Title Updates

This past weekend was a quiet one for me so I checked out some indie games that had gotten updates since the last time I played them: XENOTILT, Picayune Dreams, and the soon-to-be-leaving Early Access title, Maze Mice.

I hadn’t played XENOTILT since I was a beta tester. It wasn’t because I don’t like the game, I love it, but after ~20 hours of heavy play and bug recording I needed a break. There is so much great stuff I never saw. The EX Mode is fantastic and evolves on what was present in Demon’s Tilt. Rescuing crew members for bonuses on subsequent play adds more goals than just high-score chasing. The mini tables are fun, with excellent designs. I think the pool table bonus game is the most fun. It’s a cool oddball, much like the bowling table in Demon’s Tilt. It’s an overall amazing game and I’ve rededicated myself to cracking the Top 10 global scores.

Picayune Dreams is a game I picked up a couple of years ago and played to death at the time. It’s a game in the vein of SNKRX and Vampire Survivors, but with a unique aesthetic and a breakbeat soundtrack. I had completed the story mode and was excited when they announced they were working on a free update with more content. That got released this past February and slid under my radar. I’ve been working on unlocking all of the new weapons and stuff for the past few days and I still feel the way I did initially: This is a great game and one of the best reasons not to write off Vampire Survivors  “clones”.

Lastly, I checked out the final pre-1.0 update to Maze Mice, by the creator of Luck Be a Landlord. It added a new maze and a few more unlockables. I should probably explain the game first: It’s like Pac-Man CE II if enemies only move when you do. You control a mouse picking up dots that give experience points while avoiding cats and cat ghosts. There is a weapon upgrade system similar to games like the above mentioned Picayune Dreams. The goal is to last 10 minutes and defeat the boss, a very large floating cat wizard. It’s a brilliant design with a lot of fun weapon builds and a snappy pace that plays quickly. The urge to play “just one more” game is big with this one.

I think this weekend I’ll go through another chunk of my Steam Library and see what little gems I’ve missed. These days a game update can offer almost as much as a new game.

-Ian