Yup, that was one awesome and clever advertisement
"Now you're playing with Pulver! Kyle Pulver!" ...very good! I wonder of the "kid" in the vid was Mr. Pulver?

I've been procrastinating and thus playing a bit of Pillars of Eternity

http://store.steampowered.com/app/291650/

I really don't think it's that hard, although I'm playing it on "hard". It's definitely a throwback to the classic games (Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, etc). It doesn't hold your hand, there's lots of reading, and overall it's just awesome! It's also an indie

OK scratch that, Pillars of Eternity certainly has numerous difficult encounters where you get destroyed...

Freedom Planet... because it's been a long time since you've played Sonic the Hedgehog.
I mean, a good Sonic the Hedgehog!

http://store.steampowered.com/app/248310/

Although this game isn't supposed to be good, but great!

"It is perhaps the most Sonic game to have come out since 1994, one that feels like a true evolution and more importantly a resounding step forward. Freedom Planet is a love letter to SEGA fans, and newcomers are in store for a special gaming experience that they won’t experience elsewhere in this modern age."

http://www.hardcoregamer.com/2014/11/11 … et/116428/

I can't remember... but didn't Freedom Planet start out as a Sonic the Hedgehog game? I can't help but feel I heard that somewhere.

"Freedom Planet began development as a Sonic the Hedgehog fangame, but DiDuro lost interest in creating a derivative work and reconceived the project as his own intellectual property."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_Planet

With luck, The Banner Saga will soon hit the console(s)

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/sony-s … 0-6433346/

"It’s almost 2016, and with 2016 comes the most ambitious indie game...No Man’s Sky is coming to PlayStation 4 and PC...Adjust your expectations back to reality."

http://www.idigitaltimes.com/no-mans-sk … ent-499883

Honestly, I'm surprised they were able to use the word "Man" in the title without people bitching about the game being chauvinistic! Or has Polygon already "talked" about this?

I'd hope most people would realize man in this instance means mankind... or not. I mean we've had people try and change the name of manholes for God's sake.

That's exactly my point! I'm 100% in favor of equality, but sometimes (oftentimes) things go crazy. For example some are trying to get rid of "he" and "she" and use "ze" and "xyr". I'm not making this stuff up! That is how it is in "higher" education these days. Again, if you are born one gender and identify as another, that is fine. But demanding that people use strange new words because otherwise you are "offended"... ??

I wouldn't exactly expect a Sonic clone out of Freedom Planet; really, Freedom Planet is an homage to several Genesis games; yes, Lilac runs as quickly as Sonic, but she doesn't ball up like him when she jumps, and she can't spindash, either, but thankfully, you can walk up walls no matter what speed you're going at, so at least you don't get stuck so easily.

For that matter, Lilac has "jet" powers, much like Rocket Knight, and the boss battles in the game are really frenetic like Gunstar Heroes.

Also, you can get Freedom Planet DRM-Free on GoG.com (Good Old Games.com)

https://www.gog.com/game/freedom_planet

I've been enjoying it quite a bit, as it has more of a carefree attitude, as opposed to being dark and moody like so much other stuff on consoles.

Personally when I first saw Freedom Planet I thought of Treasure more than Sonic.

Ether One is coming to the PS4

http://store.steampowered.com/app/265950/

Honestly, not sure what to make of it, but I am intrigued!

It's inspired by a mix of a lotta things, but Sonic, Rocket Knight and Gunstar Heroes (Treasure) are the most prominent.

Of course, looking at the character artwork, and listening to the in-game dialogue (especially the stuff about FRIENDSHIP), as well as the voice actors and the voices they used, I can't help thinking they actually took a few queues out of the playbook for My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. Yeah. What can I say, when grown ass men in large numbers are fixating on a cartoon for little girls, you definitely, at some point or another, have to have a look at it yourself.

Has anyone played Republique? It just came out for the PS4 and I'm excited

http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/republi … 0-6416388/

I Kickstarted the game and played all of Episode 1 on iOS, but I can't say I was very impressed. It's pretty average. I tried the PS4 version briefly back at PAX. Direct control of the character is nice, but switching cameras is more complicated without the touch screen.

Yahtzee on Republique (Video):
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/ … mpaign=all

I'm pretty much done with episodic games after Life Is Strange; the whole point of an episodic game, as far as I'm concerned, is to release a little of it at a time to satiate the rabid fans looking forward to it, so you can still spend more time on the rest of it, instead of wanting to rush it out the door quickly to meet demand.

Only problem is, is that these episodic games still end up feeling rushed.

Here are some games I've been meaning to mention for some time:

Only two of these are available for download outside Steam, so I've picked up those two, but the rest, I guess I'm gonna have to pop onto social media and see if I can convince the developer to release them on platforms that aren't Steam.

First those available outside Steam:

Kairo

Official Site (DRM-Free): http://kairo.lockeddoorpuzzle.com/
Steam (for the previews): http://store.steampowered.com/app/23323 … 1_5_9__300

First off, it's only $5. So that's a selling point.

It's a surreal, atmospheric first-person exploration game.

If you like just chilling out, and walking around ethereal, desolate places while having to mess with a switch puzzle every so often, this's for you. This's the kind of game I play when I want to unwind. It's more along the lines of a lucid dream, as opposed to a game, I suppose.

Now for the rest that're Steam only; mind you, I've only watched the previews for these, but they're worth at least taking a look at:

Color Symphony 2: http://store.steampowered.com/app/403780/

Side-scrolling platformer that involves manipulating the background color in order to phase platforms and obstacles in and out of existence. Stylish music, stylish use of color!

In Between: http://store.steampowered.com/app/38842 … 1_5_9__300

Hly sht, OMG, canon black protagonist who isn't a gangster! LoL.

Seems to have a gravity manipulation mechanic, much like VVVVVV.

Music and visuals seem pretty stylish, if contemplative.

Cylne: http://store.steampowered.com/app/34655 … 1_5_9__300

Official Site: http://cylne.com/

Another surrealistic, first person exploration puzzler, along similar lines as Kairo, but the graphics look a lot more impressive.

Rememoried: http://store.steampowered.com/app/36845 … 1_5_9__300

Round 3 of "WTF am I looking at?" for this list, another surrealistic, first-person exploration lucid dream.

Cradle: http://store.steampowered.com/app/36155 … 1_5_9__300

While the other first-person exploration puzzlers on the list have been more surrealistic lucid dreamy, the world and visuals in this one, you can actually tell what they're supposed to be, and there's definitely a sci-fi bent to it.

Music in the trailer's pretty cool.

Dust an Elysian Tale

looks like Odin Sphere done indie!

http://store.steampowered.com/app/236090/

"... A beautiful, well-written, and entirely fun action-RPG."
Digital Trends 9/10

I know, right? Did I forget to mention this game?

It's on GoG, too, if you want it DRM (Cancer)-free: https://www.gog.com/game/dust_an_elysian_tail

Another game sort of along the same veins (it's more of a Metroid-vania)
is Valdis Story: The Abyssal City: https://www.gog.com/game/valdis_story_abyssal_city

Dust, Freedom Planet, and Valdis would be the first 3 games I ever purchased through GoG.

All of these, thankfully, work seamlessly on my machine;
going to have to upgrade if I want to play Transistor (by the makers of Bastion), though:
https://www.gog.com/game/transistor

Until I can actually play it, I'll still be able to enjoy its soundtrack!

Funny, Bastion was the game that made me upgrade my machine back in 2012! That's Supergiant Games for you, I guess, always going above and beyond (my processing power).

Phuq The Binding of Isaac for not being compatible with gamepads, and then suggesting that I get an EXTERNAL PROGRAM (JoyToKey) to link my button presses with the keyboard. Sure, that works with emulators and ROMs just fine, but they were designed to work in symbiosis like that.

JoyToKey just screws up the controls for the rest of my games when I'm NOT trying to play Binding of Isaac, since the controls I've programmed through JoyToKey seem to supersede the default controls in whatever other games I'm trying to play.

Some of the same people who worked on Super Meat Boy also worked on The Binding of Isaac; and they were able to make Super Meat Boy work with USB gamepads, why couldn't they do the same with The Binding of Isaac?

IF I CAN'T USE MY GAMEPAD, I DON'T PLAY!

P.S. Really enjoying Super Meat Boy right now. It's like, what, 6 years overdue? Why I waited so long, I don't know. I guess I was waiting for it to go on sale. The graphics are kinda small and simple, the stages aren't very long, but it's certainly challenging, and it has that quick, pick-up-and-play feel to it.

Seriously though, is there anyone else here who hasn't played it already? I'm probably the only one.

I find some of the dark humor in the game genuinely cringey at times (sets of spikes made out of discarded syringes? Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwww), but otherwise, enjoying myself quite well with this one.

Super Meat Boy
Official Site: http://www.supermeatboy.com/
Humble Store: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/supe … search_bar

Now, if you're looking for a hardcore action platformer along the same lines, but without the dark humor, I'd recommend:

Dustforce
Official Site: http://dustforce.com/
Humble Store: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/dust … search_bar
GoG: https://www.gog.com/game/dustforce_dx
PSN: https://store.playstation.com/#!/en-us/ … m-ga-15981

Or as I like to call it, "Parkour Janitor."

It certainly was successful enough to be released on multiple platforms!

You have jumps, double jumps, mid-air dashes, wall-running, ceiling running, and strong, weak, area attacks.

The game's relatively non-linear, there are 4 different regions you can visit, with a number of levels already open for you, and you unlock more levels by perfecting your runs (speed, time, chains, etc.) in the levels you do have open to you.

Soundtrack's awesome, too.

I've had this one since 2012.

Never played Super Meat Boy, although maybe I will at some point. Can't you get that on disc these days?

You're talking about the original Binding of Isaac, and not the Rebirth remake? If so, then of course gamepads don't work when Isaac is a flash game. And only Edmund McMillen did work on Isaac from Team Meat, and he's the graphics guy. I'd really would suggest getting Rebirth, as it is better.

Ugh, different versions, huh? Why they don't discontinue older versions when they release newer, clearly superior versions is beyond me.

Well, development for the flash Isaac was pretty much stopped after a while, as Flash couldn't handle much updating. I think Floriam Himsl did one more update to original Isaac last year, which did fix few bugs and did add hard mode. And Rebirth is made by Nicalis.

And I think original Isaac is better to play with keyboard than gamepad. Unless you really need to play it on a sofa or something like that.

Also, why discontinue older versions, if some people enjoy playing those or can't play the new version for some reason?

I don't know; maybe so I'm not buying stuff that I'll end up wanting to ask for a refund later?

I WILL AGREE THAT, in many cases, especially with software, sometimes the earlier versions are SUPERIOR to current/later versions, when you consider that the current/later is sometimes a STRIPPED DOWN version of the previous version (for example, Microsoft Paint: I used to be able to invert colors through the "Edit" menu, but the feature has since been stripped out of the current version; now I have to have PHOTOSHOP if I want to do that!)

When it comes to say, Street Fighter II and its many iterations, I want Super Street Fighter II, and the original and Turbo can just sod off, because Super is the most comprehensive version of the game!

Yeah, I don't like to hunch over a keyboard to play a video game.

All that said, you want to play via Keyboard, that's fine, that's great, but make sure there's still the friggin' option to use a Gamepad.

Point-and-click games are the only instance I can think of, in which keyboard and mouse are a better choice of controls than Gamepad, because moving a cursor around with a mouse is faster than on a Gamepad.

And Pony Island is one of very few action games in which I feel comfortable using keyboard and mouse - for that game, Gamepad just wouldn't make sense, since the controls wouldn't respond as quickly as a mouse would.

BTW, one of the loading screens for Super Meat Boy says "Those who say keyboard controls are superior to gamepad controls deserve to be shot in the face!" Not even joking. Check it sometime if you haven't!

You bought the Isaac without knowing about the remake? And when actually? I mean, Rebirth has been out for year and a half or more already. (not to sound condecending or something like that, just wondering how much you follow game news/indie stuff)

Otherwise, can easily understand why you don't want to hunch over a keyboard to play, especially somewhat tense game like Isaac. Also, can't remember if program called Xpadder has a demo that you could try instead of JoyToKey.

I know that screen, and I think some speedrunners even play with just keyboard. All depends on the player, I used as a kid play Megaman X and Super Metroid on emulator on keyboard with odd numbad + insert/delete/pgup/pdown button combinations.

I remember why I didn't buy Rebirth: I couldn't get it DRM-Free.

Might try that; that was the other program that people recommended.

Well, I'll have to admit, if you can play frantic action games on a keyboard, you're more coordinated than I am! Kudos to you!

Two amazing games:

Dust
http://store.steampowered.com/app/236090/
-Dust reminds me of Odin Sphere and Muramasa, both of which were great -and Dust has been great thus far too. It's really hard to believe this is an indie game

Freedom Planet
http://store.steampowered.com/app/248310/
-Clearly inspired by Sonic the Hedgehog. This game has an insanely awesome soundtrack, and is quite challenging. Awesome fast-paced platforming!

Stanley Parable

http://store.steampowered.com/app/221910/

It's cute. A lot of people are calling it "brilliant". Mmmm, no. Although it does have a Monty Python vibe to it, and it does "explore" determinism and free will, it never really makes a clear case for one or the other. Of course the devs would say "oh well, it's up to the beholder" which is basically crap and another way of saying "we don't have an answer". People that go all philosophical these days seem to not have read much philosophy since philosophers typically gave what concrete answers to such questions (ie their own opinions -but at least it was clear)! That said, The Stanley Parable is somewhat enjoyable for the short time you walk around in it. about 2.5 out of 5 stars is my rating.

Surprised no one's brought up Bloodstained being delayed for a year plus. I'm kind of dumbfounded since the demo looked promising. Supposedly IGA was talking about hiring an entire new team as the game did not live up to his expectations.

I'm not ready to start casting doom and gloom on Bloodstained and IGA yet, but what is it about big names, kickstarter and trouble?

Too much hype, too many promises, too high expectations. Smaller studios (if they're managed well) promise a "good" although not flashy game. Even those seem to get delayed a lot. Bigger multi-million dollar projects seem to acquire money primary on the virtue that so-and-so made this great game(s) years go and he'll make another just like he always wanted but could not until now... and you end up with Mighty No 9.

Dust vs Mighty No 9

Yeah, kinda amazing considering how much less money was involved in Dust...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFvXLMD4SSU

oh, and if you haven't played Dust, go do so! Amazing game...

ps "Was Mighty No. 9 A SCAM?!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbWuCiJUKiI

Yeah, Dust was pretty great.

Not much point in comparing the quality of two games based on their budgets though.
Money =/= quality.