Strange Free Games: Katawa Shoujo


Warning!  I am about to introduce a Japanese-style erotic visual novel, better known as eroge.  While this game does offer an option to turn off the adult portions, be well aware that this is made for a far more mature audience. And by “mature,” I mean emotionally.

New week, new game.  This week is about Katawa Shoujo, a visual novel from the members of 4chan, no less.  As a love simulator, this game has one simple twist: every girl you can date is handicapped.  While I’m sure many of you will find the origins of this game uneasy, I can affirm that the subject matter is handled very delicately.  By the end of it, it’ll make you realize the truth behind a frequently told but rarely understood point: the difference between a normal person and a disabled one is only skin deep.

Katawa Shoujo is playable at their own website.

You play as Hisao Naoki, who one day collapses from a sudden heart attack.  Upon recovery, he learns he has a fatal condition called arrhythmia: a disorder that causes the heart to react erratically.  Forced to stay in the dreadful hospital for months, he’s finally given a decision one day to move to the Yamaku boarding high school, an educational school specialized in tending students with medical conditions.  In an attempt to start life anew again, Hisao agrees, and ventures into the high school for disabled students.  Little does he expect a huge emotional roller-coaster when trying to make friends in this initially-peculiar high school.

As the genre “visual novel” implies, Katawa Shoujo reads a lot like a choose-your-own-adventure novels. The majority of the game is devoted to characterizations and observations, but occasionally the game gives you a few branching choices that determines how the story progresses.  While that seems like a chore at first, several features in the game helps alleviate the hours-long text.  First there’s an auto-mode that automatically clicks through the text for you at an adjustable pace.  For the really impatient, there’s the skip-mode that fast-forwards to the next multiple-choice question.
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Strange Free Games: Feed the Head


New week, new game. If it wasn’t obvious, I love surrealism. What if there was a game that was built around many famous surreal art, like those from M.C. Escher, and René Magritte? If you’ve ever asked that question like I did, look no further than Vectorpark’s Feed the Head, a free flash game.

Feed the Head involves, you guessed it, feeding the head with various different colored balls. To find those balls, however, requires a little experimentation. What happens when you knock on the head’s forehead? What about poking its eye? Perhaps pulling his noes would work? By toying around with the head, you eventually create a surreal narrative of exploration.

Feed the Head can be played at its own website.
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Strange Free Games: Achievement Unlocked


New week, new game. You have a new Achievement Unlocked! What, hate that notification? Well, surely you’ll like this game, a parody of the achievements system first introduced in the Xbox 360. This fun Flash game requires you to achieve a few, obscure goals in a static level.

Achievement Unlocked can be played at Armor Games.

Achievement Unlocked, as you would expect, have absolutely no story. Instead, as an elephant, you have to complete a bunch of vaguely named tasks that appears on the right side of the screen. The game is “completed” when all achievements are, well, unlocked. A funky and surprisingly addicting game, for what’s clearly a parody and an insult to the achievement concept.
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Strange Free Games: Cloud


New week, new game. Here’s a popular game that helped launched the infamous artsy game studio, ThatGameCompany. Cloud, is a Katamari-like game of collecting clouds and achieving various missions. Incidentally, it was one of the games I’ve introduced in the Weekly Game Music series as well.

Cloud can be downloaded at University of Southern California’s website.

Cloud describes a bed-ridden boy who’s given a spiritual chance to enjoy flight. As one of the cloud spirits, his role is to collect clouds. With these clouds, he can create cloud formations, calm storms, and even cause the clouds to rain.

As its name implies, Cloud is intended to be a relaxing game. As the spirit, you fly towards a patch of cloud to collect it, and have it follow you as you gather more. Since the clouds will lag a little bit, you’re forced to proceed in a slower manner. The said clouds can be stored and released, however, whenever you feel like it.
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Weekly Game Music: Fluffy Sweet (Cloud)


Oh, jolly. I completely forgot about posting a music for this week. How about some soothing music, for a change? Here’s Fluffy Sweet, composed by Vincent Diamante for the student game, Cloud. It was a catapult to ThisGameCompany’s inception and proceeding game creations with similar themes.

Cloud is a freely downloadable PC game released in 2005. You can download it here.

Cloud describes a bed-ridden boy who’s “brought back to life” as a flying spirit that collects clouds. With it, the games leads you through several different missions, including creating cloud formations, calming storms, and raining on necessary patches of land. It’s a simple story about the joy of flight.

From a gameplay perspective, Cloud controls like an extremely relaxed free-roaming star-fighter game. As the spirit, you fly towards a patch of cloud to collect it, and have it follow you as you gather more. Since the clouds will lag a little bit, you’re forced to proceed in a slower manner. The said clouds can be stored and released, however, whenever you feel like it.


Extra!

Title: First Flight
Game: Cloud
Composer: Vincent Diamante

Title: Cycling
Game: Cloud
Composer: Vincent Diamante


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