Developed by Tomorrow Corporation, a three-man development team comprised of World of Goo and Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure alumni, Little Inferno is essentially a fireplace simulator/puzzle game that really is quite unlike anything I’ve ever played before. Which is undoubtedly why it’s up for a total of three awards (and a couple of honourable mentions) at this years IGF contest: the Seumas McNally Grand Prize, the Technical Excellence award and the Nuovo Award, which celebrates innovation.

Less of a game and more of a toy, Little Inferno sits you down in front of the Little Inferno Entertainment Fireplace, and wastes no time in telling you to burn things. Gameplay is a extraordinarily simple proposition. Taking place on the single-screen locale of a fireplace and controlled using just the mouse, players must burn an assortment of items for which theyare rewarded with cash. This cash can then be used to purchase new things to burn. Burning a special combination of items awards more cash and eventually allows you to purchase new catalogues full of increasingly expensive and random items.

Aesthetically Little Inferno has a bold, childlike quality to it, albeit one with a slightly dark twist. Think World of Goo with a dash of Tim Burton and you’re almost there. The items you purchase and ultimately burn are all well illustrated and animated. However, it’s the fire effects that take first place in the prettiest pixels pageant. Finely treading the line between realistic and stylised, the flames behave as you’d expect them to thanks to an impressive physics system. As soon as you start to burn things it becomes apparent why it’s up for a Technical Excellence award.

Pretty visuals will only carry you so far though, as after spending an hour with the PC version of Little Inferno I began to feel the initial nostalgia buzz wearing off, leaving in it’s wake a simplistic, repetitive experience. It’s really just a case of burn and buy, burn and burn, ad infinitum, which would be best enjoyed in bite-sized chunks. The condensed gameplay loop would be ideal for journeys on public transport and/or quick visits to the bathroom meaning the iPad version is probably the way to go with this one.

Still, despite it’s mechanical shortcomings Little Inferno certainly doesn’t out stay its welcome and clocks in at just over the three hour mark. Harbouring some genuinely dark undertones the game surprises in the storytelling department. Set in an icy post-apocalyptic milieu, the plot is literally delivered piecemeal in the form mysterious letters from three distinct characters. The writing at work here is sharp, funny, unsettling, and ultimately what kept me burning things way after the initial fun with fire had ran its course. Without a doubt it’s a game worth seeing right through to the end. Tomorrow Corporation deliver a surprisingly satisfying conclusion, from both a mechanical and narrative perspective.

Unquestionably the game is a comment on our obsession with commercial culture and possibly touches a little on the addictive nature of videogaming itself. Food for thought, people. Food for thought…

All in all, Little Inferno undoubtedly offers an innovative, subversive and visually interesting experience, if a relatively short lived one. It’s a game that managed to recapture the curious, inquisitive nature of my youth while hooking me with its enigmatic narrative. The simplistic and compact nature of mechanics at play mean it’s a game best enjoyed in short bursts. While this is a must-buy for iPad owners, I encourage tablet-less folk to be aware of what kind of experience is on offer here, otherwise you may well end up getting burnt.

Website: http://tomorrowcorporation.com/littleinferno

Developer: Tomorrow Corporation

Format: Windows, Wii U and iOS. Linux & OSX coming soon.

Release Date: 18th November 2012

Now in its fifteenth year, the centerpiece of the festival are undoubtedly the IGF Awards. Divided across seven categories, each housing five nominees, the awards celebrate excellence in visual art, narrative, technical skill, design, audio and innovation. Previous winners, such as Fez, Limbo and Amnesia: The Dark Descent have gone on to achieve both critical and commercial success. Did I mention that there is a total of $50,000 up for grabs between the different awards?

With that kind of exposure and prize money available it should come as no surprise that gaining entry to the contest is pretty tough. This year there were a whopping 567 games submitted to the competition for consideration. These were then whittled down to the final five per-category by around 200 acting judges. On January 7th the finalists were unveiled, they are as follows…

Excellence In Visual Art

Incredipede (Northway Games and Thomas Shahan)
Kentucky Route Zero (Cardboard Computer)
Guacamelee! (Drinkbox Studios)
Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime (Asteroid Base)
Year Walk (Simogo)

Excellence In Narrative

Thirty Flights of Loving (Blendo Games)
Cart Life (Richard Hofmeier)
Kentucky Route Zero (Cardboard Computer)
Dys4ia (Auntie Pixelante)
Gone Home (The Fullbright Company)

Technical Excellence

StarForge (CodeHatch)
Perspective (DigiPen Widdershins)
Little Inferno (Tomorrow Corporation)
Intrusion 2 (Aleksey Abramenko)
LiquidSketch (Tobias Neukom)

Excellence In Design

Samurai Gunn (Beau Blyth)
FTL: Faster Than Light (Subset Games)
Starseed Pilgrim (Droqen & Ryan Roth)
Super Hexagon (Terry Cavanagh)
Super Space ______ (David Scamehorn & Alexander Baard/DigiPen)

Excellence In Audio

Kentucky Route Zero (Cardboard Computer)
Bad Hotel (Lucky Frame)
140 (Jeppe Carlsen)
Hotline Miami (Dennaton Games)
Pixeljunk 4AM (Q-Games)

Nuovo Award

Cart Life (Richard Hofmeier)
Spaceteam (Henry Smith)
Dys4ia (Auntie Pixelante)
Bientot l’ete (Tale of Tales)
7 Grand Steps (Mousechief)
MirrorMoon (SantaRagione + BloodyMonkey)
VESPER.5 (Michael Brough)
Little Inferno (Tomorrow Corporation)

Seumas McNally Grand Prize

Hotline Miami (Dennaton Games)
FTL: Faster Than Light (Subset Games)
Cart Life (Richard Hofmeier)
Little Inferno (Tomorrow Corporation)
Kentucky Route Zero (Cardboard Computer)

Now, for the reason I’m telling you all this: I’ve decided to spend the run up to the awards by playing as many of the titles nominated for awards as I can. I won’t be able to play them all, mainly due to time, financial and hardware constrains, but also simply because some of the games listed are unfinished and therefore haven’t been released yet. (Gone Home, I’m looking at you!)

I won’t be aiming to play each game to completion either, instead I’ll be putting an hour or so into each, maybe a little more if something grabs me, so the words you can expect read on these pages over the coming weeks won’t be reviews per se, but more like impression pieces. Consider them your spotlight on the IGF 2013.

Oh, and before I forget, IGF also run an Audience Award. You can vote for your pick of any of the finalists at http://www.igf.com/audience.php. You should totally go do that now.

This is the very question Benjamin Rivers has set out to answer by developing upcoming horror title, Home.

Scheduled for release this summer, Home, is a 2D side-scrolling adventure game. It’s very much a deconstruction of the horror genre. Rivers has taken a stripped back approach to game development. By using an 8-bit aesthetic and simple exploration based game play, he is focusing on delivering scares the old fashioned way. In essence, creating an interactive horror novel.

With such a heavy reliance of narrative, its a relief that Home looks set to tell an excellent story. One that opens in admittedly familiar territory but soon develops into a rather interesting and addicting murder mystery. One that may or may not be tinged with the supernatural. It’s a well written and suitably dark story that works to create a great sense of unease and impending danger within the player.

What’s particularly special about Home‘s narrative is that subtly adapts to reflect your actions. Lending a choose-your-own-adventure vibe to proceedings. Rivers has stressed that there is no right or wrong way to play Home, but however you choose do so, he aims to make sure you walk away with a complete narrative experience. Albeit one that might differ greatly from another players story, meaning Home could be the genesis of some really exciting “what happened to you?” type discussions post-release.

Story aside, sound has always been a key component in horror entertainment. Home is no exception. Here the sound design is perfectly implemented, serving primarily as a atmospheric enhancement, but sometimes as a gameplay cue. The whole thing has an understated air to it, that is only reinforced by the complete lack of musical score. Which in itself reflects the isolated, sinister and doom-laden nature of the story.

After spending just a short time with a preview build of Home, I am extremely eager to get my hands on the final product. The adaptive approach to narrative and simplistic gameplay work to deliver scares that work on a subconscious, suggestive level. It’s a genuinely uncomfortable experience that is shaping up to be a real treat for gamers. Especially those amongst us who love a good story.

Home is now up for pre-order over on the official site. It’s priced at the insanely cheap $2. Alternatively, you could plump for the Old-School Collectors edition which nets you a signed, physical copy of the game and some beautiful looking feelies, which, in my opinion, is an absolute steal at $20.

Website: http://www.homehorror.com

Developer: Benjamin Rivers

Format: Windows

Release Date: 1st June 2012

For the uninitiated, The Walking Dead, is a comic book series set during a zombie apocalypse. It follows small-town sheriff Rick Grimes, who, upon awaking from a coma, discovers that the dead are returning to life with an insatiable appetite for living flesh. Having enjoyed huge success in the comic world, the franchise further penetrated pop-culture last year, when AMC adapted the material for television screens. With comics and TV all but devoured, video games are next on the menu.

Based upon the original comic series, instead of its TV counterpart, The Walking Dead is an adventure game developed by Telltale Games. Like their previous work, The Walking Dead, is an episodic affair with five instalments planned in total. The first of which is entitled A New Day.

Instead of retelling the story of Rick Grimes, Telltale have opted to create there own story that runs concurrently with the comic books. With A New Day actually taking place while Grimes lies in a coma. Players assume the role of Lee Everett, a convict, who is involved in a car accident while being transported to prison. Shortly after the accident he encounters a young girl named, Clementine. Deciding to band together they set out in search of fellow survivors.

Unlike the majority of undead fiction out there, The Walking Dead is very much grounded in reality. It’s much more concerned with the human element over the mindless slaughter of zombies. It’s about how people cope with the extreme situation they find themselves in. For that reason it’s a very character driven narrative, and one that lends itself perfectly to Telltale‘s strengths as a developer.

As Lee, there are plenty of opportunites to converse with the survivors you encounter. Each is well realised and a joy to talk to. This is thanks to the stellar writing at work, which manages to be tense, humorous and even heartfelt at all the right times. The story is further brought to life with some excellent voice acting, lending emotional gravitas to the story in key scenes. It’s a testament to the writing team that at the end of the episode I felt significantly invested in the characters and couldn’t wait to see what Episode 2 has in store for them.

The plot isn’t just doled out to the player though, as perhaps the most exciting element of The Walking Dead is that the narrative actively adapts to how you play. Choice and consequence are both huge factors here, with the story branching at multiple points depending on the decisions you make. In true Walking Dead fashion, there is usually no good outcome to the situations you find yourself trapped in, just bad and worse. With each having both immediate and long term repercussions that ripple throughout the rest of the game, colouring fellow survivors opinions of Lee presumably for the rest of the series.

The comic series is well known for featuring some horrifically bleak concepts. Thankfully, Telltale doesn’t shy away from the mature subject matter at hand. Characters will often drop the f-bomb and there are some pretty gruesome deaths featured in A New Day. For example, not ten-minutes into the game you’ve already used a hammer to reduce a zombified girls head to mush. This is a bold departure thematically for Telltale and the game is all the better for it.

Mechanically, The Walking Dead is very much an evolution of the modern adventure game. Something that Telltale has noticeably been working towards with each of their releases. While rooted in classic adventure design, the game succesfully incorporates some faster-paced action sequences, giving a much more cinematic feel to proceedings. Something they experimented with in their previous release, Jurassic Park. A game that was seriously flawed, but, I’m now glad existed as it allowed the kinks to be ironed out before A New Day saw the light of day.

The Walking Dead sticks to its comic book roots. By going for an illustrated, hand drawn look, the game remains faithful to Charlie Adlard‘s artwork while still retaining a hint of Telltale‘s own style. The biggest visual difference between the books and the game is that the latter uses a full colour pallet, in contrast to the stark black and white inking used in the books. While, the full colour look is great game, it would have been nice to see a black and white option tucked away in the menus.

Unfortunately, there are a few performance issues with the console versions of The Walking Dead. Textures can look a little low res and muddy at times, and the frame rate tends to drop during some of the busier scenes. The game also tends to hang momentarily while the camera transitioned between shots. All in all, they are minor annoyances and don’t really get in the way of the fantastic narrative experience.

A New Day is a wonderful introduction to The Walking Dead and perhaps Telltale‘s most accomplished release to date. Not only does it remain faithful to the source material, it actually enhances it. The branching nature of the story coupled with the well written character interactions work to deliver an absorbing experience. For fans of The Walking Dead this is an essential purchase, while remaining a no-brainer for everyone else. Roll on Episode Two.

Website: http://www.telltalegames.com/walkingdead

Developer: Telltale Games

Format: XBLA, PSN, Windows, OSX with iOS forthcoming.

Release Date: 24th April 2012

Jasper Byrne is a man that clearly thinks that this is not the case. After all, he has spent the last four years developing Lone Survivor, a game that takes classic survival horror and masterfully encapsulates it within a retro 16-bit aesthetic.

Played from a two-dimensional, side-scrolling perspective, Lone Survivor, combines classic adventure gaming with elements of stealth and action. Players assume the role of an unnamed protagonist simply referred to as You.

On the verge of insanity and living alone in post-apocalyptic world, You, is a man desperately seeking company, for he simply does not want to die alone. With supplies dwindling, he has no choice but to venture from the dilapidated apartment block he now calls home in search of fresh food and perhaps, fellow survivors. The only problem being that the outside world is now populated by a number of grotesque humanoid monsters. How unfortunate.

From a narrative standpoint, Lone Survivor, is an extremely ambiguous title, and all the better for it. By sprinkling a number of cryptic notes and bizarre character encounters throughout the game, Byrne allows the player to bring there own interpretation to the games events. It’s a thought provoking, mature approach to storytelling that deftly deals with themes of depression and isolation without pandering to it’s audience.

Visually, Lone Survivor wouldn’t look amiss on a SNES. Using a 16-bit art style, Byrne has created some highly detailed environments that absolutely ooze atmosphere. The amount of foreboding squeezed out of the pixels is an impressive accomplishment. The protagonists character animations are smooth and responsive, while the unnatural, almost mechanical spasms of the monsters movements go a long way in ratcheting up the fear factor.

While Lone Survivor may look like it was made in the mid-nineties, there are a number of sophisticated mechanics at play behind the scenes. Management of hunger, tiredness and sanity all are factors that need to be considered when exploring the world. Failing to keep on top of these necessities can have a number of adverse effects on You.

Lone Survivor is a game that treats its audience with respect, it’s a title that dismisses hand-holding in favour of player thought and experimentation. It’s as though the ambiguousness of the narrative has bled into the gameplay. Often you won’t know what you’re supposed to with the items in your inventory, and you’ll never be told either, it’s up to the you as the player, to put two and two together. While sometimes vague, problems like this never becomes frustrating as they rarely infringe on your advancement. Instead serving as optional side content, most of which you won’t even encounter on your first play through.

Not content with coding, design and artistic duties, Byrne also composed the games soundtrack. Blending an eclectic range of genres together in a way that perfectly complements the tone of the game. Sparse ambient pieces, that when coupled with the oppressive environments really help the bleak tone seep in under your skin. While jazzier numbers accompany the surreal dialogue sequences, lending a Twin Peaks vibe to proceedings.

Unfortunately, for all the praise I’m throwing at the game, it’s not without it’s faults, particularly in the control department. Combat is a little clunky at times, as it’s impossible to turn and face the opposite direction once you have a weapon drawn, often leaving you vulnerable to attack. Also, navigation can be confusing, as the top-down perspective of the in-game map seems counter-intuitive to the side-scrolling nature of the gameplay. However, in the grand scheme of things, these flaws are merely nit-picks that do very little to detract from the overall experience.

Lone Survivor can be completed around the three hour mark, but it’s a game that cries out for multiple playthroughs. The various choices that can be made throughout all effect the final outcome of the game, for example, favouring stealth over head-on confrontations is just one of many variables that may result in a different ending. Having played through the game twice now, I’m still not entirely sure what elements factor into the end game.

In short, Lone Survivor, is a pixel-perfect love letter to classic survival horror. Byrne has crafted an extremely immersive indie hit that manages to capture the essence of Silent Hill but deliver it in a unique, and surprisingly fresh format. While it won’t cause you to have a heart attack, it’s a title that earns it’s scares on a subconscious level. If, like me, you yearn for a return of the genre, this is a must buy. Even those with a passing interest would be foolish to give this one a miss.

Website: http://lonesurvivor.co.uk

Developer: Superflat Games aka Jasper Byrne

Format: Windows & OSX

Release Date: 27th March 2012

Welcome to Proteus.

Currently in beta, IGF nominee, Proteus is a game that strips open-world exploration down to the bare essentials. There are no objectives, no combat, you can’t even jump. It’s just you and a randomly generated island. As the player you are left to explore your surroundings as you see fit.

Upon first glance it would appear easy to dismiss Proteus as unstimulating, but given a little time with it, it soon becomes apparent that it is an example of a video game pushing the interactive entertainment medium forward.

As you begin to traverse your surroundings, you quickly come to the realisation that all elements of the island emit their own unique sound. From the gentle electronic hum of a forest to the strange blooping of the frog-like creatures that inhabit the island, all audio components harmoniously meld together to create an interactive soundscape.

By taking natural sounds familiar to the human ear and blending them with digital, almost alien counterparts, composer, David Kanaga, has contributed some absolutely stellar audio work to the game. Which when combined with the 3D space, essentially allows the player to create their own minimalistic ambient soundtrack as they venture deeper onto the island.

From a visual standpoint, Proteus has a beautiful low-fi aesthetic; it’s the love-child of Minecraft and Microsoft Paint. Rendered using blocks of solid colour, and both 2D and 3D elements, the island has a recognisable, but, dreamlike quality to it. It also features complete day and night cycles, weather patterns and seasonal changes all of which act as variables for the sounds dynamically generated on the island.

It’s incredibly easy to lose an hour to the surrealist trappings of Proteus. The combination of audio/visual components compliment each other in a perfectly hypnotic way, lulling the player into a zen-like state.

Proteus is the video game equivalent of a relaxation CD, but, it’s the coolest relaxation CD ever made. It’s an extremely pure experience and one like no other in recent memory. For that reason alone it’s definitely one to watch, or should that be, listen out for.

Proteus is available for pre-order on the official website, doing so grants you instant access to the latest build and all future updates.

Website: http://www.visitproteus.com

Developers: Ed Key & David Kanaga

Format: Windows, with OSX and Linux builds forthcoming.

Release Date: Autumn 2012

Nice to meet you.

My name is Tom Copeland, I’d like to welcome you to my new video game blog, GLTCHD.

For more information about GLTCHD and the kind of content you can expect to see on these pages please visit the About section.

Thanks.

Tom.