Game Recommendation #7: Papers, Please

Welcome to Arstotzka, where you are now a border immigration officer who is trying to survive cold winters while serving your country. You must keep out immigrants who come from countries you do not have open borders with and let the others pass. It sounds like an uninteresting premise, but thrill and puzzlement shine through this addictive dystopian thriller puzzle game.

Gameplay and Story

Papers, please is made by indie game developer Lucas Pope, published through his game company 3909. The game starts out with you receiving your new job, and you must begin immediately. Each round will start out by telling you the regulations. A person will pass through your station and hand you a passport. You are the one responsible for making sure that the person meets the regulations and you decide by either rejecting them or letting them through.

At the end of each round, you will get paid and you have to organize your funds so that you can survive and take care of your family. You get paid every round, but its dependent on how well you did during the round.

The game gets increasingly more difficult with each round, as political conflicts rise with Artstotska and its neighbors. This is the puzzle aspect of the game, as you have to balance your work so you can let as many immigrants in as possible.

Who would I recommend this to? 

The game has decent graphics, and the art style accompanies the dystopian tone underlying the gameplay and story. Even though the game is essentially paperwork, it quickly gets addicting and the ambiance of the story adds to the fun. A good game to check out if you enjoy puzzles,

 the game is priced at $9.99 on Steam. Glory to Atstotska!

Game Recommendation #5: Hyper Light Drifter

To start up this blog again, I will be recommending a game that came out just recently. Hyper Light Drifter by Heart Machine is one of the most recent indie games, it just came out less than a month ago. It's one of the most ambitious Game Maker projects, raising money on Kickstarter. It's a beautiful exploring RPG with challenging gameplay and a gripping story. 

Story 

The game starts out with an intro sequence. There is no dialogue, but there is music to add drama to the scene. Your character has to fight off monsters, and to do so, has to collect pieces from ancient temples and upgrade their abilities. You can talk to the NPC's to slowly learn more about what is going on, but everything is visual. 

Gameplay 

The gameplay in Hyper Light Drifter is challenging but fun. (It's recommended to play with a game controller.) You have a sword, a gun, and the ability to 'light drift'. This lets you run away faster and get through puzzles. You usually encounter groups of enemies to kill off before running out of health. There is also a lot of platforming, but it never gets frustrating. There is a large challenge in balancing your health since you can only heal yourself if you find health packs. 

Graphics

Out of all the games that I have recommended so far, this is the most breathtaking to look at. All of the character and enemy designs are unique, the backgrounds are stunning and the colors pop. Knowing how hard it is to use Game Maker, the visuals are outstanding. They add to the story and gameplay, never being too distracting. 

Who would I recommend this to? 

I would recommend this to someone who is ready for a challenge and love pixel art. It can get frustrating, but it's not game ruining. So if you have the time to appreciate beautiful art and story with complex gameplay, then you can buy it on Steam for $19.99. The heart put into the project really shows in the beauty of all its aspects. 

So what do you think of Hyper Light Drifter? What should I recommend next? 

Game Recommendation #5: OxenFree

OxenFree by Night School Studio is an audio-based game that has interesting characters, story, and diverse gameplay. It is a thriller, but it doesn't start that way.

Story

You are a girl who is with her friend and step-brother, and you are headed to a party on the beach of a mysterious island. You can decide how the dialogue goes as you are given a set of options. You have a radio and you and your friends start to notice the mysterious things going on, especially when you start listening to audio channels with white noise.

All of the characters are teenagers with a variety of personalities and relations to one another. You slowly learn more of the background information through the dialogue.

Graphics

This game has very beautiful backgrounds and unique character design. The background and the character models can be a bit off balance sometimes since the backgrounds are 2-D and the characters are 3-D, but they still blend pretty well.

Gameplay

In the opening sequence, you learn the basics of the gameplay. Whenever you are given an option to talk, about three dialogue options will pop up. You can decide to be mean or nice, and it can change how the characters view you later or what happens in the story. As people are talking you can move around, grab things, push things, or turn on the radio. You need to really listen a lot in this game so that you don't miss important dialogue or when you have to turn on the radio. The gameplay is fairly easy to grasp onto, and the story makes it more intriguing.

Who would I recommend this to?

I would recommend this game to people who enjoy interactivity, character interaction, interesting stories and beautiful backgrounds. I would recommend playing this game with a really good set of headphones since you really need to be paying attention to the audio. It can be found on Steam for (I need to check the price I think its 19.99 but it might be 11.99 but its on Steam) In conclusion, this game is a great game to play when you just feel like sitting back and listening to an interesting story.

New Year Update! Top Games of the Year + New Posts Coming Soon!

It's a new year, meaning that this blog is active once again. To start up the new year, I would first like to state what I consider to be the top three indie games to come out this year. These are games that I already made a recommendation post for so you can check those out if you want to know more about the game.

Top #3: 

-#3: Princess Remedy in a World of Hurt

"Princess Remedy in a World of Hurt (by Ludosity developers) is a fun, challenging RPG (role-playing game), and guess what? It's free! You can find it on Steam for free, and you can get a prequel expansion pack (Princess Remedy in a Heap of Trouble) for $2.99 (I have yet to finish the game so I haven't seen the expansion pack yet)."-Recommendation Post #2 
(add the stuff) 
I feel that Princess Remedy in a World of Hurt deserves to be number 3 in the Top Games of the Year because it has the best value of all the games shown on this blog, being free of course. For that price, it packs plenty of content, characters, and gameplay.

-#2: Stardew Valley

"Stardew Valley (published by Chuckle Fish and developed by Concerned Ape) is one of the most addictingly fun games out there. It uses the elements of Animal Crossing, Facebook games, and phone games, adds depth and complex gameplay, and then creates something new." -Recommendation Post #3
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Stardew Valley is given the number 2 spot here because it is the game that has taken up the most time in my life. It's highly addicting atmosphere and ambiance makes it a fun way to spend the time, developing your farm and feeling like you're accomplishing something. It was all developed by ONE person, so it's existence is a plea of passion on its own, nevermind all the options and beautiful design that it has. 

-#1: Undertale 

"Now here's one you've probably all have heard about by now. Undertale, developed and published by independent creator toby fox, is one of the most popular indie games in recent years. It gained popularity as YouTubers everywhere began to play it. It's not that hard to understand, though, it has a complex story that changes depending on how you play it, interesting characters and settings, a new take on RPG gameplay, and it was all made by only a handful of people. " -Recommendation Post #4
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Undertale achieves the number one spot here because it was worth its price and has all of the characteristics that a good game should have. It's a story told through battle and quirky characters, and a lot of heart and passion was put into this. Its popularity has already reached its peak, but it's still a worthy game to check out. 

Now that that's settled, I would like to move on to talking about some of the games that I will be making Recommendation Posts later throughout the year.

Recommendation Posts

Hyper Light Drifter

-Hyper Light Drifter is a new indie game that came out last November. It is highly puzzling and addicting and uses a unique fighting RPG style with beautiful graphics.

OxenFree

-OxenFree is a very interactive game with well-developed characters and well made 3-D graphics.

Psychonauts

-Psychonauts is a well made 3-D game with a complex story and characters that has been around for many years now. 

Papers, please

-Papers, please is a simple puzzle game with simple graphics, but its story and atmosphere add to its core gameplay.

Game Recommendation #4: Undertale

Now here's one you've probably all have heard about by now. Undertale, developed and published by independent creator toby fox, is one of the most popular indie games in recent years. It gained popularity as YouTubers everywhere began to play it. It's not that hard to understand, though, it has a complex story that changes depending on how you play it, interesting characters and settings, a new take on RPG gameplay, and it was all made by only a handful of people. 

Graphics/Design

The beginning of the first town, Snowdin

More of Snowdin

The art in this game isn't next level, but for the few people who made it, it's impressive. Each setting is unique and captivating. All the characters look entirely different, and all are memorable. Even the basic enemies have fun, quirky lines that give them personalities. There are multiple ways to interact with them, making it more fun to run into random encounters. All of the music is memorable and worth listening to even outside of the game.

Story Lines

The story in the game is what really makes it unique and dynamic. You are a human child, but one day you fall into the pit where monsters live. The monsters and humans lived in peace, until one day a monster killed a human, so all the monsters were banished to the underground (hence where the name Undertale comes from). You have to survive to be able to get out. A monster named Toriel finds you and helps you learn the basics of the game until you run away so you can get back home. 

The hole to the underground world of monsters

Gameplay 

The gameplay isn't too difficult to grab on to until you get near the end. The way you fight enemies alters the story. There are random encounters, and you have a choice. You can either fight the monster, interact with it, use an item, or spare them. Some players choose to not hurt the monster since it's discouraged in the game, others hurt it until the monster is almost out of health, or some actually kill the monster. Each option changes the story of the game and how other characters interact with you. It's traditional to start with a Pacifist run, then go through a Genocide run to see how it dramatically changes the story. 

Who would I recommend this to? 

Undertale is a game that takes the RPG genre and turns it on its heel. Most RPG's involve merciless beating of other characters, but this game asks, what if those monsters had lives too? If you want to check out the game because for whatever reason you haven't already, it can be found here for $9.99 on Steam.  Undertale is a great game to check out, for its complex story lines, gameplay, characters, jokes, and its twist on the RPG genre. So if you love RPG's, you are going to adore this game. 

So what are your thoughts on Undertale?  What game should I recommend/review next? Comment down below! 

Game Recommendation #3: Stardew Valley

Stardew Valley (published by Chuckle Fish and developed by Concerned Ape) is one of the most addictingly fun games out there. It uses the elements of Animal Crossing, Facebook games and phone games, adds depth and complex gameplay, and then creates something new.

Story

The main story of Stardew Valley is that you are an office worker for Jojo Market, but one day you get tired of that lifestyle and decide to go to the farm that you inherited from your late grandfather. 

After that, the story differs on the alternate paths that you make through the game. Every day you have a certain amount of energy. You can use that energy to do a variety of things, from growing plants on you farm, to fishing or even going through the depths of mines with monsters to find valuable resources. Your main goal is to make the money you need to survive, to accomplish missions that the NPC's (non-player characters) give you, and to learn more about the people and secrets of the town. You really have to create your own missions for yourself, because just like in real life, there's no real set path.

Gameplay

 

The easiest of the challenges is probably farming, as it doesn't require a ton of skill to accomplish. Fishing takes mental energy, and mining gets harder the farther you go. The hardest part is not running out of energy or money.

As you go on, you learn more about the other characters in the game, and they all have fun personalities. All of the characters have things you can learn about them, and the friendship and romantic story arcs add to the replay-ability of the game.

Customization

At the beginning of the game, you can make your character look like anything because of all the options offered. You get to pick the name of your farm, the color of your eyes, even if you want a cat or a dog. I shouldn't forget to mention that the graphics in this game are beautiful, the pixel style adds to the complexity instead of making it overly simplified.

Who would I recommend this game to?

I would recommend this game to a casual audience who has a lot of time on their hands. This game is insanely addicting, once you start, you don't want to stop for a week of game time. There are constant challenges that you set for yourself that you want to accomplish as soon as possible. So, if you have enough time to dwell into this game, you can check it out here on Steam for $14.99. It is a cheerful, beautiful game where you get to carve your own path in your own world.

So what are your thoughts on Stardew Valley? Do you think it's as addicting as I do? What games would you like me to recommend next?

Game Recommendation #2: Princess Remedy

Princess Remedy in a World of Hurt (by Ludosity developers) is a fun, challenging RPG (role-playing game) , and guess what? It's free! You can find it on Steam for free, and you can get a prequel expansion pack (Princess Remedy in a Heap of Trouble) for $2.99 (I have yet to finish the game so I haven't seen the expansion pack yet).

Game Play 

The gameplay of Princess Remedy is similar to other RPG's, but there is no turn based gameplay. In the game, you take the role of Princess Remedy and help heal the world of 
Hurtland. 

After searching through the hub world, you can go into towns and structures to explore. You can talk to the NPC's (non-player characters) and they'll tell you if their sick, and then you'll go into a battle mode called heal mode. Within heal mode, you constantly shoot pellets and have to defeat all the enemies in order to heal the NPC. If you get hit, you will heal slowly, but if you die, you have to start over. It starts out rather easy but gradually becomes difficult as the enemies begin to vary. 
You get upgrades constantly, but the 
game gets twice as 
hard as you get twice as strong. 

Game Modes 

In this game, there are three game modes of difficulty, but that's not the only reason to replay this game. In the game, you can make conscious decisions that change the story of the game. This makes it incredibly re-playable so that you can see all the different story lines. 

Writing

The writing in this game is wonderful. It may have simple graphics, and its story isn't incredibly complex, but the writing makes it fun and quirky. There are constant jokes that usually use irony and expectation that come from the NPC's dialogue. It only takes a few hours to complete the entire game, since the story is rather short, but again, there is a ton of replay-ability. 

Who would I recommend this to? 

I would recommend this game to generally anyone. It's game modes make it accessible to both hardcore gamers and casual, and it's fun and quirky style makes it a fun way to pass the time. Its challenge can be hard to get past, but it never gets to the point where it's frustrating. The greatest part is, at a price of $0.00, there's no real reason not to check it out. You can find the free version on Steam and the expansion pack here. 

So what do you think of Princess Remedy in a World of Hurt? What about Princess Remedy in a Heap of Trouble? Comment below with your thoughts and what I should recommend/review next.