Lekker twakpraat: Doing what I do best: A tad more than mild babble: Year of Indie Games Part 2

Based on the list of games I've assembled, I'm starting to wonder whether I shouldn't have split it into another post. However, it IS the last day of the year so let's just be about it.

There is one game I'd like to mention that I played endlessly on my phone. It's gotten me through times that I didn't want to think this year and was a delightful distraction. And that game was 2048. The idea is relatively simple. You're given a board divided into squares.You proceed to match the same numbers together by sliding one into the other - 2 to 2 making 4; 4 to 4 making 8 and so on - until you manage to match the blocks to make up 2048. I know there's an online version of it somewhere, but that kept making me motion sick for some reason. I also have a ton of respect for the creator who refuses to charge for the game seeing as he built it up from a similar game called Threes. Not a lot of people would have the scruples these days.

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Mount & Blade gets a mention because I spent so much time on it this year, but it is a game, the first that I purchased online without receiving a disc and at that stage I was horribly worried by the thought. The game was simply too good to pass up, however. Now to see if I can describe it...

In Mount & Blade, you create a character by answering some questions on its background. These determine the initial stats you are given. Then you start off in a large country with four nations that're duking it out for domination. You're given a mount and a blade and are left to your own devices. Will you recruit an army to carve out your own little area by besieging castles in your own name? Will you work for one of the nations as a mercenary or perhaps become a lord yourself?

The answers might sometimes start off as the selection of text in a conversation, but ultimately it is determined on the battlefield. Being on a horse in their particular third-person view was a very novel experience for me and I won't deny that I pulled up my legs more than once while my mount barely scraped past a tree, or rock, or charging opponent. Simply gorgeous.

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GoG.com is the devil. It is the main reason why I suddenly have a ton of games that need playing. Another culprit is Humble Bundle, but GoG started it and Humble merely finished my demise (and that of my credit card). And in one of the evil sales GoG brought forth, I purchased Don't Starve on a complete and utter whim.

It wasn't a game I was truly convinced that I would play, but it had enough elements to have me

rather intrigued. There was the twisted Adams Family/Tim Burton-esque look and feel to the game. The fact that it got rave reviews and was a "cheap indie" also drew at me. That sounds terribly, doesn't it? But what I mean is that, at that point, my curiousity for indie games and whether I would risk my money on it was very much dependent on the price of the investment. It was very much worth it.

Still, it wasn't until my usually non-badgering friend began chucking whatsapp lines at me such as "So you'll be playing Don't Starve this afternoon, right?", "Have you played Don't Starve, yet?" that I decided to download it from my account and give it a try. That was a mistake.

In Don't Starve, you play a character (which you select beforehand and each has their own particular

perks) who wakes up in a massive island with a dude looming over you and telling you that you better get something to eat, it'll be dark soon. And that's all that's said. The rest you figure out on your own. As you explore the different biomes, you find ingredients that enable you to craft items that become crucial to your survival. It sounds terribly like Minecraft, doesn't it? Only it isn't. You actually have a goal - which is to get out of where you're stuck in - and you don't need to read a ton of stuff outside (or inside) the game to figure out what to do. It's delightfully quirky and time consuming and just wonderful... Okay now I want to go play it....

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Picture this: You're sitting in your garage. It's kind of cool, but not quite nippy with nothing but the sound of your old PC's fan whirring away and perhaps the dusty smell of concrete touches your nose every now and then. There aren't any games on that PC of yours. At least not yet. Because you haven't made them yet.

And that's where Game Dev Tycoon begins. You're pulled back about 35 years when games were only really beginning to kick off and you're ready to break into the gaming scene with your own snazzy company. It's up to you to decide which consoles you're going to focus on and what games you're going to make.

The game is quite simple in a way, but nostalgia and amusement plays a role throughout. It follows the history of games and so, while no brand is used exactly, it is something of a walk down memory lane for those who might have followed the development of games in general. I'm honestly not giving it half the justice it deserves. It was quite a lot of fun.

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From creating games, how about running your own prison? Prison Architect is an early-access indie that allows you to do just that. Get those inmates a place to stay, feed them, give them stuff to do, allow family to visit, and try to keep the riots down to a minimum. This game has taken up a great deal of my gaming time this year and threatens to do the same next year too.

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And then finally, the newest, greatest evil ever since Don't Starve was started up for the first time...

The Long Dark.

You are a survivor of a plane crash, dropped off in north Canada somewhere to try and survive with whatever you can find and manage to hunt. This game is also early access and puts you in a sandbox map (for the time being. Story mode to follow) after a natural disaster that wipes out everyone else within the vicinity. Beyond that you don't know. It's a first person survival game that pits you against the elements. You have to make sure you get clothes that are warm enough to deal with the cold, get enough food into your system, keep hydrated and explore the small fishing settlement you've been chucked into.