VGamingIndies: Vol 6

We don’t need to tell you that there are a lot of video games being released every week and a lot of games simply go under the radar. Indie games in particular are often developed by small teams, usually without a billion dollar corporation behind them and they don’t have a chance to shine. 

VGamingIndies gives us a chance to talk about some of those smaller titles that we’ve played recently. We’re not scoring these games like we would if it was a ‘full review’. An arbitrary number isn’t always the best approach, especially with Indie games. Instead, we’re just laying out what we liked, what we thought didn’t work so well and leaving the choice up to you.

Lunistice

Key Info
Platform	Nintendo Switch, PC – https://store.steampowered.com/app/1701800/Lunistice/
Developer	A Grumpy Fox
Publisher	Deck13
Positives	+ Nostalgic Sega Saturn stylings + Energetic, upbeat soundtrack + Cool grinding elements
Negatives	– Depth perception rather tricky – Almost an auto-runner – Bland roster of enemies
Price	£4.99
Played by	Drew Sherratt

Lunistice, created by A Grumpy Fox and published by Deck13 is a callback to the early days of 3D platformers, offering a retro run-and-jump-athon where your only goal is to reach the end of the level without running out of lives. You play as a tanuki called Hana, who must navigate her way through a handful of fantastical environments from her dreams, picking up origami collectables and dodging simple enemies as she goes.

Fans of the PS1 will be in their element here, with blocky polygonal graphics and simple, bright environments harkening back to the days of Croc and Crash Bandicoot. In fact, with its clean level designs that focus on speed, fast grinding sections, and incredibly catchy soundtrack, Lunistice feels like the Sonic Adventure game that SEGA should have cooked up when the Saturn was in its heyday. In fairness, Lunistice actually makes some significant improvements to gameplay elements similar to those in the Sonic Adventure franchise, and I believe it could have a long lifespan if A Grumpy Fox wanted to make a more meaty title in the same style in the future.

Despite being a short experience, there’s a lot of replay value in Lunistice if you’re so inclined. Completionists will be challenged to complete all of the levels as quickly as possible and without dying, whilst also snagging all of the pick-ups along the way if they want to earn the coveted ‘S’ Rank on each world, and that’s not to mention the obvious attractiveness to the speedrunning community.

But much like the games it looks to emulate, Lunsitice has its flaws. The consistently bright colours of the levels makes depth perception a little tricky, and alongside a slightly clunky camera system, I often found myself missing a jump and sailing to my death by being unable to judge exactly where a platform was in relation to Hana. The level designs too are perhaps a little on the simplistic side, and don’t offer much in the way of player engagement, leading to some portions of Lunistice feeling like an autorunner rather than a bonafide platformer; this isn’t so much a criticism as an observation, since there  there will undoubtedly be fans of this style – it just isn’t especially my cup of tea.

Lunistice is a fun platformer that waves the flag for nineties retro-styling; it stays comfortably in its lane just long enough to wring all of the possible enjoyment out of  a simple formula before it can become repetitive. With intentionally blocky visuals but surprisingly crisp controls, Lunistice is an enjoyable experience that doesn’t set out to do too much, and in doing so achieves an awful lot. Despite some issues with depth perception, I had a good time with Lunistice while it lasted, and perfectionists and speedrunners will get more from this Sonic Adventure 2 X Sega Saturn-inspired runner than perhaps they expected.

The Van Game

Key Info
Platform	PC – https://store.steampowered.com/app/2081860/The_Van_Game/
Developer	Bruce Belk
Publisher	Bruce Belk
Positives	+ Throwback resource management sim +Mini-games to break up the menus + Scooby Doo-inspired characters!
Negatives	– Simple to learn, simple to beat – Roster of mini-games too small – Characters inconsequential
Price	£4.29
Played by	Drew Sherratt

The Van Game by solo developer, Bruce Belk, is a resource management strategy game with a rather charming premise – five friends gather together one summer and decide to take a roadtrip around all of the national parks in the US. Along the way you have to help manage their fuel and food consumption, their first aid and engine repair supplies, all the while managing their moods as the friends begin to grate on one another in the confined space of the van.

As your tour rolls on, you have to choose what order you’ll navigate the parks in, and overcome some (often rather silly) random events to ensure that your trip goes smoothly. (My personal favourite is the same two friends seemingly arguing every other day about whether a hotdog is a sandwich, as it absolutely reminds me of my own neverending arguments with my idiotic friendship group!) 

You’ll stop at various cities along the way, where you can buy or trade for replacement goods, or simply wile away the hours resting. There’s also the opportunity to gain extra cash to make the journey more comfortable by completing tasks, which take the form of randomly rotating mini-games. Whether it’s driving up a mountain and dodging obstacles, performing percussive maintenance on people’s engines or using a giant magnet to scoop up a gaggle of collectables, the mini-games are simple but amusing, and help to break up the menu navigation. You can also modify your van with new paint jobs and decals if you wish, but as a purely cosmetic option, I never really felt the need.

Sadly, it’s all a little on the simple side, and my road trip was never in jeopardy – I sailed around the US in about two and a half hours, keeping my van in good nick and all of my friends in a cheery mood the whole time. The mini-games too, while a welcome change of pace, quickly become repetitive, since there are only 5-6 to choose from. And while you can have some fun choosing the various characters to join you on your journey (and even choose from a selection of Hanna-Barbera-inspired van-dwelling sleuths!), who you choose doesn’t have any impact on the gameplay, which feels like an oversight as some fractious personalities or individual needs might have added some much needed complexity.

The Van Game leans heavily on the simple resource management simulators of days gone by, and adds some playful graphics and silly mini-games to help break up all of the menu navigation. The concept is undoubtedly niche, and with limited gameplay and a rather repetitive roster of mini-games, The Van Game might never explode into a smash hit, but it will garner a few fans from traditionalists who want a simple, laidback experience. Easily expandable with more events and layers of complexity, Bruce Belk will have the opportunity to make bigger and more engaging simulators as his development journey continues.

Bot Gaiden

Key Info
Platform	PS5, PS4, Switch, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One PC – (Steam page)
Developer	SwordSwipe Studios
Publisher	eastasiasoft
Positives	+ Action packed 2D side scroller + Simple controls + Interesting boss set up
Negatives	– Too short – Bosses are bullet sponges – Lack of replayability
Price	£11.39
Played by	Joe Whitfield

Bot Gaiden from SwordSwipe Studios, is a side-scrolling hack-and-slash that pits two ninja robots, Robyu and Bytron against the evil Giorqio, who has managed to snag a number of power skulls to cause devastation across six areas of the planet. It’s safe to say, the story is a Megaman-lite level of storytelling, its purpose is to cast a thin fabric of a plot so that players can experience the action. 

Quickly moving on to the gameplay, Bot Gaiden actually plays a lot like Megaman titles of old too; the game’s six worlds are spread out on the main screen and are accessible in any order you so wish. Once selected, the action takes place on a 2D plane that is based on the usual video game tropes, a forest area that is full of murderous monkeys, an ice level that houses powerful sabretooth tigers etc. etc. – the list goes on. You simply have to navigate from left to right (sometimes right to left), and make it to the end of the level before facing off against the area’s big bad boss. On paper, Bot Gaiden seems like a short run and gun, but SwordSwipe have made the simple sounding title somewhat fun in its execution.

The levels are notoriously difficult at first; enemies take a couple of hits to cut through and the sheer number of baddies trying to stop your progress quickly becomes overwhelming. Bosses too are bullet sponges whose oversized attacks require pinpoint timing to dodge, and certainly test even seasoned Cuphead aficionados. It might sound like Bot Gaiden is as tough as nails but utilising speed will help enormously. The boss’s health and end of level rewards are directly related to the time spent on the level – the more quickly you reach the end of the level, the fewer hit points the boss will have and the better the upgrades you’ll get for the final showdown. 

I did find this approach fun as it made me push for a faster time and rewarded me with an easier final battle, and learning enemy patterns and utilising the various power ups that litter each level is key to having a fun time, though this is also Bot Gaiden’s downside. The levels may seem lengthy at first glance but after a few attempts at each level, I was able to blitz through the entire game in around two hours. 

I’ll be honest, I was half expecting Bot Gaiden to be another eastasiasoft special; a short game that acts as fodder for trophy hunters, and while I was half right, I was pleasantly surprised that the sparkly platinum isn’t given up so easily. Bot Gaiden is a frustrating yet fun time and aside from the brutal boss fights, it’s tough in all the right places and makes the player work for progress. The trouble is once you’ve cracked the enemy patterns, the game’s challenge does fall away somewhat and can be beaten within a few hours. It does offer some replayability – SwordSwipe encourages the co-op mode to teach younger gamers how to play these types of games, giving the title some more value, but for solo players there’s nothing else after you’ve rolled the credits.

Rock ‘n’ Roll Will Never Die

Key Info
Platform	PC – Steam Page
Developer	Valtteri Tavast
Publisher	Instant Million
Positives	+ The settings let you change the text speed on screen + Err…
Negatives	– Awful frame rate – Tired and dated attempts at humour – Unappealing and uninteresting plot
Price	£13.99
Played by	Gaz Jones

After being pitched the idea of a point and click adventure centred around the theme of rock and roll, it sounded like I was in for a bit of fun and some great backing tracks to my adventure. 

Oh, how wrong I was. 

The game runs at a snail’s pace, with the frame rate being so bad that you feel like swimming the Atlantic through treacle would take less time. Graphically speaking, the game looks like something dragged straight off of 2008 newgrounds; the models are very simplistic 2D drawings with little to no animation, they simply trudge across the screen like a storyboard for an alternate universe Peppa Pig, it’s all a bit of a mess. 

Speaking of messes, the opening scenario sets up the tone for the rest of the game as you find yourself in the men’s room of a grimy bar with the first objective requiring you to block the toilet (gross), and the drug-fueled trip spirals onwards from there. Much like the dingy bar, Rock ‘n’ Roll Will Never Die is filled with grimy jokes and dreary dialogue with no voice acting, and a very short, annoying, grungy guitar track played on a loop over and over in the background. 

Sadly, I found myself wanting to do almost anything else but play the game. After playing for a couple of hours I managed to get the band back together, only to find that the apartment we want to practise in is flooded with sewer water – which, of course, I had to unblock by swimming down through it… This is about the point when I called it quits; it had become clear that there was nothing more that I was going to get than another 10-15 hours of unfunny/poorly written toilet humour and slow gameplay.

My verdict? Rock ‘n’ Roll Will Never Die is a good example of what not to do when creating a point and click adventure. With frame rate seemingly in the single digits, incredibly slow gameplay and overflowing with crappy humour (in every sense of the word), there is very little to enjoy here. At £13.99, I certainly can’t recommend Rock ‘n’ Roll Will Never Die… perhaps spend that money on a rock ‘n’ roll record instead.