2024-02-27: Obscure Stuff I Played Recently (2024)

Welcome to the first RICK ZONE post of 2024. Now how about some games?

Faraway Proximity

Faraway Proximity is an interesting little puzzler. Instead of having a central set of puzzle mechanics that slowly build in difficulty, each puzzle is more like an individual mystery box, where figuring out the puzzle's mechanics is more difficult than executing the solution. I'm generally not much of a puzzle game guy, but this approach gave the game the variety and novelty it needed to stay engaging for its entire runtime. What also kept me engaged was the run button, which was apparently added in a fairly recent patch... I swear, if I had played this game back when it only had the default slow ass walk speed, it would not be on this list, but fortunately I'm not one of those chumps that played it at launch. The game's narrative is enjoyable and quite clever, but also quite... Brief, I guess? There's not much to say about it that doesn't spoil the experience.

Skator Gator 3D

Skator Gator reminds me a lot of Lunistice and Toree - it's short 3D platformer with tight controls, good music, an anthropomorphic animal main character, and speed and collectibles challenges in each level.

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I can't think of anything else to say.

Star Sign

Star Sign is an oddly relaxing grapple swinging freeform 3D platformer with serene and atmopsheric visuals and audio, and polished, satisfying movement. It's not a complex game, nor does it have much of an explicit plot to it. It's a rather meditative experience for the most part, evoking a pleasant but not overly engaging flow state. I think it's a good game to daydream to, and I know this sounds like a backhanded compliment (or even an insult), but I really do mean it as a good thing. It's the most I've enjoyed a game I would describe as "casual" in a long while. There are a few frustrating leaps to make, but they're not that bad once you get comfortable with the swing physics.

Ballistic Zen

Ballistic Zen is a mouse-only first person platformer that's quite reminiscent of Source game surf maps, just without the need to surf along inclines - you press the left mouse button to toggle whether you move forward or not, and gentle, even, sweeping motions of the mouse build up momentum. Strange, at first, but it didn't take long to click for me. Armed with only a jump and a wallrun, you get to navigate strange concrete towers collecting blue thingies and following blue lines to build up your Respect and progress through the game. The structure of the game reminds me of Mirror's Edge Catalyst a little, but without the story missions. You can meet and talk to some funky skater dudes who loiter around the map, but there's no plot to speak of. It's just you, your carpal tunnel, and a cool vertical world to rocket skate around in.

FREAKHUNTER

In a world of retro inspired games, FREAKHUNTER stands out as particularly anachronistic. The resolution is locked to Not Much at a 4:3 aspect ratio, the visuals are particularly evocative of early 3D low budget titles, and the difficulty quickly ramps up to frustrating levels, with... Well, I won't spoil the gameplay mechanics for you, but the developer opts to increase the difficulty in slightly bullshit ways that, while true to its influences, tend to be sanded off by many other indie attempts to recreate the past. It's compelling! Often frustrating, sure, and unforgiving, but not insurmountable. It's a grid-based dungeon crawler with FPS combat, but game doesn't really challenge your dexterity all that much - it will mostly test your puzzling/exploration/navigation abilities. Perhaps not a game for someone with no patience, but if I could get through it I'm sure you could too.