Indie games have become a safe haven for couch multiplayer, whether you’re into archery, fencing, or being a narwhal in space, indie developers know what you want; to embarrass your friends and get them to buy the pizza. Well here are some games that you may well have missed.
Crawl
Have you ever wanted to journey through a lovecraftian horror story flitting between possessing inanimate objects, becoming hideous monsters, and slaying your fellow adventurers? Of course you have, and that’s what Crawl is all about. You can play with up to four people and your aim is simply to get to level ten and escape. The trouble is that only one of you can escape, so if you get killed make sure you take revenge to regain your heroic form.
Screen Cheat
If you remember back before the internet, if anyone can think that far back, then you will have fond memories of finding your friends in each game by looking at their screen. Take this concept and then make every single player invisible and you have Screen Cheat. The real trick here is that each area is colour coded to help guide you and each weapon leaves a trail so you can track the person firing it. Their are some truly inspired game modes available and matches get tense quickly.
Tricky Towers
Tetris will always be a classic game, hell it is one of the most successful games in the history of the universe (that we know of). Tetris has done multiplayer before but normally the only interaction you have with each other is sending over completed lines. Tricky Towers does something completely different, your aim is to used the pieces to build up to a certain height, as you hit certain points you will get a power up to either help yourself or hinder your opponents. Add in the fact that your tower can fall over if you haven’t built it properly and then throw in a wind setting and you have a truly fantastic game that requires more thought than quick reflexes and is perfect for people who don’t game as often.
Paperbound
Gamers occasionally get accused of not reading enough books, you can fool people into thinking you read by playing Paperbound. Set inside a collection of classic literature you get to run with scissors, throw ink bombs, and just generally riot inside their pages. You aim is to reach the final score and then escape through a tear in the fabric of space time, if someone can fell you as you’re making your escape then you need to get another kill to make the portal reopen. Perhaps the best feature is the gravity shifting you can within these pages, simply push a button and gravity will flip for your character, allowing for some crazy midair clashes that are both mind bending and soul destroying for the loser.
So there you are, just four games of so very many that are waiting to be part of your next night in with friends. Each one is easy enough to pick up but will allow you all to grow and get better the more you play. Which means you can always lord it above your friends from the winners throne and be quickly knocked off when someone else gets too good as well.
