Category: Rock, Paper, Shotgun

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Japanese PC doujin are keeping indie games creative at Tokyo Game Dungeon

Cave Story and N to grow. With online distribution further helping games like Bastion, Journey and World Of Goo to flourish, the definition of the indie game became: a title with big ambitions and creativity grown from small budgets and teams.

It’s not entirely wrong, but it has obscured decades of hobby development that was once at the forefront – not just the stories of BBC Micro solo-development stars, but similar ones of hobby development from around the world. In Japan, the doujin markets of Comiket and beyond serve as a home for hobbyists to make, sell and share their creations. It is the doujin gaming scene that helped major studios like Fate/ studio Type-Moon, and franchises like 07th Expansion and Touhou Project, flourish in a way that would never be possible otherwise.

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Space farming sim Lightyear Frontier delayed an unspecified amount of time

Lightyear Frontier, a sort of Stardew Valley but in space, in which you bring agriculture to an alien planet with a big multipurpose mechatractor suit, has been delayed. It was supposed to come out, well, sometime around now (Spring 2023) but developers Frame Break announced the delay with a statement on Twitter – including that they “can’t commit to a launch window right now”.

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Dead Island 2 is looking refreshingly bloody and unpretentious

Dead Island 2, because most zombies are quite shambly – I encountered many a rich-person decor. Last week, I was given a preview build of the upcoming first-person zombie-smasher and played about the first five hours of it in single-player, taking in sights like a community of gated millionaire mansions, a slightly less palacious but still ridiculous neighbourhood, and an upmarket hotel styled after the famous Beverly Hills Hotel. They’re all full of weird stuff.

There’s a panic room where a guy turned into a zombie mid-demo tape recording. Actress Emma, who you’re battening down the hatches with, has a truly awful full-length Burt Reynoldsian portrait of herself. A shared house called the GOAT PEN, where a team of influencers all live together, has a set for a video series called LIT OR SH!T, and a whiteboard with the script for an apology video. I ask the game director David Stenton if it’s low hanging fruit, or if there’s no such thing with Hollywood rich people. “Of course, it’s low hanging fruit!” he says, laughing. “And also, there’s no such thing.”

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Time-loop online shooter Lemnis Gate will become unplayable in July

Lemnis Gate is a multiplayer shooter trapped within a turn-based timeloop, in which players work across turns to support their past selves and stymy their opponents. If that were possible in reality, this would be the perfect moment for a new iteration to appear and throw a shield around Lemnis Gate, because its developers have announced that it will close down this summer.

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Pretty walking simulator Sons Of The Forest offers peaceful seclusion

a bit of a genre purist so with a name like Sons Of The Forest, I was concerned it might be another of those so-called walking sims that are more concerned with making you listen to a Radio 4 dramatic monologue. Thankfully, no, this is simply a pretty walking simulator exploring an island bustling with wildlife. Here, enjoy this video with some sights from my peaceful strolls.

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