They say necessity is the mother of invention, but usually this means creating solutions for new problems. With retro gaming undergoing a massive revival more indie developers are looking back on old problems with a new perspective. Not content with merely mimicking the 8-Bit aesthetic…
Joanna Mueller
516 Articles
Joanna Mueller is a lifelong gamer who used to insist on having the Super Mario Bros manual read to her as a bedtime story. Now she's reading Fortnite books to her own kiddo while finally making use of her degree to write about games as Cliqist's EIC.
Joanna Mueller
2 Min Read
Remember back when you were a kid and you believed that when you grew up you could do anything? Think back on all the exciting dreams you had. All the things you were going to do once you were finally old enough. Alright, now look…
Joanna Mueller
1 Min Read
WWII First person shooters are a dime a dozen on Kickstarter, but oddly flight sims (particularly those who ever release) are a rarer bird. The devs at Atomic Jelly decided this could not stand. With help from Polish publisher, Movie Games, they set out to…
Joanna Mueller
1 Min Read
Somewhere buried deep in the subconscious at the crossroads of imagination and lunacy lies the concept behind Destroy Command Studios’ new title, AcidSoul. The self-proclaimed “action adventure air hockey game” offers a bizarre mixture of RPG storytelling and over-the-top anime violence. Despite looking like something…
Joanna Mueller
1 Min Read
Typically the visual novel genre conjures images of dating sims and anime, but some developers are working to change that. Italian Developer, Curtel Games has managed to marry the world building of tabletop gamebooks with the choice-driven mechanics of visual novels to create something wonderfully…
Joanna Mueller
3 Min Read
After a successful Kickstarter campaign, Hyperkinetic Studios has released their high-fantasy management sim, Epic Tavern on Steam Early Access. From it’s early days the game looked to be a fun mixture of storytelling and resource management. Players take on the role of a tavern owner…
Joanna Mueller
1 Min Read
Despite their unique appearance, games that utilize physical 3D models digitized through photogrammetry haven’t fared well on Kickstarter. While they absolutely look amazing, they are quite expensive, both in terms of time and technology to create. Fortunately, that didn’t deter the team at btf from…
Joanna Mueller
10 Min Read
Sometimes I wonder what life is like for people with actual, physically demanding jobs. Ha, just kidding. Even contemplating actual physical labor is enough to mandate an immediate nap. As such I was more than a bit skeptical at idea that I would find any…
Joanna Mueller
1 Min Read
Look, on one side you have your fantasy genre with wizards and dragons. On the opposite end you have sci fi space adventures full of bizarre aliens. Rarely do we get sorcery space adventures. At least until Pocket Mana’s new Kickstarter project, My Uncle Merlin:…
Joanna Mueller
1 Min Read
Way back in the forgotten days of the year 2013, Taitale Studios launched a Kickstarter for their massive MMORTS, Novus AEterno. The devs were asking for $200,000, but despite interest from the community they were nowhere near achieving their goal. Fortunately, as time ticked down…
Joanna Mueller
1 Min Read
Game nostalgia comes in many forms, but the predominate one seems to be low-bit count pixel graphics. Maybe, just maybe, there is another way to harness nostalgia for a bygone era without giving up on style. Enter Blue Omen Operation, a 2D action combat RPG…
Joanna Mueller
1 Min Read
Vampires, much like any good horror icon, never die off completely. Even after the Twilight series earned them some bad press, people are still enchanted by their otherworldly nature. While many game developers have attempted to funnel this interest into an immersive, playable experience, few…
Joanna Mueller
2 Min Read
Studio Namaapa is a fledgling game developer from Indonesia. The team has been working on their current project, a raising sim called Ciel Fledge, for about a year and a half. After building the bulk of the game with their own money, they have launched…
Joanna Mueller
1 Min Read
Salix Games is resurrecting Arthurian legends, knight Sir Lancelot Du Lac and sorceress Morgana Le Fey in their new narrative adventure. Du Lac & Fey: Dance of Death sees the two immortals teaming up in a Victorian era buddy cop mystery. With help from the…
Joanna Mueller
1 Min Read
When 6 Eyes Studio began developing their new tactical JRPG, they wanted to recreate some of their favorite classic games. To that end, Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark contains all the trappings of the JRPGs they grew up with. While the majority of these features were…
Joanna Mueller
1 Min Read
Dungeon crawling is stressful work. A team of warriors assembles and explores an unmapped labyrinth where any dark corridor could be their last. So many lives are lost just from players stumbling upon a random monster at a tactical disadvantage. Hyakki Castle Developers, Asakusa Studios…