With a flash bang entry and a little direction, these two clean-up in record time.

With a combination of planning and real time control, Door Kickers has a strong formula for an intense tactical game. Using the backdrop of a swat team provides an excellent self reinforcing forum for a wide variety of scenarios. Drug busts, saving hostages and rushing in to reach and disarm devastating bombs being the obvious. What action scene has ever suffered from a group of heavily trained armored officers kicking in the door and facing off in an intense fire fight of heavily armed crooks? The full list of features is still in the works as the game is currently in alpha and the guys at Killhouse Games are engaged in a crowdfunding effort but what they have and are working on is already shaping up to be a strong game. A particularly strong feature choice was to include a map editor and modding support which, on top of their own campaign generator, will help to ensure a strong variety of gameplay and nearly unlimited content.

Door Kickers is a great example of the kind of game that fulfills the promise of greenlight. The mix of an updated top down real time tactics with the seemingly perfect SWAT team back story is a game that may have struggled when pit against another Call of Duty clone. In the indy world it can thrive with the right support so kick in Steams door and GO, GO, GO upvote this winning contender!

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Making a bridge, out of science!

I found Teslagrad to be a very refreshing take on the majority of platformers we see today. Most focus on fast paced action and very little on the puzzle they provide to the player. Just the demo alone had me scratching my head a few times. I know I died a lot trying to do things one way and shortly after finding an alternate and much more efficient way to go about it. The only thing I noticed was sometimes it hard to tell where you may need to go next as there is a lot of backtracking involved to get an item you need to pass to the next area. And the demo alone is fairly large. Here I am traversing the landscape and all of a sudden I find a room with a giant boss in it that tries to kill me. That’s right a boss, and I’m sure it isn’t the only one as I stumbled upon this one fairly early on in my adventure. I found Teslagrad to be positively electrifying.

Features:

• Complex puzzles!
• Explore!
• Visual storytelling!
• Steampunk powered!
• Old-school boss fights!
• No disruptions!
• Mesmerizing soundtrack!

I had a lot of fun with this game and can’t wait to see what more the full version will bring; I think you will want to see it too. So head over to steam Greenlight and give Teslagrad a thumbs up!

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The great Whale, and find your way through this world to save her. It’s a simple premise that’s older 

Classic retro platforming!

A.N.N.E. has been designed with an open world mentality, where you aren’t forced into a fight you don’t want to have. For instance, there’s areas with more difficult enemies that you can fight if you chose to, or you can take a different path and come back to them later when you’re better equipped. The level design is thoughtful, and the colours are vibrant and very very retro. But most retro of them all is the music. Written by a fellow named Miyamo, who has been in the video game music business for the last decade, the tracks are upbeat, and decidedly retro in feel, but with a modern flavour. If you like j-pop and anime, you’ll absolutely love this sound track. It really pulls the whole game together.

If you can’t appreciate love between two robots and their strife to be together, then you’re probably a bigot from the future sent to destroy A.N.N.E. and her boyfriend bot. However, if you accept them then you should head over to their Greenlight page and give them the thumbs up they deserve to tell their love story!

Also, even though there’s not a lot of time left, make sure to check out A.N.N.E.’s kickstarter page. While they’ve already reached their goal, for $75 USD and up you can get a really cool SNES replica cartridge with the A.N.N.E. graphics on it, just like if the game was published 18+ years ago!

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From under the couch, you carefully try to explore your surroundings.

Sights like this make you wonder what could have possibly happened here..

If Among the Sleep does anything great, its the atmosphere. Right from the opening sequence, you feel like you’re caught in a child’s nightmare coming to life. The environmental effects foreshadow the mood of the game, while the knocked over chairs and broken china in the kitchen hint at struggles that may have taken place. The physics-based puzzling feels natural and familiar, while playing from the perspective of a child brings players closer to earth than ever before. The entire concept feels fresh and interesting, while constantly bringing into question whether or not the entire experience is real, or simply a child’s dream.

Having just getting fully funded through Kickstarter, the gaming community can expect to learn more about the game as time goes on, while everyone is invited to try to open public alpha that Krillbite has made available. It’s a great experience, and I highly suggest that you try the game for yourself.

Among the Sleep still needs your votes on Steam Greenlight, so head on over and give them the thumbs up!

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Blasting your way through Saviors is intense.

So why do I think it is cool? For starters, blowing stuff to bits endlessly and receiving rewards in doing so is always quite satisfying. What makes that more fun is being able to do that in different games modes and scenarios. I always found that these types of games were merely “I want to beat my own score and I’m not doing my math homework until I do!” And you simply repeat the same mind numbing process over and over until you evidently have to repeat the course next semester. Subsequently, the games become frustratingly addicting.

Most shmups simply obide by the process of addons with progression. Savior offers different boss fights, weapons, obstacles, and customizations. Offering a wide ranged experience with flattering graphics to dazzle but not overly distract the eye is what this genre needed. The game also becomes expectedly more difficult and more intense with progression. Having said that, the games structure still continuously offers challenge and change.

Give Saviors a thumbs up on Steam Greenlight so I can get the high score and focus on my math homework!

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T’was a short life and not really a good one.

I’m a big fan of games like this because you can sit down to play, and play a few games in an hour if you keep getting killed or you could end up playing for a few hours if you get sucked into one character that is doing really well. Rogue’s Tale has given me a little more incentive on trying to keep my character alive, by letting me name him at the beginning and also allowing me to set his stats they way I want them before heading out for his adventure. Also when you die you get a nice screen of a tomb stone with your character’s name on it and something about how either heroic or pathetic he was. This adds to the concern of your character unlike other rogue likes where you die and restart, not only do you lose all your gear and items but you also get shamed by a tombstone. Rogue’s Tale is one of those games to die for, literally.

Features:

• Character Customization
• Procedurally Generated
• Leveling up gives you interesting skills
• High scores are recorded to compete with friends

Don’t let Rogue’s Tale sneak past steam! Head over and give it a thumbs up so we can all enjoy this mighty dungeon crawl together!

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The Mk 5 can reliably break orbit, followed by spiraling out of control

By empowering each player with their own universe and connecting those universe’s into a multi-verse, the dev team have crafted an mmo of great creative potential. Each universe will be able to define their own code of behaviour which will greatly aid in the creation of a wide assortment of community fueled content. From games ranging from FPS to RTS, to educational universes that seek to teach about robots, physics or the potential complexity borne of simple machines. Even teaching the basics of programming through a fun and interactive lense that will be approachable to a wide audience. Alex and his team are not creating a game, but an empowering set of tools rife with opportunity for human ingenuity and imagination, a nearly unlimited combination.

Self-designed robotic creations in a self-defined universe, the very nature of sandbox. The very least you can do is leap over to Steams Greenlight and give them a deserved vote. Once done you should check out their Kickstarter and tell your friends, family and favourite educator all about Rawbots!

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Oh, hey guys! Whenever you’re ready to get thrown into a wall just let me know. 

I have to say that this is not a comfortable feeling. I wish I was armed with something a little more intimidating than a moko.

Not every creature in Pulse will be cute and cuddly. The roar of a menacing beast will shift your world into a distorted nightmare as fear sends you running for your life. Your imagination distorts the in-game environment as you try to escape danger, glowing red and pulsating with your heightened level of stress. This is when Pulse’s unique concept and design really begin to shine, as the world around you physically changes to reflect your emotional state. It brings a very intriguing question to mind; How much of what you are seeing is real and how much of it are you simply imagining? What you ‘see’ and is actually there can be two completely different things as your emotions distort the reality of what you are perceiving. Its a very intriguing paradox indeed.

The playable alpha available on their website serves as a great proof of concept, and I can’t wait to see what the group at Team Pixel Pi does to bring this fantastic idea to maturity.

Team Pixel Pi needs your support to get their game greenlit, so head on over to Steam Greenlight and cast your vote for their innovative game, Pulse!

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If you needed a sign that you should be looking for a new place, this would be it.

The most brilliant element of Paranormal’s design is its dynamic haunting system. Every playthrough is unique, as the game randomly generates its haunting events with countless triggers, variables, and effects. Each and every time you wander through Mattel’s house is a unique experience, you never really know what you will be encountering. Moreover, each time you go to sleep to recharge your camera’s battery in game, you wake up to yet another randomly generated set of events waiting for you throughout the house. Those hauntings are executed in a frightening manner, often utilizing the game’s eerie soundscape in order to freak you and your pets out. While I started to play the game with my headphones on, I elected to reduce the fear factor of the game by just using my surround sound speakers instead. That didn’t help, as the soundscape still managed to make me jump out of my seat on occasion, while at the same time scaring my two cats into a frenzy. They don’t appear to be fans of sudden screaming, pounding, or bloodied footsteps running across the ceiling.

Paranormal is a great example of how scary a well-designed horror experience can be. I encourage you to check out the Kickstarter for Paranormal: The Town, the first free expansion to the original game.

Paranormal still needs your votes on Greenlight, so head on over and give them the thumbs up!

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A secret room contains brand new DLC that is sure to excite

+ Riddled with intelligently delivered satire
The satire is thickly woven into the game from step one. As you start out your adventure you find yourself in a silent world with but one command, moving left. Running left you collect a few coins and eventually find yourself stopped beside the DLC Vendor. The fun begins, with your first few coins in hand you purchase state of the art controls,the amazing sound DLC and the power of a pause screen. Once purchased your first awardment is given, “These used to come standard”. If you had any delusion about the games intent, I would hope it comes clear now. Every step of the game has a challenge in the way that is ultimately solved by collecting enough coins to purchase the appropriate DLC to continue. Coins too high? How about a double jump DLC. Need to sharpen that sword 10000 times? How about DLC to speed that up. It wouldn’t be good satire if every DLC has a purpose and so you will find yourself chuckling at tongue in cheek delivery of top hats, sexy outfits for your mostly male NPC’s and of course Zombies. What game would be complete without zombies?

Its trendy and hot, marketing loves it, make it happen!

+ No trope left behind
Going Loud Studios has really scraped the corners of the barrel too ensure no trope goes unnoticed and no issue goes un-punned. From totally non-game breaking DLC to highly demanding stranger NPC’s with more problems then you can shake a coin at, DLC Quest delivers on a wide range of issues that will challenge even the most astute armchair philosopher to beat. Even taking time to poke fun at the more recent server disconnect issues that seem to be a newly growing problem with big name releases.

+ Strong, thought out level design
Underneath the jokes, puns and satire is a strong well designed game that I wouldn’t put down no matter how hard my cats tried to get my attention. I have a love of satire, in case you couldn’t tell, but even as I chuckled along with the humour I found that level design, mechanics and control of the game was top notch in design. The UI was simple, the jumping challenges fair and the level layouts left very little wasted time running back and forth. The amount of coins available to collect never left you with the risk of buying yourself out of being able to progress in the game. Being a 2D platformer, the level design is everything and even in the larger world of the second game Live Freemium or Die the use of clever check points, DLC of course, made navigating the maps a smooth experience. Which is good, as Live Freemium or Die features the ability to die as a free inclusion. A move which I am sure the ever profiting Nickel, the ironically named DLC shopkeeper, felt was too generous.

Zombie Sheep! Need I say more?

+ Two for one
DLC Quest as available on Steam is in fact two games combined into one, just think of the savings. The original award winning DLC Quest and the follow up, gloves off Live Freemium or Die. Arguably not a positive as its their combined efforts that deliver a short, but excellent five to seven hours of game. But I wanted to make sure that Live Freemium or Die got is kudos for taking the concept delivered in DLC Quest and delivering an even stronger game that has plenty of fun poking more holes in the state of gaming.

Product Placement is all about subtly

- Too Short!
Checking the list of sanctioned negatives that twelve bags of money in the back of truck permits, the only complaint I have was that it was too short. Perhaps it was better to be too short then to push the limits of its motif until it was flogging a dead horse. Better to leave them wanting more then to go that one step too far and all that, however, the gameplay was fun and the satire was right up my alley so I could have used a couple more hours. Perhaps being too short allowed for the tight design that has left me no other outstanding negatives, or perhaps the cats have found a way to bribe developers into shortening games so they can chase a string and get their allotted sunday tuna early.

A hero is only good as his weapon, Now that’s a big finish!

The downside to a satire filled 2D platforming romp is that every word I say is a spoiler to a well delivered joke or point. Going Loud Studios have definitely delivered a strong, entertaining game that also serves as a warning of the worst the current trend of heavy monetization can lead to. The commentary is well delivered without being preachy or trying to beat the message into the player, instead its delivered with a wink and nudge as you enjoy a well built game. Letting the player chuckle along side the satire inherent is probably the strongest feature of the game. For the cost of a regular cup of coffee at starbucks, yes they serve those there, DLC Quest delivered an afternoon of fun and chuckles that left me wanting more. Always a good problem to have in a game.

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