FUMES
Now this is entertainment! I must first admit to a bias - I am Polish. So seeing cars that were so popular in my country when I was a lad, seeing cars that my family HAD in vehicular combat is an instant hook for my attention. Who as a boy didn't dream of taking their Maluch or Polones to a desert wasteland, arm it with guns to wreak havoc? So that's that, but my bias doesn't take from the fact that FUMES is just awesome. It's a high-octane, simple, and direct game where you focus on one thing only - car-to-car combat. The loop is as straightforward as it gets - you find a scuffle, you ride around, swerve, and clutch-break around enemies to destroy them. Then use their scrap to beef up your ride, with new guns, new wheels, and lots of new decals.
And then, bosses! Awesome, super cool bosses - massive engines of destruction roaring through the wasteland, waiting for you to be bold and armed enough to take them down. All that wrapped in very rough and raw visuals, with all the retro trappings you could wish for - grain, CRT vibe. washed out, dirty colors. And banger tunes.
But there's even more! The title isn't merely a little nudge at the theme. The FUMES are a real deal in the game - purple smoke that, it seems, you are, possessing vehicles. Inhaling the inferior smog from defeated enemies to gain their powers! It's a tiny little thing, but it's fun to have some sort of narrative woven between the fast, deadly bouts of screeching metal and revving engines. But even that is not all - the game has extensive customization, and I mean, REALLY extensive. You can make your own skins, and repaint virtually anything you like to make your cars yours. Play it right now!
DIE IN THE DUNGEON
Damn, the title doesn't lie. The game is tough. Real tough. I had multiple runs in the demo, but never once managed to clear the first stage... yet. Nonetheless, despite what I'd call a rather challenging difficulty, the game is quite stellar! It's a roguelike adventure, and we all know it is a bit of a saturated market. So to stand out you really need to reinvent the wheel, to try something new. To offer on display a twist to the formula that can catch attention and hook players up. DIE IN THE DUNGEON manages via gentle meandering through well-known designs, mixing them up like a skilled DJ to present a unique combat system.
It's all about the dice you collect, and how you place them on the peculiar board. Each battle has a different board size and the dice interact with each other based on their placement. Many enemies will also toss various hindrances onto the board to limit your options. On top of that the dice themselves come in many flavors and tiers, crafting a good box of dice is essential to even have a fighting chance. And relics. Relics here remind me of relics in SLAY THE SPIRE - they are the true key to making a mean little engine that will both keep you alive and help decimate opponents.
So yeah, I am still struggling to fight my way through the dungeon, but I am loving the journey! Every run is a bit longer, a bit better, until I stumble like an absolute buffoon into a fight I am very much not ready for. And then, rinse, and repeat!
AIRBORNE EMPIRE
Nothing tickles me fancy as well as a good city builder. It's the pacing, you see. A good city builder, for me, gives you a constant flow of tiny goals. Something to always look to, to chase, to fulfill. Maybe you need to keep your population going, seeking key resources. Perhaps a certain research needs some special stuff you need to scrounge up. Or a threat looming over the horizon giving you a deadline to prepare. All that, when mashed well with good, intuitive systems, already can make a good game. But a great example of the genre goes a step forward. Take a look at FROSTPUNK, a hit and cult classic by now - the introduction of a dire social system and the dread of the coming frost is what elevates it as a game. Give it that sense of purpose few city builders could even try to match. That oppressive, heavy feeling, makes each action necessary, no matter how heavy-handed.
AIRBORNE EMPIRE is much, MUCH lighter in tone. It's almost whimsical. Beautiful landscapes, flocks of birds, gorgeous whales in the seas. Colorful towns, bird people chirping and cawing, it's very... soothing. But the city you control, the titular airborne might-be-empire-one-day is not an easy construction to upkeep. There are many new elements to keep in mind that you won't see in any other city management title. For example - Lift. To stay in the air you need to ensure you have a constant increase in your lift, building and maintaining an ever-growing array of propellers and fans. But lift alone won't take into consideration your platform tilt! Oh yes, you need to build your structures with careful placement, or the whole city starts to drag down to a side, making life on it quite lopsided. Making your citizens queasy and unhappy.
It's a stellar idea. Having a city that can move is pretty fresh, especially in such a fashion. This changes how you interact with pretty much every aspect of the game. How you gather resources, gather people, house them. How you manage expectations of the ever-growing population. And there's a great incentive to grow and progress. Not only because the cursed Sky Pirates will escalate in threat, sending more dangerous raids your way. But also because you're the floating shadow of hope for the cities of the land beneath, helping them rebuild and prosper.
The demo was superb. I was greatly immersed and had always something to tinker with, even if the majority of the game was a constant shuffle of the workforce around the landscape to keep my resources in healthy surplus. Quite excited for the full release now!
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