Who would have thought that PURPLE would win as theme? 😸
As expected I loved all this weeks entries. Sooo beautiful! What’s not to like about purple? Like, it’s part of the rainbow! And CD’s are rainbow! And games used to come on CD’s…. I was rambling again? Woops… Okay, I’ll shut up about purple..
As you can see in the title, it was already the third weekly event held in the community discord! Which ran from Monday, April 19th till Sunday, April 25th. Monday is when the theme gets announced and you can enter till friday. Voting is the whole week till saturday. Sunday is G-day (G from GGP, get it? I’m soooo funny I know 😹) and the winners get announced, AND a poll is posted to decide the theme of next week.
Ahem ahem ahem! To all participants, Congratulations! To all non-participants, also congratulations! (and be sure to participate next week!)
Here are the WINNERS!!!
Winner of 1500 Points – JapaniKatti
By JapaniKatti
Winner of 1000 Points – Storm
By Storm
Winners of 500 Points – Xeloses & Nightxar
By Xeloses
By Nightxar
I really can’t tell you enough how much I loved all entries! But I
don’t think it comes as a surprise that I really loved Nightxars entry a
lot! It’s original art! With purple and cats and games and books and anime and cat pictures and cake! and did I mention cats?
As you can see, all kind of entries are allowed. You can post
original art but screenshots are also allowed. You can find more info
and rules about entering for next weeks theme in our discord! The info should be pinned in the #event-submissions Channel.
Will I be seeing an entry of you next week? 😻 I’m looking forward to it! See you in the discord!
SINNER is a hack-and-slash, souls inspired, boss rush game developed by DARK STAR and published by Another Indie in 2018. It has mixed reviews on steam (this might be skewered slightly cause of all the haters of difficulty). The game has 60 achievements which range from dying in a certain way to defeating the true final boss of the game.
The following review was written by: Nex
The Basics
You play as Adam, a wanderer without any memories. You begin your journey in an unknown area, surrounded by spirits. They will help you get acquainted with the controls. As all souls-likes, the main mechanics of the game are: Light attack, heavy attack, dodge, block, parry, and consumables. You start with two possible weapons, the first one being a short sword paired with a shield, and the second one being a large two-handed sword. As you progress through the game, you will unlock other weapons which you may use. It’s entirely up to you to pick the one which best suits your style. Consumables are extremely useful tools to help you achieve victory. You have your standard heal, some firebombs, several lightning spears, and a fire buff for your weapon which will increase damage but also constantly drain your hp. Try not to get attached to this one (more on that later).
Bosses
The main hub world will give you access to practically all bosses right away (the final boss requiring you to beat all main bosses first, while a hidden battle reveals itself once you beat a different enemy). You can tackle them in any order you want, but there is a catch. Every fight requires you to sacrifice some of your stats. Each sacrifice is different but is tied to the enemy, and this can be a major factor in deciding in which order do you want to fight them. One of the most significant sacrifices is the consumable loss. All your consumables will be lessened, some cut in half, and you will not be able to use the fire buff at all (you will start with 0 charges).
The story is unclear. The narrator explains parts here and there, and you are shown flashes of images. And that’s all. You are left on your own to find a way out. The cut-scene at the end is the same, narrator and some images. Luckily the game is kinda short and you will be able to finish it several times if needed and understand everything in, hopefully, your second run.
The bosses are the embodiment of seven deadly sins. They all have short introduction texts. I am not going to copy paste these as it would be a waste of time, but you should read every part carefully if you decide to play the game yourself.
Greed: Greedy Faiz Tilus
Sacrifice:Some of your max HP and stamina.
This is a very simple boss, with lots of annoying range attacks. His melee combo is usually two hits long. The tricky part is figuring how to deal with his plague phase where he teleports to a high platform and starts channeling. Probably the first boss you will face as his portal is right in the middle of the hub area.
Envy: Envious Levin Undok
Sacrifice:Lose some of your supplies (healing items, firebombs, spears…)
Levin Undok was by far the hardest boss for me in my first attempt. Not only does she have powerful melee combos, but she also has a huge variety of ranged attacks that will disrupt your movement or simply deal a ton of damage. And that’s the easy part.
Halfway through her HP, she will morph into Levin Indok, a silver version of herself with a separate, new, full HP bar. This version focuses on lightning attacks, is rather unpredictable but easier to hit. She might switch back and forth (between Undok and Indok) at any time. But that’s not all…
Once you get them low enough, you will face both of them at once. And as a cherry on top, the chandeliers will start dropping like flies dealing massive damage and stunning you for a while.
Lust: Lustful Chanel
Sacrifice:Shield durability. It will shatter when the defense is broken.
Chanel is primarily a melee fighter, with fast combos that build up freeze. Once you are frozen, her next attack will shatter you into a million pieces. She also has a bow, which she will use to either fire a big damage frost arrow or rain arrows on top of you. You can maneuver around them easily, however, if you come too close she can just switch back to swords and charge you almost instantly.
When her HP drops beneath a certain threshold, she will start a transformation. A transformation into a huge worm with a brand new, full hp bar. The worm’s attacks are well telegraphed, however, his hitboxes are a bit wonky, so you might get eaten. Pay attention and you should be fine.
Wrath: Wrathful Angronn
Sacrifice:Passive healing.
The only tricky part about this boss is his ever-decreasing arena size. Combined with his swipe attacks, you might find yourself getting thrown off it a lot. His attacks are very slow, and you have a lot of time to counterattack. His attack patterns are a combination of hand attacks, minion spawns, or throwing things from the lava at you. Keep your calm and always be ready to run away from him, as he might destroy part of the area closest to him.
Gluttony: Gluttonous Camber Luce
Sacrifice:Number of healing potions and makes their use happen over time rather than instantly.
Camber Luce, my nemesis. This boss was so infuriating for me. His health pool is enormous, and he has a healing ability that you can disrupt by simply attacking. Overextending, however, can lead to massive damage. The most annoying part of this fight is the ice arena. The second most annoying is his weird eating lunge attack. The hitboxes for that attack are simply awkward. I guarantee you will scream at the screen shouting that shouldn’t have hit me at least once.
I have died to these 2 things more than anything else in the entire game!
Not only does the arena have small gaps you can fall into by simply rolling to the side (you can’t see them before you roll, might be a camera issue), but Camber Luce can simply decide to break the ice and dive into the freezing lake at any moment, crushing the ice beneath you and abruptly ending the battle.
Other than that, he is pretty straightforward and can be stunned quite easily. Best of luck.
Sloth: Slothful Yordo
Sacrifice:Become stunned when exhausting all stamina.
Fighting Yordo is mostly about patience. He is surrounded by lots of minions. Finding the correct moment to strike can be difficult at first but you should quickly be able to come up with a plan. He can resummon his minions for a variety of attacks, or a defensive turtle post.
In phase 2, he and his minions switch to a long sword and become more aggressive towards you. You can choose to eliminate Yordo himself or risk dying to a combo of his underlings by trying to kill each and every one of them (as I haven’t tried this, I can’t be sure, but I think you can never kill all of them).
Adapting and countering his moves is the best and safest way to defeat Yordo quickly and safely.
Pride: Proud Rhodes
Sacrifice:Decreased attack power.
I recommend fighting this boss last, or close to last. The decrease in damage is not insignificant, and having maximum damage will help you kill other bosses faster. Rhodes himself can be difficult, or pretty simple, depending on his attacks. He starts by jumping onto the arena from his throne. This jump will instantly kill you if you position yourself under it.
Rhodes carries a big spear and a huge tower shield. He can use either to attack. On top of that, he also has magic. In the first phase, he summons homing fireballs that charge at you. In the second phase, he can also resurrect smaller enemies who have been previously defeated in the arena. These summonses will charge at you, disrupting your attacks while dealing decent chunks of damage in progress.
The Final Boss: Adam, the Forsaken
Once you have defeated all of the sins, a heart-shaped portal will appear in the middle of the hub area. This portal will lead you to fight the final boss: Adam, the forsaken, you. Will you be able to overcome yourself? How much will you struggle?
Important notes
When you defeat a boss, you have the option to redeem the sin, increasing your maximum HP. Or, you can keep attacking and banish it instead. This will not increase your maximum HP but will allow you to fight the real final boss. There is also one additional requirement, and that is to redeem only Lustful Chanel. Instead of the red Adam from before, this time you will face off against a blue Adam, which is more powerful with a slightly different set of abilities.
Speedrunning
Like most modern games, the game keeps track of your in-game timer. This way, speedrunners have a quick and accurate way of determining their times. My fastest time was just over 1 hour. You can attempt a new run with any of the weapons you have unlocked.
Additional challenges and real boss-rush
Once you have completed the game, you will have the option of replaying it with a different ruleset. You can either have Adam move faster, but rolling doesn’t give I-frames, or have Perma-death active. There is an option to have all the sacrifices already made for you. The hardest challenge is the combination of all the beforementioned ones.
While the game itself consists of only boss fights, there is an actual boss rush mode, where you will fight boss after boss in order in the same arena. This might seem very difficult at first, but once you know how to beat each boss, you can probably beat them all in order as well.
Conclusion
SINNER might not be the best game out there, but it is fun, difficult but fair, and entertaining. What more would you want from a game? It might be short, but it’s packed with action. The level-down idea of decreasing your power as you progress is something new as well. Highly recommend it to fans of the Souls games.
Minimum System Requirements:
OS: Windows 7/8/10 (64 Bit), Processor: Intel i5-2300 2.8GHz, Memory: 8 Gb RAM, Graphics: NVIDIA GTX 550 Ti 2Gb, DirectX: Version 11, Storage: 12Gb available space
Our second weekly event (held at our great community discord) has just ended. The theme was waterand just as last week we got some really nice entries! (Last week the theme was Cats & Dogs!!!)
Ahem ahem ahem! To all participants, Congratulations! To all non-participants, also congratulations! (and be sure to participate next week!)
Here are the WINNERS!!!
Winner of 1500 Points – JuKe
By JuKe
Winner of 1000 Points – La Volpe
By La Volpe
Winner of 500 Points – Kriss ✠ Tone
By Kriss ✠ Tone
Aren’t those just great?! I have to say that I loved all entries, but
one in particular caught my eye and I think it deserves an honorable
mention!. So here it is! (Sorry, you didn’t win anything except some
extra fame? )
Winner of catching Nora’s eye – Smythe
By Smythe
Now that was really all. There are some more that you can see in the discord. I hope to meet you there! Bye!
I've just spent about 50 hours to complete this game. It was fun, and I'm not even "done" yet. Graveyard keeper can be best described as Stardew Valley with zombies. In many ways it plays quite similar, but in many ways it's quite different. Your main focus isn't growing crops to sell, but you can still do so if you need money for other things.
Hark, you died
You're run over and find yourself in a medieval realm. A strange place, and somehow you're appointed the keeper of the graveyard. While your main thought is for your girlfriend still back at home, you're slowly coming to terms with your new job. Burying corpses. Not as glamorous as it would seem, and it's a bloody business indeed. Your futuristic knowledge helps you to build and learn new technologies with which to impress the locals.
Eventually you hope to learn what happened to the previous graveyard keeper, and how you might find a way back home.
Getting rid of the evidence
Plenty is the supply of dead people. Either from the nearby village, or the larger town down south. A lonely graveyard keeper needs to earn a living somehow, and meat is meat. The locals will never know - or are grimly aware of the quality of the food you are willing to sell.
Indeed, no corpse is sacred in this game. Drain the blood for science, cut off the meat for food and the skin to make into paper. A good corpse is a wealthy supply of resources. If you botch up the quality, you can bury it in your own graveyard, cremate the leftovers or ditch it in the river.
Sacred or, not so much
Your graveyard has a certain level of quality, which is determined by the quality of the corpses you bury in it. As they say - die young, leave a pretty corpse. A wooden stick is less fancy than a marble statue or headstone. Once you learn how to craft stone and marble, or place a few flower beds and lanterns the quality of your graveyard will improve. This ensures the people who visit your church will donate more money.
Yes, capitalism ho! Graveyard keeper is a capitalist game down to it's core. I'd sell anything I could get my hands on - sadly the game does limit you in this. The NPCs in the nearby town are not too willing to buy your creations, and they have a limited budget to spend even if they do. Luckily you can get a merchant to help you start a business.
Resources are free, labor is not
You will quickly gain access to an axe, shovel and pick - and from there on out the world is your oyster. (Almost) Any tree is free to be chopped down and converted in a number of ways. Boards, beams, sticks, kindling, you name it - nothing is left. Stones are next and there's a lot you can do with them as a graveyard keeper. Headstones obviously, but also a furnace or fixing the fence. Metal is available in these hills, and you'll soon be making yourself better tools and even weapons.
Every action takes energy however, and eventually you will run out. Time for bed. The game runs on a 6 day week cycle and keeps this running throughout the game. Certain NPCs will only show up on a certain day of the week. This is noted in your "known NPCs" log, as well as what current objectives they may have mentioned to you.
The quest system in Graveyard keeper - is somewhat of a weak point I feel. There's a lot of waiting and idling going on here, but you've always got something to do, so it's not as big of an issue.
If you find yourself running out of energy a lot, there's berries, apples, and food you can cook to help you keep your energy up. A good farmer will have quality produce, and you will certainly be able to sell your graveyard vegetables through your trade emporium later on.
Learning new Technology
Every action you do in regards to crafting or research will yield you one of three types of tech points. Red, Green and Blue. The red is related to physical labor, the green relates to nature and the way of things, blue is spiritual. As you perform actions or research your points go up - but eventually you'll want to invest some in learning new technology. Working stones, improving your surgical skills and prettier headstones or church improvements.
The church of the risen dead
As your graveyard grows, so should your church. Spirit or faith is a resource you will need to craft higher quality items later as well as... Zombies! Free labor was never a diligent or fast worker, but at least they're free. And the leader of a capitalist empire, you just can't beat free.
Your zombies will be able to work at growing crops, mining and even crafting. So you won't have to! They're slow, but they work while you sleep and dream of other things, and never complain. Zombie beer, zombie wine, zombie veggies. Free labor is cost effective labor. Like slaves who will never disagree with you.
What about those DLC?
Well, the base game was released on steam 15 Aug, 2018. Since then there's been two DLC made available:
Each DLC adds and expands upon the base game. Adding vampires, your own tavern to run, and cultists. They don't "add" to the game at the end but rather somewhere in the middle. The base game has a good few hours worth of content, but not much replay value. So if you find out you enjoy the base game by the time you've got 10 hours into it - you may want to consider getting one or two of the DLC packages. They're well worth it if you're halfway into the game - but might not be as fun or interesting if you've already finished the game.
System requirements: Windows 7, intel core i5, 1.5Ghz and up, DirectX 10 and 1 GB video card, 1 GB Disk space.
Every week as of April 1st 2021, we'll be running a picture contest as a way to earn bonus GG-Points. Visit our Community Discord to join in and participate in next week's event.
Help Madeline survive her inner demons on her journey to the top of Celeste Mountain, in this super-tight platformer from the creators of TowerFall. Brave hundreds of hand-crafted challenges, uncover devious secrets, and piece together the mystery of the mountain.
The following review was written by: Nex.
First things first
I heard about Celeste a while back, but just recently got the chance to play it. I had very high expectations, so I wasn’t sure if the game will live up to them… Turned out that I was worried for nothing. The game was everything I expected and more with the addition of DLC – Farewell Chapter 9.
The game was free on Epic store as well as bundled in a previous Humble Bundle Monthly\Choice. It should be pretty accessible to everyone.
About
Celeste is a very precise pixel platformer developed and published by Matt Makes Games Inc. on January 25th of 2018. It currently has over 30,000 reviews and is categorized as Overwhelmingly Positive on Steam. The game is priced at 19.99€ and is worth the price. I also suggest checking out the soundtrack which is also available on steam for 7.39€ (The remixes are amazing). I will write in more detail about this later for now note that the game does have steam cards and 32 achievements as well.
The story
Let me start by saying that I am not gonna spoil anything. This is just gonna be a general idea of where the game will take you. Most players play precise difficult platformers for their difficulty, but what Celeste stands out for is not just the gameplay, but also the wonderful story. It tells a tale about a girl names Madeline going through depression and pushing herself to her limits and overcoming them by climbing the Celeste Mountain. You will feel her struggles as you play and the story progresses. It’s gonna be worth it once you reach the summit.
Learning to play
The game’s controls are very simple, you can move in 8 directions, you have a jump, a dash, and wall-climb buttons. That’s it! Sounds pretty simple, right? Wrong!!! Best players in the world use a variety of combinations of these like hyper-dash, extended hyper-dash, and many others I can’t even explain. Most of the abilities will be taught to you through the gameplay. And then your skill and knowledge about them will be tested later throughout the Chapters.
Each of these Chapters has a unique mechanic. These range from moving platforms, to wind effects, to omnidirectional bubbles. The final chapter of the main story will require you to understand all of these motions.
Chapters
Celeste is divided into segments called chapters. Each chapter is then divided into smaller sections marked by a small mountain logo once you reach the checkpoint. Whenever you exit the game, it will remember the very room you left on. However, changing chapters will return you to the latest available checkpoint.
Each chapter also has a cassette hidden somewhere. Collecting this cassette will unlock the B side of said chapter. B sides are shorter but more difficult levels. They will test your patience and skill on a whole different level. I recommend playing all A sides (the classic chapters) before attempting the B sides (I played the way I wanted to, but realized my mistake at around chapter 3B).
Upon finishing the B sides, precisely Chapter 8B, you will unlock the C sides. These nightmare-ish levels will present the most difficult challenge to you. Luckily, they only have 2 or 3 screens, however, these screens are VERY long.
Finally, once you complete the C sides, you can tackle the DLC. Chapter 9 might seem long at first, but it just keeps on going. It introduces new special mechanics like the blowfish and jellyfish which will annoy you all over again.
Collectibles
The best part for me was collecting strawberries. Each level has a certain number to be collected. The game itself notices very early that there is no reward for collecting all of them, but like any gamer, I had an urge to get as many as possible. They were hidden everywhere. It took me several attempts to collect them all. And all I got for it was bragging rights…
Towards the end of your game, you might replay a chapter and see golden strawberries. These are special collectibles that will require you to complete an entire chapter without dying or using shortcuts. Dying will send you back to the very beginning of the chapter and you can start again.
Speedrunning
Celeste has an active speedrunning community, it was made by speedrunners for speedrunners. It’s a beauty to watch people complete the game in under 30 minutes when I struggled for dozen hours. The fluidity and responsiveness really shine when a professional plays.
If you ever feel the game is too hard casually, know that there are people out there speedrunning on customized dance pads with their feet. I didn’t believe it myself at first so I went to see for myself at PeekingBoo - Twitch .
Celeste Classic
If you explore well, you might see an interactable computer in one of the levels. This will launch a PICO-8 version of Celeste. This is also known as classic Celeste. It’s a short mini-game integrated into this remake. It took me around 20 minutes to complete it. I warn you, the final strawberry is extremely sneaky.
Conclusion
I have thoroughly enjoyed playing Celeste. Even the most difficult of the sections. I did play on the keyboard, even though a controller is suggested. I recommend it to all fans of the genres: speedrunners, casual platformers, and people who love collecting stuff. The story is of the highest caliber too. This game has it all.
Minimum requirements:OS: Windows 7, Processor: Intel Core i3 M380, Memory: 2Gb RAM, Graphics: Intel HD 4000, DirectX: Version 10, Storage: 1200 Mb available space
It's not a name that has a huge fanbase or widely known popularity, but after reading this review, perhaps you can stick this game on your wishlist. Iconoclasts is a metroidvania. I'm fully aware a lot of reviews I've posted over the last months have all been metroidvanias - it's a genre I enjoy playing and as a result will have some reviews about them ;)
Iconoclasts surprised me. Going through my steam queue I noted a pixel graphics style metroidvania, so obviously that went onto the wishlist. It stayed there forgotten for the better part of a year, until it showed up in a bundle on Fanatical. I got the game because I had it wishlisted, and I have to say - zero regrets.
The theme
Charming, proper retro feel and a lot of attention to detail. The main heroine of the game is a mechanic in a far and distant future where a white liquid called "ivory" is used to power biomechanics and electricity. World changing in a way you could not imagine until you reach that point in the game where things are explained without spoilers.
The game gives a feeling of various super nintendo-era games and does this very well. Right down to the not-so-smart sidekicks, over protective siblings and evil characters turned good. For the art and movement style I would say it reminds me of Starbound, crosscode, chrono trigger and stardew valley. Somehow all those styles were turned into a single metroidvania, and it was done well. The graphical style is very colorful, and the characters both good and evil have a way of showing quirks that really bring them to life. This game is not for the faint of heart. People will be kicked off hills, arms will be torn off and characters may or may not be vaporized by a giant beam of death from the sky. You have been warned. The comedy especially really just "works", and it works very well.
Any other SNES era style RPG where your character nearly drowns and gets fished up - would be the start of the story. In Iconoclasts - you are thrown back overboard! (Sorry, small spoiler, very early in the game and that bit had me laugh out loud)
Technology or magic
As a mechanic you would think your character has some knowledge over machinery. You get a gun and a wrench, and you use it to bash enemies and solve puzzles. Actual robots exist in the world, but will usually be unfriendly rather than neutral. Lore wise that's the confusing bit. Some characters appear to wield magic-like powers. It's "probably" not actual magic, but nanotech. I guess you'll find out for sure if you actually play the game. It's not a spoiler because I don't know the answer myself yet ;)
Puzzles
Iconoclasts gives you a few "key items" so and then, mostly in the form of guns or wrenches. For those easily intimidated - most puzzles are optional and serve to give you crafting materials. Generally you'll find them easy and obvious to solve - but some may require some technique. There were a few points in the game where I was trying to figure out where to go next. The game seems to detect this and will start spawning little white fairies to show you your next place to go. It doesn't do this if you're making decent progress so it shouldn't bother you too much. Not like a giant flashing green arrow that some games do.
Triangles squares and circles
Do NOT mix triangles and circles. Things get unstable, and unstable things will explode. Part of the charm of the game and it's world is where many parts of the world are made up out of squares. Yet, some people worship the triangles. It's the circles that appear to be part of the instability and disease that's infecting the world. Things get very interesting quite quick - but you'll have game modes where you can simply turn on immortality if you don't want to spend a frustrating time dying to bosses and figuring out not-super-clear mechanics on how to defeat them.
Relaxed mode is great if you just don't care too much about getting killed by boss fights. Yes, you are effectively immortal, but get to play through the game for the puzzles, story and exploration. It's a game that should give you more than a good few hours of enjoyment. For a fairly cheap indie game title, that's an achievement in it's own right.
There are a few "meh" points where you're traveling back and forth for no reason other than to deliver a letter or food to a certain NPC. Luckily you will unlock a fast travel system eventually. The map is quite big, and the faster travel modes and speed boosts will help you a lot. Odd enough, this appears to be part of the circle system. (ha, no spoiler there)
Minimum system requirements: It's a pixel art game, do you really need these? Please don't say you are still running anything like Windows XP SP 3, because that's one of the minimum OS requirements. As well as a 2 GHz dual core CPU. Really, you'll be fine. Just make sure you have 500 MB of disk space and 512 MB Video memory available in case you're running this in a VM.
