Electron Dance Highlights
Side by Side: Abyss Odyssey
Side by Side is a video series on local multiplayer games. This is the second series, episode 10 of 10.
Joel Goodwin of Electron Dance and Gregg Burnell of Tap-Repeatedly descend into the dark co-operative depths of Abyss Odyssey!
- This is a single player game first and foremost, the co-op mode is bolted on
- Abyss Odyssey a roguelike adventure with fighting sections that Gregg likens to Smash Brothers
- When Gregg played single-player after we made this video, he really enjoyed the game
- The soundtrack is amazing
If you enjoy the series, please like our videos and subscribe to our channel.
Thanks for sticking with us for series two. Side by Side returns for a third series next month!
Watch the video here or direct on YouTube.
At the Table of Bonbon
So there's this new release called Bonbon (Aetheric Games, 2017), a horror vignette set in, well, possibly my own British childhood. It's less than an hour of your time although you will have spend £1.50 or $2 to get your mitts on it.
It shows plenty more restraint than what most videogames mean by "horror" but there's one scene in particular which is a terrifying joy.
Now Bonbon is all about the unknown so, if you are spoiled, you won't really be able to get as much out of it. Please only read on if you've played or have no intention to pick it up.
Side by Side: Gang Beasts
Side by Side is a video series on local multiplayer games. This is the second series, episode 9 of 10.
Joel Goodwin of Electron Dance and Gregg Burnell of Tap-Repeatedly beat the living daylights out of each other in Gang Beasts!
If you enjoy the series, please like our videos and subscribe to our channel.
Watch the video here or direct on YouTube.
Side by Side: Vomit Crabs
Side by Side is a video series on local multiplayer games. This is the second series, episode 8 of 10.
Joel Goodwin of Electron Dance and Gregg Burnell of Tap-Repeatedly walk sideways and vomit on each other in the ohmygodmyeyes crab vs crab contest, Vomit Crabs!
- This isn't suitable for children as the madlibs at the bottom of the screen sometimes contain swear words
- Deliberately awkward controls
- The game is as mad as you can want it to be
- We suspect it's better with three or four players
If you enjoy the series, please like our videos and subscribe to our channel.
Watch the video here or direct on YouTube.
Discussion: Past Unmade
Dear subscribers, if you feel like chatting about anything at all from the July edition of the newsletter, please speak your mind in the comments here.
The Lever
A recent addition to the indie sub-basement was an unassuming title called Intra System: Trust Issues (Smoke Some Frogs, 2017). Now I’m not here to announce this is some remarkable sleeper hit, something that deserves to be a major headliner.
What I can tell you is that it’s pay-what-you-want and peculiar enough to hold my interest. It’s a souped-up branching narrative adventure with voice acting. It has you direct a stranger through a series of rooms which may or may not be death traps. It has an interesting twist which I’d like to talk about in terms of narrative game design.
I’m going to be talking spoilers. If you want to have a dabble first, it only takes about 15-30 minutes to get through the whole thing although you may choose to replay.
For everyone else, read on.
Gaze of the Abyss
Manifold Garden
Earlier this year I wrote an essay called Art of the Impossible about Fragments of Euclid (Antoine Zanuttini, 2017) and William Chyr’s as-yet unreleased Manifold Garden. In classic Electron Dance fashion, I ended on a throwaway thought that bore closer inspection. I moaned about the tendency for beautiful art games to rely on what you might call “tried and tested” mechanics to drive them. I don’t think of them as tried and tested, more like “unambitious and disappointing”.
Find a key, unlock a door. Touch the hotspot. Memorise a sequence.
Does this sound familiar?
Prey Tell
We've talked about the music of Prey. We've talked about exploring Prey. It's time to talk about the story of Prey.
Actually, I don't have much to talk about because Prey didn't scratch my story itch. I'm hoping you'll have a little more to share than I. So this is an invitation to spoil away in the comments, chat about what you liked, what you didn't like and do your best to keep Matt W on topic.
Let me outline a few brief thoughts to get the ball rolling. Head for the spoiler-free escape pods now if you don't want to be spoiled.
Discussion: Art for Art’s Sake
Dear subscribers, if you feel like chatting about anything at all from the June edition of the newsletter, please speak your mind in the comments here.
Free to Prey
I find a secret route into an area that was locked down. Unusually, this feels exhilarating as I’m still not familiar with the game’s signposts. There’s a genuine sense of discovery. Can this last? Perhaps I am just enjoying a longer than usual honeymoon period, where the lack of education about the game’s design imbues it with mystery and surprise?
Of course, I consider backtracking. I’m not exactly running with a powerful character and perhaps this is not the route I’m supposed to take. There's an office ahead; I want to at least see where this leads. Ah, a few corrupted operators. Annoying but not difficult to dispatch.
I'm inside a small maintenance crawlspace and the only other exit to the office is blocked with boxes. Corrupted operators continue to stream through the open windows, so I refuse to enter the office until it's safe. God, how many more of these? Suddenly
WHOMP
all the boxes jolt forward as if something is trying to get in. I assume it’s just another operator. And again,
WHOMP
Boxes go flying and-- what… what the hell is that trying to get in? It’s as big as the door! I put up a good fight but The Thing From Beyond the Door kills me. Reload, it kills me again. I reload again. And again and again.
Just as I’m on the verge of throwing in the towel, I spy a window on the opposite side of the office. I sprint across and throw myself through it - and fall a few metres to the floor below.
I hold, staring up at the window with the gloo gun in hand. I wait.
Moments pass and it seems I am safe for now. But where has this one-way trip taken me? There’s only one thing to do: keep quicksaving and carry on.
This is Prey (Arkane Studios, 2017). Backtracking is for wimps.
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Recent Comments
"It's OK, though, if you have something to say about it you can just go off-topic on another comment's posts! Joel won't mind!" – At the Table of Bonbon
"This was my first Side-by-Side; enjoyed it; will go back to the start. Not about Abyss Odyssey, but do you ever cover, or would you..." – Side by Side: Abyss Odyssey
"Kfix If you do end up playing it, let me know what you think. I'm not sure how effective it will be if a number..." – At the Table of Bonbon
"I tried to skip the spoilers, because this one looks like I have to play it on my own. But I found another sci-fi-horror game..." – At the Table of Bonbon
""what kind of evil parents put a bed in the middle of the room without a safe wall on either side?" In my case, the..." – At the Table of Bonbon
"I'm not sure how this would go down with my local multiplayer buddies. I think the presentation then the controls would just kill it for..." – Side by Side: Vomit Crabs
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