Villager

 

Game: Villager

Developer: partnano (Twitter: @partnano)

Platform: Windows, Linux, macOS, Android

Play in browser here: https://partnano.itch.io/villager

Gotta love crafting games. They're almost like the zeitgeist in regards to gaming mechanics in both big-budget games and microgames such as this one. Some of the best craft games out there are still played to this day, such as Minecraft, Forager, and Stardew Valley at the peak of its popularity. But let's say you're a poor college student, like me, who is short on cash and don't want to spend too much money on your vidya gamerinos, and just want something bite-sized to take-in. Well, if you want that, you can definitely give Villager a shot.

Developed by small game dev partnano, and playable in-browser via pico-8 software, Villager is like if you took Stardew Valley and Forager, and compressed them down to the size of a marble with graphics reminiscent of a SEGA Genesis game. Your goal in this game is to essentially take the resources around you, via wood and stone, and create a village to appease villagers that spawn randomly as you build. It's kind of like a city builder game where you build a town with available resources, though this feels more hands-on than say SimCity or Cities: Skylines.

There are multiple resources to keep track of:

-Wood and Stone: Building materials.

-Food: Feeds you and villagers.
-Population: Count of villagers that are present.

-Happiness: Essentially the status of your town which helps keep people staying around.

Buildings require materials and certain prerequisites to fulfill. Doing so allows the player to build more structures, create more storage for supplies, and boost the happiness of the townsfolk. Happiness gets too low, people will start leaving. So despite its simple premise, there is a little bit of depth to crafting. It's not exactly Minecraft or Forager levels of deep, but it works nonetheless.

It's a pretty simple game with loads of charm that above all is free to play. Since it's presented via pico-8, it also comes with partial controller support. So if you don't want to cumbersomely play with a keyboard, just plug your controller in and have some fun... and realize fulfilling work and mundane chores is considered self-fulfilling. Humanity is weird.

Swans - To Be Kind

Album: To Be Kind

Artist: Swans

Released: May 12th, 2014

Genre: Post-rock, experimental rock

I've decided to do something a little different today. I've recently become very interested in music as a medium of artistic expression. While most people can attest that they may not be a movie watcher or a video game player or a sports fan, I cannot name a medium that brings people together more than music. Let's be real here, everyone loves music. Whether it be a casual listen to their favorite song by their favorite band or hardcore listening to some experimental soundscapes in the underground music scene, try to name someone that honestly isn't a fan of music that isn't being super contrarian. Now, I'm not incredibly musically inclined. The most "talent" I have from a music standpoint is an average singing voice. But today, I thought I would try to talk about some albums that I absolutely adore. Some by artists you may know, others that are literally who unless you have done some browsing here and there on music discussion boards like the /mu/ board on 4chan. 

That being said, I'm gonna gush about one of my favorite albums of all time, To Be Kind by Swans.

Now I know what you're probably asking: "Who on God's green Earth are Swans?" I'm glad you hypothetically asked. Swans are a long-running experimental rock outfit originating from New York City. They formed in 1982 during the height of the no-wave scene, a sect of underground music that exemplified a nihilistic sound that was abrasive and heavy. Swans have been spearheaded by frontman and multiinstrumentalist Michael Gira ever since the band formed in the early 80s to their reformation in 2010. Over the course of the band's history, they have had multiple shifts in sound and lineup changes. While they started off as a no-wave, industrial rock band, before evolving into post-rock and gothic rock. After their breakup in 1997 and a myriad of side projects, the band reformed in 2010, bringing in a more evolved sound of their work in the 90s.

Swans from 2012 to 2016 would release a trilogy of heavily acclaimed albums, and at the centerpiece of this trilogy is the album To Be Kind, a behemoth of a record that has a run time of over 2 hours. Modern Swans have been known for their long, repetitive soundscapes, cryptic lyrics, and complex instrumentation, and it's showcased excellently on this album.

If I could describe this album simply, I'd call it a massive wall of sound that crushes the listener under its impressive size. Nowhere is this more apparent than on the track "Bring the Sun/Toussaint L'Ouverture," a gargantuan track not only in length at over 34 minutes but also in pure sound. The instrumentation is so immense that it makes a listener like me feel like I'm coming to grips with something larger than life.

I should probably mention that given the length of this album, and the style of sound Swans are going for, this is not an album that I can pop on and just have the most casual of listens, like popping on a favorite tune because of the awesome riff or great singing. This is an album that requires the listener to be patient and disciplined when taking it all in. Tracks on this album have a hypnotic, repetitive sound that may sound jarring at first, not to mention kind of simple, but the progression of the tracks as they go on make for a compelling listen, like on tracks such as "Just A Little Boy" or the opening track "Screen Shot." The former having an otherworldly, spiritual atmosphere to it, and the latter sounds like the song is pulling you into another world.

That's not to say some tracks aren't accessible to a casual listener. Songs like "Oxygen" and "A Little God in My Hands" are great tracks to familiarize yourself with Swans' sound, not to mention their relatively shorter run times make for an easier experience.

To Be Kind to me is liking having a larger than life experience and realizing one's insignificance in the grander scheme of things. Whether it be the mantras on the song "Some Things We Do" that have lyrics that represent humanity at its most primal of actions, or celebration of being alive and breathing on the song "Oxygen." There's a very humanistic theme to this album, representing how little the human experience matters, but also not taking it for granted. 

To Be Kind is not an easy album. It's not an album that relies on a few catchy songs to bring you in or a hard-hitting riff that gets your headbanging. This album is more of an experience in witnessing something so large that it makes your existence seem trivial. That being said, this album isn't bleak, but more of witnessing yourself entering a plane of existence beyond comprehension.

If you're looking for something challenging to listen to or something different, I definitely recommend To Be Kind. While it's not an album I would start off with within Swans' immense catalog, I'd say either The Great Annihilator or Leaving Meaning or better places to start if you want to ease yourself in, it's still a fantastic experience that I can't recommend enough.

maskless

Game: maskless

Developer: Kultisti

Platform: Windows/MAC

Download Link: https://kultisti.itch.io/maskless

Masking is a personality trait most of us can relate to. We often create a mask to fit in among the crowd, be it a religious institution, a social club, or school. Places where peer pressure can be a common occurrence. We often try to fit into places because abnormality is often frowned upon in culture, like being of a different sexual orientation or gender identity. Masking also applies to me, having Asperger's Syndrome, a mild form of autism that affects my social intelligence and behavior. I often put a figurative mask on because of my low self-image. As much as I try to act normal, there are times where I wish I was normal, even if the definition of normal is subjective depending on the culture.

So along comes itch.io developer Kultisti who admirably attempts to bring to light masking in an artful way in their game, maskless. Maskless is a short, atmospheric side-scroller where you play as a nameless figure who dons a mask to fit in with the crowd that seeks to pressure them. Along the way, you meet a myriad of other nameless characters that have decided to not conform with the norms of the majority, living their lives out in the forest, pursuing their passions.

While the game is very direct with its message, the narrative is generally up in the air in terms of what you take from it. The dialogue is cryptic, but not alienating. It very much pushes the themes of conformity and individuality, even if some of the dialogue's execution left me scratching my head.

Visually speaking, Maskless I would say is more visually driven than it is dialogue-driven. The minimalist visuals are definitely charming to look at. It doesn't bombard the senses and keeps things simple in execution. I enjoyed a few aspects of the visual direction. I liked how the representation of time is constant, shown in the clock as a "gift" from the norm, and how their clothing is represented by the pendulum of a grandfather clock.

I did have some minor issues with grammatical errors, but that can be forgiven. Another thing is while I am open to open-ended storytelling and theory crafting, I mean, I have gushed enough about Robert Eggers' film The Lighthouse with my friends and family, I think in maskless the execution fell short to some of my desires. It's a great proof of concept that I'm glad exists, but I just was expecting a little more "oomph" if you will out of the narrative.

Still though, I found maskless to be a charming little game. Game time lasts roughly 10 minutes, so it's a short adventure. While I was hoping that the narrative had a little bit more impact, I can certainly say it's worth checking out. The visuals and art direction are really interesting, and the themes I'm sure most people can relate to. Check this game out and "feel free to feel free."

Coming Out Simulator 2014

Game: Coming Out Simulator 2014

Developer: Nicky Case (Twitter: @ncasenmare)

Play in browser: https://ncase.itch.io/coming-out-simulator-2014

I don't pretend to know what it's like for one to come out as LGBTQ+ in this day in age. The closest that I could come to relating to it is coming out with my non-belief in the religion I grew up in, which I've stated which one it was in a previous post, I'm sure. I do not wish to appropriate coming out as areligious/agnostic in the same vein as coming out as LGBTQ+, but having played this game and talked to people who identify themselves within such community, I can certainly draw parallels. I'm sure some of my peers may not appreciate my disaffiliation from their church, but the only thing I will ask if you respect my decision to follow my own path in life. That being said though, I'm looking to talk about this game, which, ironically, was in my suggestion section on itch.io for well over a year or so. Combined with my burnout and ultimate canceling of my video for Swallow The Sea, a game I was looking forward to talking about, I pretty much said "what the hell" and gave it a shot.

Coming Out Simulator 2014 is a small, visual novel-esque game about the game's developer, Nicky Case, and their semi-fictionalized story of coming out. The game is mostly dialogue-based and is interesting in the fact that it remembers the words you have used in conversation, which ultimately have consequences in how conversations progress. Your conversations take place between Nicky's boyfriend at the time, Jack, and the former's hyper-conservative Asian parents.

Judging by the premise of this piece, you probably expect things to go all hunky-dory, right? No, but seriously, it goes about as poorly as you might expect. As fictionalized as the game may be in Nicky's story of coming out, there is still truth to behold in the story of many people who live in these real-life situations. 

From an artistic angle, I can say this game excels in a lot of areas. I do like the sort of anonymous, faceless characters, enough emotion gets communicated through body language to give the player an idea of the emotions being conveyed. Despite the sound effects being public domain, I like the sort of atmosphere it gives this game, especially with the ticking clock in the dining room scene creating a sort of tense atmosphere as you go through dialogue.

If there's any criticism I can throw at this game, it would probably be that the idea of choosing your words carefully is kind of misleading, as the game itself tells you that there are no right answers. The game kind of sets the fictionalized version of Nicky up for failure no matter what, which while I can understand from a thematic standpoint of coming out being a sort of "damned if you do, damned if you don't" scenario, it kind of makes the branching dialogue kind of meaningless, and kind of shoots down its replayability.

Despite having had a little bit of criticism for its lack of replayability, this game still holds a lot of value for those who are still "in the closet" about certain aspects of themselves. It could very well be a good piece for those who aren't openly LGBTQ+ or even open about being of a different religious persuasion or lack thereof. Coming Out Simulator 2014 has a lot of goodwill to it and is certainly a good video game piece that is encouraging of self-worth, despite the negative outcome the story presents. The game is a short, roughly 20-minute experience, but I do believe it's worth your time, whether you're looking for something relatable or looking to get some perspective.

VEKTOR 2089

Game: VEKTOR 2089 [Early Access Mode]

Developer: Impbox

Download Link: https://impbox.itch.io/vektor2089

MSRP: $5.00

If there is any genre that I get absolutely giddy over, it's futuristic racers. My zealous love for the F-Zero series knows no bounds and it has been absolute hell for me to not get a new installment since F-Zero Climax. So, I do what I can in this troublesome time of F-Zero drought by playing games of a similar caliber, be it WipEout and the clone games it inspires, FAST RMX which while good didn't quite scratch that F-Zero itch, for me at least. I've been on the hunt for a futuristic racing game to sink my teeth into and itch.io has definitely showcased its fair share of futuristic racers. One that caught my eye that I wanted to give a try was VEKTOR 2089.

Developed by Impbox, VEKTOR 2089 is a top-down futuristic racer with retro-inspired graphics and fast-paced racing action. I am a little hesitant to cover this game, as it isn't entirely finished. Heck, it's going through some graphical revisioning as I speak, which is great to hear. I'm very glad that this game is still being worked on, as itch.io has had multiple cases of unfinished projects being abandoned over the years, which saddens me. But I digress. 

Right off the bat, what attracted to me this game is the aesthetic, not to mention the great gifs that sell the fast-paced racing to a tee. The pixelated graphics along with the 60 FPS framerate were enough to drag me in, though I was almost already sold on the fact that it's a futuristic racer, so, in a way, I felt some sense of obligation to check it out. I assumed that it was going to be similar to Impbox's PICO-8 racing prototype that he also has on his profile, and my assumptions were correct to some fields and wrong in others. 

Graphically the PICO-8 concept and VEKTOR 2089 are similar in track design and controls are similar in concept with left and right arrows to steer and z to accelerate. VEKTOR 2089 adds on to these concepts with the brake acting as also a drift function to navigate turns better. The boost has been moved from the up arrow to the SHIFT key, which is weird on my end since I'm used to the PICO-8 game's controls. On the topic of controls, I like to play my racing games with a controller. That sounds all well and good, but I find the controls on a controller to be different for some strange reason. I find myself comparing the different control schemes to Kirby Air Ride's "Top Ride" mode where your two machines had two different control styles: one being based on the direction of your control stick and the other based on left and right turns. I like to use the latter control style as I find it easier to utilize, and that's all well and good when using a keyboard. Strangely though, the control scheme for a controller is based on the former vehicle's description, and I had a hard time adjusting to that. I do wish that there was a way to adjust the control layout for using a controller, and I hope that gets addressed.

VEKTOR 2089 boasts multiple racing modes: championship, where you race on multiple tracks in a set order and whoever accumulates the most points after four races wins, single race, where a single event is held on a track of your choice, time attack, where you race to get the fastest time on a track, versus mode for up to 4 players and "hotseat" for competitive time attack, similar to TrackMania. You get a lot of variety for your modes and the vehicles you can race as, with five unique vehicles across multiple different race teams that have different stats. You can also have gif replays by hitting the F9 key, which I would utilize, but with my keyboard having the "FN" key, it's fairly awkward to utilize. Other modes include a track editor and a vehicle editor as well, which I wish I was well versed with pixel art to use, but alas I am not. Still, very neat features to include.

The music for this game is stellar as well, with it being composed by French electronic music group, Dubmood. Their electro-chiptune tracks complement the game's vibe very well. Here's a link for their other music undertakings on Bandcamp.

I do feel like there is a lot of potential to be had here. I like the aesthetic, as I love futuristic racing games, the music is great, the art direction is great. I just wish the controls when using a controller were consistent with the keyboard controls. Maybe what I say will be outdated and get addressed, but I am looking forward to the future of this game. Check out yourself if you want!

I'll Take You To Tomato Town!

Game: I'll Take You To Tomato Town

Developer: adamgryu

Download Link: https://adamgryu.itch.io/tomato-town

Shopping is fun... I guess? I don't know how to start this. I guess I could start with some commentary on people getting quarantined due to COVID-19, but eh, I don't really feel like going all-in on that joke as that horse has been beaten to death faster than a Reddit meme template, but I digress. Instead, let's reminisce the moments of shopping for your buddies, who need arbitrary shit stuff from the store and it is your responsibility to get said stuff. Which is the premise of I'll Take You To Tomato Town.

I went shopping for myself today and it was somewhat relaxing despite the hysteria right now. Tomato Town, however, is anything but relaxing. You have 3 minutes and change to find all the items your friends are looking for and leave the store in a reasonable amount of time. It's like a reverse retail worker's nightmare, where instead of trying to maintain your sanity throughout the day of taking care of customers, you're trying to maintain your sanity by finding the mustard in Tomato Town, which if you don't know the layout of the store by memory, is going to be near impossible unless you look in a very specific spot :/.

But what are the nice parts of I'll Take You To Tomato Town? There are quite a few things that can be said like the graphics were nice and colorful and the in-game physics are hysterical, wherein whenever you pick an item off the shelf, all the other items next to it go flying and make a huge mess. I also like the informal way your friends on the phone tell you to pick up their stuff from the supermarket. The informal tone and irreverent nature of it add some level of mockery towards you as you feel like you're being tortured in some way by your friends.

I do kind of wish that the game had more space to work with and that the placement of items didn't feel so arbitrary, but the game is free to play so I can't really complain too much, even if the other customers like to push you around and obstruct your movement and vision. I definitely feel like this game likes to push you around as if it's supposed to be some form of torture for the shopper as some form of catharsis for retail workers. 

So once you get all the items your friends need, they call and tell you that the card they lent you has no money on it! Aw shucks, those darn rascals! So now you have to steal as much inventory as you can without getting caught and then leave the store. If the store closes before you leave or you get caught by the security guard, it's game over for you.

The game isn't super deep or an allegory of shoplifting or hoarding or friends who lack envy for the torture they put you through. However, it is a simple fun game to play during the time that you may be sitting at home during potential quarantine or you come across this blog by poor chance and have to put up with my mediocre writing ability. Whatever the case may be, do give this game a shot and have some fun!

Verdict: Would Strangle My Friends Over the Phone/I Finally Found the Mustard!!!

Cosmic Rochambo

Game: Cosmic Rochambo

Developer: Sean Dick

Download Link: https://dean-sick.itch.io/cosmic-rochambo
MSRP: $5.00

I suck at keeping this thing active, but here goes nothing! HEY KIDDOS! DO YOU LIKE ANIME!? Yes, you do, you dorks. You can't go anywhere without finding something anime-inspired. It's like a disease with no cure! Okay, so that's a bit melodramatic, but still, so much of media nowadays has taken a ton of influence from Japanese animation, most notably, the shounen genre. Now, for all you non-fluent anime denizens who think all of anime is most likely a gateway to child pornography (that sounded a lot better in my head), shounen is a genre of Japanese media that mostly caters to adolescent boys. Most shounen anime or manga is usually something action-adventure related with epic battles on an over the top scale, so stuff like Dragon Ball Z, Naruto, My Hero Academia, One Piece, Bleach, Attack On Titan, the list goes on and on. So with my tirade of describing anime out of the way, you might be wondering what this has to do with the game at hand? Well, Cosmic Rochambo, and its sister game, Rebop Blasters take heavy influence from the shounen anime genre. I'll get to Rebop Blasters in a second, but I first want to discuss Cosmic Rochambo.

So the premise of this game is that you and your adversary are having a duel of epic proportions. You are fighting in space! Your controls are basic: if using a controller, you use your joystick or d-pad to move around and press any of the face buttons to perform a superpowered dash attack or tap to parry. Your goal is to beat and bang against your opponent until they hit the edge of the arena. Do this a set number of times and you win. There are multiple arenas to face-off in, such as a cube, a sphere, or a very large arena that in my opinion is super disorienting and I don't exactly recommend fighting in. You can choose the color of your fighter as well, and that's pretty much the gist of it.

I enjoy the presentation of this game. It's vibrantly colorful and pleasant to look at, though there could be too many effects for those photosensitive. The game definitely hits the vibe of being an epic battle in an alternate dimension where you're zooming around and fighting and martial art fisticuffs ala Dragon Ball Z. It's a cool multiplayer game that you can have couch co-op play with. I do kind of wish there were online capabilities with this game, but it's a good proof of concept.

If there is any sort of criticism I can throw at this game, it would probably be the functioning of the AI. The AI is kind of inconsistent with their difficulty setting, with, in my experience, easy being super aggressive and the hardest difficulty being fairly passive. The most you get out of their difficulty is when your dash attacks collide and you have to perform certain inputs to win the minigame. The harder the AI, the faster they perform the inputs. Speaking of which, when you get into these situations, I recommend using the D-pad for directional inputs, as the joystick is not always that responsive for those inputs

Despite some criticisms I have with the game, I did enjoy my time with it. I highly recommend giving it a shot and as I am writing this, the game is currently free to pick up off of itch.io, as they are having a COVID-19 quarantine sale across the site. Go nuts!