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The Slowdown

A blog by vrap in General

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About this blog

A blog for those who spend more time thinking about gaming than gaming

Entries in this blog

The Samaritan Paradox Review

The Samaritan Paradox, a relatively new commercial AGS adventure game by Faravid Interactive’s Peter Ljunkvist, published by Screen 7, is a story about a story. A refreshingly Swedish one, too. The game’s protagonist, Ord Salomon – ‘ord’ is Swedish for ‘word’ – is a shut-in PhD student of literature, rotting away at a failing thesis, with worried friends, until he chances upon the daughter of a prominent dead Swedish author. Salomon, a hobbyist cryptographer obsessive-compulsive about signs,
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Full Mojo Rampage Review

<p><a href="http://www.overthetopgames.com/">Over the Top Games</a>â new roguelike-lite, <a href="http://www.fullmojorampage.com/">Full Mojo Rampage</a>, is quite <a href="http://videogamefood.tumblr.com/post/51894982974/voodoo-soup-the-secret-of-monkey-island">the voodoo soup</a>, one that has been slowly bubbling away in Steam’s dangerous “Early Access” section since late 2013. The game, having finally reached its boiling point in May 2014, is now out,
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Full Mojo Rampage Review

Over the Top Games’ new roguelike-lite, Full Mojo Rampage, is quite the voodoo soup, one that has been slowly bubbling away in Steam’s dangerous “Early Access” section since late 2013. The game, having finally reached its boiling point in May 2014, is now out, and we are about to find out just how tasty this crazy concoction is. In the game, players are cute, big-headed voodoo apprentices, performing tasks for their chosen voodoo gods, Loas, by fighting against hordes of things that go bump in
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Gone Home and The Reality Effect

Gone Home. Gone Home. This was The Fullbright Company’s famed “Story Exploration Video Game,” a game that I had been aching to witness, to dissect, and to analyse. This, I already knew, were a Critic’s Kinda Game – one that would absolutely speak both to my ludological and narratological interests… only, the increasingly massive amount of criticism (reviews, articles, critiques, and commentaries) had begun to pile and fill up my Pocket feed, my RSS subs, and my Twitter timeline; first, to the
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Shipwreck Review

<p>I recently stumbled upon a really good video game trailer:</p> <p><span class='embed-youtube' style='text-align:center; display: block;'><iframe class='youtube-player' type='text/html' width='640' height='390' src='http://www.youtube.com/embed/d3wESL5GKnI?version=3&rel=1&fs=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&wmode=transparent' frameborder='0'></iframe></span></p> <p>The above video, then, is a launch trai
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Shipwreck Review

I recently stumbled upon a really good video game trailer: The above video, then, is a launch trailer for Brushfire Games’ new indie game Shipwreck. It is as WYSIWYG as you get! In buying this new game, you get the following: Neat and tidy pixel graphics Atmospheric console-style ‘retro’ music Well-balanced, honed gameplay Fun mechanics and a good difficulty curve Zelda! Zelda! Link! Link! I.e., A solid little game. Interested? Read on, for more commentary on the game’s mechanics, qual
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Payday 2, “Death Wish,� and Binary States

<p>Over here at <a href="http://www.slowdown.vg/">The Slowdown</a>, I like and try to produce criticism on things that I <i>enjoy,</i> and things that I think are <em>good</em>. This is often (cough, preposterously) visible on the website. This doesnât mean, however, that I donât just âplayâ games, too.</p> <p>One of these games is <b>Payday 2</b>, the sequel to 2011âs <b>Payday: The Heist</b>, a 4-person co-op cops-
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Payday 2, “Death Wish,” and Binary States

Over here at The Slowdown, I like and try to produce criticism on things that I enjoy, and things that I think are good. This is often (cough, preposterously) visible on the website. This doesn’t mean, however, that I don’t just “play” games, too. One of these games is Payday 2, the sequel to 2011’s Payday: The Heist, a 4-person co-op cops-and-robbers FPS that came hot on the heels of the foundations laid down by Left 4 Dead. Copocalypse, anyone? Credit where credit is due: Not only are both ga
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A Post About a Blog: Edmund McMillen

Alert, alert! @EdmundMcMillenn has recently opened up a new Tumblr dev blog for The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth. That ends the newsworthy portion of this post; certainly, the opening of the Tumblr is major news to any and all Isaac buffs (like myself! I am your Golden God!), as McMillen has promised a weekly stream of teasers from the forthcoming Nicalis remake: videos, gifs, screenshots, information, and music. Diptera Sonata, below, won me over very quickly: The main thing that I’d like to dra
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A Post About a Blog: Edmund McMillen

Alert, alert! @EdmundMcMillenn has recently opened up a new Tumblr dev blog for The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth. That ends the newsworthy portion of this post; certainly, the opening of the Tumblr is major news to any and all Isaac buffs (like myself! I am your Golden God!), as McMillen has promised a weekly stream of teasers from the forthcoming Nicalis remake: videos, gifs, screenshots, information, and music. Diptera Sonata, below, won me over very quickly: The main thing that I’d like to d
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Steam Treasures: SteamWorld Dig Review

<p>Itâs time to bring back our <a href="http://www.slowdown.vg/category/steam-treasures/"><strong>Steam Treasures</strong> series</a>.</p> <p>With hundreds and hundreds of titles now receiving the all-important right to be on Steam – through <a href="http://steamcommunity.com/greenlight/">Valveâs Greenlight initiative</a> (that <a href="http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2014-01-15-valve-looking-to-drop-greenlight">Gabe Newell now
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Steam Treasures: SteamWorld Dig Review

It’s time to bring back our Steam Treasures series. With hundreds and hundreds of titles now receiving the all-important right to be on Steam – through Valve’s Greenlight initiative (that Gabe Newell now wants to do away with) – the idea of a “jewel” of an indie game somehow “making” it through to the service (against all odds!!) no longer carries the same much any weight. Where Valve’s standards may have changed (for better or worse), ours haven’t: In this series, we review budget-sized, budg
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Being Saved in Actual Sunlight

One of last year’s remarkable critical success stories, Actual Sunlight, is being currently remade into 3D by developer Will O’Neill. The game is testing waters on Steam Greenlight, and a demonstrative beta build of the new 3D version can be downloaded on the developer’s website. The game is a “short interactive story about love, depression and the corporation”: Inspired by the game’s resurgence in 3D, I would very much like to go back in time (it’s not like we get second chances very often!)
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Inescapable Review

<p><a href="http://www.magneticrealms.com/">Magnetic Realms</a>â <b>Inescapable </b>is a Metroidvania-style indie game of admirable constraint and deliberateness. Even for a one-man Amiga homage, it never overreaches in its pursuit of a specific type of gaming minimalism. In this day and age, this in turn creates a style, and atmosphere, that is much its own.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><span class='embed-youtube' style='text-align:center; di
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Raindrop and the Art of the Kickstarter Pitch

These days, almost all promising, mainstream-enough video game Kickstarters (and, to a lesser extent, Indiegogos) seem to attract enough traction and interest to succeed. Offhand, I am unable to recall one single notable project that would not have succeeded as of late, especially if self-cancelled projects are counted out of the equation. Alas, one such project is now in great danger of going undeservedly unfunded. Early this month, I tweeted to Andy Kelly how I had – much like him – been abso
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Anodyne Review

<p><a href="http://www.anodynegame.com/"><b>Anodyne</b></a>, a top-down action-adventure by indie devs Sean Hogan and Jonathan Kittaka, is one that I doubt I would have touched if not for the all-new, shiny, and glittering <a href="http://steamcommunity.com/tradingcards/">Steam Trading Cards</a>. (Valve are very, <em>very</em> shrewd.) That Anodyne’s in-game progression is <em>also</em> tied to gathering collectible cards in-game
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Looking at Routine

<p style="text-align: center;"><span class='embed-youtube' style='text-align:center; display: block;'><iframe class='youtube-player' type='text/html' width='640' height='390' src='http://www.youtube.com/embed/iAcAd1fUiy8?version=3&rel=1&fs=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&wmode=transparent' frameborder='0'></iframe></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;">Please have a gander at the above promotional teaser from <a h
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Resonance Review

<p>Out of all the highly esteemed indie adventure games in the <a href="http://www.wadjeteyegames.com/">Wadjet Eye Games</a> catalogue, Vince Twelveâs <strong>Resonance</strong> had by far the longest journey from start to finish.</p> <p>Though intended for commercial release from the get-go, the game was announced in low-key fashion on the Adventure Game Studio forums in 2008, and then later <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/VinceTwelve/r
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