A new, short, free game every day this year

Ever wanted to play a different game each day? Sounds like it might be an expensive prospect, but things get easier when you expand your net to include indie and experimental titles. But there are so many! What should you play?! Deciding that might be a little bit easier this year in light of a just-launched new project from Vlambeer'??s Rami Ismail.

Titled Meditations, the project was originally conceived in early 2018, and consists of a free launcher that will, for every day in 2019, unlock a single short game created by one of hundreds of developers Ismail collaborated with over the course of last year. The games themselves were all developed in under a day by their respective developers, last just a few minutes each, and have varied mechanics, topics, and approaches, ranging "from curious small puzzle games and challenging little platformers to personal games about life and loss and happiness and love and death and everything." The launcher is already available to download from the Meditations website, and the first "Meditation" of 2019 is Tak's Tempres.

Each game is available only on the day it unlocks (in the GMT timezone, at least), and goes away at the end of that day, encouraging players to check in with Meditations as a habit of sorts. In essence, Meditations is a sort of indie-game equivalent to those "daily meditation" booklets you might find yourself or a loved one using as part of their morning or evening routine. Without knowing more about the games themselves, I think it's a fine idea, and a fun lit??tle way to discover more indie developers, especially if you're interested in the more experimental side of the scene.

Check out this Twitter thread for more from Ismail about the project, or get more details at Meditations' FAQ page.

The post Vlambeer’s Rami Ismail launches ‘Meditations’, a game-a-day project appeared first on Destructoid.

Twitch police

The Tearoom is based on a hidden surveillance camera sti??ng carried out in 1962 by the police in Mansfield, Ohio (a city I've frequently been in my entire life). The police set up a two-way mirror and filmed local gay men having sexual contact with each other, then used said footage to put them behind bars for a year or more under the now-defunct sodomy laws the state had at the time. The game's name comes from the slang term used to designate bathrooms used for cruising (hooking up with strangers in public), tearooms.

Yang is actually one of the most-banned developers on Twitch, and The Tearoom serves as a message not only to those in power at Twitch but to the video game ind?ustry as?? a whole:

"Today in 2017, police still target men who have sex with men -- and in video game land, I still have to deal with Twitch banning my gay games by secret trial as if they're the fucking game police. So to appease this oppressive conservative gamer-surveillance complex, I have swapped out any pesky pen??ises in my game for the only thing that the game industry will never moderate nor ban -- guns. Now, there's nothing wrong with guys appreciating other guys' guns, right?"

In The Tearoom, your goal is to peek at men as they use the urinal until they do the same to you, at which point they whip out their fleshy gun-shaped penises for you to lick in the first-person till they swell and colorize into realistic guns which then shoot hot loads of bullets loudly onto your face. You also have to avoid th?e cops while doing so, so you're forced to constantly look out a nearby window to make sure a cruiser isn't pulling up to arrest you for licking another man's gun. Each gun you lick to completion is presented as a trophy? in a nearby stall as if hung from a glory hole, but if you're busted by the cops your progress is erased, so look before you lick!

If you'd like to know more about the historical events The Tearoom is based on (and even see footage from the police sting), you can check out Yang's lengthy blog which also details his reasoning behind making the game and the design process. Be warned, there are spoilers for those who plan on playing the game, so maybe read it after giving it a go. One fact Yang doesn't point out is that during the 1960s, anal intercourse was considered taboo among gay men to the point that they had a slur for? those who did it: brownies, thus why you're only performing oral here.

The post This historical public gay?? sex simulator replaces p??enises with guns appeared first on Destructoid.

A conversation on curating little strange creations

It's easy to take video games for granted. There's just so many of them. By May 2017 alone, over 50 games have had physical releases, in addition to the thousands of titles launched digitally on platforms like Steam. A staggering amount of them were met with critical and commercial praise. The culture surrounding video games, too, is pervasive. People openly care about games. They slip Zelda references into normal conversations and wear sweatshirts emblazoned with Mass Effect logos in public. It's easy to be a fan of video games now because commercials?? for major franch??ises play during the Super Bowl. Like light beer and oversized trucks, video games are a token of modern existence, because we see them on TV.

But there's a growing scene of games that thrives in the underground. An increase in readily accessible development tools -- like the GameMaker and Unity suites -- allowed an entire subculture of creators to hone their craft, far removed from the bl??inding limelight of AAA releases. Out in the margins, a world of niche, low-budget homebrew games exist. There's a shocking amount of them; weird little concoctions that seek to defy convention and intensely personal artistic expressions that feel so far abstracted from what most people consider a video game that they're usually referred to as "altgames."

U?nles??s, of course, you're Steve Cook. He prefers the term "trashgames."

1,000 gamemakers thread, 1 tweet at a time.
#1 @q_dork: //t.co/Mjj3WHDx8h pic.twitter.com/KROxdmsnGp

— trashymctrashboy (@moshboy) May 14, 2016

Cook, who goes by the handle @moshboy on Twitter, is something of a video game curator. He rose to prominence in early 2014 following the release of The Pirate Bay Bundle, a collection of 100 games uploaded to the po?pular torrent site of the same name. The release, though unceremonious at first, picked up steam after numerous gaming publications covered it. Cook's intentions for the Bundle were s?imple -- a way to highlight a series of small, strange little games that would otherwise be forgotten.

"The Pirate Bay Bundle came from? a random thought," Cook told me in a? recent email. "I didn't think people would even be interested, or that I'd even get permission to put people's [video games] in there."

Despite tempered expectations, the Bundle took off, garnering the attention?? of press outlets and fans alike. Its enduring success, however, is just the tip of the curating iceberg. Over three years later, Cook is finishing up his biggest project yet: a Twitter thread highlighting 1,000 tiny games made by a diver??se collection of independent -- and largely unknown -- developers.

To look at Cook's thread is to ex??perience sensory overload. It's an explosion of GIFs featuring low-poly models and jarring tilesets. To the untrained eye, most of the games featured might look amateurish, but to him, that's the whole point.

"I think it was my late teens when I felt that mainstream games were pushing me away," Cook said. "There was a continually increasing focus on e?verything being 3D, and larger and larger budgets [for games]. It drove me to the opposite side of video games; the video games that I felt as few people cared about as possible: freeware games."

Cook's interest in freeware games and his passion for curating and sharing people's work serves as the core "thesis" of his massive Twitter thread. "The thread came to me as an idea to prove to myself that I could find 1,000 ??different?? gamemakers."

Now, over a year into the curating process, Cook nears the thousand-game m?ilestone. There are currently 958 games in the thread, ranging from little vaporwave-like mood pieces to fully 3D, isometric stealth games. Just combing through the list takes patience -- the breadth of titles contained is nothing short of stagge?ring -- but to play through all of them seems overwhelming.

Cook??, though, has played every single game in the thread. Sometimes it's only for a minute or two, he said, just to ge?t a feel for a creator's work. Other times, he plays for much longer than he originally anticipated. "A lot of what catches my eye depends on my mood."

Scrolling through Cook's th?read, it's difficult not to be impressed. The games he's found are a wild and eclectic lot. Most of them are made by developers who simply want to create in their free time. Many are completely unknown to the games industry at large. There's a sense of life and movement that persists through the list; a creative bug that's irresistible and inspiring. They may not be pretty -- and in fact, most of them aren't --?? but there's magic in each game's raw form.

"There is beauty," Cook said, "even i??n deeply flawed ga?mes."

here are some quick notes i took re: what i wanted the thread to achieve if anyone is interested in writing about it & asking me questions pic.twitter.com/ya1uizViZR

— trashymctrashboy (@moshboy) April 24, 2017

And whil?e the off-kilter collection's beauty might not resonate with everyone, Cook's enduring philosophy about video games surely will. Wh?en asked about what he hopes the key takeaway from his Twitter thread will be, Cook responded with the quote below:

"I want people to understand that everyone -- from the most experienced gamemakers to the amateurs -- can all learn something from each ot?her. I want to show the underbelly of video games, the video games that people were least likely ever to see. I'd love it if people approached this thread with an open mind. I want to inspire more people to become curat??ors for these alternative types of games because we could sure as hell use more."

Though Cook's curated thread is ultimately just that: a long, seemingly endless thread of bouncing GIFs and links to developer websites, it's the passion and dedication that elevates it. Over the course of the last year -- and earlier, as he has curated games in one way or another for more than a decade -- Cook has sought out anything that might inspire another person. "I really want people t?o understand that there is value in their work," he said. "So many assume that because hardly anyone is playing a game that they made, and no-one is giving them feedback that their work is rubbish." Nothing is off limits when it comes to Cook's curating, so long as it does something honest, and something different. 

As his thread marches towards its 1,000th entry, he?? seems excited -- and a bit relieved -- that a conclusion is in sigh??t.

"I thought i??t would take me twice as long," Cook said, "which is why? I never bothered to set a time frame for myself in the first place."

_{[Header image via Friedrich Hanisch]}

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Press P to pray

There have been 1,000 mass shootings in America over the last 3.5 years. That's almost good for a rate of one per day, though we only see the highlights make national news, like when 4??9 were killed in Orlando (another 53 injured) in the de??adliest mass shooting in the country's history.

The response to such massacres by those in power -- those with the power to, perhaps, try and decrease this rate of mass s??????????????????????????hootings -- is swift and consistent, whether the victims are over 100 patrons of an LGBT-safe club in Orlando or 20 children in a Connecticut elementary school: thoughts & prayers.

That's because, to quote an Onion piece that feels like it'll be forever relevant, there's 'No Way To Prevent This,' Says ?Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens.

Thoughts & Prayers: The Game is a free browser game that lets you try and save lives by? alternating between thinking about and praying for victims of mass shootings in Americ??a. So far my high score is 142 thoughts & prayers (I'm still dealing with this dislocated thumb), which saved a combined 0 lives, but I bet if you pray and think harder than me, you might save a few. One tip I can offer: ignore the "ban assault weapons sales" button that shows up halfway through the round. There's no keyboard shortcut that I can find (thoughts are mapped to T, prayers to P) so it means pulling out the mouse to click and: 1) that's way slower, eating into your thoughts and prayers total and 2) so far I can't get it to do anything.

The post Fight against rampant gun death in Thoughts & Prayers: The Game appeared first on Destructoid.

3D Zelda for 30 years

Before Form Software was acutely aware of the oil vein it'd hit with Demon's Souls in early 2009, the studio published Silicon Studio's (Bravely Default) 3D Dot Game Heroes for the tail end of the year. It was a 3D riff on the original Legend of Zelda that no one seemed to care about in?? Japan, though it ma??naged to do okay when Atlus brought it west.

If it was too on the nose, modern, or badly-named for you -- or maybe it's just lacked the childhood-memory-inducing music -- then try The Legend of Zelda 30-Year Tribute. It was created by a duo of fans (programmer Scott Lininger, artist Mike Magee), uses voxels to recreate the original game in 3D (like Dot Game Heroes), and works right in your computer or phone browser, no download required.

Of course, Nintendo is Nintendo, which means this thing, which isn't even f?inished yet, can be shut down at any point in time. Maybe even befo??re I can finish writing this pos.

The post Play the fan-made 3D remake of Legend of Zelda before it’s too late appeared first on Destructoid.

Other Locomalito titles to follow

I have a special spot in my heart for Locomalito. For years, the independent designer has been putting out great freeware games in his spare time, including Hydorah, Maldita Castilla, L'Abbaye des Morts, and The Curse of Issyos. Those first two are especially worth seeking out. ??Do it. Right now.

It's a pleasant surprise, then, to hear that some of the developer's titles are coming to consoles thanks to a partnership with Abylight Studios. Maldita Castilla is up first with a Q3 2016 launch.

Speaking with Des?tructoid, a represen??tative of Abylight said that "all major platforms" are being considered for the ports. "Game Maker, the engine in which the games have been developed, supports almost all them and we are in talks to see what can we do for the ones that are not."

I wondered about the pricing, given the donation-supported model used for the original PC versions of these titles, and was told "Locomalito?? is still developing the new levels and until the game is fully finished we won't be able to get a sense of the right pricing."

As for what will come next after Maldita Castilla, and when, that's unclear. Abylight says it is looking at ??"every title" in the portfolio and that "another release this year migh??t be too tight."

Abylight is bring?i?ng to consoles the acclaimed games of Locomalito, the brilliant homebrew developer [Abylight] [Image]

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Remodeled overworld and more

Five Nights at Freddy's World (or FNaF World for short) has re-released for free following its removal from Steam after developer Scott Cawthon admit?ted it had been released too ea??rly.

This updated version of the role-playing game includes a remodeled 3D overworld and many other new features??. What exactly the oth??er new features are is unknown at this time, aside from a few bug fixes and tweaks to boss difficulty and the character select screen.

FNaF World is currently only available for PC via GameJolt and is planned for mobile devi?ces in the future.

The post Five Nights at Freddy’s World updated and released for free appeared first on Destructoid.

MERCILESS pug speed dating sim returns

I covered and played the heck out of the MERCILESS pug speed dating sim Hot Date when it was released this summer, but maybe you didn't. So already we're doing good: reminding you of a cool game you could be playing right now!

But wait, there's more.

Hot Date just got a mobile launch on the iTunes App Store. Maybe you hate downloading and playing cool games on your personal computer (PC) but love downloading and playing games on your mobile cellphone. Maybe it's an easy opportunity to show off a cool game to the same kind of folks who lose hours to Neko Atsume on their cellies but don't play games otherwise.

Maybe you ?just have nothing to do?? tonight. I don't know, I don't know your life.

The post No Friday ?plans? How about a Hot Date (with a dog) appeared first on Destructoid.

Also Simon Amstell. Plus it is free

Crows Crows Crows, the new studio formed by The Stanley Parable co-creator William Pugh, just released its first game on Steam for free called Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger, a??nd the Terribly Cursed Emerald: A Whirlwi??nd Heist. It features the voices of comedian Simon Amstell and the voice of both Rick and Morty, Justin Roiland. 

If you're still reading and not frantically download??i?ng the game, why? But if you need more convincing, let me tell you a bit more without spoiling anything.

If you liked The Stanley Parable, like most sane people did, then you're going to at least enjoy this. Dr. Langeskov is a heist game that has players enthralled in a car chase, exploring a booby-trapped man?sion, fighting a tiger, and enduring inten?se weather...or is it?

In this narrative-driven exploration game, you'll be toying with the idea of player choice while Mr. Cucumber acts out. Along the way you'll be picking up coins, listening to audio tapes, and dealing with pencil terrorists. Just know that when you play you'll have ??to wait your t?urn, only one player at a time. 

The whole experience is rather short at around 20 minutes or so, but I've played it through about five times now due to what Crows Crows Crows marketing guy, Michael Cox, told me when I asked him about the length. "It could also be very short," he said. "It could also take longer depending on when you play it.?? It's...uhh strange."

I pressed Cox on why he specifically said "depending on when you play it" and he responded, "Have you played it twice?" I let him know that I had, and he continued, "Not enough, but you might not notice why right away. Every little thing you find ha??s purpose. Depending on how far down the rabbit hole you go the game will be more deep or more shallow. As people discover what's actually going on, you'll know. It won't be right away."

So sounds like there is more than meets the eye. All I know is I've knocked over many brooms, spun many coffee cups, pissed off a tiger, and so far my experience has been largely the same, but maybe you'll find the secret to the game? Or maybe there isn't a secret at all, and I'm being trolled. Hell, may??be I'm a troll. I'm not sure of anything at this point.

The post The Stanley Parable co-creator’s new game is out today and has the voice of Rick and Morty appeared first on Destructoid.

Yell at scientists to get them to safety

You’d think a stealth game that relies on you making a lot of noise would be pretty counter-intuitive, but that’s exactly what Valentina Chrysostomou is doing with her upcoming free game, Plan Be.

Plan Be is controlled predominan?tly using a microphone and voice recognition. Playing as someone in the control room of an underground facility, you’ll need to tell a trapped scientist when and where to move to get them to safety, as well as when to use items or environmental traps such as distr??acting loudspeakers.

Cutscenes are also controlled with your microphone, as talking to NPCs will be an important p??????????????????????????art of the game. Chrysostomou emphasises that while there are pre-set dialogue trees, there are also plenty of hidden optional?? routes too, assuming you find the right voice commands.

I’m really looking forward to trying out Plan Be. It’s looking like it could be a pretty damn solid game, assuming the voice controls work properly. We’ll know for sure soon, as the game is currently set for release in December through GameJolt, Itch.io and IndieGameStand. For now though, there are plenty of videos and screenshots to look through.

This could be something very interesting indeed.

The post Plan Be is a free, voice-controlled stealth game appeared first on Destructoid.

Free games

Lot of out of the blue Tribes news this year. Developer Hi-Rez released its appropriately named "Out of the Blue" update to Tribes Ascend after two years of nada back in September.

Now, each entry in the series joins Ascend in being free. That includes the Earthsiege games and even the PS2 game Tribes: Aerial Assault. Yes, a developer is giving you it??s decade-plus old PS2 game for free on PC for kicks. Well, for good will and to invigorate its newe?st iteration, too, I'm sure.

Still, free games.

The post Tribes Ascend dev releases past Tribes for free appeared first on Destructoid.

Made in the 90s, but never quite hatched

Way, way back in the dark, unknown past of the 1980s, Codemasters published the Oliver Twins’ hit series Dizzy for platforms like the Sinclaire ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, and Amstrad CPC. Starring a sentient egg who had to save his friends, the last proper Dizzy game to come out was in 1992… which was before I was ?even born. Yikes.

Well one day, the Oliver twins were rummaging through their loft when they found the design documents and files to a long lost and unreleased NES title called Wonderland Dizzy. Thanks to the series’ surprisingly active and passionate community, the Oliver twins ??and Cod?emasters were able to get the ROM running in a browser emulator.

Now, decades after it was made, Wonderland Dizzy has finally been released for free. It’s considered to be the newest main series Dizzy game and has had some tweaks including wider language support and an infinite lives mode to make? things a bit easier.

You can watch the video talking more in-depth about Wonderland Dizzy’s discovery up top, or you can go to the official website to play the game in your browser for free on their website, which also fabulously looks like something from 1992??.

Now if you egg-scuse me, I need to hatch some new egg yolks to finish this news post off. I shell return once I have thought of them, as I’m convinced they’ll crack you up.

The post After 23 years, a new an??d?? official Dizzy game has been released for free appeared first on Destructoid.

Tactical Nokia Action

Grab a friend (or brother!). Snake? Snake! is competitive Snake starring Solid and Liquid Sn??akes. The rules are slightly different from th?e cellphone game you remember. There is a taunt button. Matches last 30 seconds. You can cross your own body, but running into your opponent's deducts a point from your score. Otherwise, go eat little pips, represented here as Fulton-extracting sleeping soldiers.

You can play it here.

Like the Twin Peaks dancing game, Snake? Snake! was made for Fantastic Arcade's Duplicade Game Jam, which is themed around quick player-versus-player games that feel like bootlegs "just weird enough to not get you sued." Fittingly, it was made in part by oldtime jbsgame.community member and my recent Facebook friend Eric Neuhaus, creator of Legend of Zeldo: Lonk's Awakening.

I just? notice?d, "This is a snaking mission." Nice, nice.

The post Snake? Snake! is Snake but with Metal Gear Snakes appeared first on Destructoid.

Playable browser bummer

This is one of my favorite jokes. I just did this joke about that John Wick VR shooter (Johnnui), though that mostly stemmed from pronouncing John Wick with a bad French accident an??d just happened to be approp??riate.

Ennuigi (playable here) makes for a fun, depressing little distraction as it looks literally at the cartoonish abstractions of the Mushroom Kingdom. That's all there is: walk, smoke, rum??inate. Warp pipes? "I just wish one would take me home."

This Luigi says, "Oh, I've been to Prague. Well, I haven't been ?to Prague, but I've 'been to P?rague,'" and he sucks.

The post Luigi walks, smokes, and ruminates in Ennuigi appeared first on Destructoid.

Get that Game Boy aesthetic

Look, we're all still a little peeved that Nintendo has neglected to make a 2D Metroid game in more than 10 years. However, while Nintendo has consistently jilted its Samus fans, we have been spoiled for choice in terms of off-brand entities in the genre. Perhaps we can soon add A Mini Falafel Adventure to the list.

A Mini Falafel Adventure is one of those classic indie stories: developed largely by a single person over several years, featuring a quirky cast of characters, and available free of charge for anybody who wants to play it. Go ahead and download it here if you fancy Game Boy-styled four-color visuals and the? classic run/jump/backtrack gameplay loop.

The post Freeware metroidvania A Mini Falafel Adve??nture playable now appeared first on Destructoid.

I got it for the low, low

A new fan made game that mashes up Half-Life and Hotline Miami is coming soon for the low, low price of free. Developer Thomas Kole has built Half-Line Miami on a custom engine from the ground up. From the looks of it the gravity gun is the one and only gun available. ??The game will be released free with a level creator soon.

For now check out more information and screenshots over at the game's IndieDB page.

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Amazing and free

Dates are sweet. The fruit. Dating? Hit or miss. So many games with dating elements ?boil down to easy win conditions, wooing success. It's very easy to pick out what you're supposed to say to these fake, digital people to make them love you.

Maybe it's just different with fake, digital pugs? Because the speed dating participups in Hot Date are not having your shit. No coasting by here.?? Even something innocuous can be a huge turn off. And that's great! A hell of lot more realistic than dating sims where the other party is always impressed. In real life, sometimes other people don't care about or find interest in things you do and that's okay.

These conversations are sometimes awkward, sometimes self-esteem destroying, but they evoke way ??more real feelings of unguarded, eager, and frightened human interaction.

Plus it's funny and adorable as all get out. Pretty and well-scored, too. And, hell, it's completely free to download and play right now.

The post Hot Date is a MERCILESS pug speed dating sim appeared first on Destructoid.

I just checked, and yes, this game is still money

Your eyes do not deceive! Tony Ponce is writing about Mega Man on the front page!

I want to talk today about Mega Man Unlimited, the fan game I reviewed nearly two years ago that made me cry manly tears. You remember that tasty jam, right? I still think about it often. Hell, I replay the soundtrack in my car like it's a religion!

But while the world has gone back to tsk-tsking Capcom for its continued mishandling of little boy blue, Unlimited lead designer Philippe "MegaPhilX" Poulin has continued to tweak his baby with bug fixes and all-new features. I wrote about the update that added an easy mode a mere month after the game? first launched, but several ?further updates have popped up since. The reason you haven't heard about those others until now is because... well... I wasn't around to tell you!

Have no fear, brothers and sisters! I am here once more! And what's this? It looks like MegaPhilX pushed out Version 1.2.2 just a week ago, and it's packed with peanuts!

The biggest addition in this update is Challenges Mode, although it's not yet as robust as the one featured in Mega Man 10. So far, there are only two types ??of challenges: P?erfect Robot Master battles and Omega Robot Master battles.

The former are self-explanatory -- beat each boss without getting hit using only the Mega Buster. In Omega battles, each boss is enveloped in a sinister aura whic?h boosts their movement and attack? speed while significantly increasing the amount of damage they inflict. Should you beat an Omega Master, their weapon in the main game will have its energy consumption halved.

As I said, there have been several prior updates as well. The most significant was Version 1.2.0 last August, which added an Endless Attack Mode, like the one from Mega Man 9 and 10, and an Endless Boss Attack Mode. Also along for the ride was a tenth Robot Master, Whirlpool Man, who resides in a special stage in separate mode. Beat him and you'll be able to use his weapon in the main campaign, just as with the Mega Man Killers in Mega Man 10.

Then there was the small yet no less significant Version 1.2.1, which reacquainted Rock with his trusty charge shot, making certain bosses much less of a headache. If you prefer to play the way MegaPhilX originally intended, though?, you can disable the charge shot in the menu.

If this is your first time hearing about Mega Man Unlimited, find some time to fill that Blue Bomber-sized hole in your life. Seriously, I can't recommend it enough. And it's free. And it's way, way better than Street Fighter X Mega Man. And Capcom's ??not d??oing jack with Mega Man anyway.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have a comic crossover I need to freak out about.

Download Megaman Unlimited [MegaPhilX]

The post Mega Man Unlimited gets super tough Omeg??a boss?es and more appeared first on Destructoid.

Return to the days of keyboard flashcards and 200-page manuals

If Randy Pitchford and Peter Molyneux had a baby, Derek Smart would be the result. The long-running controversy concerning his first game Battlecruiser 3000AD is the stuff of internet legend and could fill a tome. With Usenet flame wars, lawsuits, and flipped tables, it wa??s a huge ordeal.

I bought both BC3K and Battlecruiser Millenium and they're near and dear to my heart. The?y're not good games, they're bro??ken, confusing, rambling games, but they were ambitious and I had as much fun trying to get them to work and figuring out just what the fuck was even going on than I've had with complete AAA titles.

3000AD is still around and kicking, though not nearly as vocal as it was in the late '90s. To commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Battlecruiser series, the company has remastered Universal Combat 2.0 Collector's Edition and released it on Steam for free. Derek Smart might be crazy as a shithouse rat, but he does show appreciation for his fans as this release is just the latest in 3000AD's policy of making its older games available as shareware when support for them is ended.

3000AD is still hard at work bringing its unique brand of broken, yet intriguing, space odysseys to new generations of players with a new refresh of Universal Combat underway. Regardless of quality I'm glad that there are developers like this in ??the industry wh??o aren't afraid to reject the status quo.

Univer??sal Combat CE "remastere?d" and released for free on Steam [PC Gamer]

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Made for London's Science Museum

At first, Transmission looks like a pretty standard Eulerian path-based puzzle game. That is not a bad thing; I was pretty hooked on Lyne for a while. But as Transmission progresses, it follows the history of electronic c??ommunication, and it uses that history to introduce new elements that build on its complex system.

Beginning with the telegraph, there are simple transmitters and receivers, and the goal is to get information (represented by cubes) from the former to the latter. Eventually, networks allow for information loops, hubs require multiple pieces of information, broadcasters cover an area rather than functioning point-to-point, satelli??tes differentiate types ??of information, and more.

Built for the Information Age Exhibit at the Science Museum in London, Transmission sneaks a little bit of education on the history and function of information technology into its sharp, minimalist package. It is playable for free through a browser, on Android, and on iOS.

The post Play free puzzler Transmis?sion and maybe learn a little appeared first on Destructoid.

A sharp-looking minimalist FPS coupled with an exceptional OST by Wolfgun

What if Berzerk were reborn as a first-person shooter using the DarkPlaces engine? What if the soundtrack were crafted by electronic music producer Wolfgun? What if you coul??d be playing this game, right now, for free?

The answers to all these questions and more can be found on talented Australian indie developer Adam Freeman's IndieDB page.

Described as a love letter to the classic game Berzerk with just a dash of Tron, Hazard, is a stylish-looking first-person shooter that reminds me of Early Access titles Heavy Bullets and Black Ice. If you'd like to see the game in motion, you can check out the footage that was recently featured in episode twenty-three of Fork's Indie Bytes series.

I'm not sure if it's the '80s-visio?n-of-cyberspace aesthetic or if it's the outstanding soundtrack t??hat it is paired with that makes this project so appealing to me. In any case, this game is definitely worthy of a look. Besides, it's free. What have you got to lose?

I'm definitely going to be keeping an eye on Freeman's work in the future. If this ?is just a prototype/proof-of-concept, I can't wait to see what ??he'll put together as his first full-fledged game.

Also, if you get a chance, make sure to give the Wolfgun cover of Sinatra's "Fly Me to the Moon" a listen. It's pretty great.

The post Adam Freeman’s Berzerk-influenced Hazard is pretty snazzy, also completely free appeared first on Destructoid.

'Over 7 bits'

There is a lot to take in with this trailer for Mibibli's Quest. It starts with what seems like a standard Mega Man-like, but soon after it introduces elements from Dance Dance Revolution, VVVVVV, shmups, and Street Fighter. For a title coming fr??????????????????????????om a developer?? called Games for Weird People, it seems appropriate.

As with developer Ryan Melmoth's previous game, which was an entry to February's Flappy Jam, Mibibli's Quest is free to download and play to completion. Melmoth is taking donations from players who enjoy it and want to support more wacky ideas like?? it.

The post Freeware game Mibibli’s Quest looks pretty mental appeared first on Destructoid.

Admittedly less insane than previous games by developer Ultimate Walrus

The Ludum Dare 29 game jam is currently in the voting phase, with the theme "beneath the surface." Developer Sebastian Janisz of Ultimate Walrus took the theme to a decidedly less mental place than some of his past creations, where the pla??yer controls a submersible vehicle as it travels down int??o the sea near a coral reef. Despite the decrease in wackiness, it looks cool.

With its isometric view, parts of it almost remind me of the crate puzzles inside the pirate ship in Super Mario RPG. At its core, it is a shooter (poor jellyfish), but what makes it unique is that it allows for three-dimensional traversal inside its two-dimensional engine. Though his game jam entry is available as freeware, Janisz wants to flesh the idea out ?into a larger game soon.

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Thrust and rush

Last weekend, I dropped in on IndieCade East to have a look at some of the new games being shown off. Foiled is one such game and I can't get it out of my mind. Designed by first-time developer Gabe Cuzzillo, it puts two players in a single-scre?en arena?, each controlling a fencer, with the aim of stealing the other's soul.

Like many multiplayer arena combat games, Foiled is both physically and psychologically demanding. Moments of quick action punctuate contemplative strategy. Good offense provides more offensive opportunities, while good defense provides the chance to stop a swelling tide cold. Foiled exp??loits both t?o force players into uncomfortable decisions with aplomb.

Helping to keep the game streamlined and fast are the stripped down fencing mechanics. Foils stick out?? directly in front of the characters at almost all times, making thrust and parry techniques passive activity on the horizontal plane. If the tip of your sword hits the opponent's body, it kills them. If it hits their sword, it parries. That's the simple bit.

When things get vertical is when they get interesting. Fencer??s can jump and use their ever-pointing foil to perform wall jumps off of environmental objects, then come crashing down on their opponent with a dive. This can be dodged or parried with the game's only other command, a quick upward slash which requires precise timing but can be used both defensively and offensively when mastered. And, of course?, both maneuvers temporarily open a combatant up to taking a sword in the side by sacrificing that constant, passive defense in the forward-facing direction.

Just? killing your opponent isn't enough to win. Once someone has died, their soul is released and the killer now has ten seconds to carry it into a scoring area in one of the arena's upper corners before it disintegrates. The slain player then respawns close to the scoring area, giving them an opportunity to defend from a pos?itional advantage while creating an obstacle for the player trying to score. Failing to score before a soul dies means having to secure another soul, placing pressure on the offensive player to either stay on the offensive or lose their advantage, while the defending player need only keep their opponent at bay long enough to level the playing field again.

This creates tension of a most wonderful sort. While you can draw clear comparisons to recently released Nidhogg, as they do share several common mechanics and both package them in the style of a fencing duel, Foiled can be much more heartbreaking to lose as victory never seems far out of reach. A truly great player could chain together one kill after another and score the three points necessary to be a round's victor in a very short fashion, but the ease with which a player can defend -- owing to the passive manner in which all movement both attacks and defends in the direction the player faces -- makes even a novice threatening to overly aggressi??ve strategy.

You don't just have to take my word for it. Grab a friend (and a couple of controllers; keyboard support exists but is not recommended), go download the game for free from the official Foiled site and get to stabbing. As a first attempt at game development, Foiled s??uggests that Cuzzillo is a designer worth watchin??g.

The post Foiled is another head game fueled by fencing appeared first on Destructoid.

Eat your corny flakes

What did you get on Christmas last year? If you're a daily Destructoid reader, then the answer is "a free weird videogame" in the form of Beokay, a music infused space shooting romp. Beokay was the first release in the Pale Machine Expansion Pack, a series of free games that coincide with an album of songs by Calum Bowen. 

The latest game in the series is by Ben Esposito (Perfect Stride, Unfinished Swan), and it's one of the most Katamari-ish yet. I enjoyed interacting with the world, discovering what I might see and feel, all while listen??ing to the strange and energetic music. Warning: there may be some abstract boobs in there. Don't p?lay if that might cause problems for you. 

The post Pale Machine is a playable m??outh and eyeball music video appeared first on Destructoid.

Download this!

The lovely, successful Kickstarter game Sir, You Are Being Hunted is sitting in an alpha state. I'm eagerly ?awaiting its completion -- it's expected to be in beta within a few months -- so I can be chased around an island for sport by aristocratic robots. 

In the meantime, Sir, You Are Being Hunted developer Big Robot has gone ahead and put a free, procedurally generated racer on its website. You can download it for free on Mac or PC. It's pretty cool looking, a bit like the recent Race the Sun.

The post Sir, ?You Are Being Hunted dev released a cool, free racer appeared first on Destructoid.

A class aquatic

Have you ever been woefully ill-prepared for a test that could negatively impact your life because of the test score blinded educational system? And, also, all your classmates were dolphins? Welcome to Classroom Aquatic.

As an exchange student in a dolphin-led classroom, you must cheat on your porp quiz in order to finish within the allotted time, all without alerting the professor or fellow students. Your glances must be surreptitious and porpoiseful, while you can also toss an eraser to? cause distractions. You can even toss it at a skeleton.

The second best part of all this is that this game works with the Oculus Rift for a more realistic cheating simulator. There is also a non-Rift version, however. Both can be downloaded, in alpha state (expect bugs), here.

The post Your classmates are dolphins, you have to ch??eat on a quiz appeared first on Destructoid.

Starting with Clone and Win R.L. Stien's money

Some people want to make videogames. A lot of want to play videogames. Everyone wants to get something for free. Tidbytes brings all those wants over one roof. 

Zoe Quinn (Depression Quest) latest project pledges to provide you, the player, with a new videogame every two weeks. So far we've gotten Clone and Win R.L. Stien's Money. If you're a fan of Zoe's prior games like Crystal Crashers and Jeff Goldblum Staring Contest, then you'll find a lot to love here. 

The plan is to release a new Tidbyt?e ever other Thursday, which puts us out until November 28th for the next installment. It will be interest?ing to see how long Zoe can keep up this pace, and what she puts out next. 

The post Zo?e Q??uinn launches Tidbytes: Biweekly free games for you appeared first on Destructoid.

'Go visit an art museum in your area and quit video games'

Developer Arcane Kids wanted to do something, uh, nice (?) for Bubsy's 18th birthday. So, it brought Bubs back in this low polygon, free, 3D browser game, Bubsy 3D: ??Bubsy Visits the James Turrell Retrospective.

It starts off innocuous enough as frogs tell you how to jump and you collect balls of yarn or possibly acid. Then you go to an art museum that wants ??you to quit video games before you're rocketed off to Hell. Enjoy! 

Oh, and here's a compilation of cheats.

The post Bubsy goes to a mu?seum and then to Hell in t??his tribute appeared first on Destructoid.

Damn teens!

The South Korean National Police Agency is warning internet users of free game downloads that could potentially be developed by insidious North Koreans waging cyber wars. Arirang News reports. The police allege free game software developed in ??North Korea has been distributed in ??South Korea and that infected computers can then launch DDoS attacks.

Independent intelligence analyst Matthew Aid, speaking to Voice of America, said, "What the North Kore?ans are doing is something akin to a honey trap for techno-crazed South Koreans. No teen will ever pass up an offer for free games online."

Damn teens! I knew they would bring down (South Korean) civilization?!

Police warn of malwar??e in North Korean gami?ng programs [Arirang News]

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