! .. ish.
• Five new dungeon levels, in a variety of flavours!
• New mysterious portals that lead to places that will kill you!
• New scriptable rooms, providing joyful puzzles and traps!
• A dozen new monster types to fight!
• Polymorphing!

The Dungeons of Dredmor await. Are you ready for them?

What We Think

If you’ve ever wanted to get into a Rogue-like after hearing about the genre’s deep gameplay elements, it’s incredible difficulty despite the fact that it’s rewarding to players who can think their way out of a nasty encounter gameplay, yet were put-off by their typically minimalist ASCII non-graphics, then this one is for you.



Dungeons of Dredmor is quite a solid entry into a growing trend to bring gamers kicking and screaming into the rewarding and hair-pulling genre of Rogue-likes by way of pretty(er) graphics. This gateway-drug-of-a-game has enough variation and life in it to contend with even the hardcore Rogue-likes, but in actual difficulty it still leans a bit on the easy side. There are, however, still those times where you can die after taking three steps into the dungeon. The game will draw you in with its fun, goofy treatment, its self-parodying humor and geek references, and it’ll keep you for the intense adventure that might ultimately unfold.

Comparing its parts:

DoD is like most Rogue-likes in that it uses a turn-based system wherein every time you do something, every enemy gets to take a turn as well. However I’ve noticed very little instances where Hastes or Slows come into effect, so every move is one-for-one here. That’s not to say it’s dumbed down in the stats department, oh no. There are a wealth of cleverly named stats that each contribute to combat and dungeon exploring effects. Crit chances, counter attacks, blocking, your basics are there. But there are also the lesser-seen perception and trap-avoiding stats, various magic resistances, and sneakiness vs heavy “tankiness” dichotomies.

The same goes for damage sources; you have your basic physical types of damage, Crushing, Slashing, Piercing, and each with its own soaking types of armor. There are also way more elemental types of damage then you’d expect, including your standard elemental fire, lightning, frost, acid, but also astral, existential, and many others. (Nothing like a monster killer-Carrot to question your existential health, especially if you’ve rolled a mighty Vegan!)



My Vegan Warrior at level 11

There are MANY schools of magic, and taking at least one on character creation is usually a good idea. There are a good handful of Crafting professions as well, and many zany but powerful items to create. (I loves me a Pork Sword!) You will also find your typical weapon proficiencies and general adventuring skills ike Burglary, Assassination, Berserker, and Vampirism, just to name a FEW. You’re allowed to pick seven, and each of those seven come with their own sets of skills for which you get to unlock one every time you level up, in addition to a base skill just for taking it as part of your class when you take your first step.

If you take Archaeology, for instance, you start with an Indiana Jones Fedora hat and, later on, if you level up you can get a skill called, “It Belongs in a Museum!” which allows you to trash a unique item for free experience. Some skills even passively give stat boosts as you level them.

The only catch is that once you’ve picked your seven character-defining class skills, they can not be changed. So if, for example, you took Axes as your weapon skill, and later find a really nice Sword, you can use it, sure, but – you won’t be all that great with it as you would with a similar Axe. Or, if you choose an Alchemy-based crafting skill, but come across a lot of really cool Smithing or Tinkerer crafting recipes, you’re SOL.

In with the new

Recently where was a new expansion added – sorry, DLC for you young’uns – that has added a lot more variety, new class choices, and fifteen more levels to the dungeon, as well as a new female hero character sprite. As you may never even descend that low into the dungeon, you may never actually see those new levels. But if you play smart, and work your way down carefully, you just might get to experience some of the meaner content.



The much more diverse beastery in the upper levels is a much welcome improvement. And if you’re a Vegan (my most successful prospect so far), the new enemies are quite needed as you shant lay a hand on your animal friends. If you’re a Demonologist, be prepared to face demonic enemies sooner, and with more ease, as you’ll be more adept at besting them. If you’re a fan of the Companions in Skyrim, you could try being a Were-Diggle and use the power granted to you in short bursts as a monster Diggle. Even if you played the game when it first came out, with all the new content, everything is bright and shiny again, and you’ll hardly recognize the “vanilla” version.

About those graphics…

Like I said, whereas most Roguelikes are ASCII-based and represent your character and enemies as punctuation and colored letters, DoD has some very well done sprites with smooth animations by Chris Triolo. Enemies die, pop, melt, and explode under your attacks, and the dungeon itself is decorated with many humorous displays and doodads. Every skill in the game has an appropriate and lovingly crafted icon created for it, and just about every item in the game has its own unique icon.

There are some little touches with the HUD that tickle me pink. For example, if your attacks are granted extra elemental effects, then they show up on a list on your character sheet. But if you have more damage from different types than would fit onto the stats window, then the display changes to show an extra piece of paper taped to the side with Scotch Tape to show the extra stats that would not fit. When you level up you’re treated to a splash screen of a grand old “YOU’VE LEVELED UP!” marquee, along with your book of skills which you will soon be opening to choose your new ability.

Where there is FUN…

There is something satisfying about charming a Boss enemy, who has an aura of extra power, and then watching as it rampages against its former allies. But as with any Rogue-like, you’ll soon come to terms with the phrase “Yet Another Stupid Death” (YASD), be it from drinking a potion that turned out to be acid, walking onto a teleporter rune and finding yourself surrounded by zombies in space suits, or walking across three falling rock traps in a row without paying attention to where you were going. Remember, it’s the Perma-Death that makes the game both tense and rewarding.

Getting farther and deeper is so much more exciting when your adventure could be cut short for lack of not being careful, and the risk vs. reward of using that health potion now, or waiting until you REALLY need it, really comes into consideration. Having said that – no, saving 99 Mega Elixirs and never using them won’t get you very far here, because they won’t do you any good if you faceplant into a pool of acid. Getting deep into the heart of the dungeon truly feels like an accomplishment, and when you die, you can show off a recorded high score to compare with to your friends… as written across a tombstone.

I also want to make a quick mention about the score:

The music, presumably by “audio specialist” Matthew Steele, has so much personality to it, that I would listen to the soundtrack as a stand-alone contempory jazz session when I want to kick back and mellow out. The tracks are also substantially long enough that my favorite peices don’t end before I’m done enjoying them either. You can check out and download the Dungeons of Dredmor soundtrack at Bandcamp.

Out with the old

I’m really glad that I waited until after the DLC launched to complete this review. At launch the game was plagued with crashes to desktop that would effectively “kill” your character, which obviously made progression daunting, if not impossible, and with the same old enemies over and over on the upper levels, it got older, faster. But now, I think it’s right where it should be. There is even room for more classes and abilities to be added in, and I would welcome new DLCs, if they were forthcoming.

Gaslamp, the micro-indie that it is, has successfully created a witty, fun adventure that will open the door for players who might not have tried a Rogue-like otherwise. It is definitely worth the less-than $5 entry fee they are asking for admission.

A must have for any adventurer, and worth it, for the price, for anyone else who may be at the very least a bit curious.

Get Dungeons of Dredmor on Steam

Get Realm of the Diggle Gods DLC on Steam

Get Dungeons of Dredmor at Desura

Rating: ★★★★½ 

]]> http://www.indiegamereviewer.com/review-dungeons-of-dredmor-and-realm-of-the-diggle-gods-dlc/feed/ 0 http://www.indiegamereviewer.com/ruins-an-indie-game-review/ http://www.indiegamereviewer.com/ruins-an-indie-game-review/#comments Tue, 22 Nov 2011 04:35:42 +0000 Darklights (Tanya Kan) http://www.indiegamereviewer.com/?p=7218

Developer Summary

Ruins is a game about a dog chasing rabbits through a shadowy, dreamlike landscape.

What We think

I seem to have the perchance of running across a surprising number of enjoyable indie titles that figure animals as the protagonists for deep, unraveling narratives. One of my favorites is The Cat and the Coup, in which you play the cat of the Dr. Mossadegh, the first democratically elected Prime Minister of Iran. Ruins also wins my praise. This game has you directing a dog through an atmospheric 3D landscape of charred trees and broken walls. Its story and presentation is utterly its own. It is also illustrative enough in its language and dialogue that the game open to interpretation from beginning to end.

The sparse design allows the gamer to daydream within the space of the game. The premise is simple. As you move through the painterly landscape in the form of a dog named Aggie, you start having conversations with someone who appears to know you intimately. You only discover, over time, how you are related, and how you come to be in this melancholic space.

Because having the metaphors of the character development in the game reveal itself over time really does add to the experience, I won’t give away descriptions of what sort of characters are involved in the game. The conversation sparks from the music that robes the landscape with texture: Chopin’s Preludes are solemn without being forlorn, tender without being oppressive. The classical Romantic-era music harmonizes with the stylized visuals in a manner that I would not have predicted.



The sense of unity in the game is also dependent on how visual objects are arranged on screen. For example, our screened perspective down upon Aggie the dog is that of a god-like perspective. Whenever we use the WASD keys to move her, this ‘camera perspective’ drifts a little – parallel to the music’s rubado – and the taller ruins and trees seem closer than Aggie herself.

This gives the sense of quiet unease, as though the visual field is not altogether lucid. At the same time, it feels sublime in its sense of scale: It is as though you are being watched by a benevolent God, sonorous and present as the contemplative melodies of Chopin. Crumbled buildings and other landmarks seem like they are imperturbable sentinels, and their shadows nearly as black as their solid shape. The sky stretches on cloudlessly, not willing to give up the mystery of the time of day. All of these visual details combine together seamlessly, together with the text of the dialog that is full of enunciation and personality, with not need for voice-acting to amplify its affect.



Ruins is an enjoyable experiential title that, through its minimalism and focus, expresses the joy of having conversations. Dialog choices do no more and no less but to find out more about yourself and your companion, and how it relates to this strange landscape.

There’s an organic sense of speaking in tangents – of having memories and opinions on everyday things, on topics such as music, traveling, and how to live with one another. The thought-provoking chatter lends an additional patina to this ghostly space, and leaves the fate of all evoked characters up to your ultimate interpretation of what’s being told. And you will want to find out more, as the visual atmosphere combined with the melancholic music compel both a sense of familiarity and the need to be grounded back to reality.

With much to recommend it, Ruins is a short but satisfying experience for all who enjoy open-ended story-telling.

Download Ruins for Mac and Windows free at the Official site for Cardboard Computer

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

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