Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Another Surprise (or two)

This has been quite a week for releases from small studio.

As I mentioned yesterday, This War of Mine is terrific. Very, very dark, but terrific.

Today, two additional games I've been looking forward to were released: Never Alone (Kisima Ingitchuna), which is based on folklore of the Alaska Native community, and Rollers of the Realm, a medieval pinball experience with role-playing elements and quite a few neat little twists.

I'm playing Never Alone tomorrow, but here are some brief impressions of Rollers of the Realm. There are a ton of neat ideas represented here, and they come together in a very light, satisfying experience. As an example, you have different characters, and each character is represented by a different pinball, each with their own physical characteristics. The Knight, for example, is heavier and does more damage. The healer is much faster and collects mana much more quickly (which can be used to revive a character if drained). There's loot to collect, and foes to fight, and each level is designed as some form of pinball table.

Like I said, Rollers of the Realm seems to be very much on the light side of gaming, but it's undoubtedly fun, and it's nicely designed. The visuals are crisp and clean, the voice-acting is decent, and the world is very cohesive.

I've played about an hour, I'm guessing, and it's been quite enjoyable. It's not Visual Pinball, but it's not trying to be--it's a game that combines elements from multiple genres, and it does so well.

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