First Look Wrap-Up - The One With Karens, Tiles, and Day Dreams! Oh My
Hey, y'all! Another First Look Friday in the books with some really fun games to talk about. Keep in mind the games below are DEMOS and are in the early stages of development. My thoughts will be on the demos as is with the knowledge that things may improve and change as the game gets ready for release.
And hey, this is our first official First Look Wrap-Up post on Tumblr, so please enjoy and share and comment down below.
So let's cut the chat and get to talking about some games!
Attack of the Karens - Studio Primitive
A dangerous pathogen of unknown location has spread through the world and transformed four people of questionable intent into deadly-ranging cyborgs bent on asking for the manager. It's the Attack of the Karens BABY, and it's up to us to take them to Twitter jail (hrmm) and cancel them forever in this wildly exciting roguelite shoot 'em up.
Give The Assistant Manager A Hug
Attack of the Karens is what it says on the label: a roguelite shoot 'em up. Challenging gameplay that pushes you to learn and adapt as the cards are stacked against you is sharp and snappy. But this never takes away from the fun and your progress as you are given tools in the form of powerups and pre-match ship upgrades to realign the scales. Combat is random and procedurally generated, keeping you on your toes and making each run and replay a new puzzle to understand.
Design-wise, the game is wonderfully delightful in a satirical romp that will make you smirk as things like expired coupons fill the screen. The game design is delightful in every way, from character design to color palette to sound design. It's a feast for the senses that is easy to get lost in and it's a bummer that we're only playing a demo because I want more.
I Want To Talk To Your Manager
Is it all wine boxes and Instagram tablescapes? Not really. Even with the wonderful design and lovely color scheme, I find myself a bit lost at times, with lighter-colored enemies getting lost in the sky background. It's not horrible, and I love the design, but I did find it hard at times to keep track of that random bullet or sky mine.
Powerup text is a bit long to read and you have no time to read what's on the screen when trying to dance among the field of bullets and enemies. I would love to see a tab to read and learn what powerups look like and do, even if it's before a match.
Attack of the Karens is filled with so much lovely false nostalgia for games like R-Type or Zero Wing. I feel like I've played this game before completely knowing that's a total lie and I should go to jail. Attack of the Karens is a side-scrolling shoot 'em-up filled with the feeling of a classic but seasoned with a modern sensibility and design. This is what modern game design should be like, capturing what was loved about the games in sticky, coin-smelling arcades but honed and evolved to a sharp point. It's an easy add to my Wishlist and I look forward to its 2023 full release.
Wishlist on Steam // Twitter
Land Above Sea Below - Glasscannon Studio
With this Razer Basilisk v2 mouse, I will build the most beautiful island and keep the rising water at bay. In Land Above Sea Below we are island architects tasked with building our ever-sinking island to protect our Tree of Fall that's the heart of everything. But with randomly generated tiles and a ticking season tracker that hails the coming of the next flood the game tries to stop us at every turn.
Waiter There's A Puzzle In My Soup
Land Above Sea Below comes in the form of a tranquil tile-laying game with a dangerously complex puzzle at its core. Much like the fan favorite Dorfromantik, Land Above Sea Below touches its finger on a calming want and need to make lovely things. Every tile layer is unlocking a burst of good feels and fields and forests unfold around you. It's a magical spell that you and the game are casting as the whispering calm clouds your mind into the game's safe embrace. Is it though?
Like a lurking monster in the shadows ready to rip you apart, Land Above Sea Below hides a complex and challenging puzzle to steal away the happy trees of your land. With every tile placed is a ticking time bomb of poor choices ready to sink everything at the end of the season as you try to build tile combos to keep things afloat. Planning and keeping track of your lowlands is key to survival. The game engine hums once you get the balance of when and where to place and tile and use your limited power cards. It takes time to find it, but the world is peaceful and calming to bring you back for it.
There is very little to dislike here about this game. Land Above Sea Below brings a love game style with a complex puzzle to unwrap. The lack of tutorial was understanding due to its state of development, but I do feel it's hard to convey to new players what they might need to do with walls of text. I'm sure this will be fixed, but be aware when diving in.
The part that bothered me (harsh, I know) the most was the right-side progress bar. The white text and lines became hard to track even when focusing on it. It's not the end of this beautiful world, but may be a challenge when you are trying to keep track of what's happening.
Let Me Walk Among The Tiles
I love tile placing games from the physical, like Carcassonne, to this lovely entry that is Land Above Sea Below. It dances brilliantly between beautiful biomes and a maddening puzzle craft. I ask myself with every tile, what's the neighborhood like and when can I move in, soon it gets swallowed by the cold hands of the ticking seasons and I push forward. With a planned early access in Q4 of 2022 and a target of Spring 2023 for the full game, I'm on pine cones and needles waiting to add this to my cart but for now, it will be warm and comfy in my wishlist.
Wishlist on Steam // Twitter
Day Dream: Forgotten Sorrow - Frozen Line and Ravenage Games
In the darkness lurks a rotting hand reaching for something that we hide. With the power of friendship, we guild Griffin and his stuffed bear Birly through a strange surreal world of puzzles and dangers. We find a world of life and sky whales that feel lived and old. The partner mechanics work well and add to the charm of a kid and their bear.
Daydream: Forgotten Sorrow finds itself in a family of some amazing dark fantasy puzzle adventure games. Though the skeleton is similar and well worn we find ourselves thrust from the dark moody worlds of shadows and creaking cities plunged into nightmares into a bright and vibrant world of light and distant lands that Finn and Jake would be proud of. The creepy nightmare still haunts the halls but it's about the hunt more than the isolation of a nightmare. The world feels like we live because of it instead of the world built around Griffin and Birly.
The puzzles are sweet and fun to overcome, directing Birly to pull a lever or push a box is intuitive and works. The platforming feels solid and even on pipes I don't feel like we're tightrope walking, but still watch your step. It's delightful and charming and offers just enough challenge to slow your pace but allows you to solve them and feel accomplished.
Lurking under its lovely exterior is a bear who at times proves to be as clever as a stuffed bear can be. Birly, the key to many puzzles can be unruly at times opting to get in the way when making a daring jump or trying to solve a puzzle, opting to freeze up or fall from a ledge. Nothing that will hurt the experience but, for me, has led me to toss our cuddly friend into one too many pits.
In adventure puzzle games there is a balance that needs to be found between how to lead the player to the solution. Daydream: Forgotten Sorrow finds this well for the most part but I did find that at times I was following Birly more than it was following me. It's lovely to have a friend, but at times I feel like the bear was rushing me when all I wanted to do is take in the beauty of the ornate bedroom.
Tossing Friends Over The Ledge
Like a lucid dream, the world unfolds into a vibrant display of sights. Following the framework of its predecessors Daydream: Forgotten Sorrow allows the world and environment to tell the story. This demo is a story of friendship and beauty and the slow dread of a rotting hand in the shadow. With its target release of Spring 2023, I look forward to many nights of tossing Birly off so many ledges. until then I will be adding this daydream to my wishlist and waiting for its awakening.
Wishlist on Steam // Twitter
Well, kids, that's the end of my first, First Look Wrap-Up post on Tumblr! I hope you enjoyed it as I loved thinking more about the indie games I play on stream. Sometimes it's too easy for me to play a game on stream and say "hey I like this". Stopping and putting my thoughts down have given me more love and appreciation for the art that is gaming and the work developers put into it.
If you like this and the work I do follow this channel and check out my other accounts. I also stream and post gameplay videos of these games and more on Twitch and YouTube. If you want to support what I'm doing please consider checking out my Ko-Fi and buying me a coffee. Until next time - Keep your heart open, and rolls twenty.
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