1204 – Gris (2018 video game)

Gris is an indie platform-adventure game by Spanish indie developer Nomada Studio and published by Devolver Digital for Nintendo Switch, macOS and Microsoft Windows. The game was released on 13 December 2018. (wiki)

Gris is a hopeful young girl lost in her own world, dealing with a painful experience in her life. Her journey through sorrow is manifested in her dress, which grants new abilities to better navigate her faded reality. As the story unfolds, Gris will grow emotionally and see her world in a different way, revealing new paths to explore using her new abilities.

GRIS is a serene and evocative experience, free of danger, frustration or death. Players will explore a meticulously designed world brought to life with delicate art, detailed animation, and an elegant original score. Through the game light puzzles, platforming sequences, and optional skill-based challenges will reveal themselves as more of Gris’s world becomes accessible. (steam)

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:  OS: Windows 7 or later / Processor: Intel Core2 Duo E6750 (2 * 2660) or equivalent / AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5000+ (2 * 2600) or equivalent / Memory: 4 GB RAM / Graphics: Geforce GT 430 (1024 MB) / Radeon HD 5570 (1024 MB) / Storage: 4 GB available space

1199 – What Remains of Edith Finch (2017 video game)

Winner of Best Game at the 2018 BAFTA Game Awards, as well as Best Narrative awards at the GDC 2018 Choice Awards, 2018 SXSW Gaming Awards, and The Game Awards 2017, What Remains of Edith Finch is a collection of strange tales about a family in Washington state.

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As Edith, you’ll explore the colossal Finch house, searching for stories as she explores her family history and tries to figure out why she’s the last one in her family left alive. Each story you find lets you experience the life of a new family member on the day of their death, with stories ranging from the distant past to the present day.

The gameplay and tone of the stories are as varied as the Finches themselves. The only constants are that each is played from a first-person perspective and that each story ends with that family member’s death.
Ultimately, it’s a game about what it feels like to be humbled and astonished by the vast and unknowable world around us.

Created by Giant Sparrow, the team behind the first-person painting game The Unfinished Swan.

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SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system / OS: Windows Vista SP2 64-bit or later / Processor: Intel i3 2125 3.30 GHz or later / Memory: 2 GB RAM / Graphics: GeForce GTX 750/AMD Radeon 7790 or later / Storage: 5 GB available space

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http://edithfinch.com/   /   steam

1186 – Journey (2012 video game)

Journey is a multiplayer / single-player indie adventure game developed by Thatgamecompany and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was released for the PlayStation 3 via PlayStation Network in March 2012 and ported to PlayStation 4 in July 2015. It was later ported to Microsoft Windows in June 2019.

In Journey, the player controls a robed figure in a vast desert, traveling towards a mountain in the distance. Other players on the same journey can be discovered, and two players can meet and assist each other, but they cannot communicate via speech or text and cannot see each other’s names until after the game’s credits. The only form of communication between the two is a musical chime, which transforms dull pieces of cloth found throughout the levels into vibrant red, affecting the game world and allowing the player to progress through the levels. The developers sought to evoke in the player a sense of smallness and wonder, and to forge an emotional connection between them and the anonymous players they meet along the way. The music, composed by Austin Wintory, dynamically responds to the player’s actions, building a single theme to represent the game’s emotional arc throughout the story.

Reviewers of the game praised the visual and auditory art as well as the sense of companionship created by playing with a stranger, calling it a moving and emotional experience, and have since listed it as one of the greatest video games of all time. (wiki)

http://thatgamecompany.com/journey/   /   EPIC store

1124 – Ape Out (2019 video game)

Ape Out is a beat ’em up game developed by Gabe Cuzzillo and published by Devolver Digital. The game was released for Microsoft Windows and Nintendo Switch on February 28, 2019. (wiki)

APE OUT is a wildly intense and colorfully stylized smash ‘em up about primal escape, rhythmic violence, and frenetic jazz. Build up nearly unstoppable momentum and use your captors as both weapons and shields to crush everyone on your procedurally generated path to freedom. (steam)

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS (MINIMUM): OS: Windows 7, 8, 8.1, 10 x64 / Processor: Intel Core2 Duo E4500 (2 * 2200) or equivalent / Memory: 2 GB RAM / Graphics: GeForce 9600 GT (512 MB) / DirectX: Version 11 / Storage: 2 GB available space / Additional Notes: Controller Recommended

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Walkthrough   /   Launch Trailer

1022 – Dead Cells (2017 video game)

Dead Cells is a roguelike–metroidvania video game developed and published by Motion Twin. Following about a year in early access, Dead Cells was released for Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on August 7, 2018.

In the game, the player takes the role of a slime-like creature that takes control of a corpse in a dungeon, through which they must fight their way out. The player gains various weapons, treasure and other tools through exploration of the procedurally-generated levels to fight undead creatures within it. At times, the player may gain “cells”, a type of in-game currency that can be used to purchase permanent upgrades or unlock new items for the player if they reach the vendor between each level. Dead Cells uses a permadeath system, causing the player to lose all cells and other currencies or items upon each instance of death.

The plot of Dead Cells is minimalistic, only giving bits of information to the player. Taking place on an unnamed island, the player character is referred to as the Prisoner, a humanoid with a pile of gelee or plantmatter in place of a head. The Prisoner is immortal, as every time he dies his “head” manages to lurch its way back to the starting prison. According to a guard, the Prisoner is said to have been executed for some crime, but the nature of the crime is never specified.

Every time the Prisoner dies, the island reconfigures itself, which serves as an explanation for the rogue-like mechanics. In the game, the reason for this is specified as the island being a living organism that evolves over time. In the end, he kills the Hand of the King and stabs the real king only to explode and wind up back at the start like nothing happened. (wiki)

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS (MINIMUM): OS: Windows 7+ / Processor: Intel i5+ / Memory: 2 GB RAM / Graphics: Nvidia 450 GTS / Radeon HD 5750 or better / Storage: 500 MB available space / Additional Notes: DirectX 9.1+ or OpenGL 3.2+

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Easter Eggs and References 

steam   /   dead-cells.com

0966 – The Chronicles of Riddick

Pitch Black (2000)

timespace coordinates:  desert planet – distant future

Pitch Black (titled The Chronicles of Riddick: Pitch Black on its DVD re-release) is a 2000 American science fiction action horror film co-written and directed by David Twohy. The film stars Vin Diesel, Radha Mitchell, Cole Hauser, and Keith David. Dangerous criminal Richard B. Riddick (Diesel) is being transported to prison in a spacecraft. When the spaceship is damaged by comet debris and makes an emergency crash landing on an empty desert planet, Riddick escapes. However, when predatory alien creatures begin attacking the survivors, Riddick joins forces with the surviving crew and other passengers to develop a plan to escape the planet.Pitch Black was shot on a modest budget of US$23 million. Despite mixed reviews from critics, it was a sleeper hit, grossing over $53 million worldwide and developing its own cult following, particularly around the antihero Riddick. (wiki)

imdb

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Pitch Black: Slam City (2000 Motion Comic)

(Prequel to Pitch Black) Slam City is in the form of an official, confidential prison record detailing Riddick’s arrival and escape from the Ursa Luna Slam city Facility in eleven hours twenty-two minutes. Notably, it shows Riddick undergoing the surgery that gives him “eyeshine” – the ability to see in the dark – and paying for this with a pack of Kool cigarettes as mentioned in Pitch Black. William J. Johns is seen at the end of the movie and is charged with capturing Riddick. (imdb)

(on youtube)

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The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay (2004 video game)

timespace coordinates: inside Butcher Bay, a maximum-security prison – facility constructed on a barren planet

(Prequel to Pitch Black)The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay is a first-person action and stealth video game developed by Starbreeze Studios and published by Vivendi Universal Games. Released for the Xbox and Windows in 2004, the game is a tie-in prequel to the futuristic science fiction film The Chronicles of Riddick. Actor Vin Diesel—who was involved in the game’s development—reprises his role as that film’s protagonist, Richard B. Riddick.

The game follows Riddick, the anti-hero of the two films Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick, as he attempts to escape from a maximum-security prison called Butcher Bay. Escape from Butcher Bay‘s designers focused on exploring Riddick’s character in a prison break setting to differentiate the game from the film. The game’s influences include the film Escape from Alcatraz, and video games such as Half-Life and Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell. (wiki)

(Game Movie) (Playthrough)

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The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena (2009 video game)

The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena is a science fiction first-person action video game for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Mac OS X. The game is a sequel to The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, which was remade and included along with the Assault on Dark Athena campaign. (wiki)

(Game Movie) (walkthrough)

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The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury (2004)

The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury is a 2004 made-for-DVD adult animated science fiction film. It was directed by the Korean-American Æon Flux animator Peter Chung, and features Vin Diesel reprising his role of Richard B. Riddick. It acts as a bridgepoint between Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick. (wiki)

imdb

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The Chronicles of Riddick (2004)

timespace coordinates: 26th century Helion Prime, prison moon Crematoria

The Chronicles of Riddick is a 2004 American science fiction adventure film which follows the adventures of Richard B. Riddick as he attempts to elude capture after the events depicted in the 2000 film Pitch Black. It is written and directed by Pitch Black director David Twohy, with Vin Diesel reprising his role as Riddick and now also acting as producer. It is the first and so far only film in the franchise to be given a PG-13 rating.

Despite not doing especially well in theatres, the film has been successful on DVD and has gained a cult following. (wiki)

imdb

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Riddick: Blindsided (2013)

A new attempt on Lord Marshal Riddick’s life is made on the Necromongers’ ship. It’s time for Riddick to end the years long meandering through space and go back to his roots. (imdb)

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Riddick (2013)

Riddick is a 2013 American science fiction thriller film, the third installment in the Riddick film series. Produced by and starring Vin Diesel as the title character.

imdb

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Sequel

929 – FAR: Lone Sails (2018 video game)

timespace coordinates: post-apocalyptic dried-out oceanFAR: Lone Sails is an exploration adventure video game developed by the Swiss development company Okomotive. The game released on Microsoft Windows and OS X on 17 May 2018, with Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions in development. (wiki)

FAR: Lone Sails is a vehicle adventure game. In a unique vehicle you travel across a dried-out ocean following the tracks of a once thriving civilization. Through an array of roadblocks and through hazardous weather you need to keep your vessel going. Where will this journey take you? Are you the last of your kind? (steam)

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SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS (MINIMUM): OS: Windows 7+ (64-bit OS required) / Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.4 GHz, AMD FX 8120 @ 3.1 GHz / Memory: 4 GB RAM / Graphics: NVIDIA GTX 460 / 650m, AMD Radeon HD6570 / DirectX: Version 11 / Storage: 3 GB available space / Additional Notes: Not recommended for Intel HD Graphics cards.