In the interest of providing Lewd and her guests with ample ways to waste their time, I've decided to put together a thread to catalog all the best titles available for the low, low price of free.
Contributions would be nice, though it'd be much appreciated if you could throw in a little blurb to give us the overview. I suppose I'll start us off.
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Don't let the MS Paint graphics fool you: This is probably one of the best Indie games ever made. The gameplay is characterized by tight platforming and exploration, a la Metroid or Castlevania. Health pickups are found fairly often, so you have a choice between breezing through the levels or simply shooting the whole place up with an automatic shotgun.
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One interesting design decision is your method of leveling up. Instead of having one centralized screen to invest points, you spend your experience points one by one at these terminals that only power up one particular stat each; you can use them as many times as you'd like, but they're scattered throughout the level. It adds an interesting layer of choice for the player ("Do I want to up Hacking so I get more goodies, or do I want more Armor so I won't be hopeless against the boss? Or should keep searching so I can get more Strength?") Furthermore, enemies don't respawn, so it's impossible to simply grind your way to omnipotence.
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The game's real strength however is its characters. Our heroine, Iji, is fraught with conflict over her sudden job of killing humanlike aliens, but what's far more impressive is the details they put into the text logs: You'll read about their significant others, their gripes about their compatriots, and in more than one case, their utter hopelessness for the future of their species. You'll begin to wonder whether these were the very same enemies you mercilessly gunned down mere moments before. Suffice to say, I haven't felt this emotionally attached to a game since my first playthrough of Homeworld.
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Unlike that game though, there are multiple endings depending on your actions. Iji's fate, of humanity's, and of two alien races; is in your hands.
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Like TRON? Liked Rush? Then you'll probably appreciate Nitronic Rush. Billing itself as a "Survival Racing Game", you play as an interceptor program (represented by a sports car) who has to navigate his way through a computer to take down a master control computer. Or something. Look, the plot ain't important.
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The first thing anyone notices about this game is the visuals. With the addition of bloom (and motion blur if you've got the rig for it), the virtual cityscapes can be downright gorgeous. The lights actually pulse in tune with the game's original electronic soundtrack, which is a pretty nice touch.
Controls are simple. Your car doesn't even drift, and the boost is a simple linear acceleration. What's far more interesting is your car's maneuvering jets: At any time, you can alter pitch and roll using the right stick of your gamepad. This lends itself to interesting applications on the road, such as dragging one side of your car for a tighter turn, or multiplying your coefficient of friction via constantly pitching forward.
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Your car can fly to an extent, so odds are you'll blow through the Story Mode within three quarters of an hour. In the dozens of challenges, where your wings are disabled, it's a completely different ball game. Your car has the remarkable ability to maintain grip on any surface as long as you're going at speed, and most of the challenge stages are built around maintaining momentum to capitalize on that. Before long, you'll be driving along vertical walls, careening between firewalls and missile launchers, and generally doing stunts that would put lightcycles to shame.
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It's honestly pretty difficult; I'd venture to say some of the community tracks are nigh-impossible. Still, if you're good at driving games and itching to put your skills to the test, this one's for you.
I'll post some more when I'm not being a lazy scrub.
