ROBOTIC GAMING MONTHLY – Saving The World From Solomon Grundy

Artwork by Citrus King

Well, we’re deep in the dog days of Summer here, at least in the world of video games. Not only have major game releases dried up, but even major video game news was a bit sparse this month (except for that bit about Konami’s seemingly Orwellian working conditions that broke just as I wrote this, yikes), along with a lack of any notable trailers.

But we will definitely do what we can here at Robotic Gaming Monthly to provide you with interesting video game coverage and opinions, even if that means debating possible video games based on famous superheroes, showcasing upcoming video games with constantly hugging clowns, or just watching some cars crash into giant balls in weird sports. So let’s dive on in already!

So now that we finally have our Batman: Arkham Knight review out of the way, I feel now would be a good time to address something a lot of people have brought up ever since the game’s release: What will the next big game based on a DC comic be? Well, several people have suggested the obvious idea of a Superman game for the successor to the Arkham games. After all, Supes is the next heavy hitter in DC’s lineup, Arkham Knight has several Superman-related Easter eggs, and there was even a screenshot floating around sparking a rumor that Rocksteady may be working on a game starring Superman even as we speak.

So it obviously has to be a Superman game up next, right? And if it’s being made with the same formula as the Arkham games and even possibly being made by the same developers, it has to be great, right?

Yeah, I would not be looking forward to an Arkham-style open-world game starring the typical version of Superman. Now, you might assume that this is largely because Superman’s track record with video games hasn’t exactly been the greatest. His highest-rated games have been okay at best, and at their worst…well, you all know about the legend of THAT game by now.

The reality is that the biggest obstacle in creating a good Superman game is…well, Superman himself. After all, when you have a character who has godlike powers and is practically invincible, how do give him a game that provides a lengthy challenge? How do you set up a solid fight between him and any non-major enemies? How do you capture the feeling of being Superman while still offering up a lengthy game with a vast world to explore?

After all, one of the biggest selling points of the Arkham Asylum games was how they perfectly made it feel like you were actually putting yourself in the shoes of Batman, be it gliding from building to building, taking out a room full of twenty goons with a remarkably fun combat system that has a lot of finesse, or combing every square inch of Gotham City for hidden puzzles, secrets, or crimes in progress. I can’t see any of that happening with the traditional Superman that we know. “Arkham Asylum but with Superman” may sound a non-brainer for some, but all I can think of is that if you place Superman into a giant world in the type of game that usually takes dozens of hours to fully explore, then between abilities like flight, super-speed, and x-ray vision, the entire game should be gone in a about an hour, tops. That might capture the feeling of being Superman, but it doesn’t necessarily make for a more satisfying game.

So no, I don’t think an open-world game like this would work with that version of Superman.

Of course, if you were paying attention, you’ll note that I referred to that version of Superman as “typical” or “traditional.” And that isn’t the Superman starring in comics right now.

For those of you paying attention to the recent post-Convergence DC comics, Superman has been de-powered a bit due to a new power of his (an energy blast) that has the side effect of essentially requiring him to “recharge” his powers, and now it’s taking more time than usual and has potential long-term effects. So while he’s still very much Superman in that he has super-strength, super-speed, and the like which he uses to protect Metropolis, all of those powers are toned down a bit (he can’t even fly right now, just jump really damn high like the Golden Age days) and now he can also take damage a bit more. When I asked fellow TR writer Jim Dandeneau about Superman’s current powers, he described them in a relation to video games as “more like the fun parts of Saints Row IV.” And holy crap, did my opinion on an open-world Superman game do a 180 right then.

A Superman game with a de-powered Supes and the mechanics of Saints Row IV? THAT would be the open-world Superman game I want to play. One where I can whizz through the streets of Metropolis, actually leap tall buildings in a single bound, save a bank from a group of armed robbers not with one puff of super-breath, but by actually getting into a tense battle with them, and maybe have a bit where I can get a kid’s cat out of a tree as well just to prove no problem is too small.

The current version of Superman is the one who deserves a video game the most…which also means that we sadly won’t ever have that game for the same reason we won’t see a live-action Miles Morales Spider-Man film anytime soon: Neither Warner Bros. or DC would be all that willing to take a chance so soon in presenting a drastically different version of an iconic character to the general, non-comic-reading public.

Some people have argued that the traditional, godlike Superman is what they prefer in their comic book. Which is fine; you’re allowed your opinion. But we’re not talking about what makes for the better comic here, we’re talking about what makes for the better game. And it just feels to me like the newest approach to the Superman comics would make for the best approach for a Superman video game as well. If you have your own ideas on how a good Superman game could also be done, feel free to talk about it here. But yeah, to Warner Bros. and Rocksteady, get working on a game like this if you have to.

Or at least give us a new Arkham game with Commissioner Gordon in a Bat-mech suit. Yes, Jim Gordon is Batman right now. And he has a robot suit. Comics are weird.

Alright, on to this month’s Burning Question! Now, as you may have heard, this was a particularly notable month for video games in the film industry. Five Nights at Freddy’s is getting a feature film adaptation with Gil Kenan of the Oscar-nominated Monster House at the helm, Minecraft is getting a feature film adaptation with Rob McElhenney at the helm (yes, Mac from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia will be directing), and Pixels ended up being a piss-poor feature film adaptation of a bunch of classic games with what seemed like a bunch of brain-dead monkeys at the helm who didn’t give a shit about even their own in-world rules and logic. It rightfully bombed at the box office and was the subject of a brutal beating from MovieBob that went viral (for the record, my own criticisms of the film are pretty much the same as his, except with maybe 35% less swearing and a detailed breakdown of how the revelation that Dinklage’s character uses cheat codes makes ABSOLUTELY NO FUCKING SENSE).

…Wait, I was supposed to be leading up to something here with all of that, right? Oh yeah, Burning Question. So with these recent events, this month’s question is pretty simple: What indie game or video game cult classic would you like to see get the feature film treatment as well? Sorry for having potential restrictions there, but any idiot can suggest that, say, a God of War film just might be a big thing, but I’d like to think that our readers here at Topless Robot are a bit more intelligent and able to suggest the unexpected (at least, I hope so). Don’t be ashamed to think of some unorthodox ideas, because if we can apparently have a feature film based on fucking PEZ candies coming soon, then apparently anything goes.

As for the winners when it comes to last month’s Burning Question, congratulations to Citrus King, who wins the grand prize of a copy of Divide by Sheep, a Mini-E3 prize kit, and the always present Mystery Prize of Mysterious Mystery! As for runners-up, Joel Purcell and Bryce Abood each walk away with a copy of Divide by Sheep. Citrus and Bryce, I already have the means of contacting you. Joel, contact us as [email protected] with your e-mail address, and we’ll send you your prize.

So with all this talk of Superman and less-than-super Happy Madison films out of the way, let’s move on to this month’s game reviews!

This month in reviews: Games with cats, games with rats, and games with splats. God, I wish I always had more lineups that allowed for rhyming options. Anyhow…

Guild of Dungeoneering

As you may recall, Guild of Dungeoneering was one of the surprise hits of E3 for us here at Topless Robot, so I was definitely anticipating the full version of the game when it was released this past month. So did our little dungeon crawler end up meeting our lofty expectations? Well, for the most part I’d say yes.

As the game starts, you are a dungeoneer (an adventurer/engineer hybrid of sorts), and you have been laughed out of every guild in the land for…well, basically being a piss-poor explorer who gets ridiculed all the time. So you decide to start your own guild and recruit other potential dungeoneers to delve into various dungeons and grab all of the treasure, trophies, and acclaim that they can. And while I referred to Guild of Dungeoneering as a dungeon crawler just a paragraph ago, the truth is that it’s more closer to a card game or a board game. You really don’t have control over each character you send into a dungeon; instead each turn you’re dealt a hand of cards containing a mix of dungeon segments that you attach on to the area in a way similar to games like Carcassonne, monsters you can place down for your adventurers to fight and gain experience plus additional cards to build your deck with, and the occasional loot that can lure your character in a certain direction and add to your guild’s gold reserves. Using all this, you have to guide your characters to their goal.

It definitely is a unique take on the dungeon crawler/roguelike genre, one where you have to figure out the best path to build using the cards you have on hand. And combat is particularly fun as well, with simple card duels between your guild members and various monsters where each class and creature has its own unique set of cards and passive skills. You can play one card each turn here, with simple attack/block/heal/draw/etc. effects in each one. You do get to see the card your enemy is about to play in advance, so the strategy is in figuring out the best way to counter each move. You can even use the gold you’ve accumulated to unlock new equipment and cards to insert into each dungeon, increasing your odds of being able to pimp out your guild member with the best equipment that they can discover.

It’s all very fun and addictive, as evidenced by the several hours I’ve spent playing the game, but the one flaw in Guild of Dungeoneering’s card game setup is that as it’s a card game, a good chuck of your success is still dependent upon luck. In one instance, I was given a set number of turns for my character to reach a ritual in progress, but my opening hand contained absolutely no cards that allowed them to travel to a new room, and you can’t place monsters or loot in the room they’re already in, so that was one turn wasted in a timed mission. As you’ll see more than a few times, chance is a fickle mistress in this game.

Guild of Dungeoneering is also unique in the way it presents itself, using a deliberately sketchy, monochrome art style with simple, cartoonish characters, like something you’d actually expect to see scribbled on a dungeon master’s notes in a particularly nice touch. The music is also particularly fun and a nice example of the game’s humor, with the various theme songs and their lyrics being a hoot (albeit less so when they begin to repeat themselves), and the dialogue your guild members and the various enemies produce definitely contains some nice chuckles as well. But speaking of your guild members, I do wish they had more personality. And since they revert to Level 1 after each successful dungeon run, they lose any equipment that makes them stand out a little more, and since they’re immediately replaced by someone else in their class when they die, you don’t really lose much whenever they get mauled by a Mimic or whatnot.

In the end, despite a few hiccups along the way, Guild of Dungeoneering is still a one-of-a-kind experience and a damn fun game that you’ll easily find yourself coming back to again and again. The guild may start out as the joke of the kingdom, but the game they’re in is one to be proud of.

Gunpowder

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: The best kinds of puzzle games are the ones that have unique concepts which are easy to pick up and learn, become harder to master with each level, and are the ones you can easily wind up coming back to over and over like some sort of digital drug. And while Gunpowder doesn’t quite reach the heights of a true classic, it thankfully meets all of the requirements to be a damn fine puzzler nonetheless.

The setup is an Old West tale inspired by Robin Hood, in that the intro cinematic shows our main character – a fox named Incendio – discovering a book labelled “Robin Hood” and basically just decides “Why the hell not?” So he dons a bandit disguise and sets out to blow open every safe belonging to the evil Boss Grimshaw and return the money to the townspeople as a means of punishing Grimshaw for…um…well, he’s a rich guy in a Western, so screw it, he’s gotta be evil.

Okay, so Gunpowder’s story is a tad on the simplistic side, but it still allows for some Saturday morning cartoon aesthetics that are pretty damn impressive and enjoyable nonetheless, complete with a bouncy, classic Old West soundtrack. As for the gameplay itself, the goal is to draw lines of gunpowder connecting your initial incendiary device to an explosive planted next to the safe in each level, dropping additional explosives along the way and having to utilize tools such as boulders, gatling guns, minecarts and more in order to clear a path for your makeshift fuse. You also have the opportunity to collect three piggy banks in each level in order to unlock more content, because did I mention that this is a casual puzzle game? I think “Thou shalt need to collect three of something” is a commandment in the app store by this point.

But as mentioned earlier, Gunpowder’s gameplay is still incredibly fun, the challenge level increases at a nice pace, and each level requires a good amount of planning in order to deduce the correct solution, some even requiring that you keep active and are prepared to still spread gunpowder even after you’ve lit things up. Such is the sign of a quality puzzle game, but it does kind of clash with a minor issue I have concerning the game: the time bonus for each level. Each one has a target time seemingly set by the developers (or other players), and they’re incredibly short lengths such as fourteen seconds, basically requiring that you know the solution beforehand if you want the bonus. After playing through dozens of levels, I think I may have gotten one time bonus overall. I know it’s a small issue, but I always get peeved at that “0” next to the Time Bonus on the Results screen mocking me. Also, the version I played was a PC port of the mobile version, and they really didn’t hide the fact that this is an adaptation well, with instructions such as “tap” and “swipe” still prominent and accompanied by drawings of fingers touching a screen. I know that’s just nit-picking, but geez, it’s kind of embarrassing…

Those tiny issues aside, Gunpowder is still a stellar puzzle game overall, one that I definitely suggest you check out. It’s definitely a fun little blast, horrible pun be damned.

NekoBuro: CatsBlock

So NekoBuro is a puzzle game about a girl who ends up inviting a bunch of square cats into her home while they search for each other, featuring a hub area where you can play with all of the ridiculously adorable felines. And given the people who work behind the scenes here at Topless Robot, I naturally felt obliged to review a game about taking care of a ton of cats and stacking them into little towers (also, one of the cats is named Dante, which I took as an additional sign).

Actually, I should clarify that the Square Cats are technically the main characters here, a race of alien creatures that developed their personalities via TV signals and have crash landed on Earth, currently bumming it with a high school girl named Rino until they can regroup. And so lead cat Totan sets out to find the others by…well, basically by playing Columns.

In fact, it’s kind of hard for me to write much info concerning the core gameplay here, because if you have ever played Columns or any other falling block/match-three puzzle game, then you already know how to play NekoBuro. Drop a stack of three cats down, try to match up three or more cats in a row, pull off large matches and chains to gain power-ups that clear away more cats, lather, rinse, repeat. Needless to say, this is a game that really doesn’t win much points in the uniqueness category. And even with the Story Mode challenges where you have to match up certain kinds of cats or use so many power-ups in a certain amount of time, the gameplay is really simple (although the isometric playing grid makes it tricky at times to judge where the cats will land).

But not breaking the mold doesn’t mean that NekoBuro isn’t fun. It is a good puzzle game, and while the cat stacking at the heart of it all is definitely enjoyable, the real draw for the game is in its presentation. The art style is insanely adorable, cartoonish, and colorful, the music is nice and peppy, and the story is particularly fun, if only for the hilariously broken English in the game’s dialogue. There are also unlockable extras like furniture to customize Rino’s room with, toys such as beach balls and bubble guns that you can use to play with the cats, and comics that show off more of the characters’ quirks. They’re neat to check out, even if I do wish there were more of them.

So in the end, NekoBuro may not be a particularly deep or unique puzzle game, but it’s still one with a lot of charm and some pleasing gameplay that still mostly makes for a Vita game worth taking a look at. Too bad none of the cats wear hats, though, because that would have easily gotten an award from us…

Rocket League

At E3 this year, me and fellow TR writer Bryce Abood got a chance to have some hands-on time with Rocket League. I personally thought it was really promising, but Bryce wasn’t all that impressed by it, so because of our mixed opinions, I decided to leave it off of our “Best of E3” list.

Fast-forward one month, and just a short while after Rocket League’s release, it has ended up being downloaded over five million times, has been the best-selling game on Steam, is a multiplayer darling with prominent Twitch streams, and has generally been the most talked-about game of the past month with a lot of rave reviews. So the point I’m trying to make is that now I need to punch Bryce in the kidneys.

Now, I tend to use phrases such as “genius in its simplicity” and “old-school” a lot, to the point where you could make a drinking game out of it and find yourself passing out just based on my last three or so months’ worth of articles alone. But I can’t really think of any better way to describe Rocket League, because every time I play it I’m reminded of classic arcade sports games such as NBA Jam, AKA the best kinds of sports games. You have two teams of remote-controlled cars, an arena with walls and ceilings like motorcycle stunt cages, two goals, and a giant soccer ball that explores in a firework when shot into said goals. It’s basically soccer meets a demolition derby, but the idea is taken down to its core basics, with the typical power-ups you expect in car combat games replaced with only a mere turbo function that you can replenish by driving over certain spaces on the field.

And you know what? I’m cool with the basics. Compared to other racers or online games in general where players have access to game-breaking power-ups that suddenly allow them to take the lead or where players at higher levels have access to more powerful equipment, Rocket League is a game where everybody is on the same playing level. Winning here is achieved simply by being the most skilled in driving a giant ball into a goal, the way it should be. And yet the game is also designed in such a way that whether you have an entire strategy planned out or just decide to rush in and smash into everything possible, it’s equally fun no matter how you play. This is a game that is basically just the idea of fun itself condensed down into its most purest and simple form, full of countless quick games with several amazing saves, goals, and plays in general with each match. The driving controls are a blast to play with, and the aesthetic touches such as the incredibly deep levels of customization for your car and the audience that chants little fight songs are a joy to experience indeed (and that make me wish that this game had a Queen soundtrack).

This is normally the point where I talk about the game’s flaws, but this is a game that allows me to decorate my car by putting a little sombrero on top of it, so screw you, flaws are irrelevant here. Rocket League is, simply put, some of the best fun I’ve had with a video game all year, the type of game I end up easily playing for hours on end until I suddenly realize that I have a deadline, meaning that if nothing else, it easily earns the title of “Best Productivity Killer.” Terrific, terrific all around, and I heartily recommend that you pick up this game ASAP.

Ronin

You know, just when I think I’ve seen every unique and weird concept for a video game that the indie world has to offer, along comes Ronin, a Kill Bill-esque turn-based platformer. Intriguing idea indeed, but is the actual game as good as such a premise promises? Long story short, yes, but not without a few hiccups.

Ronin is the tale of a girl whose dad has been killed by assholes and thus now has to kill said assholes in return with the help of her ninja skills. I’d like to say it goes deeper than that, but the game’s story is surprisingly thin. I would have appreciated more backstory regarding the villains or such in order to help give them more personality, though the game’s presentation helps try and make up for that. The graphics have a nice, sort of minimalist style to them with some slick animation, and the soundtrack is a pulse-pounding treat, all of which complement the game’s action nicely.

And oh, what action it is! Ronin definitely captures the feeling of using ninjutsu in combat quite nicely (or at least the stylized version of ninjutsu), particularly thanks to its unique turn-based twist that allows the likes of fast-paced 30-second battles full of gunfire and sneaky stabbings to be calculated out over a longer length of time. After moving around in real-time in order to navigate each building and find your current goal (typically involving a computer you need to get info from), the game switches to combat mode the second you engage an enemy (or vice-versa).

Suddenly a bunch of laser sights are pointed on you that indicate each enemy’s bullet trajectory, and now the party begins. Depending on your current set of skills and surroundings, you have a variety of moves that you can make each turn. The most prominent one is leaping out of the way in a split-second on to the nearest wall, ceiling, or platform, but in order to succeed you’ll need to devise a way to kill each enemy (or get out of the area, in some cases) while making sure you still aren’t in the enemy’s line of fire when your turn ends. It’s some particularly tense combat that requires a lot of strategy, and the feeling you get when you successfully chop up an entire room full of a half-dozen armed security guards and mercenaries thanks to your clever decisions is always enjoyable.

But while Ronin definitely puts up a good challenge, it does have the tendency to get a bit unfair in some areas. The unlockable skills are a good example of this; You can earn skill points to spend after each level on gadgets and techniques such as shurikens, holographic projectors, stealth kills and the like, and while they’re all very fun to play with, earning them can be a bit of a chore. You can only earn one skill point per level, and the way to do so is to complete it without killing any civilians, triggering any alarms, and by killing all enemies. Screw up once, and you either have to reload your last checkpoint or forfeit the bonus.

This gets particularly painful when you have civilians that start calling security the second they get a whiff of you. The only way to silence them (that I could find) is to kill them, so either way, you lose your shot at a skill point if you get spotted. There are also a few moments in battle where it’s hard to tell exactly if the next move you can make is a safe one or not, or even worse, moments where it’s possible to get trapped and you’re not able to make a move at all without dying. This also leads to subsequent moments where you might ponder why your character isn’t allowed to duck or make simple movements like climbing forward one foot out of harm’s way while hanging from a ceiling instead of having to leap down into an assault rifle’s path, but I guess those moves just don’t look cool enough.

In the end, while Ronin has its flaws, it’s still very much an enjoyable and unique experience that I recommend, a strategic, stylish ninja simulator that will definitely leave an impression on you. Just make sure you have a stress ball on a hand for a few frustrating moments, along with a recording of “To Battle Without Honor or Humanity” to play after each level in celebration, naturally.

Traverser

So there have been a ton of steampunk games in the indie gaming scene, and as such, another entry into this subgenre really needs to stand out. And it goes without saying that Traverser succeeds in this goal.

What we have here is a world where the sun has died out, and so the inhabitants of Earth have decided to create a new city in the center of the earth, where things are naturally warmer. Thus we have Brimstone, a land where oxygen is scarce and acts as currency, and the rich and the poor are separated on each side of the land with different gravities, like that one weird Kirsten Dunst film. Our main character is Valerie, daughter of one of Brimstone’s most prominent scientists and a girl who dreams of being a Traverser, a sort of special policeman that monitors both sides of Brimstone. And when Valerie’s dad ends up being kidnapped by resident evil corporation Ravencorp, she sets out on a journey to rescue him.

What’s notable right off of the bat is Traverser’s incredible art style, a perfect blend of more cartoon visuals and steampunk aesthetics, with several sweet touches such as a mansion’s “grass” made entirely out of quilted materials. The characters are also a fun lot, and their voices and dialogue are also well-performed and written. The game also has a nice sense of humor, a deep world to discover via hidden documents and audio logs, and despite a few clichés, an intriguing story. I haven’t even gotten to Valerie’s Gravity Glove yet, the tool behind the game’s signature mechanic that allows her to pick up heavy objects and use them as a means of solving puzzles or bypassing obstacles in lieu of some sort of similar gun or whatnot. But it does allow for several physics puzzles, and it still suggests a lot of potential.

So yes, Traverser certainly stands out among several steampunk games thanks to its unique world and presentation…which makes it sad when things fall apart during the actual gameplay aspects.

Oh, I’m sorry, Traverser. I really wanted to like you a lot, but for every moment I genuinely enjoyed, that bit of fun was balanced out with moments where the gameplay or controls seemed to collapse. There were parts where the A.I. of the guards during the stealth segments became thick as a brick when they weren’t spotting me with x-ray vision, moments where the object I was carrying with the Gravity Glove collided with scenery I couldn’t see due to the perspective during a crucial moment, and moments where I couldn’t land on a narrow pipe I was supposed to jump onto despite being right next to it, where Valerie just seemingly collided with an invisible wall.

Traverser has a lot going for it, and it still has some clever moments during the game, but unfortunately things get brought down due to some dodgy game design at times. If you have the cash to spare, it’s a short game that might be worth checking out if you’re a fan of similar adventure/stealth/puzzle games, but otherwise feel free to pass this over in favor of the next notable indie steampunk game, no doubt due out next week.

…And that does it for the reviews this month! Stay tuned to Topless Robot in the coming week or so, though, because Rare Replay was just released today and we’re dying to check it out. If we don’t showcase it sooner, expect a review in our next edition. But for now, on to the trailers!

Well, with Gamescom starting this week and PAX Prime later on in the month, there unsurprisingly wasn’t a lot to work right now when it came to any recent major game trailers, with the bigger guns being saved for the coming weeks. Still, like an Iron Chef contestant, let’s see what we can create with the ingredients we do have on hand…

Dropsy

You know, I could use this space right here to say something about Dropsy or explain what is is…but I’m afraid that kind of ruins the magic for anyone seeing the trailer devoid of any context. So just click the play button, and let the wonder of Dropsy wash over you…

Tangiers

What I just said for Dropsy about not spoiling the magic kind of applies to Tangiers as well. Although since it’s a bit less clear about what kind of game Tangiers is, I’ll just say that it’s a stealth/horror game and leave it at that. Now click play again, and wait for the best sights to happen near the end.

Spark the Electric Jester

Well, if last year’s Freedom Planet has taught us anything, it’s that pixillated throwbacks to the glory days of Sonic the Hedgehog are always welcome, and Spark looks like another great platformer in the same vein as well. Still, all I can think of is how the Sonic games inspired two other similar platformers with electric-themed main characters back in 1994 in the form of Pulseman and Socket…meaning that Spark might be more of a throwback to those games than we thought. Support the game’s Kickstarter campaign if you want as well!

Devil’s Third

Well, Devil’s Third has had quite the troubled production, including rumors that Nintendo might not release the game in North America at all (before announcing that it would be released in 4th Quarter 2015). And this isn’t helped by the game being due out next month in Europe and Japan, and initial impressions suggest that it’s less “so crazy stupid it’s awesome” and more “just plain stupid.” Still, like Fox Mulder, I want to believe, so here’s hoping this game still brings the crazy-ass fun when it comes out.

Iconoclasts

Dear lord, how long has Iconoclasts been in development? Do you realize how long it’s been since I’ve played a quality 2D action game? It’s been…well, given the games I play, maybe two weeks, tops.

…But this one just looks really good, dammit, so just hurry up and get here already!!

Lost Horizon 2

Well, this was a sequel I didn’t see coming. The original Lost Horizon was a 2010 point-and-click adventure game, back in the days right before Telltale became a power player in the game industry and the graphic adventure genre got a sudden jolt of energy again. The game was a simple yet particularly fun romp that owed a lot to the Indiana Jones films, but had a good story, likable characters, and solid gameplay that made it an enjoyable game worth checking out.

I say all of that to explain why I’m looking forward to this sequel despite the graphics in it looking like…well, this.

Party Hard

So the top-down black comedy game about murdering your inconsiderate neighbors comes out this month, and as evidenced by the fact that their latest trailer goes straight to the playable character dropping down a time bomb, they’re ready to pull out all of the stops. Granted, it’s not on the same level of creativity as luring a bear into the area to maul everyone to death (oh yeah, you can go there), but it still looks quite fun, I’d say.

Indivisible

Typically, I try not to feature any trailers which don’t contain any gameplay footage, and this one doesn’t even say anything about Indivisible’s concept to boot. On the other hand, when you say that what we have here is a brand new RPG from the makers of Skullgirls – Lab Zero – then screw it, I’m ready to begin promoting their latest game before the crowdfunding even begins.

Legacy of the Copper Skies

A retro action-adventure game with dual-character gameplay set in an industrial fantasy world with gorgeous pixel art and which also allows me to play as some sort of giant wolf creature? How can I possibly lose!

Roll Playing Game

Really, all this game needed to win me over was the pun. The fact that it looks like a damn good puzzler is just gravy.

And thus we reach the end of another edition of Robotic Gaming Monthly! Thanks for dropping by and celebrating our first anniversary with us, feel free to leave any comments offering suggestions, questions, additional discussions on what we talked about, or messages about how much we suck, and I’d like to remind everyone again that Gamescom begins this week and PAX Prime is coming soon, so make sure to watch us for any potential coverage, maybe even some full articles if we can gather enough material! So see you next time, and thanks for dropping by!

Previous Editions of Robotic Gaming Monthly:
Robotic Gaming Monthly #14 – The Post-E3 Edition
Robotic Gaming Monthly #13 – First-Year Anniversary! Kyle’s 10 Best Games of All-Time!
Robotic Gaming Monthly #12 – The Cancelation of The Mod Squad
Robotic Gaming Monthly #11 – Amiib-Oh No