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A Steel Media round-up for the week of May 14th
Here’s another weekly round-up of news, previews, and features from Pocket Gamer, 148Apps, and the rest of our sister sites. On our Youtube page, James Gilmour provides hands-on impression of the recent release Bombarika. This bomb-clearing isometric puzzler relies on precise timing and trial-and-error as you manipulate objects inside rooms to try and bounce a bomb outside before it explodes Over on Pocket Gamer, Jessica Famularo covers the news that the acclaimed story-driven indie game To The Moon will be received an animated film adaptation, made in Japan with funding from Chinese investors. Not much is known about the project currently, but it is expected to have…
Fallout ShelterHidden Gem of the Week: Telepaint
Combining easy controls with tricky space-bending puzzles, Telepaint's format is simple: you're a paint bucket trying to reach a waiting brush, auto-walking between portals that you can link to teleport around levels. Activating these portals are the core of Telepaint's puzzles, requiring timing and planning to survive hazards and tricky puzzle elements. While the automatic movement may sound like more of a hectic element, Telepaint lets you pause the time and manipulate portal while stopped, giving you as much time is needed to consider what direction you'll exit portals, how that direction will make you bump off walls, how you'll interact with certain obstacles. Early levels only requir…
A Steel Media round-up for the week of May 7th
Here’s another weekly round-up of news, previews, and features from Pocket Gamer, 148Apps, and the rest of our sister sites. On our Youtube page, James Gilmour reviews the latest ".io" style game Axe.IO, and praises it as a surprisingly addictive and featured multiplayer experience, including different classes with various skills, diverse game modes including a 50-player Battle Royale, and simply yet enjoyable mechanics that lets you deftly dodge axes and collect upgrades mid-combat. Over on Pocket Gamer, Susan Arendt writes about the recent puzzler Dissembler and how its vibrant style and relaxed pace, without pressure or punishment for wrong moves, might provide on…
Hidden Gem of the Week: Imbroglio
Michael Brough is known for delivering odd abstract roguelikes and puzzle games that seem simple but reveal a hidden depth and complexit, like the block-pushing Corrypt, or the virus-destorying 868-Hack. But Imbroglio is perhaps his most defining release in recent years, blending elements of roguelikes, RPGs card games, and board games. If you've played 868-Hack, Imbroglio will feel somewhat familiar; similar elements and mechanics link the two: randomly spawning enemies, a level layout that changes upon performing a certain action, enemies that move when you move, and so on. But despite those similarities, Imbroglio is its own game, offering a number of different classes (more if you've…
A Steel Media round-up for the week of April 30th
Here’s another weekly round-up of news, previews, and features from Pocket Gamer, 148Apps, and the rest of our sister sites. On our Youtube page, James Gilmour goes hands-on with MMX Hill Dash 2, the sequel to the monster truck-driving, hill-climbing arcade racer. Inspired by the wild tracks of the Trial series, the hands-on showcases the general gameplay loop, truck upgrading, and several challenges. Over on Pocket Gamer, Jon Mundy recommends a number of notable Star Wars games to play in honor of May 4th, aka Star Wars Day. Knights of the Old Republic, LEGO Star Wars, and several others make the list, each touching on classic Star Wars aspects in different ways. Luke F…
Hidden Gem of the Week: Swapperoo
From Fallen Tree Games, developer of the Quell games, Swapperoo evolves the traditional match-3 formula in interesting ways to deliver a surprisingly strategic puzzler. At its most basic concept, Swapperoo follows the same design principle of connecting three or more items on a grid, removing those matched items from the grid, but that is where the similarities end. Most importantly, you can only move specific triangular tiles on the grid, and can only move these triangular tiles in the direction they're pointing. This design choice makes each match a strategic affair, forcing the player to plan several moves ahead. Across handcrafted challenges, randomized stages, and an endless mode, t…
A Steel Media round-up for the week of April 23rd
Here’s another weekly round-up of news, previews, and features from Pocket Gamer, 148Apps, and the rest of our sister sites. On our Youtube page, James Gilmour provides his impression of the beer empire business sim Brew Town, highlighting in particular the repetitive nature of the genre present in the game, the creative side of Brew Town in designing bottle icons and beer types, and the well-thought design of the sim gameplay. Over on Pocket Gamer, Harry Slater offers an satricial argument for the strength of the idle game subgenre, especially the wonderful fact that the endless ever-increasing nature of idle gaming means you'll have a legacy to leave behind. Finally, o…
Hidden Gem of the Week: Blown Away
Blown Away: Secret of the Wind is a unique auto-running puzzle platformer from Black Pants Studio, that stabds out due to its vibrant art style and clever mechanics. Mother Nature has swept away Hendrik's home and hair; now he must travel a land of deadly gaps, monsters, and traps to retrieve them, using his pair of teleporting boots to leap past hazards Those boots provide the backbone for Blown Away's smartly-designed stages; your boots recharge their teleport with each step, and tapping on the screen teleports you to that location, even as you're falling to certain doom. The charging element is what turns a relatively simple mechanic into a puzzler. Your boots only charge w…
A Steel Media round-up for the week of April 16th
Here’s another weekly round-up of news, previews, and features from Pocket Gamer, 148Apps, and the rest of our sister sites. On our Youtube page, James Gilmour reviewed the gorgeous platformer Oddmar, praising the vibrant artstyle depicting its bosses and Norse environments, smooth controls, and polished presentation. Over on Pocket Gamer, Jon Mundy offers a list of recommendations for fans looking for more action after playing the new God of War. Infinity Blade III, Implosion, Godfire, and several others might scratch that itch for more hack-n-slash gameplay or more Norse-inspired stories. Luke Frater on Android Rundown presents an argument for enjoying retro games…
Hidden Gem of the Week: Sproggiwood
Sproggiwood is a charming roguelike with accessible gameplay and tactical depth; a dark fate is destined to destroy the land and a forest spirit has tasked you with defeating this coming evil. You begin as a mere farmer, with a small village, but progression soon unlocks new classes to choose from, new buildings to place, and other inhabitants to expand your home (providing various buffs and support). Sproggiwood is not as obtuse or incredibly challenging as your typical roguelike, but accessibility doesn't mean Sproggiwood is easy. Armed with various weapons, special abilities, and armor, you face a plethora of enemies, each with their own unique quirks and attributes. Some charge at you…
A Steel Media round-up for the week of April 9th
Here’s another weekly round-up of news, previews, and features from Pocket Gamer, 148Apps, and the rest of our sister sites. On our Youtube page, James Gilmour reviewed the narrative adventure adaptation of the book The Pillars of the Earth, a complex historical tale that revolves the village of Kingsbridge, a construction of catherdral, and an intersecting cast of characters from various walks of life in the 12th century. Over on Pocket Gamer, Dave Aubrey offers tips and hints for the recent puzzler Vandals, from how to plan your movement across levels more effectively to which tools and abilities are most useful in certain situations. And finally, Campb…
Hidden Gem of the Week: A Dark Room / The Ensign
At a glance, you might expect A Dark Room to be another text adventure, and it certainly seems like one at the start. But don't be fooled by its mysteriously minimalist beginngin. A Dark Room is a gradually unfolding piece of game design, blending elements of interactive fiction, management, RPGs, and roguelikes in a unique experience. Starting with nothing but a campfire to keep aflame, A Dark Room soon introduces you to a stranger in the forest and from there, it begins to unfurl into something much grander. Your simple camfire grows into a village, and your simple UI morphs with additional choices to order newcomers to gather resources, go hunting, and so on. Soon your grow…
A Steel Media round-up for the week of April 2nd
Here’s another weekly round-up of news, previews, and features from Pocket Gamer, 148Apps, and the rest of our sister sites. On our Youtube page, James Gilmour goes hands-on with the puzzle platformer Paper Anne, where instead of leaping around the environment, you manipulate the environment itself. The video highlights the early levels and a number of the game's Wonderland-themed mechanics. Over on Pocket Gamer, Jessica Famularo previews the upcoming port of Killing Time At Lightspeed, a visual novel that explores a lonely and poignant sci-fi narrative about passengers on a spaceship traveling at lightspeed receiving and sending messages to Earth. Unfortunatel…
Hidden Gem of the Week: Prune
Prune is one of those games that can easily stand alongside titles like Monument Valley, The Room, Framed, as unique puzzle games designed both to be accessible withoit being too easy and to be feel well-suited as an experience on mobile througn clever touch controls. Prune's core concept is an appealing one: grow a tree, lead it to the light and watch its flowers bloom. Swiping on the screen lets you perform the titular action, slicing away branches to steer the growing tree towards the sunlight, within narrow passages, and around obstacles. Prune's simple to grasp design doesn't preclude it from challenge though. Red spheres threaten to infect your tree, powerful winds blend branches, g…
A Steel Media round-up for the week of March 26th
Here’s another weekly round-up of news, previews, and features from Pocket Gamer, 148Apps, and the rest of our sister sites. On our Youtube page, James Gilmour provides some hands-on impressions of the recently released Candleman, particularly praising its atmospheric visuals and somewhat eerie world, clever design, and unique concept. Over on Pocket Gamer, the staff interviews developer Pablo León-Asuero about his unusual matching-action hybrid Evergrow, discussing the origins of he game's design, the process of developing Evergrow, and the new Zen mode and mini-game challenges coming to the game in the 1.2 update. And finally, Campbell Bird on 148Apps…
