In Limbo? Here is your Bastion of F(ez)un#yolo

If you haven’t heard of Humble Bundle you should really check it out! They are an organisation that will regularly provide a bundle of games for any price you want to pay, and if you pay above the average (normally around £5) you will get some more “premium” games. Once you have selected how much you want to pay you can choose where your money goes- to charities like Childs Play or to the game developers. Recently I bought the Indie Bundle 9 which contained some great games; Limbo, Bastion, Fez, Mark of the Ninja, Eets Munchies, FTL, A Virus named Tom…amongst others. Here is a review of the first 3 games. Limbo is a 2D side-scroller like no other. Although at first it seems a very simple game, the only controls being moving left to right, grabbing objects and jumping, the puzzles that you solve grow in complexity leading to some that will take some precise controlling and thinking to conquer. Visually is where this game really stands out, the black and white minimalistic world is more like a piece of art and is enchanting the whole way through the game. This game is a horror game but there are no planned jump moments, the horror works entirely on the simplicity of the world and its creepy inhabitants. One of my favourite things was the terrifying spider you meet in the beginning who keeps coming back to surprise you in some quite comedic ways. The controls are simple, but smooth and respond exactly as you would expect especially when using a controller. Although the game itself is very linear, there are plenty of hidden areas hinted at by the games achievements, and after you have completed the 4-5 hour storyline you will probably want to go back and explore. Maybe you will complete challenge of completing the game in one sitting with only 5 deaths? Overall this game demonstrates the originality of Indie games and I would recommend this to everyone. Out of all the games in this Bundle I think Fez is my favourite. In fact it might be one of my favourite games of all time. Fez is a puzzle game in which you can only see 2 dimensions of the 3-dimensional world at any one time. The fez you wear gives you the ability to rotate your point of view by pi/2 (degrees are for babies) so you can view the world from a new perspective (imagine that you can only see one side of a cube at any one time). In fact this is very much like Flatland as a video game. The object of the game is to collect cube pieces (that come in two sizes; small ones that make a completed one and a completed one). These are hidden around lots of stages that connect to each other by doors and portals. The world itself is complex and it’s easy to find new areas and lose yourself as even the map isn’t that helpful, but this just adds to the multidimensional thinking that you need to solve the puzzles. Fez plays like a platformer and the beautiful pixel art adds to give this game a retro feel. Games like this are why I like Indie games so much. They are original, inspiring and are just great fun games to play. Fez will provide hours of fun and a long challenge if you want to 100% complete the game. Bastion isn’t one of the games I originally bought the bundle for, but as soon as I tried it I was hooked. This game is a space-western action role play game in which you play as a survivor of a world changing event called the Calamity. You are brought to the Bastion which lets you jump off to fractured pieces of the world in order to collect fragments which increase the Bastions power. As the Bastion becomes more powerful you gain the ability to choose and upgrade buildings such as the armoury which lets you switch out the weapons you find throughout the levels, and the Distillery which lets you brew beverages which gives you special powers. The beauty of the game lies in its simplicity. The art style is unique and the world gets created in front of your eyes bit by bit. There is a narrator that constantly comments on every aspect of the game, from you standing up at the beginning, to you falling off the edge. You might think this would be annoying, but actually this is one of the best features of the game. The narrator often adds comedic value and gives you important lore and backstory seamlessly, without the action stopping. To top off what is a wonderful game, the soundtrack is one of the best of any game. Pick this game up! It is a very easy game to just jump into and enjoy for as long as you have time for and the new-game plus where you keep the levels you’ve accumulated so far gives it replay value.