Michael Mendheim has been the mad scientist of sports games since the original Mutant League Football released 26 years ago and shows no signs of slowing down. From Kickstarter failure and eventual success, to creative director of Digital Dreams Entertainment, the Mutant League commissioner for…
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Ape Out is a frenetic beat ’em up game released last month. It was developed by Gabe Cuzzillo, Bennett Fody, and Matt Boch. Published by Devolver Digital, Ape Out plays like a shmup, despite the protagonist (an ape) not having a weapon. It’s gotten some…
Beholder was released on Steam in 2016, it has now been ported to Switch along with the DLC package Blissful Sleep. You take on the role of Carl, a man living under a 1984-esque totalitarian regime. As the landlord of a job of some government flats, Carl is responsible for monitoring the…
Hello and welcome to the final part in our History of Indie Games. Over the past 6 weeks we have examined the long and complex history of indie games and their journey from bedroom obscurity to mainstream titans. This week on our final excursion we’ll…
Pode is a beautiful co-op focused indie game. It gives the uniquely optimistic experience of Bluder and Global, exploring an ancient civilisation. The puzzle based game launched in June for the Nintendo Switch. It’s a co-op experience different to most others on the market. The…
Impact Gameworks‘ Tangledeep is the digital manifestation of a dream that has existed within the head of programmer Andrew Aversa for years. It’s also a clinical example of both how to run a Kickstarter campaign and how to manage the perils of Early Access. We…
From London, we take our gaming roadtrip up and across to Finland next, to interview Joonas Turner. He is part of the team behind Nuclear Throne, Badlands and other smash hit games and is known in the indie scene, as the man who gives life…
Imagination proves itself a person’s best friend and greatest enemy in The Lost Cave of the Ozarks. Filling In The Dark Unknown Created by the one-man developer RubberGardner, the game takes place across two interweaving timelines. In the 1880’s, a day spent playing in the…
Maggese Games‘s Don’t Make Love has been nominated for Best Student Game at this year’s IGF awards. Artist Nina Kiel was kind enough to chat with Cliqist about inspiration, romance mechanics, and the essence of the tragedy at Don’t Make Love’s core. Blossoming Romance Cliqist: Hi…
Wintermute is Gary Paulsen’s Hatchet in a Cormac McCarthy universe. It’s Yevtushenko’s “People”, read to an audience of frozen corpses. The story is a melancholy song of solitude and snow, of love and perilousness, but it is sung against the vengeful, screaming winds of Mother…
What have they done to you, Santa? Why are you so thin, and so smol? Why have you been forcefully awoken from your slumber and made to travel through time and space to bring in another hellish twelve months? Why can’t pop culture dredge up…
Hide and seek can sometimes be fun, like when you’re babysitting your niece and tell them to hide so you can get your work done. It’s not so fun when a game that you plonked your hard-earned money down for insists on playing, though. Shenmue…
I love film noir stories. I also love adventure games. Put them together and you’ve got a recipe for an exciting time. Of course, not all games are created equal. In the case of Lutra City Mysteries, it looks to be a great addition to…
While I generally shy away from racing games, I find something oddly intriguing about SmuggleCraft. Maybe it’s because it’s not your traditional racer. Maybe it’s because there’s a story here. Or maybe it’s because of the art style. I don’t know, but I actually kind…
Our weekly dose of hot takes, occasionally well formed opinions, and fevered outbursts is back. Yup, it’s time for the Question of the Week! This week our question is all about what developers should do when their Kickstarter campaign hits the fan. We’re not referring to a failed campaign…
What makes a good Kickstarter project and what kills it? What makes backers decide whether a project looks shady or trustworthy? It takes a lot more than a good idea to win us over, it takes a lot of hard work. However, there are some…