indie games Archives - Page 3 of 5 - Unwinnable

stretching green and red lines that dot like train lines across a grey scale background. Hubs are in bright blue with text that reads "GOP." This is a still from the game Democracy 3

Democracy 3 and the Absurdity of Government

By Daniel Schindel • May 25th, 2018

No matter how much players derive pleasure from a challenge, the inherent appeal of sims is the illusion of control that they grant us.

The Loss Levels

By Daniel Fries • May 23rd, 2018

The name, The Loss Levels, is a pun on the Japanese version of Super Mario Bros. 2, called The Lost Levels when it finally released in the United States. It’s hard to know whether you’re supposed to laugh or cry.

E-soterica

Exploring Spaces in These Indie Platformers

By Khee Hoon Chan • May 15th, 2018

In most platformers, we waffle a little, and then take a leap of faith from one scaffolding to the next, and perhaps over a deadly pit of lava and spikes.

E-soterica

Fans Have Spoken, and They Want a Knuckle Sandwich

By Alyse Stanley • May 4th, 2018

When the frenetic gameplay of WarioWare, the dark humor of Fargo, and the aesthetic of Dragon Ball and Pokémon combine, Knuckle Sandwich emerges unscathed from the explosion, sunglasses lowered.

E-soterica

Umiro Is The Relief of Recovering Lost Memories

By Khee Hoon Chan • May 3rd, 2018

In Umiro, seeing the hues of color seep back into the city is more than just the exhilarating thrill of completing another level in a game. It’s the bittersweet relief of recovering a missing memento, of finding something you thought was lost for good.

E -soterica

Rythm is Lava

By Alyse Stanley • April 25th, 2018

Egor Dorichev’s entry Rythm is Lava (typo intentional) stitches together RPG, puzzle, platformer, and rhythm game elements Frankenstein style into an experience as elegant as it is frustratingly complex.

Embody An Unspeakable Horror in Sea Salt

By Khee Hoon Chan • April 10th, 2018

To Lovecraft fans, the unspeakable horror of the Old Gods is already common knowledge, their motives so unknowable and unthinkable that any attempts to understand them would surely lead to insanity

The Calculated Unease of Paratopic

By Sam Desatoff • March 29th, 2018

Paratopic is a disjointed and muddy game that feels like it wants to tell a meaningful story, but stumbles over an inflated sense of inscrutability.

E-soterica

A ghoulish figure with a gaping mouth and skeleton fingers resting on a table, a speech bubble standing empty next to its gaping maw. The background is in a gentle shade of yellow.

Speed Dating for Ghosts: A New Lease on Death

By Alyse Stanley • February 22nd, 2018

Speed Dating for Ghosts proves that even the afterlife can get boring if you don’t have someone to share it with.

The Dioramic Ambiance of Overland

By Levi Rubeck • February 14th, 2018

It’s very Hemingway-ian in it’s simplicity, which fits the Overland modus operandi so far: by doing less they’re planting the seeds for player generation of the narrative, tending their own stories of failure and maybe success, eventually.