Game Dojo Issue 2 (March 17th-31st)

WE. THE REVOLUTION Their lives are to be judged.

Death or Liberty?

VOID MINE Zero Gravity with danger and mystery. Space is never a chill place

UNHEARD Psychic Detectives and Inter-connected crimes. Are you listening closely?

For all the latest news on some of the hottest Indie Games, take a flick through inside

ISSUE 2 March 17th-31st Published by RaginRamen

Published by RaginRamen

Find me on Twitter for News and Updates Youtube for all my reviews and Lets Plays

CONTENTS

Indie Game Releases Void Mine Dark Gnome Hunger Apartment We. The Revolution Cubicity: Slide Puzzle

8

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER:

Where we look back on a game we did not get a chance to cover last issue

6

Where the Bees Make Honey The World Next Door Trap for Winners Remilore: Lost Girl in the Lands or Lore Unheard

12

Entering Early Access

10

Astrox Imperium Beast Agenda 2030 Willowbrooke Post Minotaur Brood Risk of Rain 2

14

EDITOR’S NOTE Welcome, Everyone!

I’m happy with how the first issue turned out and it’s spurred some confidence in me to keep going. So here is the second Issue of GameDojo This second half of March has been busy with a lot of ‘Maybe?’ ‘Will they?’ indie games listed on Steam, making it a little difficult to pinpoint who to mention in the magazine. Luckily we have still got some really interesting releases that I have gotten to play with the dominating theme being the SciFi genre.

The three big features you’ll find here are; We. The Revolution, a game I happened to come across at Gamescom 2018 about the French revolution. You’re faced with moral decisions as judge presiding over the lives of many in the struggle for liberty; Unheard, Psychic Detectives are the norm in this investigative game. Whispers from a crime scene can be pieced together to solve these inter-connected cases; and lastly, we have Void Mine, our Better Late Than Never entry SciFi mystery game. A mining station has been abandoned by its crew and you are sent to find out why? =================================================================== Fingers crossed in the future I can gather some help to write more reviews, especially of games that may not interest me, but are to the liking of others (Not a huge fan of Sandbox Survival). Would also love to have interviews with IndieDevs, their journey and challenges along the way, maybe advice for new fresh IndieDevs just starting out, and lots more.

Well, that’s my introduction, enjoy the magazine, let me know what you think and peace.

Peace and Love Vasco (aka RaginRamen)

Developer: Polyslash Publisher: Klabater Released: March 21, 2019 MSRP: $19.99/ £15.49 Multiplayer: None Link: Official site Buy it: Steam, GoG, (PS4 and XBOX1 TBA)

tion, probably know as much as the average person, but although this game doesn’t ease you into the history, it does a fantastic job of making you feel like an insignificant member of history. Oh, what a dirty trick, for it only drove me to scheme, backstab and make questionable moral decisions,

Stares in excitement at Judges Mallet in hand. I get to be a judge in one of Frances bloodiest times of history. When beheading was quite fashionable if I do say so myself. The trailer offered me court cases, deep narrative and even strategy elements in the game. It’s no wonder it has been one of my most anticipated games of to climb the ladder and survive the 2019. Will it live up to my expectations? revolution. LIVING through the rev-

Story The late 18th Century. A revolution that has sparked ideas and government, as well as the award winning theatre production Les Miserables, the longest running production on Earth.

Now, it has inspired We. The Revolution. I don’t pretend to know a lot about the french revolu-

olution, that’s what this game is about and it does a damn good job of it.

Throughout the story, you will be faced with countless moral decisions with innocent men and woman that will force you to make the hard call or face the anger of the people.

You won’t recognise yourself by the end of it.

Gameplay Love the court case sim part of the game. Love the little speeches and attempts of persuasion.

Love the scheming and backstabbing, the torture and the

blackmail. Love the strategy, moving peices through the city like on a board, the little skirmishes that you.... ok... there is a lot going on in this game. Let’s slow down.

These all are fun to do and work well together to break up certain aspects and stop them from drying up. But is it too much? I am on the fence and I have seen some reviewers applaud it and others say it dilutes the rest of the game. I’ll let you decide, it is obviously a choice of preference, however not one person has said it was boring.

I’ve not found the game too hard myself. Juggling the love and attention between the different factions and your family members can be tricky, but it is possible.

If you want to know the average length of the game, I’ve worked it out to be between 7.5 and 13hrs. With the amount of content packed into that and the low price of the game, it is definitely worth picking up.

Sound & Graphics Often times the courtroom is filled with silence, I can almost hear the coughing in the back row. It serves to immerse you in the day to day life of a judge. You’re deciding peoples lives, there is nothing grand about that and any music would admonish it. You want music, you’ll find it throughout the rest of the game and it is nice, not amazing, but nice. The voice acting is pretty standard too (or maybe I was just too blown away by Unheard), and the sound design was ok in some parts and then in other parts, like the guillotine, it was juicy and full.

Now onto the wonderful angular art style. Not quite cubism, it almost reminds me of origami, like all I see here is a stage production with little paper puppets. It works, because at this time of history, France was on a stage, all countries in Europe were

looking in to see what is going to happen, how will this all turn out.

Having researched a bit more into the making of the game, I pleasantly learned that the game was hand painted, with plenty of inspiration taken from classical paintings for staging and colour such as Baroque to get the lighting just right. Once painted, the polygons would be added on top as a finishing touch. It wouldn’t work any other way and seeing the end results I am happy they stuck with it.

Replay Value The story may remain the same.

France will sink into a violent revolution.

There is no stopping that.

The journey every time is different though. Many of the main cases that hold the plot together will always return on a second playthrough, but to keep the game fresh and replayable, new cases are randomly through in between these. Keeping you guessing and making more hard moral choices. Why do we torture ourselves with the test of morality? It’s fun, isn’t it?

Final Thoughts There are games where I find it hard to think of a con or a negative, this is one of them. Anything bad I can say about this game is a tiny nitpick Pros that doesn’t hurt the game. Could Beautiful stylised art. there be better voice acting- More Deep non-linear narrative with plenty of choicvoice acting? Could we make it es. more challenging by adding the You get to be a frickin Judge! option to remove predictions of To behead King Louis or not to behead? your decisions? We could ask for Fun strategy mechanics implemented those and they would improve the game, but I am already enjoying it so much, it almost cost Cons Could be more interesting if the outcome of me delivering this review on choice not shown time.

Go. Buy. It.

Developer: Next Studios Publisher: Next Studios, bilibili Released: March 29, 2019 MSRP: $6.99/ £5.19 Multiplayer: None Link: Official site Buy it: Steam

Psychic Detectives. That’s not what is written in the description, but when I read that you return to old crime scenes to eavesdrop on voices from the past... well, Psychic Detectives is all I heard. With a unique way of telling a story and the promise of a mysterious thread tying all these crimes together, I had to put on my detective cap and start right away.

With you controlling the order of the narrative, it also adds a fresh look to whoever is playing the game, everyone will play in a different order and discover things differently from each before reaching the same conclusion. I would probably compare it to every player having the same destination but each taking a different journey to get there. That’s how the story of the game feels like and it works.

I won’t say too much else, would rather not risk spoiling the surprises for anyone.

Story Each and every case in this game is a miniature story. The characters all seem to be alive and written to have individual goals and personalities. Sometimes just listening to them you get a feel for who they are before you even place a name on the pulsating circle. So it’s not hard to lose track of time following them all around like a nosey neighbour looking for fresh gossip. I often found myself forgetting about the actual crime and getting shocked when discovering a new clue to who is the culprit. Excellently done and I loved it.

Gameplay Unique gameplay, did I already say unique? I’ve never come across the idea of Acoustic Detectives (Psychic), but I love it. Controls are simple, it is in effect a point and click gameplay as you only use the mouse to play the game. You direct your character from room to room, listening in to conversations like the proverbial fly on the wall. There are huge amounts of dialogue in the game and nothing is fed to you or highlighted as a clue, you figure that out for

yourself. When trying to keep track of what’s going on, the comment feature came massively in handy. Whenever I heard something that I considered potentially useful, I would type it down in the comments for reviewing later. It’ genuinely made me feel like I was solving a crime, and not just being taken around to shiny objects like many other crime-solving games out there.

There is no difficulty meter and I wouldn’t say the game was very difficult for me, having completed it within 3.5hrs. It’s definitely tricky, but as I realised on the final mission, you can trial and error different answers without repercussions, which made the risk disappear. I’m not sure you can even lose at the game?

to standout and the atmos was used to its best ability. There was the hum and the dripping, not too strong, just right.

Replay Value When the goal of the game is to solve crimes, and you’ve solved them already, there isn’t much room to go back and do it again. You won’t get the same feeling of satisfaction when you know who the criminal is. BUT, there does seem to be multiple endings depending on a final choice in the game.

Final Thoughts After completing the game after one sitting, you could probably say I enjoyed it immensely. Bravo Next Studios, this is a fantastic game that I have already recommended to many friends. The story and writing are brilliant and made even more so with your choice of voice actors and actresses. It really made me feel like a detective, and isn’t that what every crime-solving game should do to you?

Sound & Graphics The art is very bare bones. Every level is topdown and drawn out like a buildings schematics.

It’s all it needs as the main focus was the sound and the story, art could take a back seat, but they didn’t get lazy with it. There was still a style that fit and did what they needed it to.

Now the sound, oh boy, they HAD to get that right. The game is called Unheard, if anything I expected top rate sound design and voice acting.... and I was not disappointed. In the steam description, they cite some of the influences being radio dramas. The voice actors were brilliant, really applaud them and their skill in getting the characters across through voice alone. Music was minimal to allow the voices

Pros-

Unique Non-Linear Storytelling Acoustic Detectives (but we all know it’s Psychic) A fantastically written dialogue that keeps you guessing Brilliant voice acting from the cast

Cons-

No penalty for guessing wrong

Gameplay Developer: Eteru Studio Publisher: Eteru Studio Released: March 8, 2019 MSRP: $9.99/ £7.99 Multiplayer: None Link: Official site Buy it: Steam

It’s zero-gravity, you’ve got no weapon and the entire mining station has ceased communication for eerie unknown reasons. To me, this screams Dead Space (minus the weapons) and that’s an automatic buy in my books. So let’s put our helmet on and do some space detectiving (is that a word? It should be a word) Story There is no opening scene cut, no big spectacle.

In a way I actually kind of like that, it fits in with the simplicity in the whole design of the game.

By finding logs and data amongst the levels, you start to piece together bits and pieces about the overall story and get closer to fulfilling your mission to find out where everyone has gone. This means that as you enter the mining station, you know as much as the protagonist does and you learn as they learn. It immerses you and makes you feel lost, scared and vulnerable, just like the protagonist.

Not the whole game is out to scare you though, occasionally you get humorous insights to the

personalities of the crew members and their day to day lives before the incident. You also get to learn about the world we are playing in, where gold is practically worthless due to the abundance and many other sneaky worldbuilding nuggets that you can find by sleuthing it out.

Five buttons are all you need for the entire game. We have the standard WASD controls for movement and the SPACE bar for everything else. You can grab objects, pull switches and interact with computers and logs while you search for the truth of the disappearance. This is a puzzle game, and like all puzzle games, they sneak up on you with gradually more difficult and tricky problems. No hand holding what so ever. The first time I came across a bomb, I died instantly, the second time I was more prepared. A-HA! I said as I threw a crate into the bombs to explode them at a safe distance. You soon come across many other obstacles to be cautious about and by the time the first enemy is introduced, you should have enough grasp of things to be able to think on your feet as the cat and mouse chase continues.

I wouldn’t call this an easy game, but also it isn’t a hard game. It has just enough challenge to keep you interested and coming back.

The damage to certain parts of your suit comes in to play several times, this has to be my favourite feature of the game, the urgency to find a medkit or repair kit when you know there could be danger around the corner. It can almost be a sci-fi game of Pacman, now that I think of it.

A feature that did not do it for me, is the paranoia trait. I love the idea of the character growing more and more paranoid as the game gets more dangerous, but I feel it was utilised poorly here and thrown in as more of a hindrance than a mechanic. Several times I found myself in poor situations because this trait would seize up my movement, leaving me like a fish on a hook.

Final Thoughts Running theme for this game in all its aspect is the simplicity and minimalism to its design. The controls are simple, the music and sound are dialed back and the design is kept uninspiring with the odd splash of colour from red alarms. This isn’t a bad thing, in fact, it gives its main quality the story the opportunity to take center stage. I don’t know if that was the developers’ intention, but it works. My attention was more focused on the story than on anything else.

Unfortunately, as much as I enjoyed finding all the breadcrumbs (oh wow... I just noticed this is Pacman meets Deadspace), the story was underwhelming.

I had fun with this, not a lot of fun, but I had fun.

It is definitely worth checking out, I just wouldn’t go rushing to get it.

Sound & Graphics In space there is no sound, it is a vacuum. Keeping to this, they have added as little amount of sound as they could, making this very tense at times. Working together with the lighting being limited can force you to think before running headfirst into rooms (especially after the first death by a bomb). This isn’t a negative point, the minimalism in the game serves its purpose in creating the atmosphere you play in and I really enjoyed it. My only take away is the lack of variety in environment design. It is a mining station, probably made prefab with boring parts, but people naturally added personality even to the most mundane rooms. A small poster here or even the cliched writing on the wall would have added a bit more to the character of the Mining Station.

There is not much to say about the music either.

It is definitely eerie and serves its purpose, chiming in when danger is about, but after two hours of the game, I needed more.

Pros Simple, easy to use controls No UI makes it atmospheric and immersive Great sound design Fun puzzles A growing narrative and worldbuilding

Replay Value As far as I can see, there is not much replay value. Levels are entirely created by hand rather than randomly generated and once you’ve solved it, that’s pretty much it.

- Cons Paranoia mechanic is frustrating Boring repetitive environment

NEW RELEASES DARK GNOME Developer: Upjers Publisher: Upjers Released: March 18, 2019 MSRP: Free to Play Multiplayer: None Link: Official Site Buy it: Steam

CUBICITY: SLIDE PUZZLE Developer: Pirate Parrot Publisher: Pirate Parrot Released: March 21, 2019 MSRP: $2.99/ £2.39 Multiplayer: None Link: Official Site Buy it: Steam

In this pixel game, you’ll accompany your mob of dwarves on a host of missions. Sometimes just to collect wood, berries, or other resources; at other times you’ll prove your derring-do on dangerous rescue missions to bolster your troops.

Pixel RPG with Dwarves the way they are meant to be. Full of Dark Humour and Beer!

Buddy, you’re in the cubic world! It has its own laws and rules, so choose a character and start solving the puzzles! Blow up bombs, use a teleport and freezing, do whatever you to reach the finish.

Relaxing casual game with the cutest little characters. Sometimes you just need a good puzzle.

HUNGER APARTMENT Developer: Shinou Game Studio Publisher: WhiteLakeStudio Released: March 20, 2019 MSRP: $2.54/ £1.77 Multiplayer: None Link: None as of yet Buy it: Steam

This is Hunger Apartment, a place not only feeding you and warming you, but also satisfying even your most insane fantasies.

No more hunger, no more displacement.

WHERE THE BEES MAKE HONEY Developer: Wakefield Interactive Publisher: Whitethorn Digital Released: March 26, 2019 MSRP: $9.99/ £7.19 Multiplayer: None Link: Official Site Buy it: Steam, XBOX ONE, PS4

At its core Where the Bees Make Honey is a puzzle adventure game, but gameplay variation is filtered throughout. When game’s main character Sunny is an adult reflecting on the times when she was young, the game is played in a first-person perspective.

Truly a dark and psychological Horror game at a bargain price.

From the start, your humanity is put to question.

It’s ethereal look and design attracted me. an intriguing story too.

TRAP FOR WINNERS Developer: Prime Games Publisher: Prime Games Released: March 28, 2019 MSRP: $9.99/ £7.19 Multiplayer: None Link: Official Site Buy it: Steam

THE WORLD NEXT DOOR Developer: Rose City Games Publisher: VIZ Media Released: March 28, 2019 MSRP: $14.99/ £11.69 Multiplayer: None Link: Official Site Buy it: Steam, itch.io, GoG,

Humble Store, Nintendo Switch

YOU are Steve Harrison, an undercover agent for the Department of Foreign Civilizations, dispatched to an enemy homeworld. After a devastating war, Earth has emerged victorious and has occupied the hostile planet Dorya. But not all is as it seems...

A gripping sci-fi interactive thriller that lets you shape your own character and his morality.

An addictive mix of lightning-fast puzzle battles, powerful storytelling and immersive visual novel elements, The World Next Door follows Jun, a rebellious teen girl trapped in a parallel realm inhabited by magical creatures, Colour and character design really grabbed me and the idea of fantasy anime meets Tetris-like puzzles, got me curious.

REMILORE: LOST GIRL IN THE LANDS OF LORE Developer: Pixellore, Remimory Publisher: Nicalis Inc Released: March 28, 2019 MSRP: $39.99/ £33.49 Multiplayer: Local Co-op Link: Official Site Buy it: Steam, Nintendo Switch,

XBOX ONE, PS4 (No Link Yet)

A “rogue-lite” anime-style adventure set in a colorful fantasy world where players hack-and-slash their way through an army of mechanical monsters using a huge variety of unique melee weapons and devastating magic attacks!

Mischievious magic books and nefarious mech-monsters. Grab a buddy and get slashing

EARLY ACCESS ASTROX IMPERIUM Developer: Jace Masula Publisher: Jace Masula Released: March 22, 2019 MSRP: $13.49/ £11.39 Multiplayer: None Link: Official Site Buy it: Steam, GoG

WILLOWBROOKE POST Developer: Dante Knoxx Publisher: Excalibur Games Released: March 27, 2019 MSRP: $6.99/ £5.24 Multiplayer: None Link: Official Site Buy it: Steam, Humble Store

Climb from your cryo-pod and enter the Void... Astrox Imperium is a space based rpg that offers familiar game play in an open-world universe. With tons of ships, upgrades, and options, being lost in space might just be fun.

When the market is saturated with PvE and PvP space sims, this Dev stepped up to give us a universe just as detailed to explore alone

Your parents leave unexpectedly, entrusting you with their beloved post office. With only a handful of coins and guidance from a family friend, you’ll need to manage finances, serve the community and protect the family reputation, until they return.

Who knew working in a Post Office looked so interesting. *Opens every parcel and package in sight*

BEAST AGENDA 2030 Developer: Ouch Giver Games Publisher: Ouch Giver Games Released: March 26, 2019 MSRP: $11.69/ £9.26 Multiplayer: None Link: Official Site Buy it: Steam

In 2028, the Watchers surfaced. They claimed to be the ancient alien progenitors of the human race. They rode in on a Trojan Horse of advanced knowledge and a peaceful World Government. They were, to all who believed, the Saviors of the Earth and all mankind.

MINOTAUR Developer: U7 Committee Publisher: U7 Committee Released: April (Delayed), 2019 MSRP: $-.--/ £-.-Multiplayer: Single Link: Official site Buy it: Steam, itch.io

Minotaur tells a dark mystery story set in a newly created science fantasy world of synthets, magic-wielding androids and cybernetically enhanced penguins… God, what a (bloody) mess.

We’ve all heard that balony before, but how will YOU fight back?

Taking huuuge inspiration from LucasArts and Danganronpa , plus the kick-ass soundtrack? Can not wait. Sign me up!

BROOD Developer: Light Fox Games Publisher: Light Fox Games Released: April 2 (delay), 2019 MSRP: $-.--/ ÂŁ-.-Multiplayer: Single Link: Official Site Buy it: Steam

Immerse into a mythical meadow full of unrevealed secrets as you play as a fox attempting to find something dear to him.This open-world game lets you emerge into what would be like to live as a forest animal.

Sit back, relax and escape to the easy life of a fox. No bills, no work, just a beautiful mysterious meadow

RISK OF RAIN 2 Developer: Hopoo Games Publisher: Gearbox Publishing Released: March 28, 2019 MSRP: $19.99/ ÂŁ14.99 Multiplayer: Online Co-op Link: Official Site Buy it: Steam, Humble Store

The classic multiplayer roguelike, Risk of Rain, returns with an extra dimension and more challenging action. Play solo, or team up with up to three friends to fight your way through hordes of monsters, unlock new loot, and find a way to escape the planet.

The transition from 2D to 3D has been the main focus of reviewers.

Do you think it works?

on the

NEXT ISSUE

Indie Releases for April 1st-16th

...

we will be returning with more cool Indie Games that I am looking forward to trying out once they are released.

Du Lac & Fey: Dance of Death - Immortal Arthurian Heroes attempt to solve the mystery of Jack the Ripper Dark Gnome - Gnomes? Or Dwarves?

Ack, just pass the bleedin beer will ya!

WeedCraft .Inc - This isn’t the glitz and glamour, this is dirty, selfish, greedy... and just a hint of human compassion

GD Indies GD Early Access GD Life