Author: Amanda Hudgins

Amanda Hudgins is an occasional writer based out of Lexington, KY and sometimes writes for her interactive fiction publication Storycade.
Death Stranding
News

WTF is going on in Death Stranding?

At the Sony E3 press conference last night, Kojima Productions unveiled its first game since breaking up with Konami—it’s a surreal action-adventure entitled (get this) Death Stranding. Death Stranding features Hideo Kojima and Norman Reedus working together again, as the two had previously partnered up for the presumed-cancelled Silent Hills. Kojima’s projects and narratives have always been a touch odd, but with the release of the Death Stranding trailer audiences have confirmation that Konami was only holding him back. To call the trailer ‘different’ would be an understatement. Is the game the baby? The trailer features a naked Norman Reedus, curled…
Horizon Zero Dawn
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Horizon: Zero Dawn, a classic fantasy adventure novel with added dino mechs

Horizon: Zero Dawn, which is probably better remembered as “that dino mech archer game,” was among the games displayed at yesterday’s Sony E3 2016 conference. It premiered a whole eight minutes of in-game footage, in fact—I know, very fancy. It follows the story of a hunter named Aloy as she seeks to uncover what happened to her world. We might question the same thing. Consider this: the world of Horizon belongs to the hunter-gatherer era, but is accented by large mechanized dinosaur-like creatures that look as though they fell out of an anime rather than prehistory. Just what is going on…
Winternight
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Cuphead programmer’s side project is inspired by Canada’s long winters

One of the people behind the upcoming Cuphead has begun work on his next game, a Canadian winter inspired open-world adventure RPG called Winternight. A game developer out of Ottawa, Tony Coculuzzi is working to create an indie RPG in the spirit of Morrowind (2002) or Ultima Underworld (1992). While the game is influenced by classic RPGs, Coculuzzi has also used his home city and state as inspiration. “I live in Canada, in the city of Ottawa, and we have long, cold, snowy winters. Winter here is often dark and dreary, and I feel like that has fueled my idea for the world I want to create for Winternight. I…
News

It’s time to tell the forest to f*ck off

It’s a quiet day next to a peaceful river, the sun has set. A steady rain falls. It’s time to tell the forest to fuck off. TELL THE FOREST TO FUCK OFF is a small downloadable game for Windows and Mac, created by Tak. Short and to the point, TELL THE FOREST TO FUCK OFF is exactly what you’d imagine based on the title. You, a small bipedal stick figure with a irregularly shaped head, shake with the kind of penciled-in rage of a mid-level bureaucrat, and then let it all out in an enraged yell, knocking down a nearby…
Paint Bug
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Paint Bug fills you with childlike joy as you create digital art

Even with the advent of adult coloring, it’s difficult to find an outlet that makes you feel like you’re creating unique art without actually having the talent to do so. Paint Bug, made in 72 hours for the Ludum Dare game jam, attempts to do just that. Paint Bug gives the player control over a series of sticker-like characters that they can draw across a canvas. Each sticker, from the water droplet to the moon, has a different effect on the canvas. Players then have the opportunity to save their works as the final piece or as a timelapse series that shows all of the frames…
Shapeshifter Biker
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Become a shapeshifting road warrior in a Mad Max-style game

Last weekend, Renaud Forestié released a game called Shapeshifter Biker, a free-wheeling road movie mixed with shapeshifting mechanics. Shapeshifter Biker has you drive around a desert map on the lookout for animal power-ups that give you the ability to temporarily shapeshift into a variety of different animals—flying eagles or sheltered turtles. However, you are constantly being chased by ducks in large black cars who will stop at nothing to defeat you. The game was created as a part of the latest Ludum Dare game jam, which gave participants 48 hours to create games under the theme “Shapeshift,” which was clearly at the core of Renaud’s…
Mable & the Wood
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Pixel art exploration game gets its moral ambiguity from Studio Ghibli films

Mable & the Wood is a 2D exploration game about a young red-haired girl with the ability to transform into other creatures. The idea is to get her through the titular colorful woods. However, the more you use the girl’s powers, the more you take from the forest, slowly destroying it—regardless, it’s the only way to reach some areas, and it’s the only way to beat the enemies you meet. The idea behind the game was born in April 2015, as it was made for the Ludum Dare game jam that month, which carried the theme “An Unconventional Weapon,” hence the shape-shifting. Now…
Overland
News

Overland’s post-apocalyptic dioramas arrive early, but only for some

Tactical survival road trip game Overland saw its paid alpha program called “First Access” launch yesterday. This game, the latest from publishing label Finji, is a procedurally generated road-movie-meets-tactical-squad game, set in a series of diorama like scenes. “First Access” gives paying fans the ability to play the game early, with features like developer forums and constant updates available. The system is also relatively exclusive—there were only 500 keys available for First Access, which used itch.io’s Refinery toolset. More keys will be made available as the game hits internal milestones. It’s the first time Finji, whose previous games include Capsule (2012) and Canabalt (2009), has had a…
Morning Makeup Madness
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Morning Makeup Madness gives you 10 seconds to become as glam as can be

Jenny Jiao Hsia just released a new game, a little vignette called Morning Makeup Madness. The game has you put on your makeup in 10 seconds with predictably awful (or remarkable) results. Inspired in part by the YouTube 3 Minute Makeup Challenges done by some of the platforms most well known faces (Hsia cites Bubzbeauty as a notable example), Morning Makeup Madness puts you in control of the brushes and other implements of beauty warfare to help complete a common ritual. The timing here is what elevates this task to the heights of ridiculousness. the imprecise nature of the scoring is part of what makes…