Alpha Beta Gamer

Fathom, an impressive action platformer made for the Ludum Dare 32, has you bending time and bullets as you try and escape your captors.

You play as a small robot who is able to control time, but is a prisoner, looking to escape a world full of bullet firing turrets. Seeking freedom, the only power you have to rely on is the ability to slow down time, almost to a halt. When time is slowed, you are then able to redirect bullets and destroy the turrets that shot them out at you.

Sometimes, bullets need to be redirected to power sources that cause force fields to be in your path. If you destroy all the turrets before destroying the power source, you will be unable to move on. Crate-like boxes are also scattered around the game, each with an upgrade that may be needed to continue to freedom.

Fathom may be short, but it is full of challenge and beauty. A charming and inventive action platformer that will leave you wanting more.

Play Fathom, Free

Badass Inc. is a well crafted pixelated cyberpunk action adventure game, in which you play as a badass assassin with a mission to kill your client’s target in an ‘unconventional’ way.

Inspired by classics such as Blade Runner, Another World and Flashback, Badass Inc. offers a blend of point and click adventure styled puzzles, interspersed with action focused shootouts with law enforcement. You play an assassin who must kill your target in an unconventional way as your client (Mr Ludum) demands it. This is a bit more work than your normal methods (shooting your target in the head), but the customer is always right, so you set about sabotaging your targets apartment before they get back.

Taking around 10 minutes to complete, Badass Inc. impresses with it fun blend of action and puzzles, excellent pixel art animation and well written, genuinely funny dialogue. A super cool pixel art assassin adventure.

Play Badass Inc. Free

Flail Rider, an arcade game made for the Ludum Dare 32, will have you flailing a giant spiked ball attempting to destroy everything in sight within a time limit.

In this colorful, addicting game, you must drive around a small car with a huge spiked ball attached to the back of it, destroying as much as you can in just one minute. This ball flairs around, smashing into trees and buildings, destroying them in a colorful blast of blocks. As it destroys the environment, the ball becomes larger. Each time a building is destroyed, you gain more money.

With it’s fast paced vehicular carnage, Flail Rider is a seriously addictive and fun game where you come in like a wrecking ball. Smashing stuff.

Play Flail Rider, Free

Dischord is a fun little musical dungeon crawler that sees you on a quest for the ultimate instrument and taking on a variety of dangerous enemies armed with a…..guitar?

You may only be armed with a guitar, but it’s a pretty deadly one. Best played with a controller (but still playable with keyboard), each of the face buttons are mapped to a different chord. To kill an enemy, you simply have to strum the correct four chord sequence and watch as they swell and explode.

These four button combos are found via trial and error, and can dispatch multiple enemies at once provided they’re all the same type. Things get trickier when a few different types of enemies are onscreen at the same time though, as each different enemy type will require a different four chord tune to dispatch them.

Dischord is a fairly short experience, but a satisfyingly entertaining one – the visual design is adorable and it makes a nice change slaying enemies with music instead of bullets. In this game you’re a real guitar hero!

Play Discord, Free (Win & Mac)

Pssst….D’ya wanna get high? SNIFF is a trippy first person stealth game in which you must use drugs on yourself and your captors in order to escape a mental hospital.

Created for Ludum Dare 32, SNIFF can be a very disorientating experience, with drugs that warp your view and even flip you upside down. As well as being incredibly psychedelic, these drugs also have uses, allowing you walk through solid doors, avoid hazards and cross chasms. They can even be used as a weapon – throw a vial at one of the guards that patrol the corridors and they’ll trip out and blink out of existence.

As SNIFF was built in under 72 hours, it does still have a few rough edges, and it can be hard to tell where you’re supposed to go at times, but on the whole it’s an impressive mind-bending experience. A good trip.

Play SNIFF, Free (Win & Mac)

Radiant Red is a fantastic first person melee/shooter game that blends SUPERHOT visuals and bullet time with Hotline Miami’s combat to create a beautiful ballet of guns, swords and blood.

Your aim in each level is to kill all the enemies without getting shot yourself. To aid and guide you through this process, you have your trusty sword, able to slice through enemies with ease and temporarily slow down time in the process. While close to enemies, you can also grab their guns and use them until their limited supply of ammo runs out.

It’s a superb combat system, and much like Hotline Miami, the real joy comes when you manage to chain kills together, becoming the perfect assassin, darting between enemies in an almost balletic fashion (which is highlighted by the excellent classical soundtrack), leaving a trail of blood and bodies in your wake. Beautiful, brutal and bloody first person Gun Fu.

Play Radiant Red, Free

Her Majesty’s Apathy Bomb is a wonderful homage to The Stanley Parable, in which you play a bomb maker delivering (or not delivering) an apathy bomb to an evil queen – depending on whether you listen to the narrator or not.

Much like The Stanley Parable there’s great fun to be had in ignoring the narrators instructions, straying off his desired story to comedic effect. It’s well worth experimenting with different routes as the voice acting is excellent and depending on your actions, there are 6 different possible endings. With playthoughs taking a few minutes, it’s a short, silly and very entertaining adventure that’s well worth your time – Stanley would be proud.

Play Her Majesty’s Apathy Bomb, Free (Win, Mac & Linux)

Pacapong is a glorious mash-up of Pacman, Pong and Space Invaders with multiple maps and cool retro music, It’s a wonderful blast of retro arcade fun. It even features cameos from a certain retro primate. PacaDonkeyPong anyone?

Play Pacapong, Free (Win, Mac & Linux)

Catch! A Fishing RPG - a charming pixel art fishing RPG made for the MiniLD #56, that sees you taking on all manner of sea creatures in Pokemon-esque battles.

You play a young fisherman who’s wheelchair-bound after an accident at sea which claimed your family. As you roam the seas you’ll encounter sea bass, lobster, anchovies, shrimp, mermaids, wolf fish, pirates, king crabs and other creatures.

As you do battle you’ll gain XP and level up, then at the end of the day you can sell your fish on the market to purchase better equipment - such as fishing nets or shark repellent. Left over fish can then be cooked and eaten to replenish your health.

The fun gameplay, variety of species and special sea creatures, will certainly get you hooked!

Play Catch! A Fishing RPG, Free

Kram Keep - A charming and challenging micro metroidvania made for Ludum Dare.

As you go through the castle you’ll battle various enemies and unlock new abilities. It may be a small game, but it’s tough and will take a while to complete. You’ll need a bit of skill and perseverance to beat this castle!

Play Kram Keep, Free

Posts tagged LUDUM