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It has now been almost exactly three years since the infamous launch of No Man's Sky, and in that time, the developers Hello Games have somehow managed to flip the game on its head not once, but several times in a row. In fact, No Man's Sky has received no less than 7 substantial content updates that have added more content and features than anyone expected at launch - all for free.

Best of all is that Hello Games show no intention of stopping anytime soon. With No Man's Sky: BEYOND having just released, it's obvious that they've got plenty more to show in the coming months. The game's reputation precedes it ever since its unlucky launch period, but what sort of experience does No Man's Sky offer in 2019? That's what we'll talk about here.

For those who haven't been in the loop or keeping track of things, No Man's Sky's expansions are quite numerous indeed. We had: Foundation, Pathfinder, Atlas Rises, NEXT, The Abyss, Visions, and the recent BEYOND content updates. BEYOND is also billed as the 2.0 version of No Man's Sky - the main influence behind this write-up, in fact. Financially-speaking, it would've been most sensible for Hello Games to have bundled at least some of this content into paid expansion packs. This is not the case, however.

It's important to note that, while these expansions have turned No Man's Sky into the best version of itself, they haven't redefined the game completely. At its core, No Man's Sky is exactly like Starbound. This is a game for explorers and pathfinders, and not so much for those who want a meaningful narrative.

Necessarily, this brings about the idea that No Man's Sky has the width of an ocean and the depth of a puddle. However, it's these post-launch content updates that have added much-needed depth to the game's features. In many ways, No Man's Sky is now the game it was always supposed to be, it's just that it took much more time for Hello Games to reach this point than they initially thought it would.

Today, No Man's Sky is as difficult to put into words as it was at launch. Thing is, the game is much more coherent, and there's way more meat on its bones than there used to be. With new features making their way into the game every few months, and alongside huge content expansions, there's virtually no way of telling what Hello Games might do next.

The catch is that No Man's Sky isn't for everybody - again drawing a parallel with Starbound - but for those people who are okay with objective-less gaming. While quests do keep popping up in greater number as new updates come in, No Man's Sky is all about coming up with your own goals and missions, and there's obviously a market for that sort of game as well.

After all, what are games for if not for us to explore uncharted worlds and ride giant crabs around the place?

It has now been almost exactly three years since the infamous launch of No Man’s Sky, and in that time, the developers Hello Games have somehow managed to flip the game on its head not once, but several times in a row. In fact, No Man’s Sky has received no less than 7 substantial content updates that […]

Game compilations are usually reserved for franchises that already have a good chunk of games behind them, but every once in a while there comes a compilation like Retro Game Crunch where every game is made from scratch.
Retro Game Crunch incorporates 7 games that share aesthetics that are very much inspired by the NES era and its limitations. What makes them different is the genre, with each one playing differently. There is plenty to cover, so let's dive in and cover each game.

Super Clew Land starts as an evolution platformer. You will start as a small green blob-like creature but as you explore the world you'll find food that will help you evolve through a simple minigame. The more you evolve, the more abilities you unlock, letting you explore even more of the area. It doesn't take long to fully evolve, but what will take you a couple of hours is getting all the gems to unlock the final challenge.
More experienced gamers will breeze through this one, but that doesn't mean they won't enjoy it. While there is not much variation when it comes to world aesthetics, what is here is pleasant to the eye and cohesive.
Controls are buttery smooth and work just like you would expect. It is a game that everyone can play and everyone can master, and that is what makes it so appealing.

End of Line puts you in the role of a robot whose only goal is to die. Sounds dark, but only on paper.
While in most games dying is probably the easiest thing to do, in End of Line each path to your demise is a puzzle to be solved by pushing boxes, activating switches and manipulating objects.
It does start a bit too easy and that might make some people give up on it fairly quickly (usually people give up because the game is too hard), but if you stick with the game long enough you will discover a game that will bend your mind in unexpected ways and making every death rewarding - that sounded way to dark, but you know what I mean.

GAIAttack! lets you and your friends play as little dinosaur creatures on a journey to stop vile purple thingies from industrializing the forest... At least that's what I think this game is about.
The story doesn't really matter, and it is more about the gameplay. Playing solo is fun, but add three more friends in the mix and you get a surprisingly deep up-scrolling platformer that uses two buttons for jumping and attacking. While you work together for the greater good, the scoring is separate so expect some rivalry.
It is the only game that offers a 4-player co-op in the compilation, but it will last you longer than you would expect, especially considering replay value.

Paradox Lost is a Metroidvania that could give the original Metroid run for its money. You find yourself stranded on a mysterious place armed with a gun that you got by defeating a hooded figure. Just when you get comfortable with your new weapon and the way character controls, the game throws you a curveball and gives a purpose to the gigantic crystal you've been noticing.
Each time you charge your gun and fire at the crystal you will jump in time - past, future or present. While the setting doesn't change, the layout does, so there are nice puzzle elements to complement the Metroidvania aspects.
While it won't break any new grounds in the genre, it will give you the feel of experiencing Metroidvania for the very first time and will keep you invested all the way to the end.

Wub-Wub Wescue takes the best things from arcade platformers such as Donkey Kong Jr. and Mario Bros., giving you control over a cute pug dog going through the jungle and rescuing his master from the natives of the whichever island you're stuck in. It is such a simple game, but so alluring because of it.
If you saw someone playing it without knowing the context, you would swear it is an NES classic you've never heard of.
For those who are looking for a throwback to the 80s arcades, this one is worth the compilation alone.

Brains & Hearts is a two-player game (which can also be played against AI) that is so difficult to explain how it works that I won't even try to, simply out of fear that I will scare you from trying the game.
It is not as complicated as I'm making it be, and there is a handy tutorial that explains everything, but to put it all into words, without visual context - probably not a good idea. And no, that screenshot above doesn't help one bit.
I will say this, it is a fascinating board-like game with a simple yet effective theme that will use both your brain and wits. Train against AI but get the best experience playing against a friend.

Best for last, Shūten, inspired by Ancient China and representing the shooting genre that was so prevalent in the 80s, only this time there is no spaceships in sight.
Instead, you are controlling a samurai who prefers to throw weapons at enemies rather than holding a sword all the time.
While the game starts fairly easy it won't take long until it turns into a bullet hell. Luckily you can unleash bullet hell by buying new and upgrading old weapons.
It is very fast-paced and maxing out your abilities shouldn't take longer than an hour, but that doesn't mean it will be easy.
Let me know who is the final boss - I still haven't reached it.

7 games for a price of one ain't too shabby at all, and the fact that they differ in genres practically guarantees that you will find something you'll enjoy.
Today, when tons of indies try to copy the aesthetics of 80s, Retro Game Crunch emulates both the feel and gameplay of that era perfectly. If you somehow manage to play this on a CTR television, the immersion would be complete.
If you're a retro gamer, this is a must, and if you are looking to dip your toes in retro, this is a good place to start.

Game compilations are usually reserved for franchises that already have a good chunk of games behind them, but every once in a while there comes a compilation like Retro Game Crunch where every game is made from scratch. Retro Game Crunch incorporates 7 games that share aesthetics that are very much inspired by the NES […]

Dwarf Fortress has always been a cornerstone of indie gaming on PC. First released back in 2003, this game predates the modern indie culture by a fair bit, and has even had a hand in defining it, in some way. Strangely enough, it hasn't been released on Steam yet.

A relatively recent announcement from Bay 12 Games, the two-person dev team behind Dwarf Fortress, said that the game will be coming out on Steam soon, though without a firm release date in mind. There's no doubt that this will bring changes to the game's formula, but what is it, exactly, that we should expect from Dwarf Fortress on Steam?

If the screenshots featured in this article don't look like Dwarf Fortress to you, you've got a good eye. Dwarf Fortress does not have graphics in its non-Steam version. Not by default, at least. Instead, the game features a unique ASCII visual style that leaves a whole lot of stuff to the imagination of the player. Optionally, if you're interested, you can go out of your way to install graphics modules, but this isn't necessary. Of course, this is offputting to a substantial base of potential players. This is why the Steam version will have a fully-fledged graphics mode available by default.

The official graphics pack isn't the only thing that's coming with the Steam version of Dwarf Fortress. Steam Workshop integration is going to be a major boon for many players, in particular. There's nothing quite like having easy and fast access to hundreds of mods at any given moment. Developers will also include the all-new Adventurer and Legends modes, each of which alters the core gameplay experience ever-so-slightly.

It is important to say, however, that none of Dwarf Fortress' trademark complexity will be lost compared to the original. All of its standard gameplay mechanics - randomisation included - will stay exactly the same, and the Legends mode will even allow players to keep track of their world's history and culture in a handy interface.

In truth, Dwarf Fortress Steam won't differ all that much from the original 2003 version. It's going to get all the content and all of the future updates with more stuff added on top. If you're worried, however, that this enhanced version of Dwarf Fortress will lack the original's special charm, fret not. To play the ASCII build of Dwarf Fortress, players will only need to opt into the beta branch of the game via Steam - simple as that.

It's hard to quantify the amount of content that Dwarf Fortress offers, so we'll quote the developers themselves: "The deepest, most intricate simulation of a world that's ever been created." It's a humble estimate of the type of game Dwarf Fortress is.

Sadly, all the devs have to say about the game's Steam release date is - time is subjective. Not yet, then, but soon.

Dwarf Fortress has always been a cornerstone of indie gaming on PC. First released back in 2003, this game predates the modern indie culture by a fair bit, and has even had a hand in defining it, in some way. Strangely enough, it hasn’t been released on Steam yet. A relatively recent announcement from Bay 12 Games, the […]

Back in the 80s and 90s, our heroes and icons were muscular men armed to the teeth, waging the war against terrorism, drugs and everything that plagues our world to this day. They were nothing but a human, and they kicked some major ass.
Along the way, that type of heroism became obsolete for unknown reasons, and despite Sly's and Arnie's attempts at a comeback, the superheroes took the spotlight.
However, with some help from developer Free Lives and publisher Devolver Digital, the macho men are coming to the scene yet again.

It has been a while since Broforce got released but it wasn't until recently that I got to experience it for the first time (too many great games, not enough time for them all), and four years after the fact, this game feels like it came out yesterday.
The game puts you in the role of Rambro, a Rambo inspired veteran that is tasked with saving other members of the Brofroce from their captivity.
The more you play, the more Bros you unlock, such as Brommando, Browalker, and Snake Broskin, and as you can tell, all of them are inspired by the heroes that graced the action movies in the badass genre.
How did they get away with copyright is probably a question that probably shouldn't be asked.

Each Bro represents a life, so if your Bro dies new Bro will replace him, and each one has a specific type of attack and special attack, so you are (bro)forced to learn to play with each and every character, which is not as limiting as it might seem at first.
While a couple of starting missions might seem a bit too easy, the latter half will really put your skills to the test. Often you will be able to cheese your way out of a level, skipping most of the enemies, which is something that speedrunners will have the most fun with.
That is actually the most defining feature of Broforce, the diversity, from 30+ characters that all play differently to the ways you can beat the levels.

One of the best features is without a doubt destructive environment. You can level a whole level (ha!) with explosions, main weapon or even fists. It truly feels like being in an action movie feeling zero regrets, because, after all, you are fighting the terrorists.
It would seem that behind every terrorist is a devil, if Broforce is to be believed, and that is how you will end every stage, by killing the devil in a suit and escaping with a chopper.
Sounds kinda random to introduce such a supernatural element, but it is a clever hint of things to come.
See, while terrorists are the ones you will encounter the most, they are hardly the most problematic threats in the game.
I would hate to spoil what are the bigger threats, so I will leave that for you to discover. You won't be disappointed.

Broforce doesn't pretend to be more than it is, just like the movies that inspired it. It is fast-paced, fan service fun that will give you plenty of content for both solo and co-op play, and if that wasn't enough, a level editor is included for those more creative.
It is not a long journey to the end, but it is something you will want to come back to every once in a while.

It goes without saying that there's not been a shortage of battle royale games over the past few years. It's a very specific sub-genre of PvP multiplayer shooters that, by now, has carved for itself an almost completely saturated niche in which it's almost impossible for smaller projects to break into.

The clever thing, then, is to do a different sort of battle royale, which is precisely what Valhall aims to deliver. This upcoming Norse-themed multiplayer melee bonanza has got a fair few things going for it, and we'll give you a short overview of what those are - right here.

Right off the bat, Valhall's setting is smack-dab perfect for a battle royale game. Set loose in a world that's just about to end, warriors must fight against one another to earn the right to wield the legendary Sword of Odin - the one and only thing that can stop Ragnarök itself. The game will be set on an island-like landmass that's separated into four distinct areas - each representing a different season. This, of course, includes weather, lightning, and environmental effects. Even the ever-shrinking Ring of Death - a trademark of any proper battle royale - fits here, as it's a world-ending gravity field that eats away the level until nothing remains.

Valhall's main selling point, however, will be its focus on melee combat instead of gunfighting. There's not been a high-profile, high-quality melee-oriented battle royale just yet, and Valhall fits the bill for this niche quite well so far. Of course, there's no way of telling it'll actually be good, but we sure can hope.

In any case, this game will pit 50 players against one another, and it promises a unique and more personal take on the sub-genre. Indeed, whereas most of the combat in, say, PUBG, takes place at longer ranges, Valhall will nudge players together. There's a lot of tension in seeing another fully-equipped Viking warrior rushing towards you across an open field, and in knowing that the two of you are about to duke it out at close range.

The potential issue with all of this is that there's an awful lot of open ground to cover in Valhall, and it may well turn out to be too much of that, allowing for an abundance of downtime that doesn't often go down well potential players.

Of course, concerns aside, it's quite nice to see independent developers taking on projects that even AAA developers haven't yet dealt with. We're excited to see what Valhall will look like once it's out, and we're especially interested in trying out some of the reality-twisting powers that developers have showcased in gameplay videos, such as gravity push and levitation.

For the time being, all we can do is wish them luck.

It goes without saying that there’s not been a shortage of battle royale games over the past few years. It’s a very specific sub-genre of PvP multiplayer shooters that, by now, has carved for itself an almost completely saturated niche in which it’s almost impossible for smaller projects to break into. The clever thing, then, […]

Ever since Starbound was announced back in 2013, it's been hailed by some as the ultimate Terraria replacement. When Starbound launched in Early Access, this was not only entirely disproved, but was also shown to be a silly statement, since Terraria kept growing ever-larger and more immense with each passing update. Starbound, too, inflated considerably, and despite what some would've had us believe, the two games coexisted.

Furthermore, both Terraria and Starbound received massive new updates only recently, so they're both still undergoing active development. We thought it would be interesting to compare and contrast the two in an attempt to define who, exactly, does either of these games cater to.

Terraria was the first - of course - and it is undoubtedly the more popular game by a considerable margin. At the time of writing, there are about 20k players enjoying the game, while Starbound sits at a comfortable 4k for the most part. It's important to state that both of these player bases are fairly healthy for what they are, and this is to be expected considering the particular niches that Starbound and Terraria - respectively - cater to. We'll get to that a bit later on, however.

For the most part, Terraria is pretty hardcore and a very focused experience. There is a pronounced element of base-building to be sure, but it doesn't take much to realise that it's pretty underserved and rudimentary. Instead, Terraria delivers fast-paced and precise combat and movement mechanics that combine to make for arcade gameplay like no other. There really is no comparing Starbound to Terraria in this regard, because Starbound is slow and imprecise, and even laggy in some unexpected ways, due to its odd engine.

Thing is, Starbound is a builder's dream. With the selection of items furniture it has and the tools that are at the player's disposal, as well as the underlying engine technology, there's virtually no limit to what you can build in Starbound. This is a slower, more deliberate game that places far more emphasis on exploration and creation, both in and out of the game itself. Modding is Starbound's biggest draw, in fact. While Terraria has got some cool mods to look out for, they can hardly compare with those available for Starbound. Steam Workshop integration has done wonders for Chucklefish's dream project, and the community has built upon their blueprint to an incredible degree. Terraria's game engine is sadly far more limited in what it can do, but this also makes for tighter and neater gameplay, as we've discussed above.

In more ways than one, Starbound has always been the No Man's Sky before No Man's Sky - a game that offers infinite procedural exploration and incredible potential for customisation at the cost of sheer gameplay depth, while Terraria does precisely the opposite. The catch is that neither of these options is bad, and developers simply cannot do both at the same time. Truth is, Starbound isn't a game that every fan of Terraria can have fun in, and same works vice-versa.

Which game is right for you depends largely on what you want to spend most of your time on. If you're into exploring and base-building, Starbound is one of the best options on the market, but if you'd like tight combat and deliberately-built content, Terraria is the way to go. Similarly, if you can handle incredible amounts of procedural generation, Starbound should be a safe bet, while those who'd prefer a more defined approach to gameplay can't go wrong with Terraria.

One thing's for sure - whether you'd prefer collecting T. Rex fossils in outer space or hunt down goblins in a fantasy world with Uzis and Miniguns, you can't really go wrong with neither Starbound nor Terraria, provided that you're informed on what each of these games does best. They're both great, and they've both got an astonishing amount of content. That's what counts the most, we think.

Ever since Starbound was announced back in 2013, it’s been hailed by some as the ultimate Terraria replacement. When Starbound launched in Early Access, this was not only entirely disproved, but was also shown to be a silly statement, since Terraria kept growing ever-larger and more immense with each passing update. Starbound, too, inflated considerably, and despite […]

We all played games that made us say "just one more time, I will get it right this time", and Nuclear Throne is the embodiment of that phrase.
While simplistic in its gameplay, beating Nuclear Throne is no small feat. Dozen of characters are on your disposal, and, as expected, each one with their own unique abilities. Fish will roll through the bullets while Crystal is more of a defensive type of gal, protecting herself by turning into a huge crystal, deflecting bullets, and having more HP out of the group.
It is safe to say that characters are not balanced, and that is a good thing since this is not a 1-on-1 shooter but a solo or co-op experience. Trying to find the character that best suits your gameplay style is half the fun, that is if you get good enough to unlock them.

You unlock two-three characters fairly easily by simply playing the game, such as Melting that has only 2 HP but gains experience like crazy. Other characters require special conditions which are not that easy to figure out. The whole game is kinda cryptic, reveling in its mystery.
While the cast of characters might seem random, there is lore behind it all, but the game lets you fill in the gaps instead of bogging down the action with some plot exposition.
The more you play the more divers levels become, ranging from deserts and sewers to mountains and fancy halls.
The enemies are just as diverse, tied thematically to their surroundings, which means there is a 100% chance you will fight a bandit in the desert area, but they can show up in other areas as well, which begs the question - What are they doing outside their domain?
Add to that a sudden appearance of a police squad trying to hinder your progress, and your imagination runs wild with the explanations of what is happening on the screen.
Sure, you can google the lore and find more about it, but coming up with your own theories while playing the game is clearly intended by the developers.

However, you might not even have time to be bothered with the lore considering how intense the gameplay is.
It starts easy enough, armed with a gun, shooting a handful of enemies that are as useful as Storm Troopers, but the moment the first boss shows up, the difficulty spikes and you have to rely on raw skill.
You will get some help from oh-so-valuable med kits that will refill your health and a variety of weapons like machinegun, crossbow, and flamethrower, but they all require specific ammo, so don't waste your bullets.
Last but not least, you can collect radiation from chests and defeated enemies which will let you level up, and once you do, at the end of the level you will get an option to upgrade yourself via mutations such as gaining health off of enemy's corpses, being impervious to explosions, increasing movement speed, just to name a few.

Nuclear Throne is very much inspired by bullet hell games, which becomes evident by reaching the second boss, but all those bullets flying around are not as hard to dodge. What is hard is developing an exact strategy on how to approach the enemy. If you choose to kill them up close, another enemy might rush in front of you to give you a taste of your own medicine. Kill them from a distance with an explosive, you risk attracting attention to yourself. Crossbows can offer a nice change of pace, being a bit more stealthy, but the amount of their ammo requires every single hit to be precise.

If you thought that you can simply learn the pattern or a layout of the levels and zoom through the game after a couple of hours of failure, think again. Each and every time you start the game, the levels are randomly generated, which greatly ups the replay value, but it also gives you a much harder time at completing the game.
One small mistake can lead to a bunch of bigger ones, ending your playthrough instantly, but no matter how many times you lose, because of fast-paced gameplay, relatively short levels, and variety of options to experiment with, you will come back for more, and you will have so much fun you won't even care that you died from that one bullet that you somehow missed.

We all played games that made us say “just one more time, I will get it right this time”, and Nuclear Throne is the embodiment of that phrase. While simplistic in its gameplay, beating Nuclear Throne is no small feat. Dozen of characters are on your disposal, and, as expected, each one with their own […]

In most games in the survival horror genre, things quickly go from bad to worse, but few ever reach the level of sheer terror that Darkwood presents its players with. The game starts off rather grim, with the protagonist having been tortured for information that later proves to be useless. Best part, though? The player controls the torturer in that particular instance.

Before you know it, the lines between reality and nightmarish fantasies begin to blur, and you're attacking massive pig snouts that grow from the ground up, and sabotaging deformed survivors' projects, simply because a mysterious entity wishes for you to do so. Adopting a top down perspective, Darkwood is an impressively original horror game. Its immersion is difficult to parallel, even though it's a top-down twin-stick "shooter" if we speak strictly in genre terms.

Doesn't Get Much More Horrific Than Darkwood!

In most cases, when there's talk of horror video games, first titles that come to mind are the likes of Alien: Isolation, Silent Hill, or any other such high-profile release. What they all usually have in common, however, is the perspective: three-dimensional third-person or first-person titles that allow for maximum player immersion in the given game world. That's not to say two-dimensional horror games are few and far between, but they're oftentimes dismissed as less worthy of the genre, in this or that way.

It's fairly understandable why this is the case, too. By default, most 2D-centric games will have a harder time at getting the player immersed enough to care what sort of horrors might befall their far-removed protagonist. Interestingly, Darkwood has no such issues whatsoever.

In fact, we'd even go so far as to claim that Darkwood is one of the most horrific games we have ever played. It does not focus on delivering jump-scares left and right. Instead, rather than a jump scare, you can expect the slow-burning dread of nightmarish fantasies that never let up. The setting of the ever-sinister woods is as unique as it gets and heavily reminiscent of the likes of STALKER with an added dose of Silent Hill and the works of David Lynch and Stanisław Lem. Top tip - by night, find shelter. You'll need protection from the horrors that emerge from the mysterious woods.

A Unique and Harrowing Experience

The setting, of course, is precisely what you'd expect from giving the game even a passing glance: Eastern Europe during the 1980s; likely to be Poland, or at least something that once used to be Poland. To describe Darkwood as 'unreal' would be the understatement of the century, and few other games have ever distressed us to the extent that this one has. It is immensely difficult to quantify the horrors you'll be exposed to in the ever-sinister woods as part of Darkwood's partially non-linear and randomised storyline, but it's a real treat for fans of dread-inducing media.

What's most impressive, however, is the fact that such a nightmarish experience can be conveyed from a top-down perspective, and with a control scheme that has usually been reserved for twin-stick shooters and the like. Few AAA horror titles feel quite as dream-like as Darkwood does, and virtually none of them tick all the same boxes it does. In fact, we feel confident in saying that Darkwood is entirely unique when it comes to both quality of execution and the content itself, and this alone makes it worth a horror fan's time and effort.

Was it more difficult for the developers to do things just right due to the perspective and genre they've opted for? Absolutely. Has their effort materialised in a unique and harrowing experience like no other? Absolutely. Go and get it, if you haven't yet. You won't regret it. Let the nightmarish fantasies begin!

In most games in the survival horror genre, things quickly go from bad to worse, but few ever reach the level of sheer terror that Darkwood presents its players with. The game starts off rather grim, with the protagonist having been tortured for information that later proves to be useless. Best part, though? The player […]

For the majority of us the first thing we googled, once we discovered the internet, was “free games”, and there were a lot of games to choose from, some great, some not so much. As time went on the games became much more sophisticated and the developers, that once made games for free, started to charge for their creations, and rightfully so.
However, freeware scene is nowhere near extinct, and one of the beloved creators of freeware content is Juan Antonio Becerra, the founder of Locomalito, who took time to talk with us about game development, inspirations, and differences when making games for free and for a price.

-Could you please introduce yourself in a couple of sentences for those who are not familiar with you or your work?-
Basically, I'm a hobbyist game dev who made a bunch of classic-like video games with a friend and then somehow some of them became very popular.

-How did it start? What made you say "I'm gonna be a game developer"? Was there any particular game that pushed you towards that?-
I was fascinated with the arcade rooms when I was a kid in mid to late 80s. I had little access to money then, so I’ve spent a lot of time watching others playing, and then, somehow, while watching I learned a bunch of things about game design.
Since then I've been dreaming about making my own games, sketching ideas and thinking about things I could add or modify in my favorite games. But creating those games on my own was totally out of my reach until 2006, when I started experimenting with game creation engines.
Somehow I never thought I was going to be a game dev. I still don't consider myself a professional developer, it just happened that I made some games.

-What are the first challenges you faced when starting the game development and what would you suggest to up and coming developers how to handle those challenges?-
The main problem I faced is the idea that game devs were a race of cyber-gods that came from a distant galaxy, you know.
I was a regular kid, and people were like “You need to be great at maths to code” and stuff like that. Then, when I learned a bit about how computer programs are made, it looked even worse in my eyes.
But as I grew up, I learned a bunch of things because of my hobby (mostly drawing) and my work on a branding studio. I got some basic skills at programming, drawing, coloring, animating, editing audio and video… And then I realized that putting those together I could have the basic requirements to make small games. I experimented a lot, with good and bad results, until the day I had my first mid-size fully finished game, 8Bit Killer.
So, the big wall for me was thinking that a regular guy can't learn what other people know.
Also, the agony for instant results was there too, until I learned to focus and enjoy the process.

-Other than programming the games you also do the art and sprites. Is it hard to juggle both programming and art or does it makes things easier? Your pixel work on games is of the highest quality so it must take quite some time to create.-
Both things take time, but I find them complementary. Sometimes I have the mood to sit down, code stuff and see it things live, and sometimes I just want to drop pixels while listening to music.
I think that the interesting thing about working in both fields is that I can do some tricks that are natural between both disciplines.
For example, coding the movement of a fire explosion requires programming, but the result has to be fine-tuned with a graphic designer and animator eye.
Anyway, I use to work in both fields at the same time, so I don't feel like I'm coding or drawing, but making a door, a level, an enemy…

-You tend to put quite a bit of difficulty in your games, harkening back to the NES era. Which game of yours did you have the most difficult time to beat and why?-
Probably Death Came From Verminest (the arcade version of They Came From Verminest). But it's a game for arcade tournament events, so it is challenging by definition.

-Majority of the games you create are on a short side (not to say they can be beaten in one sitting considering the difficulty), yet they are packed with content. What would you say are the benefits of shorter games?-
As someone making stuff in my spare time, I highly value brevity. For me, playing games, going out, learning, watching movies or reading books occupy the same time-space as making games. So I naturally enjoy titles that bring me all their awesomeness quickly, and after that, I have time to focus on other things.
To explain that a little more, content per minute ratio is what I call "game density". Imagine having a game with content that can be combined in 500 different ways, so you can put those 500 situations in a row to make a long game, or you can personally pick the best 50 situations and make a great short game.
Making a short game with the best content is ironically harder, because you have to actually make and test all the situations, and then you have to compare and select the best ones. The good thing about working this way is that, in the end, you have a game that feels great during its entire length.
That kind of games, with good rhythm, variety, and nice content, can leave the player satisfied after a few minutes and are usually very replayable.
For example, Outrun is a great saga people have been enjoying for decades.
But if you think about it in terms of duration, it's basically a 6 minutes long game. ¡A song long game! But with a lot of beautiful circuits, a relentless sense of speed and action and a great replayability value.
The flow is so great that you don't even stop driving between levels.

-With Maldita Castilla EX and Super Hydorah, you've gone from freeware to paid games. Was there any additional pressure when making that transition creative-wise? What is the main difference between working on freeware and pay-to-play game?-
Well, instead of going from freeware to paid games, I just do both things now, haha.
But sure, there are huge differences.
In a freeware project, everything is about the project I want to make. I don't need to think about what people expect because there are no clients, no shops, no big platforms... I just need to focus on my thing.
With commercial games, while I'm still making the games I want to make, I need to think about how each platform works and how users interact with those platforms, so I need to work on descriptions, achievements, user profile detection, controller options, checkpoints, save options… I also feel a big pressure because there are people paying for my games between many great others, and I want to give them something really polished that they can enjoy.
On the dark side of things, commercial games have a lot of paperwork, and doing that is not as cool as working on your game ideas.
I find good and bad in both publishing methods, so I'm working on the first, the second or both depending on each project and my own mood.

-Maldita Castilla, I have to say, is truly a masterwork, and with the EX version, we got new content and levels. How did it feel going back to a project that was already finished? Was there any fear that it would mess things up or have you seen it as a chance to add things in it that had to be cut in the original version?-
Everything is fine when you look back at your previous work and find many things you can do better. It means that you have learned something.
That's the case with Maldita Castilla EX and Super Hydorah.
Working with Abylight Studios to release them on consoles was the perfect excuse to revisit these projects, and having in mind that the fan's insistence of making those games was the initial fire, I thought it could be nice to add some new things they’ve never seen before, so I’ve spent the time working on both projects as if they were never released, but still in their development stage.
Everything was revisited, a lot of graphics were enhanced, level design parts, the behavior of enemies and weapons…
My goal is always to make a game as reasonably close to the game I imagined as possible. There are always ideas that are left out for one reason or another, and in this case, Maldita Castilla EX and Super Hydorah are much closer to the games I imagined than the originals.

-Speaking of cutting things out, how do you decide what to keep and what to remove from the game? Any examples of removing a stage/character/gameplay element that you really wanted to keep but had to get rid of for the sake of having a better end product?-
When I have enough content ready, I spend a lot of time playtesting and taking notes of things to fix here and there. Sometimes I have a lot of notes about a part that doesn’t feel right, and then, sometimes I remake it entirely or just throw the entire thing away.
That was the case of the Charybdis level in Hydorah. The path of Scylla and Charybdis is a passage of the Odyssey myth that I love. In the original Hydorah you can find a Path of Scylla level, but not a Charybdis one. That is because I was not able to make a convincing boss fight for Charybdis and I removed the level.
Then, while working on Super Hydorah years later, I tried again from scratch and I ended with a very different level and boss approach.

-You collaborated with Gryzor87 (music) and Marek Barej (illustrations) on almost every game so far. Could you explain the creative process between the three of you? What makes you function so well together?-
In my opinion, graphics, code, music, level design, and cover art need to work together as a whole thing, and not as individual elements put together.
We don't make the music once the level is done but during its development.
This way, Gryzor87 and I can share ideas and references to make something that really fits the mood of the level. We're good friends, we talk a lot about our respective projects, and we work together in a very fluid way, so it's easy for us to hit the target in the first try, but when we don’t, we try again remaking music, graphics, code or whatever until everything falls in place.
With Marek, it's a bit different because his work is very specific. He usually uses some references of the final (or almost final) game to imagine a cover art. Same with Jacobo García, who did the users manual images in Maldita Castilla and Issyos.
In any case, I give them references and instructions, but the most important thing is that they have the last say in their work instead of me.

-Anything new on the horizon? Any hints you could give us of what to expect next?-
I just released Darkula a few weeks ago. It's a little game that mimics the style of 1983 arcade games. It was developed to be played at arcade associations (it was presented at the ArcadeCon 2019) but I’ve also released it for the public as a freeware game.
There's also a minor game called Mutants From The Deep that is almost ready.
It's a surprise project, so there is not much information about it yet.
And then, there's my next "big" project, Star Guardian, that still need years of work.
Star Guardian is a sidescrolling fighting game with an emphasis on scoring and achievements. It features short plays with route selection between a lot of levels. It's about a giant metal goddess fighting around exotic planets with a lot of pulp sci-fi stuff. You know, something naive.

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We would like to thank Mr. Bacerra for taking his time to answer our questions and wish him good luck in his future projects.

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For the majority of us the first thing we googled, once we discovered the internet, was “free games”, and there were a lot of games to choose from, some great, some not so much. As time went on the games became much more sophisticated and the developers, that once made games for free, started to […]

When it comes to video games, 'survival' is often synonymous with 'zombies', as it turns out. This is fair, since we are very fond of shooting guns in games, but it may just happen that you, too, are sometimes in the mood for a different sort of survival experience. Something more rugged and naturalistic, and driven by a sense of carefully game-ified realism. This isn't easy to find, but The Long Dark does deliver it.

It's odd to say that a game first released in 2014 still delivers a fresh experience, yet it's true. The Long Dark is practically unique in that it presents the players with an unbeatable situation, and virtually no enemies to speak of. Nature could, of course, be considered an enemy, but that's practically nitpicking.

In truth, The Long Dark is eerie and contemplative, and focuses first and foremost on the survival aspect of gameplay, with combat being a complete non-issue for about 90% of the time. There are but a few firearms you could come across, and their primary purpose will almost always be that of hunting. Thing is, you can forget about full magazines and easy targets in The Long Dark. Much like anything else in this game, firing a gun is cumbersome and difficult, and thus by default way more meaningful.

You are constantly under duress in The Long Dark. Be it lack of food, lack of warmth, or lack of health, something's always an issue, and your avatar will often find themselves wanting for some of the game's numerous resources. Combined with the game's slow pacing and deliberate gameplay features, it all meshes together into a uniquely contemplative experience that few games ever intend to deliver. There is a scalable difficulty in The Long Dark, of course, but the game's unique atmosphere prevails no matter how hard it is, which speaks volumes about the developer's talent.

Whereas the majority of "survival" games depend on threats that are artificially introduced into the game world, such as zombies, mutants, or other enemies that can conceivably be defeated, The Long Dark lets you butt heads with Mother Nature herself. There really is no comparing the two, but the way it works out is rather unique, especially given the fact that so few game dev companies - aside from Hinterland Studio - ever attempt to tackle the problem.

In reality, even though video games absolutely are the perfect medium for exploring fantasies of every type and make, it does feel like the excitement over ever-weirder and more unique experiences have overshadowed the down-to-earth grittiness offered by the real world in real-time. The Long Dark is the closest candidate we have to make this argument, we feel.

The catch - because there always must be one - is that from The Long Dark's cold, yet realistic demeanor comes a special kind of coziness. The kind that only ever makes itself known when you're sitting by a source of warmth, secured safely away as a snowstorm rages outside. It's curious, indeed, but we suppose it's not entirely unexpected, given the kind of game Hinterland set out to make. A must-try, we feel.

When it comes to video games, ‘survival’ is often synonymous with ‘zombies’, as it turns out. This is fair, since we are very fond of shooting guns in games, but it may just happen that you, too, are sometimes in the mood for a different sort of survival experience. Something more rugged and naturalistic, and […]

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