New week, new game. Since indie game Dear Esther is all the rage these days, it’ll be great to look back at what started it all, Dear Esther prototype version. So, without further ado, lets get started with the intro
Dear Esther is a first-person narrative that adds vocal interjections as you travel and observe the island. Each narration is supposed to be relevant to the view at hand, including writings on walls, landscapes, etc. Frequently, the narrative will contradict itself, leading to a surreal and disjointed experience.
The free, Half-Life mode can be downloaded at Mod DB.com.
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New week, new game. Today’s free game is from the friendly team of students at DigiPen Institute at Singapore. The game? Void, a dimension-manipulating first-person puzzle game.
People who played Portal should feel very comfortable with this game. Void begins with our main hero, Artaith, desperately running away from the rubble, and investigating on its cause. Somehow, he’s gained the ability to create dimensional rifts into the past, as well as obtain eyeglass that allows him to see the complex he was in, pre-destruction state.
Artaith can create up to two temporary, spherical dimensional rifts on any surface. In doing so, certain floors and items may become visible, while others may end up being obstructed. As such, the player must carefully place the rifts to his or her benefit, without losing their footing. The puzzles becomes particular complex when water is introduced, allowing you to swim to higher locations that would be otherwise dry and difficult to climb.
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New week, new music, and what better way to start than a weird music that mixes futuristic sounds in a spaghetti-western composition? I’m talking about Annul, by Ed Harrison. It’s used in a Japanese-themed Half-Life 2 mod, Neotokyo. It’s an action-filled, yet melancholy music of the ever-growing conflict between the government military and the terrorists.
Since Neotokyo is a Half-Life 2 mod, it is currently only playable on the Mac and on the PC. The mod can be downloaded here.
The story for Neotokyo, like Team Fortress 2 is merely used to explain the settings and missions. An extremely nationalistic group attempts to take the Japanese government for themselves when an amendment to the constitution doesn’t come through. Fortunately for the country, the government successfully foils the group’s actions, but at a price of scattered terrorists roaming in the streets. Neotokyo sets the stage for these terrorists fighting against the government law enforcers.
Like Team Fortress 2, Neotokyo is an online multiplayer first-person shooter. The main draw are the “capture the flag” missions, where the object to capture is the Ghost. When the player carries the Ghost, he or she becomes capable of seeing opponents coming from behind the walls. In exchange, the player is unable to fight back, and must flee back to his or her base as fast as possible. Neotokyo also takes cues from theMetroid Prime series, where different classes have different visors to visually detect invisible opponents. Every class, of course, have their own camouflage suits. Lastly, the mod is reveled for its art direction and graphics. Asian cities aren’t a common sight in video games, after all.
