Gaming Chat

AZWification said:

said:

AZWification said:

To be honest, some indie horror games are pretty scary and pretty good actually!

 

Oh, I know.  I've even encountered some pretty decent free ones.  Ever played the Exmortis series?  They're just point-and-click flash games, but don't let that put you off - for simple games, they're very well done and very atmospheric.  If you're interested, here are the first two (free) games - there's also a third (paid) game with a free demo, but for some reason it doesn't appear to be working any more.

Anyway, these are best played like Silent Hill - with the lights off and your headphones turned up...

Exmortis

Exmortis 2

I've come across other such games, of course, but these just happened to pop into my head.  Probably because they are old favourites from years ago.  In fact, the original Exmortis was one of the first flash games I ever played.  I'm sure you can imagine my disappointment as time went by and I started to realize that not all free flash games were quite that good.

But anyway, yeah, I love indies.  And there are definitely some sweet indie horror games.  Got any recommendations, free or otherwise?

Wow, both of those are free?

 

Yep.  Like I said, there is also a third (the final in the series, as I recall) which was a paid game but had a free demo.  Unfortunately, the demo doesn't appear to load any more.  I'm not sure why.  And I can't find it on the site where it used to be available so it looks like you can't even buy it any more. :-/

Anyway, yeah, I love the Exmortis games.  And they were developed by just one guy - a fellow Aussie named Ben Leffler... a very close, personal friend of mine (just kidding - I don't know him ).

 

AZWification said:

Thank you for telling me about them since I will definitely try them!

 

No problem!  I hope you enjoy them.  Bear in mind that they are simple point-and-click games so don't expect AAA graphics or anything.  Having said that, I can't help but feel that if you're a fan of Silent Hill, you'll also like these.

You'd actually be surprised how much good free stuff there is out there.  It just tends to get bogged down in a sea of mediocrity.  When you're looking for quality free games, you do have to wade through a lot of... shall we say... "variable" quality offerings to find the good stuff.  But it is out there.

Do you play any Unity games?  If you don't know, Unity is a web player like Flash but it's more powerful for things like 3D graphics.  It's kind of like Flash on steroids.  So, it's not limited to 2D platformers, point-and-click games, etc.  It can do all those, but it can also do higher-end stuff with 3D environments.  I know of several free-to-play FPS's that use Unity.

 

sundin13 said:
Lone Survivor is a ton of fun, although I have yet to beat it. Its 2D pixel art but it still manages to be quite scary...

 

If you like that kind of thing, I can make a couple of recommendations (for AZWification too, if you're interested).

The Last Door - An episodic series, currently with one complete season (four games).  These guys actually have an interesting crowdfunding model, whereby they only charge for the latest episode.  Then, when they have enough to fund completion of the next episode, that one goes up for sale and the prior episode is released for free.  So far, the first three episodes (and a prologue) are free to play on Newgrounds.  You can find them on their submissions page here...

http://thegamekitchen.newgrounds.com/games/

If you're interested in supporting them, there's more on their site...

https://thelastdoor.com/index.php/menu

If I'm reading things correctly, it sounds like episode 5 has reached its funding goal and will be coming out soon, at which time, episode 4 will go free to play.  That means the first season will be fully playable for free.

It looks like GOG.com also have a full season "Collector's Edition" available, if you're looking for another way to support the devs.  "Exclusive new locations, scenes, puzzles, stories"... and... "Enhanced graphics and remastered sound" apparently.  I don't have it so I can't attest to any of that, but they do look like nice extras.  Actually, what stands out to me the most in all of that is the remastered sound because I thought the sound design in these games was excellent.

If that kind of thing interests you, it can be found here...

http://www.gog.com/game/last_door_collectors_edition_the

Here's the trailer, too.  Again, don't be fooled by the graphics; these games are very atmospheric...

 

 

Also, I'd like to recommend a quadrilogy of games collectively known as The Chzo Mythos.  They were created by Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw, another fellow Aussie (though British-born... filthy Pom!) and close personal friend of mine (not really).  If you don't know him by name, he's the guy who does the Zero Punctuation game reviews.

Anyway, these are made in the style of the old graphic adventure games of the 80s and 90s.  They don't have the sheer atmosphere of Lone Survivor or The Last Door but the story is brilliant, especially in the third and fourth games, where it all comes together.

It actually took a bit of finding downloads for these since the links on Croshaw's site don't seem to work any more, but I managed to find a pack that includes all the special editions (which include additional content like author's commentary, soundtrack files, etc).  These versions used to be available for $5 but Croshaw later released them when he stopped accepting donations on his site, so don't worry, the free downloads are completely above board.

http://www.g4g.it/download/comment.php?dlid=3158

Note: This pack actually contains five Croshaw games.  Just be aware that 1213, while a decent game in its own right, is not a part of The Chzo Mythos.  The other four form a collective story but 1213 is unrelated.

And, regarding the other four, the correct order to play them is as follows (and yes, I know the timeline jumps around but trust me, this is the correct order)...

5 Days a Stranger

7 Days a Skeptic

Trilby's Notes

6 Days a Sacrifice