Thanks to both Delirium and Andrew for tipping us off to ImmorTall by Evan Miller, a short, sad Flash game in which you (barely) control an invincible alien blob amidst one of humanity’s less impressive moments. There’s really not much more that can be said about this game in particular, since it’s barely two minutes long, and about experiencing it for yourself. Other than the really smart use of music. Discordant notes create all the sounds necessary in a simple ..read the full article

We’ve been meaning to post about Ribbon Hero for a while, prompted by – oooh – at least many people. Unfortunately, we wanted to give it a try first and John’s the only one who has a copy of Office (The of us rest being punk rock heroes! and/or cheapskates with Open Office). And John’s spent the last couple of days discharging fountains of bilious fluid from every imaginable organ, so it hasn’t happened, so I’m going to plug it ..read the full article

Caster, the game which Jim went all out on the hyperbole and claimed the jumping was quite good, has returned with a new episode. Which is splendid news for previous fans of jumping and/or spellcasting – I too am a fan of Caster’s devotion to the jump – mainly because if you bought the last episode, this episode (and all further ones) will be free. Crikey. So if you throw down your $5 now, you get two games instead ..read the full article

Build-your-own platformer Atmosphir, which has been developed by Minor Studios for the past couple of years, has now reached a beta stage, and you can sign up over at the main site. The co-op and competitive multiplayer platforming looks pretty cute, but it’s the capacity to easily generate and then share your own levels that looks like the big idea. Of course we’ve seen this particular idea before on other platforms, but it’s good to see a fresh take the ..read the full article

Hmm. RPS sort of forgot about Order of War after its demo was released. Men of War devoured our RTS playing time in 2009, basically. We don’t even know if it was any good. Metacritic says… no, not really. It must have done reasonably, however, as a demo of its expandalone follow-up has just been released. It’s taking a more multiplayer approach, it seems, with the demo allowing you to play the three sides in six of the game modes. ..read the full article

By putting on my Tim Stone hat – which is a handsome cross between a dearstalker and a camoflaged Brodie helmet – I can bring you news of the Strategic Command WWII Global Conflict demo’s release, in advance of the full game. It features the whole world circa 1942, at the high water-mark of Axis power. Will the allies pull it back? Well, they won’t in the demo, as it’s limited to two months of game time. Poor Western Democracies. ..read the full article

The demo for adventure game Clover, by Binary Tweed, is out now. I’ve been playing the full game for a short while, and shall have some more thoughts about it for you next week. Meanwhile, have a quick explanation and some first impressions.

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Writer: John Walker. | No comments

Post tags: adventure, clover, demo, free, indie | Help RPS: donate or subscribe This article is © Rock, Paper, ..read the full article

That subject line makes no sense, but bear with me. It’s early and I’m tired. If you’re coming to Avernum now, of course, you’re not early. You’re late. In fact, as late as it’s possible to be. Except not too late. And… start again. Shorter sentences. Control. Avernum VI released. Demo available. Final part in Avernum series. Long-running, successful niche-targeting indie-RPGs. There’s also a deal to buy the whole second trilogy in one go. Hurrah! Well done Spiderweb for finishing ..read the full article

That gag never gets old. Alternatively, it’s always been unbearably ancient, which is just how I like ‘em. Wait, that sounds wrong.

Anyway: 1.3Gb of Just Cause 2 demo is now available on Steam. Haven’t tried it yet, as it’s only just arrived, but go forth and ascertain whether Walker’s incessant frothing about the trailers has been justified or not. Also, grapple stuff to other stuff. “It’s easily one of the biggest freeroaming demos of all time,” says a man ..read the full article

After all the hype, you’re probably a little sad you can’t play Heavy Rain on the PC. But now, thanks to Alex Austin of Cryptic Sea, you can. No, really. He’s done another game. “It’s a text-based adventure tightly-based on a Youtube video I watched of Heavy Rain,” he says helpfully. You can get it from here. And in a rare moment of fairness, here’s Phill Cameron saying why he dug the hell out of Heavy Rain which is ..read the full article

Minimalist, beautiful, vicious. We loved Star Guard when Alec first played it, and it remains lovable now. It’s picked up a nomination for Excellence in Design, and – of all the shortlisted game – is the standard bearer of arcade-brutality mixed with modern-accessibility. We sit down to talk with Loren Schmidt about all things Star Guard… (more…)

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Writer: Kieron Gillen. | No comments

Post tags: free, ..read the full article

Doing anything on Friday? As in, this Friday. Friday 5th. Yes, I think you are. At least if you live in London, anyway. There’s a series of game-related events in London at the Tate Britain in the “Late at the Tate Britain: Game Play” event, which is a mix of social games (ala Werewolf), music, actual videogames and talks. The full program is below, but I’ll selfishly highlight the panel I’m on – “Video Games: design, narrative, gameplay”, where I’ll ..read the full article

As many people have wrote to say, Blendo Games’ Flotilla has been released. You can get the demo or buy the full game for ten dollars on their site. I’ve only managed to have a quick crack, but it marries random generation to the playfully cool presentation of his previous Gravity Bone to a turn-based game of tactical-space combat. The only sad thing about this release is that “Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Boating In Space…” won’t fit on the ..read the full article

No, Microsoft haven’t taken the Empire franchise in an unforeseen direction after disbanding Ensemble. To celebrate the end of the Winter Olympics (aka Everyone I know spending far too much time lusting after the women’s curling teams), The Black Bandit suggested posting this highly accurate historical sim of curling would be worth posting. Never before has the art of lobbing stuff across ice and staring been so accurately re-created (Probably). You can get the demo or buy the full game ..read the full article

Ah. I was not previously aware that 90s platformer Jazz Jackrabbit 2 featured the titular bunny’s brother, a bug-eyed, drooling loon called – their name, not mine – ‘Spaz.’ Wait: Epic actually got away with that in a commercial game? Or is it just a term of abuse in the UK, not the US? Oh, CliffyB. The gifts you’ve given us over the years.

Anyway, the retromancers amongst you may be interested to fiddle with this fan-made semi-sequel to Epic’s old ..read the full article

Or, “I really, really, really, wish I could fly.” This Kongregate game by the chap behind the sardonic Upgrade Complete has eschewed meta-commentary in favour of this charming survival horror vignette. It brings the mind the kind of script treatment I imagine regularly lands on movie executives’ desks. “A lone hot air balloonist crash lands in a mysterious desert. As night falls, sinister beasts come for him. Can he fix his balloon before the creatures devour him? Or will exhausation ..read the full article

Quake Live is one year old. Officially, anyway, because it had a big old beta before then. And years and years of being a commercially released game before that. So it’s really very old, but sporting a new haircut and trendy jeans. Anyway, Id are celebrating that anniversary with some kind of event, and with a new map. Still no Spider Crossings on the CTF roster though, which is the only birthday present I care about. I still play on ..read the full article

I was mean about exclamation marks earlier this week. It should be stressed, this is what they’re for. We’ve written about Infectonator before. Now, that Mr Norskov has brought us the attention of a sequel – the titular Infectonator! World Dominator! – let’s write about it again. The core of the game remains – a cross between Peggle’s fire-and-forget design added to Plants Vs Zombie’s gold-collection plus some grindy-character advancement, but it’s got more detail plus a Syndicate-styled world-map ..read the full article