👎 Ploid | NES | Review | 4/10 | "It’s not very good " 👎 @PixelHunted @NapeGames #Nes #IndieGames #GameDev

If you have a spare $400 you can buy a painting made by an elephant. With a brush clutched in its trunk, the elephant makes a couple of marks on a page which the gallery names things like “Banana Surprise” or “My Feather Boa”. It seems like a good racket and apparently, the elephants have fun.

But how do you evaluate an elephant’s painting? 

Can you compare it with a human artist, or is the fact that an elephant has painted something worthy of praise in and of itself?

This is the conundrum presented by Nape Games’ Ploid, a new NES game that runs on original hardware. 

Do I hold it next to other 2021 releases, review it as if it’d come out in 1988, or simply marvel that it exists at all?

👍🚗💨 Hitchhiker | Review | XBOX SERIES X | 6.5/10 | "A Slightly Surreal Trip With Some Bumps in The Road" @MadAboutPandas 👍🚗💨 @Hitchhiker_Game #IndieGames #GameDev

Hitchhiker is a great premise; you are a mysterious passenger trying to piece together your past through surreal journeys with a mix of drivers. The enclosed space meaning that puzzles must be inventive to be interesting and the idea of working out your history and motives from rolling conversations that come from possibly unreliable narrators is a solid start.

Unfortunately, Hitchhiker unravels slightly around the halfway mark, meaning that the last ninety minutes or so don’t stand up to the initial intrigue that propels the game forwards.

🔫 Narrative FPS Puzzler Claire De Lune Has 3 New Gameplay Trailers 🔫 @TacticStudios #IndieGames #GameDev

Announced in 2015, narrative FPS puzzler Claire de Lune has received not one, but three new Gameplay trailers!

With gameplay totalling more than 20 minutes, players get a glimpse at what Claire de Lune has to offer on its very own proprietary engine.

🏘️ Before We Leave | PC | Ten Minute Taster | "Those Pesky Elevators!" 🏘️ @BalancingMonkey #GameDev #IndieGames

 

Before We Leave is a non-violent city building game set in a cosy corner of the universe. Nurture your Peeps and their surroundings while rebuilding and rediscovering civilisation. Settle new lands and planets while avoiding hungry Space Whales.

💥 XIII Remastered | Review | PS5 | 3/10 | "A Very Unlucky Number" 💥

XIII was a game I had never played but it has always been on my radar. It’s a game I that I could see a screenshot of and instantly identify but never dipped my toes in, so when I saw it recently on sale, I thought - after 18 years, let’s finally give it a try and I picked up the remastered version.

Well, I was hoping for an action-packed, highly stylistic thrill ride… That is not what I got. This remastered version just feels soulless. It has a real emptiness and everything about it feels hollow. 

🏔️ Insurmountable | PC | Gameplay | Ten minute Taster | "Beware The Herb Goats!" 🏔️ @Insurmountgame #GameDev #IndieGames

Insurmountable sees you confront various terrains as a lonely mountaineer and endure the countless dangers of climbing!

Many tough decisions await you in a risky environment.

Make your way up and down the mountain, overcoming insurmountable heights!

🤖 Orbital Bullet | PC | Gameplay | Ten minute Taster | "Run Circles Round Those Robots!" 🤖 @SmokeStab #GameDev #IndieGames

 

Orbital Bullet is a fast-paced 360° action-platformer with rogue-lite elements, where all actions take place in a circular pattern.

Fight your way through a variety of procedural planets and use body modifications, crafting and heavy weaponry. Kill. Die. Modify.

🎲 Ashwalkers: A Survival Journey | PC | Ten Minute Taster | "A Mysterious Point & Click Adventure" 🎲 @DearVillagers #IndieGames #GameDev

Ashwalkers is a survival journey through a harsh world without rules or judgement. 

Only your choices matter in the face of moral dilemmas. 

Manage your party, food & equipment in this non-linear narrative survival sim with 34 possible endings.