Disproving the theory that there's no such thing as a free lunch, our five-year freeware retrospective continues with another twelve months' worth of indie gems from 2012-2013. (Though we recommend you don't try to eat them.) If you're tuning in late, check out Year One and Year Two and then come back for more.
August 2012 – Ben Jordan: Paranormal Investigator – Case 8: Relics of the Past by Grundislav Games
The adventure genre has given birth to many famous characters over the years. Few long-term genre fans will have failed to hear of Guybrush Threepwood, Gabriel Knight or Roger Wilco. The freeware scene has its own famed characters, and few are better known than the sleuth of the supernatural, Ben Jordan. His first case in 2004 put him In Search of the Skunk-Ape as he started his career. Subsequent cases took him around the world, facing eerie mysteries in England, Japan and Greece. Over time he gained a network of friends and colleagues, and his story built from a single standalone tale to a grand world-spanning conspiracy.
The Ben Jordan series is one best played from the start. Fortunately all eight games can be downloaded from the developer’s website.
September 2012 – This is Not an Escape by Something’s Awry
Without money for expensive software, freeware developers have used a variety of readily available engines for their creations. For online gaming, Flash was the engine of choice for years, with Unity becoming more popular recently. With This is Not an Escape, the developers eschewed an engine entirely, presenting a game through a series of videos on YouTube. Of course, this being a game, it was not a simple case of just running a playlist of videos one after another. Instead, all but the opening video were unindexed, meaning they would not appear in YouTube searches. Instead, hyperlinks were embedded in the videos over on-screen options, with a mouse-click taking you to the video that displayed your chosen action.
The video that kicks off this unusual adventure can be found on YouTube.
October 2012 – Pledge Quest 1 and 2 by Akril and Decaffeinated Jedi
Some people make entirely original games. Some people make games that are inspired by others they’ve enjoyed from the past. To the best of my knowledge, this is the only time anyone has made a game to support the Kickstarter of a game inspired by a game from the past. The two Pledge Quest games were written in support of the SpaceVenture Kickstarter, a game inspired by Sierra’s Space Quest series. With one of the developers being the creator of the nostalgia-laden Adventure series, and the other running a major Space Quest fan site, it is not surprising that these games are full of genre references.
The chance to pledge to the Kickstarter has passed, but you can still play these promotional games by downloading them from the developers’ wesbsite.
November 2012 – Eurydice by Anonymous
Far from being a relic of a bygone past, the text adventure format is still very much alive and kicking. In 2012, the annual Interactive Fiction competition attracted 28 varied entries. One of these was Eurydice, an adventure in a modern setting but inspired by the mythical tale of Orpheus. The player takes the role of a man newly bereaved, with the action starting at the wake being held at his house. His beloved Celine has recently passed, and the house is full of painful memories for him. Exploring further tells you more about her last days, and offers a variety of ways of dealing with the grief.
Should you wish to discover the joy of text from the sorrow of life for yourself, then this game, along with the other entries from that year, can be downloaded or played online at the IF competition website.
December 2012 – The Old Man and the Sea by TheBitPriest
Adaptations have a bit of a chequered history. Often something that works in one medium just doesn’t fit an entirely different one. When I started playing The Old Man and the Sea, I was pretty sure I was getting into something that would not translate well. I was therefore pleasantly surprised when I found that I was playing an enjoyable little game that still managed to retain the important parts of Hemingway’s source material.
To take on this challenge of classic literature in game form, grab the game from the AGS database.
January 2013 – Patchwork by Ilyich
Far too often we seek to fit things into neat little categories. Whilst they are often both enjoyed by the same sort of people, fantasy and science fiction are usually considered to be separate genres. In this game originally made for a pay-what-you-want bundle by Ilyich, the two combine to make a satisfying little tale. In our world, scientist Daniel prepares to power up his experimental teleporter for the first time. At the same time, in a realm of magic, trainee mage Lin attempts a last summoning practice before her exam. The two experiments intertwine, mixing Daniel’s lab with Lin’s home, and they must work together to separate the two.
Mixing the realms of fantasy and science fiction just requires a quick trip to the AGS database.
February 2013 – 400 Years by scriptwelder
One way that tension can be added to games is by having the player work against a deadline. While the actual passage of time is often fudged for game purposes, having to complete your quest quickly enhances immersion by giving players a sense of urgency. Usually such a time restriction is only a few hours or days though. 400 Years quite literally gives you that much game time to complete it. But what at first seemed like a generous time limit actually proved to be a lot tighter than I expected.
Should you have 400 years to spare, then I highly recommend going to Armor Games to try this out.
March 2013 – The Last Door: Season One - Pilot Episode: The Letter by The Game Kitchen
I have long been a fan of horror, across all media. But I’ve always thought far too much horror relies on throwing hideous monsters and gore at you. Far better to keep the horror hidden, leaving the audience to conjure up terrors from their own imagination. To my mind, the blocky pixel graphics of The Last Door series achieves this effect nicely. A high-resolution model has to be perfect in every detail to be convincing, whereas this game gets the player to fill in those details for themselves. Add to that a dose of good writing in the footsteps of H.P. Lovecraft, and this is not a series for the faint-hearted.
With Season 1 having since been updated and re-released in a commercial Collector’s Edition, the later episodes of the series now require a moderate fee to unlock, but you can still experience this very first episode for free at the developer’s website.
April 2013 – No One Has to Die by Stuart Madafiglio
When we take on the role of hero in a game, we often get tasked with the job of saving everyone else. Going by the title, you would think that was the aim of No One Has to Die as well. But for the vast majority of the game, the title appears to be a lie. Taking the role of a delivery person, you arrive at an office to find the security staff dead, and the building on fire. With only limited access to the building systems, you see the staff trapped in the burning corridors die one by one. Only by learning the truth behind the mysterious Fenix Corporation do you have a hope of achieving your goal.
Should you wish to lead a succession of characters to their deaths in the eventual hope of saving them all, the game is available online at the developer’s website. (Note: Link does not currently work with Internet Explorer.)
May 2013 – The Search for Oceanspirit Dennis by OneDollar
I’m pretty sure that Oceanspirit Dennis is meant to be a joke. He has extravagantly pointy hair, a ridiculously over-sized sword, and a tendency to talk in leetspeak. The most obvious influence for the character is the Final Fantasy series, though various other game conventions are lampooned through him. The Search for Oceanspirit Dennis stars his long-term companion, Life-Partner Ray, and is set at the time they first meet. Ray’s village is under threat of attack, and only the legendary Dennis is capable of saving them. Unfortunately, he is in the next town over, and Ray is too low-level to pass the guard blocking the only bridge between them.
To see where one of the great relationships of freeware first started, just download the game from the AGS database.
June 2013 – Shitty Quest by JimMakesGames
Normally game-makers will set out to make their creations look as good as possible with the resources and skills available. If a game’s graphics look bad, that often bodes ill for everything else. But occasionally a less-than-stunning appearance is a deliberate choice by the creator. Such is the case with Shitty Quest, where the look matches the title for reasons that are not immediately obvious. The ugly exterior houses a witty game that breaks the fourth wall in a clever and satisfying fashion.
Those who wish to try polishing a turd have only to visit the AGS database to download this game.
July 2013 – Educating Adventures of Girl and Rabbit by L&S and Projectoholic
Educational games have gained a bad reputation over the years. Paper-thin plots and overly forced gameplay too often turn them into a chore rather than fun. Educating Adventures of Girl and Rabbit is a game deserving of a different kind of bad reputation. The bright colours and upbeat personality of the player character may lull you into thinking this is a game for children. However, when she meets her in-game “teacher”, you are soon disabused of that notion. This lagomorph is astonishingly foul-mouthed, and ready to inflict violence on his charge at the drop of a hat.
For a black comedic take on edutainment, you can download the game from the AGS database.