Games You Might Not Have Tried - ep 15 - September 2018 Edition - Extra Credits

[Music] good evening fellow humans welcome back to games you might not have tried the show where we talk about games that are quirky unique or just plain interesting for a designer yes contestant Matt uh hi big fan um does that mean all the games are good of course not just that there's something to learn from them or something for the avid player who's tired of seeing the same shooters and Assassin's Creed knock-offs awesome I'll take a yoku Island Express for a thousand Oh slow your roll slugger you've gotta wait for the intro take it away this episode of extra credits is brought to you by extra sci-fi what so a little while ago we were lucky enough to have oculus rift sponsor two special episodes of extra sci-fi on the history of virtual reality so please check them out after this episode at the link below

yoku island express this game is a work of pure whimsy that captures the unabashed joy of the old SNES era Nintendo games in it you're a tiny bug postman out to deliver the mail on a tropical island the area's lovely and the characters are memorable and quirky but it's the gameplay that sets it apart it's a pinball platforming Metroidvania and they make the combination of pinball mechanics and Metroidvania progression really work it's the logical extension of the vastly under recognised Sonic Spinball it may not change your life but you'll certainly get to experience something new and have a delightful time while doing it legendary Gary legendary Gary is a game that is perfectly imperfect it reminds me of those 90s indie comic scenes where nothing feels remotely professional but it's clear that they're a labor of love and you know the artist means what they say the

game is about slackers in a small town who don't know what to do so we're just letting life pass them by it's also about the temptation and inspiration games can provide the metaphors it uses are a little thin doesn't quite knock it out of the park in terms of providing revelations about some of the issues it tackles but it's earnest with great moments and it's worth it for that 20xx 2018 has been a good year for mega people so I'm just going to assume that the exes stand for 18 20xx is a roguelike Mega Man you heard me right but I'll say it again a roguelike Mega Man heck yeah that's basically all you need to know it has a few rough edges and your mileage may vary depending on how much you like the basic Mega Man formula but it's yet another interesting example of taking an own gameplay type and bringing in roguelike elements cultist simulator cathodic machinations in a

world written by the folks who penned fall in London and sunless sea count me in the game may not look like much but it uses a simple template to weave interesting stories of the occult don't worry if you don't succeed your first time though the whole thing is about discovery and intuiting things that are just beyond our logical understanding it's not all about intuition though there's also a nice balance of logical gameplay that operates some of the more mundane aspects of your existence and produce the basic fundamentals of your occult world you need to proceed just be warned if you're anything like me the first time you boot this game up it will steal your night as you try to tease out its Panta lysing secrets oh and there's an Arg in there if you know how to find it wars across the world speaking of cthulhu James found a strategy game scenario ins mouth in 1928

that led him to an interesting game wars across the world the AI is too easy the tutorial is horribly translated and the mechanics are a bit rough but the core concept is very interesting basically it's like gurps but for turn-based strategy gaming the claim is that the ruleset they've developed can cover any battle scenario from ancient Greece to the Second World War and even fantastical things like battles between aliens or elves the execution is imperfect but the goal is worth thinking about if you're designing turn-based games pray moon crash I know we've talked about pray a great deal so I'm going to keep this one short if you haven't gotten this DLC and want a roguelike pray you should get it if you haven't gotten this DLC and you're the type of person who wants to know how you can really bring storytelling into a roguelike then you should really get it enough says the awesome Adventures of Captain

Spirit the folks who made life is strange made a tiny game about a boy who wants to be a superhero as a promotion for life is strange too but at the two-hour long mark and the price of free it's worth checking out on its own it's probably one of the better renditions of life as a child just on that border between having to grow up and still living in a world of imagination we've all inhabited when we were young it's a type of protagonist I'm not sure I can actually name another example of in games someone's still young enough to find the magic in a world that might not be as magical as he wants it to be oh man exit AO plague and Cardinal cross this one's a two-for-one James has been thinking a lot about interactive fiction again and so while Steam is busy getting swamped with bad interactive fiction we thought we'd recommend two for you that stood out to him a bit the first one is omen exit EO a Lovecraftian game

book adventure type piece and the second is Cardinal cross which truth be told he's not all the way through yet but so far it provides an interesting sci-fi tale with lots of player choice moments for a visual novel style game the Paynes Creek killings we're going to round this out with the pains Creek killings the design on this game is so old-school it has as many locked doors as Silent Hill every time you need to open one you have to find a key put it in your inventory go to the door it belongs to hover over the lock open your inventory and click use but don't let that deter you especially if you're an indie designer the game itself is worth a play and with slightly more modern design you could make a whole genre of games that are cheap and easy to create out of what the pains Creek killings presents the game itself is a murder mystery but it's unlike most murder mysteries you'll see in games you'll actually have to unravel it you're presented with an entire

abandoned town to explore all the clues are there everything you need to solve the case is hidden within that town the question is can you find all the pieces you'll have to search high and low dig through cabinets and drawers put together subtle hints and find ways to access inaccessible parts of town then it's up to you to put the mystery together and deduce what really went on the story is solid and if anything I've said makes you interested you should give it a try just one recommendation though you have a camera in the game use it take pictures of everything you'll want them when you start to put together what's going on oh and that sound means that's all the time we have for games you might not have tried we hope there was something here to get your brains burning with new possibilities yes other me so what do I win this wasn't actually a competition just a framework you built out for an intro gag that's gone on -

gosh darn laug credit I probably should've realized that considering we're the same person you're telling me we'll see you all next time can you not get enough extra credits videos I do know that feeling then check out a special two-part extra sci-fi series on the history of virtual reality sponsored by oculus rift personally I love the topic of VR and I was psyched to get to learn all about where it came from so click the link and be sure to tell us that we sent you hmm [Music] [Applause] [Music]