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Steam Greenlight is an initiative by Valve to try to get more independently produced games through to the official marketplace. It’s such a big deal because, while indie developers can sell games themselves, it is on Steam where they will tend to make the most money (except in very rare circumstances). Although Greenlight is far from perfect, it has gotten a handful of really cool games well-deserved attention.
Greenlight’s first anniversary has come and now Valve has selected fifty Greenlight successes for a sale. But what games should you actually check out? If you’re unsure, take a look at the list of our recommendations below!
Developer: Grasshopper Manufacture
Publisher: XSEED Games
Platform: 360, PS3
Oh, Killer is Dead, you showed so much promise. It seems with every new Goichi Suda (Suda 51) game I am left wanting more than I get. Or maybe, my expectations are far too high. Perhaps I’m inadvertently a part of the “everything new sucks” club. It’s hard to know why games helmed with his name continue to disappoint me but they do. So let’s talk about why!
What is an “otome game”? Basically, it is a specific style of visual novel games where you play as a woman and have the opportunity to pursue relationships with other characters. Generally, the other characters will be guys, but not always! In any case, the genre has existed for a long time in Japan but has always been fairly rare in America. All the same, we have seen some publishers brave enough to bring their otome titles to the West (to great response)!
We’ve decided to put together a list of upcoming otome games that we’re personally looking forward to. Some are titles you’ll be able to get on a console, while others are independent PC titles. Regardless of where you get them though otome games are worth supporting. So let’s take a look at four upcoming titles!
Leah’s Picks
Hakuoki: Memories of the Shinsengumi
Thanks to Aksys bringing over Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom, it has been proven that there is indeed a market for otome games in the West. Now, 3DS gamers will be able to have some fun with the handsome men of the Shinsengumi as well! Memories of the Shinsengumi not only includes the original story of Demon of the Fleeting Blossom, but also expands upon it with six new side-stories. Along with a 3D-viewing mode and a photobooth mode, this makes Memories of the Shinsengumi a must-have if you’re a fan of otome games and visual novels.
Sweet Fuse: At Your Side
Aksys strikes again! Like the Hakuoki series, Sweet Fuse: At Your Side seems to be very fast-paced and action-packed (it also reminds me a lot of 999 and Virtue’s Last Reward). Its premise is a tad siller, though. Basically, you are Keiji Inafune’s neice, Saki, and you’re visiting your uncle’s brand new theme park. Unfortunately, the evil Count Hogstein takes the famous game developer hostage and incites a “deadly series of games.” It’s up to Saki and a group of good-looking men to save the day. Sweet Fuse boasts fourteen different endings, puzzles, and a chance at love with the aforementioned guys.
Marcus’s Picks
Backstage Pass
Developer Sakevisual have been around for a while and already produced a handful of games. With titles like Jisei, RE: Alistair++, and Ripples, you can already get a taste of what they bring to the visual novel scene. Backstage Pass is itself a semi-sequel to RE:A++ and focuses on college student Sian who is trying to balance her job and school life. Thanks to her makeup artist job, she comes into contact with a handful of Hollywood-type hunks. There are four dateable men and sixteen different endings.
Jacob’s Island
Jacob’s Island is a different sort of game, where the main focus is not on dating, but experiencing the story of Kenna, who is one of the last humans among fantastical beings. As she learns more about herself, players may choose to date one of the multiple characters along the way. This game is being funded through Kickstarter and still requires a few thousand dollars to be a success. If you’d really like to play it then check out the demo and consider helping them out.
What is Cookie Clicker? It is a browser-based game created by Orteil about cooking a cookie a lot. Of course, there’s more to it then that. Initially, the game was just a quickly hashed out experiment which drew in a surprising amount of users. The ugly original version featured a big cookie and the ability to trade clicks (which result in more cookies) for various buildings. The simple concept had no end goal beyond “create more cookies”, but that compelled players all the same.
The new version of Cookie Clicker is much fancier. Still, it is mostly unnecessary frivolity all things considered. All you really need for the game is the ability to quickly click (initially) and then be patient enough to expand your cookie empire. Just like the experimental release, you can expend cookies for more efficient means of production, from enlisting baking grandmas to sending out cookie spaceships.
It may sound incredibly silly and that’s because it is. There is still no point to the game in this version, although more users may be compelled thanks to the additions. Now there are upgrades (41 so far). Upgrades enhance the production of cookies in one way or another. Because the number of upgrades is currently not too big it also could serve as a sort of achievement marker for some. Unfortunately, it appears they are being rolled out over days, meaning you cannot gain them all today.
Achievements have not been implemented but they are apparently going to be included soon. These will again lure in players who care for those things. Despite my general lack of interest in them, I have already invested enough time into Cookie Clicker to try to get them once they’re online.
There is no reason that Cookie Clicker should be a game I’ve spent so much time with and yet here I am obsessing over it. All you have to do is place it in a tab and pay attention every so often to buy a new item or click on a random cookie on the screen. And yet, here I am, with an empire currently amassing 46 million cookies per second. Give it a shot if you’re curious but hopefully you also don’t end up with it stuck permanently in your tabs.
Developer: Bigfingers
Publisher: Bigfingers
Platform: PC
Received review code
See No Evil is the newest niche adventure game on the market by developer Bigfingers. Of course, even most adventure game fans will probably be unaware of its arrival. Why is that? It seems most likely due to the fact that this is a bara game. With that said, it manages to push past whatever notions people might have in their heads about what a bara game must be. As it turns out, See No Evil is a lovely title that deserves a much larger audience.
Gone Home is the first full game provided by developer The Fullbright Company. Having never before played their Bioshock 2 DLC “Minerva’s Den”, I was unaware of their style or skill. It’s obvious that the team is incredible though as they have created a truly intriguing new game.
Playing Gone Home is so easy that it is likely fans of all genres (and non-gamers to some degree) would be able to play and understand it. This openness is important because the story included is one which many people will understand and empathize with.
Although it probably sounds sappy, I felt certain story segments paralleled my own life so closely that it was hard to continue playing for fear of what was to follow. It was just astonishing how normal – and therefore real – these depictions seemed. It was an experience far different from what the majority of games provide. Even if you don’t love it yourself, you’ll hopefully agree that Gone Home is a novel, worthwhile title.
Developer: NinjaBee in Association with J. Kenworthy Games
Publisher: Microsoft Studios
Platform: Xbox 360 – XBLA
The puzzle platformer genre is completely stuffed with awesome, decent, and poor titles. At least, it definitely seems to be that way now. How were things back in 2006? Although it wasn’t very long ago at all I feel like there were certainly less… Or at least it was around then that the so-called “indie game” saw itself rise from the corners of the internet. In any case, maybe when Cloning Clyde came out it was still something fairly unique.
All things considered, it does have some neat tricks. Cloning Clyde’s main feature is, well, cloning! You traverse around 2D levels and often need to reach new, higher areas, press buttons, or do various other tasks along the way. Some of these can be accomplished alone but others require you to clone yourself once or multiple times over. Cloning is accomplished at special machines so you can’t abuse it on the fly.
Levels aren’t tremendously long but they can become quite puzzling. Mainly you just need to get the Clyde you control through a level but there are more points awarded if you accomplish extra tasks. Each level has enemies to defeat, figures to collect, and you also get a bonus for saving the extraneous Clydes. There is also a feature to combine DNA between Clyde and animals/objects which yields pretty humorous results at times (as well as giving him new powers).
Cloning Clyde sure doesn’t look very good anymore, though. It’s quite a shock to find that it was actually published by Microsoft Studios considering the incredibly rough visuals. In any case, the gameplay still stands up as fairly fun – if simple. Finally, if you don’t like seeing Clyde’s bare butt in his hospital gown then you can turn on family friendly mode which gives him underwear.
2 1/2 out of 5 alpacas
Developer: Nitroplus
Publisher: JAST USA
Platform: PC
What a fabulously strange visual novel Saya no Uta is. I honestly didn’t know what to expect when I dove into it one night. But, boy, am I glad I did.
Developer: 12 different developers
Publisher: Self-published
Platform: PC
If you’ve been searching for something very unusual to play then Experiment 12 is something that needs to be on your radar. It is a collection of 12 games from different independent developers. For the most part, those involved are also well known within the community such as Jasper Byrne (Lone Survivor), Richard Perrin (Kairo), and Zaratustra (Eversion). The multitude of developers decided to each create their own game in the span of 72 hours.
The main experimentation of Experiment 12 was not simply to make a game in a short period of time since that’s what game jams do regularly. Instead, each member of the team had to craft their chapter, pass it on, and the next person would continue the story from what was currently available. Therefore, the story was being generated bit by bit by each member on the team as they finally got their shot at making a chapter.
Some of the chapters are longer than others but most take 5 to 20 minutes to complete. Things start out creepy and end creepy but there are definitely changes in between. For example, Ben Powell’s segment gives you gameplay like Missile Command in reverse. A few other sections completely change the “feel” of the narrative, but it’s not a flaw.
Only a few of the chapters are difficult making it a good entry point to indie games for many if they are interested. Experiment 12 is free and worth plunking an hour or two into just to see a creatively designed game. I would be interested in seeing more multi-developer work like this come out from far less ‘recognizable’ names.
3 1/2 out of 5 alpacas
Edit: You can now read our official review of See No Evil!
Well here is an incredibly interesting upcoming title… See No Evil is the latest game from developer Bigfingers and it is definitely not the sort of thing gamers are going to tend to see on a regular basis. The developer has worked on “bara” games before but seems primarily a Flash-based creator. Now we are seeing a full game set to arrive on August 1st.
August 29th, 2013 
