So yesterday, April 7th, April's Humble Bundle was revealed. It's a cheap monthly rate of $12, but it usually gives you a couple of solid titles and a handful of indie efforts. This month felt more like a solid indie bundle. Was it worth the $12? Easily. The winner of Best of bundle for April 2017 for me is Kingdom New Lands. I think I'll be returning to this one frequently.
The Witness
Remember games like Myst and Riven... well I put a little bit of time into this and found it went from crazy simple to more and more challenging. I enjoyed the puzzles that I encountered and can already see that I'm gonna need Youtube to get through some of them. I liked Braid quite a bit (their first game), and it was good value for its price on Xbox Live Arcade, but The Witness is listed at $39.99. Is it worth it? So far I can't really say it is, although I did get this on a Humble Bundle purchase so it was more like two bucks. Don't get me wrong though, it's well made and well thought out for a puzzle game, and so far I'm enjoying it. Unfortunately I find the lack of music creates a bland feeling, but its not game damaging. If I paid $10 for this, I wouldn't be disappointed. It is a very slow paced game though, and one that doesn't seem to have any kind of narrative... yet.
Layers of Fear
Layers of Fear is a great looking game, but is more of a point and click horror/mystery interactive story. Definitely not my type of game. I like things to be a little more linear, or to at least have an idea of what I'm supposed to be looking for and why. It successfully creates a very eerie atmosphere and would probably appeal to the right kind of gamer, unfortunately that's not me. After the little time I spent with it getting nowhere opening a ton of cupboards, drawers and doors, I feel this is one that I will probably use a walkthrough to complete... if I feel like completing it. The only really negative thing I can say about it is the cursor select is very touchy, taking a couple of passes sometimes to find the hotspot. It's not that its a bad game, just not my type of game.
Black Mesa
Touted as the high def version of Half Life. Well I played and beat Half Life many years ago... MANY years ago, like when it first came out. It's been a long time and I was kind of stand offish about jumping into this one. So far though I'm enjoying it quite a bit. I can't remember all the details of the original, but Black Mesa seems to be on the same path as some of the scenes trigger a feeling of familiarity. Apparently it's been re worked from the ground up and it definitely shows. The graphics are much better and it plays and looks like a current gen game. Definitely a worthy addition to the library.
Kingdom New Lands
One of those games I didn't really think I would like, but man what an addictive little adventure that was. I had no idea what to expect with Kingdom, nor did I actually know what kind of game I was getting into. You develop your land by hiring villagers. You assign duties to villagers by building tools. You get paid as duties are carried out. Hunters hunt, builders build, and farmers farm.... and you gotta defend your developing village from attacking monsters that only come out at night. Its kind of a resource management/tower defence game... which I learned too late, causing me to loose the crown and loose the game. Very retro graphics with an ambient soundtrack, Kingdom is a game that can be played in shorter bursts. It's relatively challenging and fun. Definitely an unexpected win in this bundle!
Event[0]
I'm not sure what I'm playing here, but I fell asleep at the keyboard twice. I'm sure it has its redeeming qualities, but not for this guy. This is one hell of a slow paced game which so far is heavy text based decision making. I don't even know if I'm gonna try finishing it.
Tumblestone
Block breaking game. Played through about half a dozen levels. Its well made and addictive, but nothing that hasn't been done before. It'll serve as a fun little distraction, but nothing more. If you like block breaking games, then you'll love Tumblestone.
Slime-San
Fun little platform mini game. Basically getting your slime through each level that increases in difficulty. Retro graphics with slightly irritating 8 bit soundtrack. Played it for a few minutes, completing several levels, but lost interest relatively quick. It's a very "indie" game in all senses of the word. I'll probably go back to it once in a while, but it's not the kind of game I get strongly hooked on.
Jawns
Humble Monthly exclusive. Simply put, Jawns feels like a new take on Chess/Checkers. It's mildly addictive and hooked me into playing half a dozen rounds. Very simple graphics but it keeps you coming back, much like last month's Morphblade... which I still play.
And that's it for April's Humble Bundle. If you haven't given it a try, it's been worth the $12US every month so far. Next month (May) they've already released 2 of the titles. Dirt Rally and Inside. These titles alone are worth the money hands down!
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