One Life Left: Indie Games

Here in the last third of the semester, we all find ourselves a little crunched for time. As much as I would like to play a bunch of long games, I just don’t have the time what with all of my final papers and, as I explained two weeks ago, Pokémon. This kind of environment is where smaller indie games become my bread and butter. So here are a few of the bite sized computer games that I have played lately that can be played between bouts of studying madness.

Space Engineers

Available on Steam for $15, Space Engineers is a game in Early Access Alpha. Early Access games are still being developed, but you can buy them right now if you want to have some input on the development process. While the Early Access program often produces some questionable titles, Space Engineers holds up its end of the bargain.

The concept of the game is evident in the title. You are an engineer in space and you can build ships and space stations. In this Early Access version, players are all set in creative mode, giving them unlimited resources to build their creations. Normally, I don’t get into these kinds of games. Minecraft is a lot of fun, but I only ever enjoy the game on Survival, when I have some kind of opposition. This mode does not yet exist in Space Engineers, but I still found myself wiling away a few hours building ships entirely from thrusters or crafting obstacle courses out of gravity generators.

Space Engineers is shaping up to be a great game, and if you have any love for other crafting video games, this is an easy sell. The range of tools available already, and the cool guns and gadgets that should be coming out soon, make it both robust and ridiculous, allowing for both impressive and impressively stupid creations.

Risk of Rain

The term “Roguelike” gets thrown around a lot in gaming culture these days. A roguelike is a game that features a high degree of challenge, randomization and permanent character death. Risk of Rain has added co-operative play to the formula. Up to four players are dropped into a gorgeous alien world where they must shoot their way through various mystical and bizarre enemies, claiming a host of power-ups on the way.

Risk of Rain’s major addition to the Roguelike formula is its use of time. As you play through the game, a difficulty bar on the right side of the screen steadily increases. Each time it goes up another notch, the number and strength of the enemies increase. This means that players must collect power- ups and levels at a blinding pace in order to be strong enough for the next difficulty tier, but they must also spend enough time fighting to be powerful enough to take on the boss at the end of each level. Finding this balance is what makes Risk of Rain so hectic and fun with friends.

This game is very much designed around co-op, and I had substantially less fun with the game on my own. Luckily, you can play the game locally with friends by attaching more than one controller to your PC. At $10 on Steam, Risk of Rain will provide a solid amount of frustrated, yet gleeful fun.

One Finger Death Punch

This is probably the most raw fun I have had with a game all year. One Finger Death Punch is a simple game. Your character stands in the center of the screen as enemies approach from both sides. You click with the left and right buttons to punch the left and right enemies, respectively. This simple concept is used brilliantly to create one of the most visceral and exciting action games I have ever played. As new enemy types and skills are introduced the levels become more frantic and impressive. One miss timed click can lead to an early demise, while a perfect run will make you leap with joy. One Finger Death Punch is a fantastic game, and it is easy to open it up and play for a few minutes to take your mind off the humdrum, non-kung-fu-fueled world that we live in.

One Finger Death Punch is available on Desura right now for two dollars, so there is basically no excuse not to buy it. Seriously. Google it right now, let it change your life as it did mine.