SteamfarerDeveloper:

 Igor Rashkuev

Website: vk.com/oxerenPlatform: PC

The project was lit up at GamesJamKanobu 2015, but it also broke through to us. Steamfarer is something like a mix of King’s Bounty (in the Kaliningrad Katauri version) and “Space Rangers” (from the same Katauri) with a conditional turn—based action game from Final Fantasy in a steampunk setting.

Despite the fact that such a combination may seem strange, in fact, the mentioned mechanics combine very well. The player flies a hefty tin mechanic on the cards, takes quests, buys equipment, pumps shooters and engages in battles with enemy ships.

The best part is that it’s exciting to play and replay battles. Not so often there are projects in which the explosion of your own ship gives you a feeling of joy: yeah, this approach didn’t work, let’s try another way.

The game got into the competition very raw — we had a build in front of us, demonstrating what will be in the game, but no more. On the other hand, already for this, in fact, demo version, I want to give a big advance. It allows you to see the gigantic potential of a project that only one person is currently working on.

At the same time, doubt remains: will only one developer be able to pull the full version of the game to the level he claims? Personally, it seems to me that Igor Rashkuev, at least, needs to take care of himself and get like-minded people who will help him revive the world of Steamfarer.

Boxformer

Developer: Boxformer Team

Website: https://readymag.com/u82208611/158707/Platform:

 iOS, Android, PC

Boxformer from the Moscow team of the same name is such a very pleasant surprise for all fans of Super Meat Boy. The game is an excellent hardcore platformer with great animation, for some reason reviving memories of Worms 2. The only and probably fatal flaw of the game is the visual style chosen by the developers.

I must say right away, the game looks magical in dynamics: everything pulsates at game levels, the main character, subtly resembling Finn from Adventure Time, throws cool blue balls, clouds of dust and all kinds of animals fly from under his feet, crazy enemies like monster walls with giant mouths delight the eye. But the warm color palette, smiling coins, pink skulls give the impression that the game was created for the target audience of teenagers 10-12 years old.

So it turns out that despite the high complexity and excellent dynamics, the project is not taken seriously. Perhaps if he had been a little darker and stricter, he would have been the center of attention for a long time.

Dungeon War

Developer: Argo Studio

Platform:iOS

The game from Argo Studio is a beautiful, but very simple mobile beat ’em up.

The user chooses a hero and locations from the available ones (the heroes differ not only visually, but also in skills and characteristics, and the locations are monsters and complexity), and then finds himself in a small arena where he is attacked wave after wave by spiders, dark elves and other evil spirits. For killing them, the hero gets an experience that raises one or another characteristic. After each wave, the player can also spend the money collected from the monsters to upgrade their uniforms.

Actually, that’s what the whole game is built on.

Its main advantage is its beautiful hand-drawn graphics: atmospheric locations, detailed characters, neat menus, but as for the gameplay, it gets boring very quickly, and the management cannot be called convenient.