Ducky Obrien Show 036 - Indie Games Galore (Robocop Rogue City, Pneumata, The Last Faith, Polimines 2)

The Ducky Obrien Show

Ducky Obrien Show 036 - Indie Games Galore (Robocop Rogue City, Pneumata, The Last Faith, Polimines 2)

Video Game News, Reviews, and Guides (and sometimes random things)

RoboCop: Rogue City

Gaming and movies seem to be sharing the same problem lately. Your choices as a consumer seems to range from AAA titles, with massive, multi-million budgets and a team made up of hundreds of talented creators, to way smaller indie studios where the quality may not always be guaranteed and the scope of the project and production values are definitely more limited.

There does seem to be a sense of fatigue from all the AAA games and movies feeling the same, while the indie scene has just so many titles to wade through that it feels daunting to find one that speaks to you. In this pool of tired consumers, there seems to be one sentiment rising to the surface. People are asking where have all the B tier entertainment gone?

►Steam Store Page : https://store.steampowered.com/app/1681430/RoboCop_Rogue_City/ ►Article: https://duckyobrien.com/2023/12/04/robocop-rogue-city-demo-gameplay-preview-id-buy-that-for-a-dollar/ ►Video: https://youtu.be/uJP4lHsw6o0

Pneumata

I will cut to the chase. I played the demo for Pneumata and it needs work. Pneuamta is a horror game and instead of feeling scary it just feels very tedious. This is mostly due to the combat and a strange mechanic where the screen goes super dark and you just can’t see anything. It’s not fun.

The reason why the combat feels tedious is that there are so many zombies and the weapons have a very low durability. Combine the tedious combat with a small inventory space and you a recipe for boredom. The gun is practically useless since you never have enough bullets and the damage is worse than the melee weapons. The melee weapons feel pretty OK but they break so quickly. This leaves you with the knife and the knife is quite possibly one of the worst weapons I have ever used in a game.

►Steam Store Page : https://store.steampowered.com/app/1183850/Pneumata/ ►Article: https://duckyobrien.com/2023/12/05/pneumata-demo-gameplay-peview-plastic-dinner-knife-stats/ ►Video: https://youtu.be/MezpD4Dp_pE

The Last Faith

The Last Faith is a 2D Metroidvania Soulslike and it feels pretty decent. I saw one reviewer use the term Soulsvania and I'm actually digging it, I may use it in the future. As a side note, what a time we live in where there are so many established video game genres and design archetypes that we have specific terms for them. Video games have come a long way.

Going back on topic, The Last Faith has a medieval, grimdark atmosphere. This extended to one aspect of the game that I did not expect to see, voice acting! There wasn't a lot of interactions with NPCs but the few that I did encounter had voice acted lines of dialogue. There is some light narrative framing the game but most of the play time is spent exploring and fighting monsters.

►Steam Store Page : https://store.steampowered.com/app/1274600/The_Last_Faith/ ►Article: https://duckyobrien.com/2023/12/06/the-last-faith-demo-gameplay-preview-metroidvania-souls/ ►Video: https://youtu.be/yi07Uo1qTzM

Polimines 2

Imagine combining Picross with Minesweeper and you have Polimines 2. It has the familiar logic of games like Picross with some Minesweeper mechanics thrown in to mix up the game play. While I did enjoy playing the game, I must admit I struggle with these types of games.

The only issue I personally had was due to being unfamiliar with how the logic works for games like this. I'm really comfortable with Sudoku and can solve up to hard puzzles with no issue but man Polimines 2 is a different kind of beast.

►Steam Store Page : https://store.steampowered.com/app/2328730/Polimines_2/ ►Article: https://duckyobrien.com/2023/12/07/polimines-2-gameplay-preview-big-brain-minesweeper/ ►Video: https://youtu.be/tEJ7y4LCyHk

Thanks for listening!