The Ultimate Guide To Indie Games - Essential Reading For PC Gamers

The Ultimate Guide To Indie Games

For those of you with an interest in indie gaming on the PC - most of you, I would assume - there is an excellent bookazine available that covers the games we hold so dear. I am a little late to the party on this one, but after having been bought a copy yesterday by my lovely partner, I felt I needed to bring it to your attention in case it had slipped you by as well. Coming out in January of 2013 from long-running PC gaming magazine PC Gamer, The Ultimate Guide To Indie Games features reviews and previews of a shed load of indie gems, as well as useful Top 50 / Top 100 articles showcasing the best indie games and mods available online completely free. It brought to my attention a multitude of interesting titles that I was not familiar with beforehand, some of which I intend to cover on this website soon.

Review - Excavatorrr 2 : CWOUN (PC)

Dig your way to a thousand deaths

It would appear that videogames have a long term obsession with underground digging. From the early days of Dig Dug, The Pit and Boulderdash, to more recent offerings like Mr Driller, Spelunky, SteamWorld Dig and Minecraft, it's clear that gamers have a penchant for dirt shifting shenanigans. Now lone indie developer Hempuli is adding to the (dirt) pile, with a sequel to his 2009 mine-em-up, Excavatorrr. That title may have possessed crude visuals that aped the style of the Atari 2600, but it was more addictive than nicotine and sex combined. It slipped under the radar of many gamers - which is a shame as it was (is) absolutely excellent - but hopefully this new sequel will get the attention it deserves. 

SPELUNKY (XBLA version) coming to PC, PS3 and Vita this Summer!

OK, OK. Settle down. I know you are excited. I am too!

As you have guessed by the title of this thread, Spelunky is coming home to the PC. As anyone who has played the enhanced XBLA version will know, this is a very good thing indeed. Originally starting life in 2008 as a freeware PC title, Spelunky soon gained huge popularity due to its wonderful pixel graphics, solid platforming action, addictive gameplay and maddening difficulty. It managed to perfectly combine a fantastic 2D platformer with elements of the Roguelike genre. Permadeath, randomly generated levels and items, and no saves or continues made Spelunky a hardcore title. But hardcore titles always gain the biggest cult followings, and the one man behind the genius, Derreck Yu, revealed that an Xbox Live Arcade version was in the works.

REVIEW - SPELUNKY - My Love Affair continues

Spelunky is a lot like being in a relationship with the love of your life, they look gorgeous and are great fun to be with, they constantly surprise you, and the relationship is more rewarding when you invest more time in it. It can be frustrating at times, even drive you away for a short period, but you always come back because you love them.

Tired metaphors aside, my releationship with Spelunky has been going on for 4 months now, so it's high time I shared my thoughts and feelings on the game. Released in June this year, I am clearly late to the review party, but forgive me, I've just been too busy enjoying the adventure. Not since Super Mario World on the SNES have I been so entranced with a platforming world, and not since Rick Dangerous have I been killed by so many damn spikes (and snakes, and bats, and arrows.. take your pick). Over 400 deaths later and I am finally ready to review this lovable bastard.