At Cliqist we feel that a great crowdfunded game shouldn’t be relegated to merely a single month’s worth of coverage, which is why we’ve decided to move from doing a “Game of the Month” to a “Game of Note.” What’s the difference? Whereas our Game of the Month featured increased focus on a particularly great crowdfunded game for a single month, the Game of Note series is an ongoing affair. Whenever we come across a particularly great crowdfunded game we’ll not only give it a nifty award icon, but also lavish it with additional coverage that you may not see with other games. It’s like our Crowdfunding Hall of Fame, except for games rather than developers.
With that said, the first title that has been given this honor is the fantastic Oregon Trail parody Orion Trail.
Orion Trail is a deceptively simple but deep comedy game where it’s up to you to take an intrepid but ultimately doomed crew down along the space lanes towards your final destination. The whole Oregon Trail angle aside, which alone would probably be enough to pick this as a Game of Note, expect plenty of twists and turns as even the littlest mishap could leave you stranded without fuel, food, or crew.
The campaign itself was hugely successful and in less than a year Orion Trail hit Steam and other digital partners to positive reviews. Throughout development Schell Games stayed in what felt like constant contact with backers and fans alike, with a total of 55 updates between February 2015 and now. Added to that, even after leaving Early Access they continued to expand upon the game and introduced new features. Both asked for and not, including a way to start off with a load of your choice in addition to what officers to bring with you.
If you’ve read my review of Orion Trail then you’ll see why it was chosen as a Game of Note, and as time goes on, and our coverage of the game expands, you’ll get an even better taste of how great it is.
Orion Trail is our first Game of Note, but as time goes on you can check out Game of Note archives to see what other titles have been selected. We won’t select a Game of Note very often, so be sure to check out all of our Orion Trail coverage to keep yourself entertained.
