Sunday Gaming Club: Home Grown Post for Home Grown Cats

I am, apparently, a sick motherfucker. Like, I’ve been sick for two weeks with a collection of maladies, some viral, others retarded. For example, that mosquito who bit me where the head meets the neck? I hope he died. I’ve had a theory that, if there is a god and there is an afterlife, the only people who will get in are those who hate no one. Well, I’m fucked, because I hope that mosquito gets pulled apart by ants.

In other news, this week is a little less half assed because I’m doing it a day before, and because I’ve played a few games I feel I need to post about! Isn’t that fantastic? Real, actual, interesting games contained within! Both of which are fairly new, and pretty great.

#1: Hello Worlds!, browser based.

I have a soft spot in my heart for the one gimmick puzzle platformer. You know, the kind of game where there’s one mechanic that is developed to a fantastic point, that shows you all the things you can do with it.

Hello Worlds doesn’t go quite far enough to fit that category, but that doesn’t stop it from being brilliant of its own accord. At its core, it’s a game about jumping and collecting coins, in four worlds that exist simultaneously and contemporarily. That is, what is a wall in one world is a wall in every other world, until you leave the room with the wall. It creates some especially devious puzzles, and it’s amazing how clever it seems. It’s one of those games that makes you go “ahhhh” every level, and that’s a great feeling.

If I had one complaint, it would be that I think the overworld is pointless. Better would have been a long, uninterrupted series of levels, taking place in many screens, where you could have been in one level (as it is now) on one screen, a different one on another, and make it really complicated. But it’s a student game, and that feels like it would have been a lot more work, so I’ll give them what they’ve got.

Try it. It’s fantastic.

#2: FiNCK!, Windows, Super Mario Brother 2: Doki Doki Panic.

You may have heard about FiNCK from us, or maybe from a little birdy. I don’t know how you get your news. What I do know is that FiNCK is a thing, it exists, and it’s pretty fun.

If you’ve ever played Doki Doki Panic, you’ve played something very much like FiNCK. If you’ve played (featured here previously!) Lyle in Cube Sector, you’ve played almost exactly FiNCK. There’s some more exploration aspects than Doki Doki had, but fewer than Lyle offered. It’s also pretty tough, like both those games.

It’s not the most original game, but it’s a pretty fun diversion, and hell, it’s free. For a pittance, you get custom level support, and someone, eventually, will make an outstanding custom level for it like they did for Knytt Stories.

That’s all for this week! Stay tuned next week for more TALES OF INTEREST!