LOS ANGELES — I wasn’t able to make it through all of the IndieCade games despite my best efforts. There was a ton to take in, and we’ll be checking out more in October during IndieCade Festival 2015 from Oct. 22-25 in Culver City, Calif.
Here are a couple games I tried in the final days at IndieCade that you should be on the lookout for. There will be more to come in the next couple days as well.
Sunset
Tale of Tales’ latest game tackles many layers of social disharmony — through the eyes of a maid in a single penthouse suite.
You play a black maid, Angela Burns, in the early 1970s who works for Gabriel Ortega, a rich man in a republic in conflict. The city of San Bavón is trapped in a conflict between the military coup leaders that overtook Anchuria and the rebels who hope to usurp them. Ortega is a difference-maker, a powerful man, and his view of the less fortunate is affected directly by you — whether he knows it or not.
The game tackles socioeconomic, racial and gender-based stereotypes. As a maid, and a minority, you have very little say in the world, and your only interactions in this game come from cleaning Ortega’s home. The job you do, though, affects Ortega’s perceptions of the resistance and the military, and that has a direct impact on the future of your city and your country. The time and place of the game are purposeful. This title is meant to remind us of a time of racial tension as well as the fact that some of these strata are still interwoven in our society.
The action takes awhile to pick up, but as the game rolls on, you realize your decisions matter, and that the fate of a country is, in some small way, affected by the tiniest of things.
Chambara
The art, style and functionality of this game are impressive. Chambara is a 3D local multiplayer fighting game that’s in black and white. Your characters, too, are in black and white. That’s what turns the one-strike-kill multiplayer combat into a tactical battle: When a black character is in a black area, it’s invisible. The same goes for white characters in white space.
The battleground is striped with patterns of every sort, and it’s up to the players to stay in the respective shadows or make moves into the open at appropriate times. You can also use the background to your advantage. For example, a white player hiding in white space can still be seen a bit if there’s a black area behind him.
Developers Overly Kinetic captured the essence of indie games in this one: A simple concept is turned into an intricate-but-fun design.