⛳️🏌️‍♂️Tee off for the unknown - A Little Golf Journey Takes To The Greens Today ⛳️🏌️‍♂️ @PTonicFriends #GameDev #IndieGames

I'm well into this premise of a game, hopefully, it lives up to my expectations, in the meantime, I'll just salivate over the trailer...

"A Little Golf Journey is all about the journey, not the driver.  Explore diverse biomes, uncover each course's secrets and enjoy a relaxed, playful experience built around a stripped back version of the game of golf.

Created by a duo of former AAA games developers and launching on Steam & GOG for PC and Nintendo Switch today, A Little Golf Journey allows players to soak up the natural beauty of the course, spend all your time out of bounds or shoot straight for the greens. But who knows what mysteries you might uncover if you explore a little?"

🌲🪓'Len's Island' Gets New Gameplay Trailer | Launch Date 26/11/21 🌲🪓 @LensIsland #GameDev #Indiegames

I really like the look of this game and they've just dropped a new Trailer for it...

"In Len's Island, players can pick their own playstyle, choose a simple life or pick up a sword and head for the mysteries that lurk below. The vibrant and engaging world has been lovingly crafted to appeal to all kinds of audiences whether they’re hardcore dungeon-crawler fans, home-builder and decorators, explorers and completionists, farming fanatics, collectable hoarders, or people who just want to live a simple life chopping trees as the sun goes down, there’s something for everyone to discover on Len’s Island."

Looks good, doesn't it!?

📘🚶‍♀️ Book Of Travels | PC | Ten Minute Taster | Gameplay | "Take A Walk With Me" 📘🚶‍♀️ #GameDev #IndieGames

 

Ready your pack, grab your walking stick and step into a world of mystery and legend in the Book Of Travels game. Craft a unique character and immerse yourself in the enchanted lands of Braided Shore. Set your own goals and adventure alone or together with Travellers you meet on the road in this serene TMORPG.

🛡️ EFFIE | Nintendo Switch | Ten Minute Taster | Gameplay | "Runes R Us" @Klabater 🛡️ @InvergeStudios #GameDev #IndieGames

Effie is a 3D action-adventure game that combines the classic elements of the genre, such as combat, platforming and puzzles, with the exploration of an expanded world. In the game, we play as Galand, a young man in his quest to recover his youth after a witch cursed him with premature old age. Powerful black magic controls the cities of the region of Oblena and to face evil, we will carry a magic shield called Runestone. This shield has a very important role in our adventure because it will be our only weapon and tool. It will allow you to defend yourself, to fight and to surf across the red grassland.

⚔️Ghostrunner | PS5 | Review | 9/10 | "Your enemies are hapless mooks destined to be carved into chunks"👻🏃 #IndieGames #GameDev @GhostrunnerGame @PixelHunted

In Ghostrunner you’re a super-powered, hyper-agile katana-wielding cyber-ninja. Your enemies are hapless mooks destined to be carved into chunks during your time-bending, telekinetic acrobatic rampage. Pounding electronic beats drive you through levels with the destructive potential of a tornado that’s sucked up the contents of a knife shop. In the right hands you can not - will not - be stopped.

🖱️ Point-and-Click Adventure Unusual Findings Launches On Kickstarter 🖱️ @EpicLLamaGames #IndieGames #GameDev #Kickstarter

 

Pull-on your leg warmers and get ready for a trip back into the 80s  Epic Llama Studio has just announced that the Kickstarter campaign for their upcoming point-and-click adventure title Unusual Findings has just launched. The funding from the Kickstarter campaign will be used to bring Unusual Findings to additional platforms, including Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series S/X and PlayStation 4 and 5. Any additional stretch goals will allow the team to expand the game with new scenes, mini-games and more.

💿📀 Children of Morta | Vinyl | Video Game Soundtrack 💿📀 @minimum_records #VideoGameVinyl #Vinyl

Available From:

https://www.minimumrecords.net/shop/baovigseys35z3i68et75e1hdtk0gv

Label - Minimum Records

www.minimumrecords.net

Music by - Hamidreza Ansari

https://hamidrezaansari.com/home

Taken from the 2019 ARPG game ‘Children of Morta’ developed by Dead Mage, the game tells the story of the Bergson family, who are trying to erase ‘the Corruption’ from their home, Mount Morta. 

Children of Morta is a game I have played only briefly, it just so happened to be a game I was just tucking into – not to review for GF, just stumbled upon it on Game Pass – just as a deluge of things that required coverage came into the GF HQ and the flaming gavel of justice was required elsewhere once more. Whilst I only spent an hour or so with the game, I was digging the presentation and mood and so I’m intrigued by how the soundtrack feels as a standalone piece of music.

🤡 A Juggler’s Tale | Review | Xbox | 7/10 | "Well-presented with some strings attached" 🤡 @ajugglerstale #GameDev #IndioeGames

The 2.5D platformer genre is one that I’m often attracted to, whether it’s something along the lines of Shadow Complex or more akin to Inside or even something that leans towards more of a hack-and-slash affair, there’s something about the distant expanse that paints the picture of a rich and full world - yet tied to streamlined, linear gameplay. The presentation of A Juggler’s Tale is very much a highlight, as is the audio work. It’s in the mechanics and controls that the splinters begin to appear.

🕷️🕸️Spider-Man Original Video Game Soundtrack Music by John Paesano 🕸️🕷️ #Vinyl #VideoGameVinyl

Available at Mondo - https://mondoshop.com/collections/all/products/marvels-spider-man-original-video-game-soundtrack-2xlp

The first record we’ve covered from either Mondo or musician John Paesano, this double-LP of Insomniac’s 2018 hit pulls no punches with the sprawling filmic audio expanse that it creates.

🚒🔥 EMBR | PC | Gameplay | Ten Minute Taster | "Come On Baby Light My Fire!" 🧯👨‍🚒 @EmbrGame #GameDev #IndieGames

In Embr you get to Fight fires for fun and profit in this unpredictable and frantic multiplayer game. Team up with friends, take on daily challenges and climb to the top of the corporate firefighting ladder. More than one way to become a hero!

🌕 Jettomero: Hero of the Universe | Nintendo Switch | Review | 6.5/10 | "I’m stompin’ around, move out of my way" 🌕 @GhostTimeGames #IndieGames #GameDev

Having so recently been completely enamoured with the GOTY contender Tux and Fanny, I delved into Jettomero, the previous title from Ghost Time Games. Whilst it didn’t grab me in the same way that Tux and Fanny did, there are some real highs here but they are unfortunately offset by some points that ultimately heavily detract from the experience.

💿 Video Game Vinyl Fantasies | #2 | Britt Recommends 💿 #Vinyl #VideoGameVinyl

My previous Vinyl Fantasies article on VGM vinyl back in May (https://www.gamesfreezer.co.uk/2021/05/video-game-vinyl-britt-recommends.html) resulted in some absolutely wonderful conversations, feedback and comments.

The article appeared to really resonate with a lot of people (thank you to all!) and so it made perfect sense to get hips deep again and talk about other albums that really stand out for me – as well as some recent additions to the GF collection.

Once again, there is so much solid gold out there that I keep coming across music that quite frankly makes my trousers fly off my legs and turn into butterflies that scatter across the universe…so here are more records that soundtrack my days.

💿 Dead by Daylight Vinyl | Review | "Michel .F April’s brooding, atmospheric score" 💿 @MichelFApril #VideoGameVinyl #Vinyl

(https://returntoanalogrecords.com/products/dead-by-daylight-ost-rsd-canada-exclusive?_pos=1&_sid=2c47c8118&_ss=r)

This is the first release I’ve covered from Return to Analog - a label based in Canada - and the contact, support, shipping and packaging were excellent, so it was off to a great start!

Being unfamiliar with the Dead by Daylight game, I went into this album with no prior expectations...but, upon seeing some of the track titles (Being Watched, Suffering, Enduring Torment, Threatening Gloom…) I did wonder if I’d have to listen from behind a tear-absorbent pillow.

♞♚♛♜♝ Chessplosion | PC | Ten Minute Taster | Gameplay | "Bomberman Chess" ♞♚♛♜♝ @CTMatthews #IndieGames #GameDev

Chessplosion is an arcade action puzzle game where you drop chess piece-shaped bombs to create chain reactions and trap opponents. 

Defeat enemies and bosses in Adventure Mode, break targets with limited bombs in Puzzle Mode, dodge explosions in Survival Mode, or fight friends and AI in Battle Mode

💿💿The Angry Video Game Nerd 1&2 Deluxe Vinyl | Review | "An Expansive Triple Vinyl" 💿💿 @blackscreenrec #VideoGameVinyl #Vinyl

💿Available from Black Screen Records 💿https://blackscreenrecords.com/products/avgn-1-2-deluxe-1-2-original-soundtrack-by-sam-beddoes?ref=DKckbeLXWw8-aj&variant=32871737884775

Having been a fan of The Angry Video Game Nerd for a good few years (I think the first video I ever saw was The Silver Surfer), I can remember when the games based on the series were first released  - in 2013 and 2016 respectively – and their addictive ‘dive in and out’ qualities combined with laser-focused platforming challenge and shining 8-bit audio work made such an impression on me that I leapt to cover the deluxe versions when they were released last year  (https://www.gamesfreezer.co.uk/search/label/AVGN%201%262%20Deluxe).

🎮 NACON MG-X | "Designed for Xbox" Mobile Controller |Review | 9/10 | "OMG-X!" 🎮 @Nacon

It was a sad, sad day when I relinquished my Switch Lite. Having been a fan of the Gameboy and Atari Lynx in my misspent youth, I enjoyed getting hips deep into Mario (oo-er) on bus and train journeys. But, having bought an Xbox when the latest generation came out, I couldn’t justify the expense of running two prime consoles and the double game costs associated with it (I realise this is Games Freezer heresy as Britt has every console available, including TWO Magnavox Odysseys. Probably).

🔥 Dustwind | PS4 | Ten minute Taster | Gameplay | "Eat My Dust!" 🔥 @dustwind_game #GameDev #IndieGames

 

ARE YOU READY FOR CLASSIC REAL-TIME TACTICS? Be the nameless heroine in the wastelands of DUSTWIND's story campaign, fight against and with human players in the elaborate Multiplayer mode or design your very own story campaigns and maps in the mighty map editor!

🏁🏎️💨 Cruis’n Blast | Nintendo Switch | Review | 7.5/10 | "I Have Very Fond Memories of The Cruis’n Series" 🏁🏎️💨 @rawthrills

I have very fond memories of the Cruis’n series, both in terms of the original arcade versions and homeports – well, some of them.

Originally released in 1994, the first game in the series – Cruis’n USA – was a fixture in a lot of arcades I visited in my teens and I was instantly drawn to the twitchy handling, energetic music and pure arcade gameplay.

The home ports were decent and got better with each iteration, meaning that Cruis’n Exotica was the highlight for me, despite the pop-in, smoothness always wins the day!

👻 Tormented Souls | PS5 | Review | 8/10 | "Like Early Resident Evil" 👻 @PQubeGames #IndieGames #GameDev

Before Tormented Souls, I had played two games this year where the developers’ goal has been to emulate early survival horror games such as Resident Evil or Silent Hill. One was bad, the other is my least favourite game of all time and contained design choices that still make me angry to this day.

I was very sceptical going into Tormented Souls, thinking that maybe this type of game should be left in the past, so I don’t have to watch my love and nostalgia being quickly eroded by games trying to recapture their spirit.

Luckily, I love Tormented Souls, it did exactly what it was supposed to do - first and foremost, allow me to enjoy the experience but also fired up my nostalgia and transported me back to the early days of survival horror.

🏠 No Longer Home | PC | Review | 7/10 | 🏠 @PixelHunted #GameDev #IndieGames

There’s a thin line between homage and plagiarism. No Longer Home lifts a lot from Kentucky Route Zero, with the flat-shaded graphics, magical realist elements, font-choice, animation, controls, and general vibe suspiciously familiar to anyone who’s played Cardboard Computer’s indie classic.

As a big-time fan of Kentucky Route Zero this isn’t exactly unwelcome, but when you’re a tiny indie developer with the freedom to make whatever you want cribbing heavily from someone else’s aesthetic feels like a creative lapse. Then, late in the game, you walk into a room to find a computer with Kentucky Route Zero on it and you’re asked if you want to name your dog Blue or Homer.

Well, fair enough then. At least they aren’t being subtle about it.