When the idea of a 2-hour-long metal album being presented as a semi-interactive video game was first brought up to me, I found it somewhat intriguing. I mean, on a conceptual level, it sounded great.
Strangeland is the latest point & click adventure game from Wormwood Studios, the creators of 2012’s Primordia – starring a disturbed man forced to perpetually witness the death of a woman she loves, the game sends players to the twisted, otherworldly carnival of the titular Strangeland, where they must find some much-needed answers to all the big WH questions you can imagine.
A dystopian setting is hardly anything new in gaming circles – from cyberpunk-inspired visions of the future to hopelessly apocalyptic timelines, we’ve seen plenty of examples of how disastrously the history of mankind can potentially unfold.
At its core, DWL is a 2D action-platformer that falls squarely into the “metroidvania” category of video games. There’s a large, twisty labyrinth to explore with visually diverse aesthetics and some genuinely gorgeous pixel art, a bunch of different creepy-crawly monsters to hunt down...
Amnesia: Rebirth starts not entirely unlike its predecessor, although the circumstances surrounding it are quite different. Our protagonist, one Anastasie "Tasi" Trianon, suffers a catastrophic plane crash in the middle of the Algerian desert and wakes up in the wreckage realizing that the rest of the crew is nowhere to be found – what’s more, she also has trouble remembering exactly what happened to them.
In Vaporum: Lockdown you follow the adventures of Ellie Teller, a scientist just trying to make it out alive from a mechanical tower called Arx Vaporum where all hell seems to have broken loose, with robots, mutated roaches and steampunk zombies attacking everything in sight.
Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis”, a tale about a man turning into a hideous insect in his own bedroom, is probably one of the most iconic and important literary works of the early 20th century – as such, it comes as no surprise to me that a video game would attempt to use it for inspiration.
What Happened, a psychological horror game from developer Genius Slackers, touches upon a topic that I feel needs more exposure – it tells the story of a disturbed high school student, Stiles, as he struggles with severe depression and anxiety, highlighting his unstable mental health through a series of a surreal, symbolic experiences.
If you only know one thing about developer Cradle Games’ sci-fi action-RPG Hellpoint, it’s probably that it’s essentially Dark Souls in space. And honestly, I can’t even argue with that.
So, first things first. WarriOrb is a platformer that has you take on the role of a demon trapped in an orb-like body – and indeed, this is no coincidence at all, as the game’s puzzles and multitude of challenging obstacle courses demand that you jump and hop around the place like a sentient, out-of-control basketball.
