Cover art by @designbyboo

We’re back again with our monthly feature for @PIZZAPRANKS‘ Indiepocalypse, with a glimpse at the historical first-person shooting of Gods and Generals! While the format doesn’t necessarily entail my covering the full breadth of the game’s many, many follies; it does give me an excuse to highlight some of its most ill-advised mechanics, and to wax poetic on the potential wasted. Specifically: With regards to the American Civil War setting, and to its “unique” handling of single-shot muskets.

First things first, the American Civil War setting: More games in general should be leveraging it — now more than ever. There are themes aplenty to be mined, unique perspectives to place players in, and war stories waiting to be told. Now, I’m going to add the condition here that the Southern Confederacy should obviously be vilified for all their rottenness and evil, or at the very least show any sympathetic soldiers to be grievously misled. Gods and Generals gets that bit wrong; by failing to offer anything in the way of commentary or contextualization for your turns as a Confederate character, or seeming to reward you experience points for mowing down scores of fleeing and surrendering Union soldiers. Ideally, I reckon a modern indie take on a Civil War game would either center around the historic “brother against brother” slogan, exploring the deterioration of family around opposing beliefs and politics; or the perspective of African American soldiers enlisted in the Union forces, for whom the work of war was made the toughest, and the ultimate stakes could not be higher.

Games from the bundle I feel compelled to highlight this month include Jeremy W. Kaufmann’s When There Is No More Snow: A ZZT-styled visual novel, with rich ANSI visuals and lots of neat branching paths. I’ve still got to work my way through a handful of the remaining endings, as a matter of fact, and I’m using this bit of text as a reminder to myself to do so. Also included is Dani Soria’s ASMR: A coming out story contained with a simulation of an ASMR video. Some of the sounds and mouth fixation (including some minor dental trauma) stuff might be a little tough for some to stomach, but I found the whole experience to be a neat little bit of experimental visual story-telling. It takes a grand total of roughly 5 minutes to play through, and I highly recommend doing so. Of course, I’m also compelled to recommend the entire lot of games included in the bundle, for an always diverse slice of the itch.io indie scene.

Purchase the issue on itch.io!
Or, consider pledging to Indiepocalypse on Patreon!

Cover art by @smallsmallwitch.

Our monthly feature for @PIZZAPRANKS‘ Indiepocalypse returns, with a new angle on an old classic of the Bad Game Hall of Fame: Captain Novolin! Now, rather than attempting to rehash that existing article in any sort of substantive way, the approach in my feature time is to narrow in on a specific concept or idea presented in a given game.

In this case, I squint my eyes at the superhero game sub-genre, and to explore one of the few ideas that our pals at raya systems managed to (inadvertently?) get right — the idea of a prominent weakness, or so-called “kryptonite” for your caped crusader. The fact that it just so happens to be sugary foods in the case of our good Captain may well be goofy, but I reckon it’s as good a jumping off point as any for my ramblings! Here’s a brief sampling, for those curious:

What licensed AAA superhero titles are often left failing to incorporate is any sense of tangible vulnerability or performance-detracting afflictions on the part of your given heroes. Because in the eyes of licensors and publishers, the concept of the hero fantasy leaves no room for vulnerability (beyond standard projectiles and melee attacks, apparently), and having to deal with underlying physical and psychological conditions is a definite no-go. But the beauty of the independent scene is the ability to focus games entirely around those human elements, and to explore the depths of how they affect characters over the course of a given narrative. It doesn’t have to go the direction of grimdark grittiness as I mocked earlier, as something like a manageable medical condition or more cartoonish susceptibility could be incorporated with a degree of optimistic earnestness. Just so long as there’s something to help ground your protagonist with some degree of vulnerability, they can become instantly more relatable to a player, and impart a sense of lingering danger to your given superhero story.

As always, I really would encourage y’all to give the ‘zine / bundle a shot. Not just to read my pieces, but to get hands on some kick-ass curated indie games in the process! This month’s collection includes a neat little virtual installation titled Museum of Memories, brought to us by Kate Smith. As a sucker for museums of the niche, the idea of an exhibit of items specifically bearing “sentimental value” to the curator and contributors is a novel one, and a concept I managed to really resonate with. I’ll also highlight Chonkers HQ’s Homerun Miko, which serves to put you in the shoes of a bat-wielding shrine maiden out to set worldly spirits right by the powers of baseball. Exactly the sort of convergence of seemingly disparate ideas that I love to see work in total harmony, and serving a super unique little isometric experience. Of course, I recommend giving all the games in the bundle a shot – if you can spare the time for them – and experiencing some of what the indie scene has to offer.

Purchase the issue on itch.io!
Or, consider pledging to Indiepocalypse on Patreon!