Indie developer azurenimbus (André Camacho) has proven himself to be a master of minimalism with games such as Microscopia, Linescape, Oneway, and escuro. So when the theme of minimalism was chosen for Ludum Dare 26, I was sure that he was going to come up with something special. What approach did he take to make a game even more minimalist than his usual work? In A Trigger Darkly, his Ludum Dare jam entry, he did away with graphics entirely.

Abbey Games' gorgeous 2D god game Reus is now available, allowing us mere mortals to create vibrant colonies from dying planets. Thanks to helpful tutorials, I easily learned first how to control a water giant to bring forth the ocean, the origin of life. From there, other giants could build forests, deserts, and mountains and nourish over 100 plants, animals and minerals... or bring it all down. Reus is about maintaining balance, after all.

I recently had the pleasure of spending some time with a preview of the upcoming co-op focused, twin-stick shooter: Assault Android Cactus by developer Witch Beam - a three man team from Brisbane, Australia. Although you may have seen a few games with a similar premise (in a broad sense it feels like a modernized version of Smash TV with a number of twists), the execution and general polish of presentation in Assault Android Cactus set it apart from many others for me. Players will need to shoot through wave after wave of enemy robots which get progressively more chaotic while keeping kill chains up. Players must also adapt to frequently changing and dynamic environments, or even other quirks like the lights going out. If that wasn't enough, every few levels leads up to a huge boss battle which may contain some bullet-hell style dodging madness.

Terminally Ill, a game made by Sebastian Lague for Ludum Dare 26 (his first time participating), has one of the darkest set-ups I've ever seen for a collection of minigames. The framing story is that you are paralyzed and dying, but your doctors have hooked you up to a computer terminal in order to stimulate brain activity. The theory is that if your mind stays engaged, you'll be able to stave off brain death for a few more minutes. The way you do this is by playing games.

[by Daniel Cook]

The good people in my life come from all sorts of walks of life.  Some women, some boys, some rich, some poor, some gay, some transgender, some young, some old, some confused, some depressed, some wildly liberal and some staunchly conservative. Some embrace labels. Some can't abide labels. They sport different cultures, colors, nose shapes, hair types, sizes and everyone single one of them has a bizarre personal history full of dreams, joys and misery.   

I'd like all of them to play my games. 

First-person gaming has largely been about shooting for the last two decades, but the horror genre is incredibly effective from this view. Slender wasn't the first game of its kind, but it certainly ignited new interest in these types of experiences -- apparently players like having the pants scared off of them. Be sure you have extra layers on while playing Maere: When Lights Die, or you'll risk exposing yourself to anyone around by the time it's done.

N. N+. However you've experienced Metanet's ninja-like platformer, get ready for more freeware and browser-based twitching with N v2.0, available now. Raigan Burns and Mare Sheppard say that Golden Gear Games greatly assisted in this version upgrade. The biggest addition is 2-player local multiplayer, but there are other updates, as well.

Sebastian Standke of German blog Superlevel wrote in to share his compilation of 269 gameplay clips from the most recent Ludum Dare game jam. The indies featured didn't seemed hindered by the theme of "minimalism." The video shows so many different art styles and mechanics employed in the span of one weekend. Equally impressive is that this compilation is only 10% of the games. The list of games is after the jump.

Some of the most fun I've had playing a Ludum Dare jam (non-competition) game is with Truth Only by Orangeez. Due to their complexity, not many first-person shooters are made for Ludum Dares or other jams and competitions. Truth Only is an incredibly smooth and detailed experience, especially considering its 72-hour development timeframe. This is not your typical FPS. You won't be blasting aliens, zombies, or soldiers. In this game, you participate in the battle of truth vs. lies that occurs every night in newspaper warehouses everywhere.

Erica Reed, the supernaturally gifted and nastily tormented detective, returns and is ready to face both a new case and some shocking truths in this third and penultimate episode of the Cognition point-and-click series. This would of course mean that you can already grab Cognition Ep.3: The Oracle from the Phoenix Online Studios website; if you actually hurry and buy it within the next few hours you will also be able to benefit from a variety of discounts and extras the devs are currently giving away.