The fantabulous King Arthur’s Gold has received a rather exciting update in the form of Zombie Fortress! Wait, what is that?If you were to login to King Arthur’s Gold right now it would auto-update and you will have access to the single player version of Zombie Fortress. There’s no multiplayer version yet as it’s not ready and the chaps developing it have had to get ready for GDC so they have been kind enough to allow you access while they’re gone.Zombie Fortress is exactly what you think it is – you have to build your defenses and then keep the invading zombies back. As you do have no one to play with and help you out with the zombies at the moment, the developers have added Party Mode. This allows you to recruit migrants and order them about at your will – you’ll be able to order them to gather resources, re-stock and more in the future too

This Article was originally posted on our sister site, The Indie Game Magazine written by Chris Priestman.

Those personable underwater squirmers in the friendly RPG waters of SQUIDS will be making it their pleasure as they pop up on the Android Marketplace and Mac App Store this week.Lying somewhere between attractive casual game and tactical turn-based RPG, SQUIDS is a tale of war between the titular sea dwellers and some ooze-infected crab and shrimp. The game was previously exclusive to the iOS platforms but the developers, The Game Bakers, were determined from the get-go to get it on to as many platforms as possible.Fortunately, they didn’t rush the ports and have spent time to tailor each so that it suits the platforms. As such, the Android version of the game has been rebalanced as a free-to-play adventure with a new selection of in-app purchases. The Mac version was the biggest test for them though, being the first desktop port of SQUIDS. Of course, on the Mac there are mouse controls and enhanced graphics optimized for screen resolutions up to 1900×1200.

This Article was originally posted on our sister site, The Indie Game Magazine written by Chris Priestman.

This month definitely seems to be something special if you like your worlds procedurally generated, your tunnels filled with loot and monsters and your deaths sudden, violent and educational. In addition to major updates to TOME and the graphical re-launch of Doom: The Roguelike, there’s been no shortage of other notable releases in the past few days and weeks. Here’s the best of the rest – a trio of more complex titles – just in case those other games haven’t quite got you hooked yet.

Inside every mostly-black screen of Mysterious Castle lies a little pocket of adventure. Inside these pockets you control a giant sword and instruct little people to kill demons and creatures and still their loot. Why, it must be a Roguelike-like!Now available on Indievania, Mysterious Castle is a pay-what-you-want roguelike-like retreat to the aeons of turn-based, isometric fantasy adventure-battles. You’ll need to pack your tactics, reactions and your toothbrush for this one.“What makes this so roguelike-like then?” I hear you grumble. Well the world is procedurally generated – so put a tick in the ‘random’ box.

Original Source: Fast Paced, Turn Based, Simple Interface: ‘Mysterious Castle’

This Article was originally posted on our sister site, The Indie Game Magazine written by Chris Priestman.

It’s a match made in heaven. Tense, randomly-generated dungeon crawling, and dark martian corridors filled full of flesh-eating demons and fancy high-tech weapons to use on them. It just sounds silly when you say it – Doom: The Roguelike. One of the simpler (but arguably more addictive) games in the genre, ChaosForge’s fan-game DoomRL has been ASCII-based up until now, but with the help of Aquaria/Spelunky developer Derek Yu, it now has fancy 16-bit style graphics, a mouse-friendly UI and is available now for Windows, Mac & Linux. What are you waiting for? Some hellspawn need serving up an all-lead supper.

Three cute robots grow tired of their lives as worker drones and decide to strike out on their own for adventure. Each of them has his own special ability that will help them escape the office and factory where they begin their quest and the trio will have to work together to make it through the outside world too. Amp, Watts & Circuit by Jamo Games has the rudiments of a good puzzle game, but despite its cute charm, it provides more of a frustrating battle against its own interface than a mental challenge of puzzle solving.Players control this trio of adorable little robots who must make their way through a dangerous world full of traps and hazards. Every level has a starting point for each bot and a separate exit for each of them too. The levels have many locked doors and there are often spikes popping out of the floor. Basic movement around the levels requires one robot to stand on a button in order to open a door, or retract the spikes so that his pals can make it through. Once through, they’ll have to find a button on the other side or another way to get that first robot through to the end as well.

Original Source: ‘Amp, Watts & Circuit’ Review – Electric Sheep, Cabbage, Wolf

This Article was originally posted on our sister site, The Indie Game Magazine written by Charles Battersby.

A new developer diary for FRACT OSC shows an impressive progression in development; it being an exploration/puzzle game while at the same time teaching its player to make music with synths.This is a bit of a flashback. We haven’t heard about FRACT for a little while now; last time we did it left us very intrigued. Now, however, it’s moved beyond anything we could have expected as its developer, Richard Flanagan, has obviously been hard at work.It seems FRACT OSC is split in two. On the one side we have that exploration/puzzle game that impressed us so with its alienating but satisfying mechanics early last year. In fact, you can still play that old version of FRACT: click here for a Windows download and here for your Mac equivalent.Nearing the latter parts of that old version of FRACT was some kind of huge music studio.

Original Source: Exploration, Puzzles And Creating Music: ‘FRACT OSC’

This Article was originally posted on our sister site, The Indie Game Magazine written by Chris Priestman.

It’s no secret that the launch of the (eagerly awaited – it’s a fine lineup of games) Groupees ‘Be Mine’ indie bundle didn’t go as planned, with the site immediately collapsing under a flood of traffic. Neither did the second launch. Or the third. Oh dear… Well, they’re back now and the site seems to be holding strong after a fourth launch attempt, and the sale is on for two weeks. Come and pay what you want ($1 minimum) for Steam copies of The Ball, Xotic, Beep, Wasteland Angel & Sideway: New York, plus some impressive bonuses, including a major expansion for Xotic and well-recieved point & click adventure Nikopol: Secrets of The Immortals.

Back in 1991, the game Lemmings created a whole new genre of puzzle game. Players were given the chore of shepherding a group of suicidal critters through levels crammed with all sorts of hazards. Unable to directly control the movements of these helpless morons, players did have the power to affect how the lemmings interacted with their environment. By instructing them to do the right thing at the right moment, the doomed creatures would (mostly) arrive safely at their destination. Spirits by Spaces of Play has players using a streamlined form of the same gameplay to help disembodied spirits reach their goal in the afterlife. Perhaps this is the video game community’s chance to atone for all those lemmings they killed back in the 90s?Lemmings and its many clones like Mario March of the Minis usually have a sense of humor or silliness about their ill-fated subjects. It’s fun to watch cartoon animals or silly little robots die! With Spirits, the art design and music add a more serious tone to the game. This time players are watching over armless, big-eyed spirits who wander through a cold, grim world filled with deadly spikes. They’re weak, soft and nearly insubstantial.

Original Source: ‘Spirits’ Review – Where Lemmings Go When They Die

This Article was originally posted on our sister site, The Indie Game Magazine written by Charles Battersby.

‘Dear Esther’ Mac Port Confirmed To Be “On The Way”BackFebruary 14th, 2012 | By Chris PriestmanTagged in: dear esther | exploration | mac | PC Game | steam | the chinese room Mac players may be feeling slightly left out due to Dear Esther being released today but not for them. Cry no more sweet child, for The Chinese Room have spoken in your favor via the great medium of Twitter!Dan Pinchbeck responded to a rather miffed fan of Dear Esther who declared their disappointment at the absence of Mac compatibility despite the original mod supporting the platform. The tweet, as you can see here, from Pinchbeck announced for the first time that a Mac port was on the way:“We can confirm a Mac port is on the way!”This announcement even came as a surprise to Dear Esther‘s PR macho man, Lewis Denby, it seems – so surprises all around then!Dear Esther is due to come out today on Steam (today being Valentine’s Day) at a price of $10 – our review will be up soon for you to ponder as well! The Mac version will presumable be along sometime soon.More information on Dear Esther can be found on the official website.You may be interested in: ‘Dear Esther’ Gets First Official Trailer, Arrives On Steam ‘Dear Esther’ Remake To Hit Steam February 14th McMillen: ‘The Binding Of Isaac’ PS Vita Port A Possibility New Trailer And Gameplay Footage For ‘Vessel’, Confirmed March 1st PC Release IGF 2012 Main Competition Finalists Announced |More

Original Source: ‘Dear Esther’ Mac Port Confirmed To Be “On The Way”

This Article was originally posted on our sister site, The Indie Game Magazine written by Chris Priestman.