JUEGOS RANCHEROS’ FISTFUL OF INDIES: FEBRUARY 2013

Every month, as part of the regular monthly meetings of the Austin, TX independent game community JUEGOS RANCHEROS, we do a very casual & chatty rundown of the ten or so games from the previous month for the audience, to give people — especially those curious onlookers from outside the indie community itself — a look at what they may have missed. The featured games are both local and global, and both indie and, on occasion, a bit-bigger-budget — what binds them together is simply that they’re all amazing.

In keeping with the tongue-in-tobacco-packed-cheek tone, we call these run-downs A Fistful of Indies, which are presented here on Venus Patrol for your reference, each fully-annotated, -linked, and off-the-cuff blurbed, in addition to their home on the JUEGOS RANCHEROS site.

Corrypt

Developer: Michael Brough | Platform: iPhone/iPad | Get it: App Store

“…following last month’s VESPER.5 recommendation, this is Brough’s latest game to come to iPhone and has been getting a lot of attention in indie circles lately. At its heart, to start off with anyway, it’s sort of a raw, punk Sokoban game, but if you stick with it just a touch past there, it’s hiding a plot twist that’s been more or less been blowing everyone away.”

I Get This Call Every Day

Developer: David Gallant | Platform: PC/Mac | Get it: Here

“… Gallant’s day job was as a customer service agent, or at least was until he released this game as a little peek into the frustrations he faced dealing with the daily onslaught of calls. Through a series of sort of complicated badly reported articles in local newspapers, the attention he got from releasing this game actually got him fired from his job, so now’s probably the best time to give him at least a couple bucks for this game, and keep him making new ones.”

Joe Danger Touch

Developer: Hello Games | Platform: iPhone/iPad | Get it: App Store

“… an iPhone and iPad version of the stunt-racing puzzler that’s been out on Xbox 360 and PS3 for quite a while now. It’s been given a top-to-bottom overhaul to make it work with the touch screen, and Hello have done an absolutely amazing job — this is one of the most polished iOS games you’ll have played in forever.”

Skulls of the Shogun

Developer: 17-Bit | Platform: XBLA/Windows 8 | Get it: Here

“…you may have spotted this game when it was featured at a past Fantastic Arcade, it’s a really nicely accessible strategy game steeped in super amazing shogun-era cartoon graphics — it’s been tuned up a ton since you’ve probably last seen it and came out great.”

Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes

Developer: Capy (ported by Tag Games) | Platform: iPhone/iPad | Get it: App Store

“…originally on Nintendo DS and then brought over to consoles and PC, this game’s just been ported by another company to iPhone and iPad. If you haven’t played it before, it’s a super brilliant & rewarding puzzle strategy game that has you color-matching these warriors here to attack the opposite side. The key difference here is that the iPhone version has online multiplayer that lets you take your turns whenever you want, sort of ala Words With Friends, which is sort of as it always should have been.”

Antichamber

Developer: Demruth | Platform: PC | Get it: Steam

“…previously featured at an earlier JUEGOS meetup, it’s just now been released and has been maintaining itself at the top of the Steam charts. For newcomers, it’s a 3D puzzler that you’ll constantly hear described as ‘non-euclidian’, by which everyone essentially means that everything you thought you knew about moving through a three dimensional space will be constantly completely challenged, in the best way.”

Slave of God

Developer: Increpare | Platform: PC/Mac | Get it: Here

“…more or less the most amazingly accurate portrayal of bombed-out 2am dead-drunk nightclub life you’ve ever seen. It’s mostly about finding love on the dance floor, but as much just about keeping it together and staying on your feet in a really happily addled state. It never doesn’t look exactly like this, and that’s what makes it so super beautiful.”

Earth Defense Force 2017 Portable

Developer: Sandlot | Platform: PlayStation Vita | Get it: PlayStation Network

“…basically exactly what Space Invaders should be in the 21st century, a game where you choose two weapons, lock and load, and go wordlessly mow down aliens on a massive scale — either a physical scale like this, or in the other sense of scale where you’re outnumbered about 3000:1 by giant ants and spiders. This is the best B-movie game you’ll ever play, and is truly one of my favorite games of all time.”

Proteus

Developer: Ed Key & David Kanaga | Platform: PC/Mac | Get it: Here

“…another of my new favorite videogames of all time, which was recommended back when it was in its pre-order stage, but now has officially been released. It is, in essence, very little more than one of the most beautiful spaces you’ll ever hike in, where every piece of the landscape is generating all of the game’s music, and that’s all it ever wanted or intended to be. It’s a game that’s just walking, and taking in scenery, and observing the changes in the seasons, and it’s incredibly gorgeous and evocative. I can’t recommend this one highly enough.”

Kentucky Route Zero

Developer: Cardboard Computer | Platform: PC/Mac | Get it: Here

“…the best way I can describe this game is that it makes my soul ache. It’s essentially a point & click adventure, but is so adept at conjuring a slow, beautiful dreamlike atmosphere that it’s another game that you just want to exist inside of for as long as you can. This one will really wollop you across the heart.”