Every now and then you get something that eschews the normal rules of traditional gameplay. A game that doesn’t really care how you decide to operate within its world, instead opting to present you with a room of doors, and it’s entirely up to you which one you open.

Hohokum represents this perfectly. Its hands-off approach to gameplay means you can take your time to search through each level, probing your surroundings for the tiny details of flair that give the game a sense of innocence and charm. Everything you see is doused in a beautifully vibrant aesthetic, and the world itself is populated by wondrous creatures that look like they’ve been ripped straight from your wildest dreams. Strange towers with eyes, U-shaped bees, and large-headed people playing violins are just some of the sights that can be found within the game’s picturesque dream world. There’s always the feeling that for every elephant creature or hat-making villager you find, you still have more to see, and there’s just no way of knowing what creation will appear next.

Perhaps the weirdest creature of them all is you. Your involvement with the world comes in the form of a giant snake-like creature with one singular beady eye placed at the head of its long, twisting body.  You are, for lack of a better word, a magical flying Cyclops. And as a magical flying Cyclops, you have the freedom to weave through the world, exploring its features and completing tasks along the way. The creature controls as you would imagine, with the thumbstick used to control the direction of the head and the body propelling it forward. Using the Square button slows you down for precision movement; whilst holding X lets you build up momentum to travel much faster across the landscape. Neither function is relevant to any of the game’s tasks, but they go a long way towards helping you experience the world at your own pace. Slowing the speed down can be especially helpful if you’re trying to examine some of the finer details of the world, as the creature is in a constant state of momentum, which can make it hard to get a good look at the environment and its inhabitants.

As for what the goal of the game is, well that’s somewhat debatable. There’s a large emphasis on exploration within Hohokum which is made clear from the lack of guidance it gives you. When the game starts, you’re shown a delightful display of several creatures that fly alongside you as they playfully weave across your screen. Eventually you reach a middle point in the world, and the creatures disperse in all directions leaving you all alone in this unknown dreamscape. From what I can gather, this is the start of some crazy inter-dimensional game of hide and seek, but the game never really gives you any explanation or prompts about what is happening, instead leaving you to your own devices in the hope that you’ll figure it out in the end.

At one point, I entered a world full of hollowed logs that seemed to go on forever. Each log was just like the last, and despite being able to go through them, there didn’t seem to be any real interaction to be had with these scattered pieces of timber. And so I searched, across the edges, and throughout the middle of this forest of logs, at first quizzically and then desperately, struggling for a revelation as to what it was this zone actually wanted me to do, only to go away empty handed and frustrated. And to this day I still have no idea what the goal of this room was, or just what I had missed so blatantly.  Unfortunately this issue persists throughout several of the worlds, and what at first feels like a whimsical canvas to explore soon turns into a hastily wrapped tussle as you desperately scan the horizon for a hint or a clue as to what the game actually wants from you.

These worlds are what Hohokum is made up of, and each one seems to serve as its own separate puzzle. In one instance I entered, I was greeted with a trio of elephant men wearing water tanks. As I sailed past them, they boarded my snake body and began to collect globs of honey that was floating across the skyline. Below them rested a giant mechanical labyrinth of pipes and tanks, and the goal of this world was to gather up enough of this honey to fill the main tank, which in turn gave me access to climb inside the machine and reach a blocked off area. After accomplishing my task, a creature like me – one of the several we saw at the start of the game – emerges, and I’m treated to a mini cutscene of strange creatures doing strange things. This world is seemingly complete, though I’d never know for sure.

The portals are an intertwined series of pathways; each one offering access to another land with each one representing its own distinctive motif. On one occasion I found myself stumbling across a water park filled to the brim with partygoers. There was excitement and life as far as you could fly, and the entire zone was alive with activity. That is, until I travelled below the platforms and festivities. Passing through a seemingly unimportant gap in the rocky underside of the structure caused the world to pulsate, and all of a sudden things took a strange turn. The party was over, and the once active water slides lay in ruins.  The platforms that were so alive moments ago had now been reclaimed by nature, and the overall tone had instantly shifted to something more serene. It’s these moments, of sheer intrigue, that carry Hohokum above the leagues of a simple puzzle game. In the blink of an eye, the simple act of passing between two rocks revealed a new world, and as far as I’ve seen this mechanic is unique to this specific zone. And there’s plenty of other seemingly unobvious triggers scattered across the game that offer these charming little nuggets for you to experience, and it’s fair to say that this is the true heart and soul of the game.

To say that Hohokum is a puzzle game would be doing it a disservice. While it is true that there are goals to achieve, these are not strictly the main aim of the game. Instead, you’re given this colourful playground full of imaginative creatures and interactions, and you’re simply told to go and play. However, when the time comes to progress through the game, some of the puzzles present themselves in the most obscure ways imaginable, often leaving you flying around in circles wondering just what the game is trying to tell you. Those of you who like a clear cut challenge should probably avoid this title, but if exploration and colourful dream-creatures are your thing then I would strongly recommend diving in.

Overall Rating: ★★★★☆ 

What does this score mean?

This review is based on experiences from the PS4 version of the game.

© 2014, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

Ambush? No, of course not…would you believe me if I said I was selling these fine leather jackets?

Players can choose to create either male or female Mukashi, ultimate warrior-scouts chosen for their supreme combat and exploration ability. They’ll journey to Kanoko Island in search of the Scrolls of Hope, which are rumored to contain the location of a safe haven where their people can escape the rising ocean that threatens to destroy them all. Mukashi are customisable with items picked up in game or gained through completing quests.

In an interesting move, the developers have announced that they intend to keep the title as an OUYA exclusive, at least initially. The console supports indie developers and has an extensive list of experimental titles which they feel would be a perfect fit for the type of game they’re trying to create. OUYA is itself an indie console successfully funded through Kickstarter, and a platform the developers are keen to support. The game will be developed using the Unity 3D engine, a tool traditionally popular among indie developers for its multi-platform support. Once a fixed term of exclusivity has passed, Mukashi should then be available on other platforms.

Mukashi and the Scrolls of Hope is currently set for a release early in 2015.

[Editor's Note: As of August 20th, the game has now shifted to a PC exclusive.]

© 2014, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

The cover and title says it all.

The Ice Cap and the Rift is the second novel in Marshall Chamberlain’s the Ancestor Series of Adventure Thrillers. John Henry Morgan, director of the United Nations’ Institute for the Study of Unusual Phenomenon (ISUP), is still reeling from the events in the first novel (The Mountain Place of Knowledge) when a combo-quake of unprecedented size occurs without any prior warning. The situation escalates when a team in Iceland detects the presence of strange, hidden structures within the newly formed rift that pre-date the birth of human civilisation. Morgan has encountered evidence of advanced, ancient technology before, and recognises these structures as having been built by mysterious beings they’ve named the Ancestors. He has to secure a UN presence at the rift, and balance conflicting international interests as different nations scramble to secure the technology within the rift for themselves.

Hounding Morgan at every step is Dick Murray, director of the CIA. Murray only cares about results and the protection of his country, a man desperate for success after being outmanoeuvred by the Chinese the last time they discovered Ancestor technology. Morgan needs his help, but every bit of assistance Murray offers is a double-edged sword. Thankfully, Morgan isn’t alone. Doctor Mary Ellen, his colleague, friend and partner, was also witness to the capabilities of Ancestor technology before, and uses her extensive scientific knowledge and force of personality to help ISUP succeed against the odds. Operating from within the shadows is Ling Soo, the Chinese Minister of Intelligence, a dangerous and canny opponent. Using deception and the co-operation of international allies, he proves an adept opponent equally capable in both the political and military fields.

The dual UN-Cambridge team investigates the rift in the ice cap while trying to prevent too much information from leaking out to the various international factions eager for a piece of the pie. What they find is a fully operational habitat, with several flying vehicles that are still in top condition. The flying vehicles are saucer-shaped crafts, and raise questions about humanity’s origins, and whether our history is as complete or short as we’d been led to believe. Before the full implications of the discovery can be worked through, the Chinese manage to secure the information about the rift’s contents and execute a daring plan to steal one of the flying saucers. It’s up to Murray and Morgan to set aside their differences in order to track and recover the stolen craft.

The Ice Cap and the Rift reads like a story-driven political thriller with a sci-fi twist. In style it’s reminiscent of Tom Clancy in that Marshall explains the workings of his world in great detail. His research into a variety of topics lends this text believability and weight. You get a very real sense that he knows what he’s talking about regarding the way the various organisations and modern technology works. The unfortunate trade-off, however, is that the narrative flow gets interrupted by lengthy exposition.

The blending of the science fiction into the real-world setting is handled very well, with a careful reverence that’s not often experienced in novels. The mystical and spiritual nature of the Ancestors is well defined because of this, lending a strange metaphysical feeling to everything centred on their works. From the get-go he manages to arouse intrigue as to what we have in the rift, and who its mysterious architects were.

The man himself

Unfortunately, this reverence seems to disappear when the aura of mystery vanishes. The UN team has no great difficulty in getting into the newly revealed habitat, and spend more time sweeping the area for CIA bugs. Once inside, the descriptions of the habitat’s controls give it a strangely ‘Fisher-Price’ feel. Scientists don’t spend much time puzzling through symbols or controls, and in fact have no hassle deciphering how everything works. The fact that much modern human technology within the novel’s setting seems on par with that of the Ancestors – virtual environments, advanced invisibility cloaking technology, satellite mounted lasers – makes the discovery in the rift feel a little underwhelming. There are even two chapters within the novel where we are treated to modern, living Ancestors as the viewpoint characters in order to understand their motives. Had the sense of mystery been preserved, then we’d be able to maintain the sense of wonder the Ancestors are supposed to engender.

One of the other stumbling blocks for the novel is the sheer volume of characters. Aside from Morgan, Murray, Ellen and Soo, the cast of characters is extensive. With so many individuals, running the gamut from pilots, secret agents, terrorists and academics, characterisation is kept brief of a necessity, with most characters getting a short introduction and a single defining characteristic. In the worst examples the supporting characters are ethnic or occupational stereotypes. This makes many of them feel more like caricatures than actual flesh-and-blood individuals. Fewer characters performing many of the same roles, or more face-time for some characters, would really strengthen the impact they make.

Chamberlain’s descriptions are stronger than his characters, but inconsistent. At times he paints a scene vividly using multiple senses; I’m still stuck remembering the nutty smell of a cup of coffee Morgan has towards the final chapters. At other times, it feels like Chamberlain is watching a movie and describing it to us, his readers, with a certain level of dispassion. This creates a distance, something dangerous in a novel that requires reader investment in order to get swept up in the action. The worry is that the weak descriptions far outweigh the good ones. Despite that, the tension of the final chapters prompted further reading, the reader trying to work out the intricacies of the Chinese plot alongside the protagonists.

There’s much to recommend in The Ice Cap and the Rift. Chamberlain lends his world both a sense of credibility and mysticism. However, the presence of many weak characters hampers our involvement. Sacrificing descriptions for exposition in order to preserve the fast pace of his novel created further distance between readers and the action. If you’re looking for a light adventure novel with global conflict and alien artefacts, then this might just be the book for you.

With a release date of 15th October 2014, you can pre-order the ebook on multiple platforms, or start with the first book in the series.

This book was reviewed using a copy provided by the publishers for that purpose

© 2014, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

Forward to the Sky stars a little girl who runs around in a castle-like environment in the sky and kills reanimated skeletons that I like to imagine were once little boys. I had some gripes about the controls; whenever you attack, you attack in the direction the camera is facing, not in the direction the character is facing. It’s also a bit awkward to manoeuver using WASD and the mouse as in a typical first-person shooter, but that’s mostly just the result of using a keyboard and mouse to play a game designed for a game pad.

I had to smack a couple of those red switches to get the platforms in place.

In addition to smacking undead things about with a giant sword, Forward to the Sky has puzzles and platforming, and the two interact quite well. There was a part that involved hitting the right switches to move platforms around so I could get to a new location, although I hope the puzzles get more complex than figuring out which two of the three switches I need to hit. Whenever I hit a switch, I can clearly see what it does because it happens right in front of me. It’s amazing how many games frustrate me by making me flip a switch or press a button and then wander around through the level trying to find the secret door it opened.

The platforming has all the polish of a game in alpha, but when it works, it works like a simplified version of the greatest PS2 platformers. There are no double jump or mid-air attack to stay in the air longer, but it is also devoid of annoying magnetic assistance features and invisible walls. Speaking of walls, all of them seem to be weak against gigantic swords. If I wanted to see what was on the other side of a wall, I smacked said wall a few times and jumped over the pile of rubble left in its place. It was a refreshing change after all the games populated by buildings and furniture that seem unaffected by rockets and grenades.

Forward to the Sky has a bright, cheery, cartoonish art style and soundtrack, but it’s not the kind that makes me sick and long for a darker, grittier game. It gives the impression that you are a young adventurer at the beginning of an epic tale in which the sky is the limit. With its platforming, combat, and bright music and visuals, Forward to the Sky reminds me of a 3D version of Maplestory without the bugs, hackers, fetch quests, and pretty much everything else that made Maplestory suck. I’d like to see different environments because grey stone seems like it would get old fast, so hopefully Magichnology adds some grass, bricks, trees, and more natural-looking stone to change it up. Despite that, the game looks promising.

Forward to the Sky is scheduled for release late this year for Windows, Mac, and everyone’s favourite penguin-endorsed OS. If you’re interested, please check out its Indiegogo page and consider contributing.

© 2014, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

So the story goes, an organization of scientists, in an effort to expand their knowledge, creates the “Chronova Device”, a tool that would enable them to unlock the universal ‘real-time’ and introduce it to their turn-based world. But, as these experiments often do, everything goes wrong, and a vortex sweeps them up from their world. Now it’s up to you, in your little orange “Nova-111″ starship, to rescue the crew.  Will your harmless research vessel be up to the task?

The player will be faced with a series of obstacles, such as alien enemies and puzzles. Your vessel won’t be completely helpless, as collectible upgrades and abilities will allow it to defend itself and fight back. As you advance, the world will slowly shift from turn-based decisions to making the player react in real-time environments. And gosh, what environments they are. If you’re not already interested, the visuals should definitely hook you. The game simply looks splendid, and the character portraits are to die for, really. The mix of pixel and painterly styles makes the levels truly shine. And the music ain’t too shabby either, apparently being dynamic and suiting itself to your individual play style.

Though no set date has been announced, Nova-111 is supposed to be released some time later this year for Windows, Linux, and Mac. To find out more, visit Funktronic Labs’ website for the game. You can also follow the developers on Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr.

© 2014, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

I’ve deleted this sentence several times now, and I’ll be surprised if this one makes it in. it’s near impossible to describe Jazzpunk to someone without losing something in translation. I’ve tried for several days now to pin down exactly what makes it such an oddity, but aside from a few scribbled notes and a doodle of a geisha-fly hybrid, I’ve got nothing.

Let’s start with what we know to be factually true. Jazzpunk is a story-driven adventure set in the first person perspective. You play the part of a secret agent called Polyblank, tasked with completing assignments given to you by a strange man in a repurposed train car. Your missions will have you travelling across the world to appease your handler, stealing objects of interest and throwing spiders at people as you go.

From this point on, things are going to get a little bizarre.

My first steps into the world, and I find myself greeted with a long tunnel full of clutter. A rudimentary search of my surroundings provides the first clue that this game isn’t your average adventure, as performing my mandatory “let’s click action on everything until I activate a secret” spree sparks a conversation between me and, well… a cardboard box. As the sentient box gargles and groans aloud in an incoherent ramble, its words become projected across its surface. Not only is this piece of litter alive, it’s begging me to leave it alone because it’s “just a box”. Prodding, staring intently, and eventually climbing on top of the box failed to persuade it to say anything else so I pressed on to the first level, slightly bewildered from my encounter with a cardboard entity.

I find myself continuously drawing comparisons between Jazzpunk and the old point & click adventure games like Monkey Island. There’s a certain charm factor that exudes from every piece of dialogue, every obscure scenario that plays out, and every sexual liaison with the roaming robot prostitutes in the streets. Each interaction is set up like a witty one liner, and for the most part they land on target, leaving you either grinning from ear to ear or scratching your head in a daze of bemusement.

Jazzpunk is set up in a way that encourages exploration over progression, and by not fully searching the outer reaches of each zone you’ll be missing out on the essence of the game. Take the first mission, in which you’re plopped right in front of a Soviet office that holds your goal. You could just stroll right in and get down to business, but a closer inspection of the surrounding buildings will yield a whole host of side activities to draw focus from the main plot.

Whilst searching through the game’s different levels, you’re likely to stumble across one of the many mini-games scattered around. Whether it’s beating up a car with your fists, slaying pizza zombies, or racing across a busy street as a frog, you’re likely to crack a smile as you play out these fun homages to old school classics. Perhaps the best of these, Wedding Qake is a like-for-like copy of the old Quake FPS arena shooter. You’ll swap heavy firepower and monsters for matrimony and cake shaped mini-guns in this satisfying distraction that I may have spent more time in than I should have.

Numerous hidden paths and secrets go a long way towards breaking apart the different sections of the game. and whilst the constant quick-fire of gags starts off great, the constant barrage of jokes tallying up against you at later levels can leave you somewhat exhausted by the torrent of humour. While it’s disappointing to see Jazzpunk diminish in the later sections, it’s to be expected from something that relies on comedy to be the focal point of the gameplay.

Jazzpunk is a breath of fresh air for adventure games, and by flaunting its own flamboyant take of a number of well known gaming tropes it pulls off an excellent parody of this culture that is both unique and entertaining. While the game does start to wind down in its final moments, there’s no reason why fans of the absurd shouldn’t jump right in and face the brain melting weirdness just waiting to be discovered.

Overall Rating: ★★★★★ 

What does this score mean?

This game was reviewed using the PC version.

© 2014, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

To those nerdy enough to know of him, Tim Schafer is widely accepted as a genius. Along with fellow programmer Ron Gilbert, Schafer fathered the point-and-click adventure game genre, creating classics like Full Throttle,  Day of the Tentacle, and my personal favorite, Grim Fandango.  Once point-and-click adventure games fell out of fashion, Schafer founded a new game studio called Double Fine, and pumped out Psychonauts, Brutal Legend, and smaller releases like Costume Quest and Stacking. Despite almost universal critical praise for their major releases, Double Fine has struggled to match commercial success with critical acclaim, making them a hard sell for publishers. With Broken Age, Schafer and Double Fine jumped the publisher hurdle entirely and raised over $3.3 million on Kickstarter – demolishing their goal of $400,000. With this money they set out to make something the world hasn’t seen in decades: a new (semi) big budget point-and-click adventure game. Now here we are, almost two years since the completion of Schafer’s hyper-successful crowdfunding campaign, and Act 1 of the game is finally upon us. And it’s good. It’s real good.

The game begins by giving you the choice of  two young characters: a boy in space, or a girl in the countryside. The two stories, which you can switch back and forth at will, seem at first to be connected only in theme.  Without ruining any surprises, both characters are in oppressive situations they wish to break out of, which basically makes the whole thing two parallel coming-of-age stories. The game’s sharp writing and quick wit prove up to par with Schafer’s legendary track record. The other characters you encounter intrigued me enough to make me want to talk to every single one until they had nothing else left to say; a process that almost always left me with a smile on my face. The voice acting shines throughout the game, thanks to the talent of A-list stars like Elijah Wood, Masasa Moyo, and Jack Black.

Not looking to be outdone, Nathan “Bagel” Stapley’s art design explodes with color and creativity, and Peter McConnell’s fully-orchestrated original score complements it beautifully. Regardless of whether I was eating part of an ice cream mountain or walking around on a cloud colony run by a cult leader, I always made sure to explore every inch with the volume cranked up. Broken Age may not be the first game to ever try the “hand painted” look, but I can guarantee that you’ve never seen any game that looks quite like this one. The sharp character designs range from adorable to hilarious, and the environments are vibrant and memorable. Enough good things can simply not be said about the art and sound design of Broken Age. It’s charming to an almost ridiculous degree.

Despite my gushing, the game isn’t perfect. Some of the animation seems a little strange and choppy. Characters handing each other items, for example, always looks pretty off. The puzzles generally offer very little challenge;  figuring out what to do shouldn’t prove too difficult as long as you’re willing to walk around and click on everything. In some ways, this problem just comes with the territory of the point-and-click adventure game, but it seems to go a little beyond that in my opinion. Maybe the puzzles were simplified to make the game more accessible, or maybe Double Fine simply didn’t have the money to do as much as they wanted with them. After all, $3.3 million may seem like a fortune, but it’s a drop in the bucket compared to most major game development budgets, which can get as high as $50 million. My hunch, though, is that Double Fine kept the puzzles simple enough to easily complete with a touch screen in preparation for the iOS and Android release of the game later this year. This gripe might be enough to turn off some hardcore fans, but it’s an easily forgivable sin for those looking for a unique game with a fantastic story.

The biggest problem with Broken Age is that it isn’t finished. In typical Tim Schafer fashion, Double Fine ran into budget issues and could not finish the game with the amount of money raised from the Kickstarter campaign alone. Instead of going to a publisher to get the cash to pay for the rest of the game, they decided to release the first part and use the profit to fund what remains of the second part. Don’t worry though, because if you buy Act 1 for the asking price of $25 you’ll get Act 2 as soon as it comes out, no extra money needed. After about four hours of playing, Act 1 ends satisfyingly enough; you’ll want more, but in an “I want to know what happens next!” kind of way, not in a “wait, that’s it?” kind of way, which is what I was concerned about when I heard about the split.

Despite its very few shortcomings, it’s easy to recommend Broken Age to just about anyone. It probably won’t revive the point-and-click adventure genre, but for those who have been waiting for a new Tim Schafer adventure game since Grim Fandango’s release in 1998, your wait is over. And for those who have never played a point-and-click adventure, get on your computers and get out your wallets, because you’re in for a treat.

Overall Rating: ★★★★★ 

What does this score mean?

Broken Age will be available on PC, Mac, and Linux via Steam on January 28th. You can pre-order the game here. Android and iOS versions, along with Act 2 of the game, are due out later this year. 2 Player Productions documented the development of Broken Age. The entire documentary series is currently only available to backers of the Kickstarter campaign, but episode one can be viewed on Youtube for free.

© 2014, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

The developers at Nyamyam are out to prove that pop-up books aren’t just for kids. The UK-based studio is hard at work on Tengami, an Asian-inspired ‘point & touch’ adventure game. The game received an IndieCade nomination back in 2012 and development looks to be finally approaching the finish line.

Tengami is part puzzle game, part artistic experience. The game is presented as a pop-up book with Japan as the major influence for the setting. Minimalist, yet beautiful paper backdrops and architecture make up a textural landscape, and the player must guide a protagonist forward from one scene to another. A recent trailer (shown below) highlights the type of puzzle elements that the player must solve using pop-up book mechanics in order to proceed.

Tengami will be a multi-platform title with the initial iOS release targeted for the early part of this year. Nyamyam will be making an announcement this month regarding the actual release date. Later this year, the devs are also targeting a release on the Wii U eShop with ports also planned for PC and Mac. The PC and Mac versions as well as the soundtrack can be pre-ordered through Tengami’s website.

© 2014, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

During this year’s Eurogamer Expo, we got to chatting with Mike Bithell of Thomas Was Alone fame. In the interview below, we talk about Volume, his newest creation which trades the highly emotional lives of rectangles for cover-based stealth action.

For more information about Volume, check out the official site here.

© 2013, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

The game will follow Paul Prospero, an occult detective with the ability to peer into the final moments of a murder victim’s life. After receiving a cryptic letter asking for help from a boy named Ethan Carter, Paul soon discovers there is more than meets the eye to this case, as Ethan has since gone missing and a string of murders is plaguing the community of Red Creek Valley.

Described as “a weird piece of horror fiction”, The Vanishing of Ethan Carter will focus is on “atmosphere, mood, and the essential humanity of our characters”. There will be no combat in the game, and the entire experience will take place from a first person perspective. The player must use both supernatural and normal detective techniques to solve the riddles surrounding Ethan’s disappearance.

Along with the new screenshots, the developers also launched a short prequel comic strip, providing a small insight into Paul’s past, as well as what may be waiting for him in Red Creek Valley. You can check out the comic here.

The Astronauts is comprised of 8 members, founded by the ex-owners of People Can Fly of Painkiller and Bulletstorm fame. More information on the game and the team behind can be found on their official site here.

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is slated for release on PC, but as yet no release date has been announced. Next gen releases on PS4 and Xbox One are also being considered.

© 2013, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.