{"id":267,"date":"2021-03-17T01:41:55","date_gmt":"2021-03-17T01:41:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/?p=267"},"modified":"2021-03-17T01:41:55","modified_gmt":"2021-03-17T01:41:55","slug":"tales-from-the-doomsayers-indie-game-bar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/2021\/03\/17\/tales-from-the-doomsayers-indie-game-bar\/","title":{"rendered":"Tales from the Doomsayer’s Indie Game Bar"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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This article originally ran under a different banner\/website in December of 2018 and is now being here re-uploaded for purposes of convenience and consolidation. Please enjoy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ladies and Gentlemen!  Please come inside.  I am sure some of you are wondering where my soapbox is.  Well, I recently stumbled on a winning lottery ticket and decided to do what most young men look to do with large amounts of money: open their own bar.  Here at my bar, though I don\u2019t serve meer cocktails: no, I have a couple of laptops behind this oak-topped bar.  They come loaded with numerous games to sweep you off your feet.  Like most brewpubs, you won\u2019t find your common household names here.  You won\u2019t find loot boxes, microtransactions, or other shameful ways for publishers to separate you from your wallet.  No tales of mobile spin-offs of popular old PC titles.  Certainly, no empty worlds designed to capitalize on the survival sandbox genre at a point where the genre has become stale …  BETHESDA!!!  Oh my, I apologize for that outburst.  Now I understand with it being a bar and all, you probably came here with a specific craving in mind.  Don\u2019t worry, I am trained to fulfill those desires.  My skills to match a game with your mood cannot be matched  Why don\u2019t you have seat and I will show you what we have on tap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lethal League Blaze<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Did you come here with a little fire in your soul?\u00a0 Looking to get wild and crazy with your friends tonight?\u00a0 A taste of tequila is what you crave most?\u00a0 Oh, do I have a treat for you?\u00a0 Lethal League Blaze <\/em>is the follow up to the criminally underrated Lethal League<\/em>, a competitive sports game that I can only describe as handball on cocaine.\u00a0 You bounce a ball along the walls and ceiling attempting to hit your opponent.\u00a0 The trick is every time you or your opponent hit the ball, its speed increases.\u00a0 When you and your opponents get into a groove, the ball can reach ludicrous speed and the match starts resembling a high octane tennis match.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, some of you might be asking why can\u2019t I have the original Lethal League <\/em>on the rocks, and to that, I must insist you try Lethal League Blaze<\/em>.\u00a0 The developers, Team Reptile, have made some significant upgrades.\u00a0 A dash of new characters, a pinch of new modes and maps, and a robust single-player campaign revolving around an underground group of Lethal League players working to take down a shadow organization make Lethal League Blaze <\/em>a worthwhile experience.\u00a0 They did include some power-ups that I find as backbreaking as ten rounds of Jose Cuervo, but I am willing to forgive that cause Team Reptile resisted the urge to put microtransactions in Lethal League Blaze<\/em>.\u00a0 The game has numerous characters, skins, maps, and modes that you can unlock, but unlike the AAA games coming out now, Lethal League Blaze <\/em>gives you a generous amount of currency for just playing the game.\u00a0 I know having a steady stream of unlocks isn\u2019t a new concept, but it sure seems to be going the way of the dodo.\u00a0 To that, I raise a glass to you Lethal League Blaze<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donut County<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Maybe you weren\u2019t looking for something to completely knock you onto your ass, but something light-hearted and charming.\u00a0 Maybe a vodka cranberry?\u00a0 Well, I have the game for you: Donut County<\/em>. \u00a0 This charming puzzle game recounts the story of BK, the raccoon, and his attempt to get a quadcopter through this donut delivery app, but what BK doesn\u2019t realize is the donut is a hole in the ground that swallows up everyone\u2019s possessions.\u00a0 Each level you start with a tiny hole that grows in size as more items fall into the hole.\u00a0 A simple concept that makes you feel clever especially when they expand on the puzzles with water that needs to be drained and a catapult that launches items upwards.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Donut County_20180824163542<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The game has a charming sense of humor that feels natural.  At the end of the level, you can view the Trashopedia, an encyclopedia of all the items that fell through the hole with a little description from BK.  He describes a coffee mug with \u201cCoffee rules.  It burns your tongue and makes you go to the bathroom\u201d  and a cardboard box with \u201cIt\u2019s a free house.  Don\u2019t get it wet.\u201d  This game\u2019s stimulating puzzles and quirky sense of humor makes it a title that, much like vodka, I can recommend to almost anyone.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Red Strings Club<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Now I can see neither of these titles tickles your fancy.\u00a0 You have your tastes.\u00a0 You prefer to sit down with a strong scotch and discuss philosophy with androids.\u00a0 Well, Rick Deckard, I have the perfect game for you: The Red Strings Club<\/em>.\u00a0 In this game, you play as an informant and famed bartender Donovan attempting to gather information on the megacorporation, Supercontinent Ltd\u2019s insidious plans.\u00a0 You gather information by mixing certain drinks that affect the bar patron’s mood.\u00a0 Looking to get information on the patron’s boss they admire?\u00a0 Fix a drink that will endure lust and they might reveal their boss has bigger plans in the works.\u00a0 Hoping to create doubt in your patron’s mind, fix a drink to induce madness and question the patron’s motives.\u00a0 It creates a unique detective-style puzzle that requires careful planning of drinks and well-timed questioning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Of course with the game\u2019s cyberpunk aesthetic, The Red Strings Club<\/em> dabbles in questions of can AI learn emotions such as happiness or sadness and whether the world would be better without emotions.  While some games have struggled to convey these messages, The Red Strings Clubs <\/em>is able to cleverly incorporate them as Donovan\u2019s motives and morals are questioned by his android friend, Akara, as he manipulates other people\u2019s emotions with his drinks.  I insist you give this game a try, especially if you are a Blade Runner <\/em>fan.  This game made such a memorable impression on me, it partly inspired me to open the Doomsayer\u2019s Indie Game Bar.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now tell me, what can I serve you?   What?  Do you just want to play Fortnite<\/em>?  I am going to have to ask you to leave if you are going to speak to me with that kind of attitude.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This article originally ran under a different banner\/website in December of 2018 and is now being here re-uploaded for purposes of convenience and consolidation. Please enjoy. Ladies and Gentlemen!  Please come inside.  I am sure some of you are wondering where my soapbox is.  Well, I recently stumbled on a winning lottery ticket and decided… Continue reading Tales from the Doomsayer’s Indie Game Bar<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":268,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-game-reviews","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":275,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267\/revisions\/275"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}