RTX Sydney 2017 – The Indies
You can never go to a convention and not check out the Indie Games section. An area that is constantly overflowing with creativity and enjoyment, it’s a place you can always be assured to find something unique and special. RTX Sydney 2017 was no different and we hit the Expo Hall to find some of those that were on offer.
Absolver
Quite a number of years ago we were introduced to a game called Jade Empire. An RPG with a focus on Martial Arts and its various forms of combat. Now whilst many (including our beloved Editor) wake up every morning and cry that no sequel is in the works, a little Indie development team called Sloclap have gone out and made Absolver, an online, open world combat RPG!
The developers took me through their concept of creating an online world where you create and mould your own character and throw them into a world with no rules and regulations. You see another player, do you trade with them? Team up? Or do you battle and take their stuff? The choice, as they say, is completely up to you! The combat system is quite in-depth and allows the player to truly customise their attack strings, patterns and moves as well as letting you pick an initial class that falls into your preferred preference.
The demo on display took me through the fundamental aspects and explained how to use attack string combos, basic movement and generally create my perfect fighter. Shortly after I was pitted against another fellow attendee in a 1v1 battle. I quickly found that button mashing is a great way to get your head kicked off and that a nicely timed parry or counter attack was the path to a swift victory!
You can check all this out at their website of course. As a fan of fighting games I can see that the crew behind this one are developing something that’s very easy to get behind.
Strafe
This is short and sweet, but a lot of emphasis on the sweet part. Strafe is a quake inspired FPS where each level is randomly generated every time you restart. Your goal is to pick your initial weapon of choice and simply get as far as you can before dying.
I’m not selling this game well, but it’s a game that has instant fun and, at the same time, is quite challenging. Along the way you can use vending machines to refill your ammo, get more health and of course, get more fire power!
Strafe feels instantly at home for anyone who’s played an FPS in the last 20 or so years and more importantly, the RNG of the level creation didn’t feel ham-fisted and instead, looked and played like something that was created with some pre-meditated thought.
But hey, don’t take my word for it, catch the trailer below and check out their website for more information
Brief Battles
Lately, there’s been a rise of games that put players against one another in a hasty death-match battle mixed with platforming elements, not too dissimilar to the commonly known Duck Game. Brief Battles is a new indie title that takes its own unique spin on it with wall climbing, double jumps and fast respawns.
Each round consists of one minute and to aid you in your attempt to smash your opponents, random power ups appear in the form of underwear (briefs) which give you a wide arrange of special abilities like faster movement, dash kills, fireballs and shields. This is in addition to having your default ground slam as your main weapon for dispatching people.
Gameplay is fast and twitchy and feels incredibly rewarding when scoring a kill, as its name implies, the battles are indeed brief and straight to the point. If you’re looking for a quick and fun party game to play with friends, this one is indeed worth a look, for more information you can check out their website here
