{"id":276,"date":"2021-03-18T17:49:26","date_gmt":"2021-03-18T17:49:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/?p=276"},"modified":"2021-03-18T17:49:26","modified_gmt":"2021-03-18T17:49:26","slug":"tales-from-the-doomsayers-indie-game-bar-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/2021\/03\/18\/tales-from-the-doomsayers-indie-game-bar-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Tales from the Doomsayer’s Indie Game Bar #2"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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This article originally ran under a different banner\/website in January of 2019 and is now being here re-uploaded for purposes of convenience and consolidation. Please enjoy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Greetings everyone, please come inside.  With the new year on the horizon, I have opened the Indie Game Bar anticipating the crowd of people out celebrating the new year.  What better way to celebrate with a couple of stand-out indie games from 2018?  Let\u2019s take a look at what we have on tap this time…   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Hex<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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First up on the list is another game about a bar.  This time, you are not managing the bar or designing drinks for patrons.  The Hex <\/em>is a story about the six patrons in Six Pint Inn and their own unique stories.  Each patron is a video game character from a different genre of gaming.  You have your washed-up mascot platform character, a cooking character that got thrown into a fighting game, the heroine of an RPG that doesn\u2019t want her franchise to continue, and few others.  You end up playing through these genres as you venture through each character\u2019s tale.  For example, you\u2019ll race through the various iterations of the mascot platformer\u2019s game, watching as each game tries something new and disappoints the fans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I see you raising your eyebrow.  How is a made up platformer, within a game, conveying fans\u2019 disappointment for each iteration of the game series?  That\u2019s the beauty of The Hex<\/em>.  <\/em>Let\u2019s first say that The Hex <\/em>is by Daniel Mullins, the developer behind Pony Island<\/em>.  That already is giving away too much if you played Pony Island<\/em>.  If you haven\u2019t, I recommend going into The Hex <\/em>blind, because it is basically the Deadpool of video games.  Much like Deadpool\u2019s jokes about superheroes and their movies, The Hex<\/em> mocks everything about video games.  It takes the piss out of Steam reviews, patch notes, license agreements, Twitch chat, corporations milking sequels, you name it, The Hex <\/em>is probably making a joke at its expense.  While some areas can drag on, looking at you, turned-based tactics section, The Hex <\/em>takes a nose dive into Stanley Parable <\/em>and The Beginning <\/em>territory exploring how games not only affect people but how people affect games.  If you are looking to go on a wild ride, this New Year, The Hex <\/em>is similar to having six jello shots: where each shot is a different and wild flavor that will take you on a ride you won\u2019t forget.     <\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Missing: J.J. MacField and the Island of Memories<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As many of you know, I found 2018, disappointing when it came to horror games.  Thankfully director Swery, the mind behind Deadly Premonition<\/em>, has come to save us from a year of lackluster horror with The Missing: J.J. MacField and the Island of Memories<\/em>.  While vacationing on a strange island with her girlfriend Emily, J.J. MacField is struck by lightning.  She gains the power to lose limbs and regenerated them back.  She must use her newfound powers to find where Emily ran off to.  She is faced with puzzles requiring her to tear off limbs to use on a seesaw or throw at objects to knock them down.  Think Limbo <\/em>mixed with the game Neverdead<\/em>.  Neverdead<\/em> was an action game where the main character could lose limbs and keep fighting.  Not exactly the best idea for an action game, but The Missing <\/em>proves that it is a concept better suited for a puzzle platformer.  Frequently, you\u2019re asked to set J.J. on fire to burn vine blocking the path, break J.J.\u2019s neck to flip the world upside down, or disassemble into a head to roll into a small corridor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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While I did find a lot of these puzzles cleverly designed, some of them became chores due to the game\u2019s animations.  Many of the animations to regenerate yourself are just too long.  Every time J.J. breaks her neck you will have to witness this overlong animation of her snapping her spine back into place while listening to eerie bone snapping sounds.  I would be fine witnessing this a couple of times, but some puzzles requiring you to do this multiple times and this animation get old fast.  While I did say most puzzles are well designed, you might run into one or two that aren\u2019t as clear as the others.  With J.J. taking ages just to regenerate, these puzzles double in frustration.  If you are willing to deal with these gripes, you will find some of the tensest moments I have had in 2018.  Between the cryptic messages that Emily leaves to the nerve-wrenching chase scenes with the game\u2019s monster, the Hairshrieker, I found myself clenching my teeth harder than any moments in Infliction <\/em>or Bendy and the Ink Machine<\/em>.  Think of The Missing <\/em>like a Fireball Pumpkin Spiced Coffee, it’s going to burn on the way down, but that aftertaste is ripe for anyone still wishing it was October.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gris<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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If you were hoping to spend the last few moments of 2018, doing some water coloring while sipping on some blueberry wine as the light piano tunes caress your ears, well, I have the perfect indie platformer for you: Gris<\/em>.  From the minds of rookie studio Nomada Studio with the guiding hand of publisher Devlover Digital, Gris <\/em>is about a young girl venturing through a watercolored world.  As we witness our protagonist fall from a crumbling mother-shaped status into various worlds themed around colors; I get the sense we are witnessing our protagonist venture through the many stages of grief.  Each stage is categorized by color.  As you play through Gris<\/em>, each stage will incorporate the color of the last level, almost like someone is painting the world as you venture through.       <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Some might say that the platforming isn\u2019t challenging enough for them and while I will agree Gris<\/em> isn\u2019t a challenging game, I argue it doesn\u2019t need to be.\u00a0 Even when you’re equipped with a double jump and a ground pound move, the platforming never kills the character.\u00a0 Most platforming is designed to just have you start over if you mess up.\u00a0 With the focus being on the emotional impact from the colors and the music, challenging or punishing platforming would only get in the way and muddy the experience.\u00a0 So even if you\u2019re someone who prefers platformers like Super Meat Boy <\/em>or Cuphead, <\/em>I would still urge you to give Gris<\/em> a try.\u00a0 Much like doing a wine painting, Gris <\/em>allows you to relax and experience some other emotions besides rage and frustration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ah, the beauty of gaming, in times of strife or joy, it can always bring people together.\u00a0 Whether you prefer jumping into Fortnite<\/em> or sitting down with a small indie title like myself, I hope you found some good games you enjoyed in 2018.\u00a0 The new year looks like it will be bringing some good titles with it.\u00a0 I for one, can\u2019t wait to talk about them.\u00a0 Happy New Year everyone.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This article originally ran under a different banner\/website in January of 2019 and is now being here re-uploaded for purposes of convenience and consolidation. Please enjoy. Greetings everyone, please come inside.  With the new year on the horizon, I have opened the Indie Game Bar anticipating the crowd of people out celebrating the new year. … Continue reading Tales from the Doomsayer’s Indie Game Bar #2<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":278,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-276","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\/276","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=276"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":287,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276\/revisions\/287"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}