This article originally ran under a different banner/website in December of 2018 and is now being here re-uploaded for purposes of convenience and consolidation. Please enjoy.
Ladies and Gentlemen! Please come inside. I am sure some of you are wondering where my soapbox is. Well, I recently stumbled on a winning lottery ticket and decided to do what most young men look to do with large amounts of money: open their own bar. Here at my bar, though I don’t serve meer cocktails: no, I have a couple of laptops behind this oak-topped bar. They come loaded with numerous games to sweep you off your feet. Like most brewpubs, you won’t find your common household names here. You won’t find loot boxes, microtransactions, or other shameful ways for publishers to separate you from your wallet. No tales of mobile spin-offs of popular old PC titles. Certainly, no empty worlds designed to capitalize on the survival sandbox genre at a point where the genre has become stale … BETHESDA!!! Oh my, I apologize for that outburst. Now I understand with it being a bar and all, you probably came here with a specific craving in mind. Don’t worry, I am trained to fulfill those desires. My skills to match a game with your mood cannot be matched Why don’t you have seat and I will show you what we have on tap.
Lethal League Blaze
Did you come here with a little fire in your soul? Looking to get wild and crazy with your friends tonight? A taste of tequila is what you crave most? Oh, do I have a treat for you? Lethal League Blaze is the follow up to the criminally underrated Lethal League, a competitive sports game that I can only describe as handball on cocaine. You bounce a ball along the walls and ceiling attempting to hit your opponent. The trick is every time you or your opponent hit the ball, its speed increases. When you and your opponents get into a groove, the ball can reach ludicrous speed and the match starts resembling a high octane tennis match.
Now, some of you might be asking why can’t I have the original Lethal League on the rocks, and to that, I must insist you try Lethal League Blaze. The developers, Team Reptile, have made some significant upgrades. A dash of new characters, a pinch of new modes and maps, and a robust single-player campaign revolving around an underground group of Lethal League players working to take down a shadow organization make Lethal League Blaze a worthwhile experience. They did include some power-ups that I find as backbreaking as ten rounds of Jose Cuervo, but I am willing to forgive that cause Team Reptile resisted the urge to put microtransactions in Lethal League Blaze. The game has numerous characters, skins, maps, and modes that you can unlock, but unlike the AAA games coming out now, Lethal League Blaze gives you a generous amount of currency for just playing the game. I know having a steady stream of unlocks isn’t a new concept, but it sure seems to be going the way of the dodo. To that, I raise a glass to you Lethal League Blaze.
Donut County
Maybe you weren’t looking for something to completely knock you onto your ass, but something light-hearted and charming. Maybe a vodka cranberry? Well, I have the game for you: Donut County. This charming puzzle game recounts the story of BK, the raccoon, and his attempt to get a quadcopter through this donut delivery app, but what BK doesn’t realize is the donut is a hole in the ground that swallows up everyone’s possessions. Each level you start with a tiny hole that grows in size as more items fall into the hole. A simple concept that makes you feel clever especially when they expand on the puzzles with water that needs to be drained and a catapult that launches items upwards.
The game has a charming sense of humor that feels natural. At the end of the level, you can view the Trashopedia, an encyclopedia of all the items that fell through the hole with a little description from BK. He describes a coffee mug with “Coffee rules. It burns your tongue and makes you go to the bathroom” and a cardboard box with “It’s a free house. Don’t get it wet.” This game’s stimulating puzzles and quirky sense of humor makes it a title that, much like vodka, I can recommend to almost anyone.
The Red Strings Club
Now I can see neither of these titles tickles your fancy. You have your tastes. You prefer to sit down with a strong scotch and discuss philosophy with androids. Well, Rick Deckard, I have the perfect game for you: The Red Strings Club. In this game, you play as an informant and famed bartender Donovan attempting to gather information on the megacorporation, Supercontinent Ltd’s insidious plans. You gather information by mixing certain drinks that affect the bar patron’s mood. Looking to get information on the patron’s boss they admire? Fix a drink that will endure lust and they might reveal their boss has bigger plans in the works. Hoping to create doubt in your patron’s mind, fix a drink to induce madness and question the patron’s motives. It creates a unique detective-style puzzle that requires careful planning of drinks and well-timed questioning.
Of course with the game’s cyberpunk aesthetic, The Red Strings Club dabbles in questions of can AI learn emotions such as happiness or sadness and whether the world would be better without emotions. While some games have struggled to convey these messages, The Red Strings Clubs is able to cleverly incorporate them as Donovan’s motives and morals are questioned by his android friend, Akara, as he manipulates other people’s emotions with his drinks. I insist you give this game a try, especially if you are a Blade Runner fan. This game made such a memorable impression on me, it partly inspired me to open the Doomsayer’s Indie Game Bar.
Now tell me, what can I serve you? What? Do you just want to play Fortnite? I am going to have to ask you to leave if you are going to speak to me with that kind of attitude.