Just a couple days left of indie discounts, but I’m sure we’ll be seeing some surprises in the final stretch.  It’s the eighth day of Summer sales over on Steam, and this means that a metric ton of indie games are going to be very cheap, although usually for only one day at a time. IGM are here to help you pick out the wheat from the chaff while the daily deals are active.

Today’s Individual Deals:

• Amnesia: The Dark Descent – 75% off – One of the scariest horror games ever made. Low on monsters and jump-scares, high on tension and atmosphere. A Lovecraftian trip through a cursed mansion, your only safe response to encountering the twisted creatures stalking the halls is to run and hide and hope they don’t see you – there’s no combat here, and no feeling that you’re anything but an unprepared, terrified man, alone and defenseless. It also got an impressive free addon entitled ‘Justine’ during the Portal 2 promotional deal a while back, and is host to a huge number of excellent mods, several of them full-game-length. It’s the horror game that keeps on scaring.
• Gratuitous Tank Battles – 66% off – Tower defence and offence in one with this rather flexible take on the genre. An in-depth TD game where you can construct your own defensive and offensive units, equip them and test them on the battlefield, and then turn the tables and play the role of the aggressors. While I’m personally a bit burnt out on the entire genre concept now, I’ve heard a lot of happy things said about this one from TD fans, as it offers a huge amount of replay value and depth via the ever-shifting variables and units in play.
• Krater – 50% off – A quirky action-RPG set in post-apocalyptic Sweden, of all places. I’ve not played this one myself, but have been meaning to. Rather than control a single character, you’re in constant tactical control of a party of three, built to your specifications, and each unit has a very different role in combat. While I’ve heard word that the game had a raft of bugs and technical issues at launch, it sounds like post-release support have been good so far. The game is almost brand new, hence the lower-than-average discount. Might be worth a shot if you’re still starved for a challenging ARPG after Diablo 3.

Today’s Flash Deals – They’ll Be Gone Soon!

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – Steam Summer Sale Indie Roundup – July 19th – Day 8

Welcome back to our Steam Sale indie roundup! We’re on day 2 of Summer sale season over on Steam, and this means that a metric ton of indie games are going to be very cheap, although usually for only one day at a time. IGM are here to help you pick out the wheat from the chaff while the daily deals are active.

Today’s Individual Deals:

• The Binding Of Isaac – 75% off – Dark, twisted humour and massive replayability are the hallmarks of Edmund McMillen’s nightmarish action-roguelike. Randomly generated dungeons and loot, but with gameplay that stands halfway between The Legend of Zelda and Smash TV, this one is an easy recommendation if you’ve got a strong stomach, and don’t mind the idea of a naked, abused cartoon child slaying a basement-full of nightmare creatures with their bloody tears (and other bodily fluids). Also cheap is the recent expansion, Wrath of The Lamb, which almost doubles the amount of content in the game.
• Payday: The Heist - 75% off – Questionably indie, admittedly, but worth a look nonetheless. Imagine Left 4 Dead meets Heat. A co-operative FPS where a team of four players take up the role of masked thieves tasked with breaking into a variety of heavily defended buildings, grabbing the goods, and getting out without getting cut down by the ridiculously numerous police force. Not too hot when played solo, but it comes into its own when played with friends. Also recently got a small free add-on, including a level that acts as an official prelude to the events of Left 4 Dead.

Today’s Flash Deals – They’ll Be Gone Soon!

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – Steam Summer Sale Indie Roundup – July 13th – Day 2

It seems that so long as people keep buying them, then indie bundles are going to keep coming. Indie Royale is back again with a bundle of five games, a couple of them being former XBLIG exclusives, and once again, there’s very little to grumble about in terms of content and value. As usual, it’s ‘pay what you want, above a minimum’, and especially generous purchases push that base figure down for everyone else. Hit the break for some gameplay trailers and a few thoughts on each game.

Zeno Clash by ACE Team

This is what would happen if you jammed The Dark Crystal and Streets of Rage into a blender and set it to ‘puree’. A meaty first-person brawler based on the Source engine, with an utterly surreal story and an equally demented setting. It’s fairly short, but a lot of fun and a fairly unforgettable ride. After release, they added a series of pure combat challenge stages, extending the lifespan of it somewhat. While there’s occasional bursts of shooting, this is a game primarily about punching people in the face, and it’s plenty satisfying because of it.

Lume by State Of Play Games

The odd one out of this bundle – the only game I’ve not played of this set, although I can’t say much about it beyond ‘Cor, that looks lovely’. A visually charming point-and-click adventure, although seemingly with a focus more on up-close, self-contained puzzles. A quick google around reveals agreeable enough review scores, although a few sites marked it down as it was quite short, and almost scuppered by one particularly illogical puzzle. Still, hard to complain at this price.

Hoard + DLC by Big Sandwich Games

Bring a friend, and be prepared to be punched. An arcade/score-attack game about being a dragon. You burninate thatched-roofed cottages, loot gold, kidnap princesses and generally wreck stuff in a generic fantasy world. If played with others, it really shines, and takes on the same kind of manic, friend-beating competitive edge of Bomberman, as everyone tries to screw over everyone else all the time. As a bonus, this includes both DLC packs, adding a good chunk of additional content to the mix.

Soulcaster 1 & 2 by MagicalTimeBean

Soulcaster 2 was the very first game I reviewed for this site – one of the better games on the ill-fated XBLIG service at the time, and still great fun now. A rather modern ‘defensive action’ game wrapped in a NES-style aesthetic and a great early 32-bit era soundtrack reminiscent in part of Castlevania: Symphony of The Night. You play as a wizard that summons stationary allies, rather than throwing fireballs, and need to hack through a whole mess of action-oriented puzzles. It’s simple stuff, but a lot of fun, and you get both games in the series for your bargain bucks this time.

Zeno Clash, Lume & Hoard can all be activated on Steam, and Soulcaster 1 & 2 are on Desura. Direct downloads are available for some of the games, and so are Mac and Linux versions in some cases. The current minimum price is 3.1 Eurobucks and rising. As usual, expect bonuses and additions further into the sale, although I (or the Indie Royale folks) make no promises. Personally, I’m hoping Escape Goat manages to break free of XBLIG too… but that’s just me.

[Indie Royale]

So here’s some interesting, non-bundle related news for you. Over on the official Playstation blog Sony has released the top 10 best selling PSN indie games for the entire year and, well, I wouldn’t call it too surprising although the way they have it broken down can be a bit confusing.

Essentially what they’ve done is broken it down into three different sections:

• Top 10 best selling third party/self-published indies
• Top 10 best selling SCEA published indies (not really indie)
• Top 5 best selling Pub Fund titles (sort of a hybrid between the two)

Also it appears that this list is just for the US and Canada as it was released by Sony Computer Entertainment America. Europe and Japan (or Asia) have their own metrics, I’m assuming.

Anyway, here you guys go:

Top 10 best selling third party/self published titles

1. Limbo (Playdead)
2. Castle Crashers (The Behemoth)
3. TestYourself Psychology (Creat Studios)
4. Marvel Pinball (Zen Studios)
5. Worms 2 Armageddon (Team 17)
6. Dungeon Defenders (Trendy Entertainment)
7. Armageddon Riders (Targem Games)
8. Braid (Number None Inc.)
9. UnderSiege (Seed Studios)
10. Hamsterball (TikGames)

No big surprises here. Limbo was obviously a huge game on XBLA as was Castle Crashers so it makes sense. Surprising to see Braid so high up after being available for so long, but it’s a testament to how good the game is.

One game I hadn’t even heard of was TestYourself Psychology. I’ll have to take a look at that sometime today.

Top 10 best selling SCEA-published titles

1. PixelJunk Shooter 2 (Q-Games)
2. Fat Princess (Titan Studios)
3. Flower (thatgamecompany)
4. Aquatopia (Playlogic Entertainment)
5. Hustle Kings (VooFoo Sudios)
6. Eat Them! (FluffyLogic)
7. Top Darts (Devil’s Details)
8. Super Stardust HD (Housemarque)
9. Linger in Shadows (Plastic)
10. Rag Doll Kung Fu (Qi Studios)

Again I’m not sure I would qualify these as “indie” given their relationship with Sony, but, what the hell? The more the merrier! Also I was a huge fan of Fat Princess when it came out.

Top 5 best selling Pub Fund titles

1. Hoard (Big Sandwich Games)
2. Tales From Space: About a Blob (DrinkBox)
3. Joe Danger (Hello Games)
4. Eufloria (Omni Systems Limited)
5. Explodemon! (Curve Studios)

Very happy to see Tales From Space: About a Blob up there as I was originally worried that it would end up becoming an undiscovered gem. Also a little surprising that it sold better than Joe Danger which, admittedly, had more of a marketing push at least from our perspective.

Any surprises here? Any games you think were deserving but didn’t make it?

Personally, I’m a little disappointed they don’t give actual sales data but that’s understandable. Also where’s our PSN Minis metric? There are some great indies there.

[via Playstation blog]

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DIYGamer Holiday Give Away! For each and every article we post we’re giving away an indie game.

This article’s game is Tidalis for the PC/Steam, by Arcen Games!

Leave a meaningful comment below to enter into the drawing.

Big Sandwich Games, indies in Vancouver, British Columbia, have been making (fire) waves with their latest action-strategy hit, Hoard. Its PlayStation Network free demo is live now. At 160MB, it’s a quick download for those who are impatient. Stripped of all its glory and ingenuity, Hoard could be labeled as a tower defense game. Players control a dragon with one primary directive: to hoard more gold than its fire-breathing competition. Players navigate the dragon with the PS3 controller, flying with left analog stick and exhaling fire breath with the right analog stick.

The dragon’s breath destroys just about everything on the map, and almost everything drops some amount of gold the dragon must return to its hoard to build its score and level up. Players choose between leveling the dragon’s speed, fire breath, carrying loot ability, or defense. During play, a bar limits the dragon’s breath. The wagons, towns, princess carriages, and more have life bars that will regenerate slowly if the dragon fails to burn them completely. Archers are weak adversaries alone but deadly in groups. They are unique in that they later become the dragon’s allies if it instills enough fear in the town the archers protect. This fear involves damaging the entire town, except for the town center. Once in fear, the town will offer monetary tribute, as long as it remains standing.

No dragon, like the rest of the items on the map, is invincible. While the dragon’s score multiplier increases over time, it will reset when the dragon’s health bottoms out. The dragon must return to its hoard to heal.

Like a certain anti-heroic spiked turtle/dragon king (whatever Bowser is), kidnapping a princess is heavily encouraged and rewarded in Hoard. She turns into a healthy ransom if she is kept in the hoard long enough. Other dragons may steal her, just as thieves may attempt to steal gold. The score multiplier also resets if either form of thievery occurs. Defense. Defense.

The game has two thorough tutorials to cover all of the offensive and defensive strategies (there are more than this preview covers). The first walks gamers through basic gameplay, and the second expands skills to reach high scores. These tutorials are both necessary to succeed in the main mode. Hoard mode, a survival mode with picking up princesses as the only healing mechanism, and Princess Rush mode, being the first to ransom 15 princesses, unlock with full purchase. The full game includes 4 game modes, over 35 maps, leaderboards, and trophies.

Up to four players can compete online, and up to two locally. The thieving, burning gameplay will ensure maximum insults and anger among players. During the demo, I had equal parts fun and frustration. I was pleased walking away with NOT achieving a gold medal for score my first attempt, as most games seem bent on patting gamers’ backs undeservedly. A lot of the game happens off-screen, so reading those icon clues of what is heading where is a vital skill I have not yet refined but could see myself enjoyably honing.

If gamers like the demo, the game is for purchase now at $14.99 on PSN. Hoard‘s PSP, PC, and Mac versions are said to follow. This free demo should entice even more gamers who may have otherwise been disappointed that a game called Hoard from a company named Big Sandwich capitalizes on overindulging in gold and not food. However, those who try out Hoard will most likely overindulge in addictive, tower defense gameplay that will make them work hard for the money and the medal achievements that seem to add many hours to the already lengthy base game.

Hoard Official Site | Facebook

The fantasy title has players taking on the unusual and awesome role of the dragon, as you burn knights to a crisp, siege castles and kidnap princesses and of course hoard all the treasure you can get your greedy dragon hands on. The game will pack support for online multiplayer up to four players as well.

The title is currently set for release in September via the PSN, with no word as of yet on when we can expect the PC/Mac versions. Check out more on the official Hoard website.