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The indie game's indie game is free on EpicSep 1, 2023 - PC GamerThis week's free Epic Game Store giveaway is a small slice of gaming history: Cave Story+, an enhanced version of what the publisher calls "arguably the most well-known indie game of all time." Cave Story comes from solo developer Daisuke Amaya, and the original game was released for free in 2004 after five years of work ( and is still available ). A Metroidvania about a robot trying to save a bunch of oppressed rabbits, it's an unforgettable ride, brutally tough, and can ultimately be a pretty heart-rending journey... Read more.Free PC game - grab this essential indie classic while you canAug 31, 2023 - PCGamesNCave Story is probably one of the most prolific and best indie games out there, and now you can grab your own copy of this slice of history as a free game to keep. A 2D platformer inspired by Metroid and Castlevania, Cave Story comes from the mind of solo developer Daisuke 'Pixel' Amaya, and rose to become one of the most talked-about games online around the time of its original release in 2004 for its memorable characters and story, its beautiful retro art design, and its rewarding gameplay systems. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: This week's free game from Epic is the indie classic Cave Story+ Indie darling Cave Story is now a roguelikeMay 17, 2022 - PC GamerDaisuke 'Pixel' Amaya, the creator of the original Cave Story, worked on the game for five years before releasing it as freeware in 2004. The game is a deeply charming, tough and imaginative Metroidvania-style adventure that ever since release has been something of an indie touchstone: a great example of what one person can achieve by making exactly the game they want to make... Read more.Nicalis issue DMCA takedowns against Cave Story fangameNov 26, 2020 - Rock, Paper, Shotgun A fan-made enhanced edition of Daisuke “Pixel” Amaya’s seminal indie platformer Cave Story has been slapped with a DMCA takedown. Publishers Nicalis have accused Cave Story Engine 2 of using code stolen from the original game’s source – code that they, as developers of Cave Story +, own. But while fears that the publisher planned to wipe all free versions of the game off the internet for good seem to have been misplaced, contention remains over whether Nicalis actually owns the rights to code used by the now-shutted fan game. (more…) This week's free game from Epic is the indie classic Cave Story+Nov 26, 2020 - PCGamesNDecember 3, 2020 Cave Story+ is now free to claim on the Epic Games Store. This week's freebie from Epic is Cave Story+, the classic indie platform game from Daisuke Amaya. It's now live, so hurry on over - next week, it'll be replaced by a pair of excellent Obsidian RPGs. In Cave Story+, you wake up in a cave with no memory of how you got there. You quickly meet the Mimigas, an innocent race of rabbit-like creatures who are being threatened by a mad scientist. It's up to you to explore the caves and figure out a way to save the Mimigas - and along the way you'll have to fight some 20 bosses across 15 different levels and find 10 unique weapons that each has its own upgrades to discover. Cave Story+ is a re-release of the original Cave Story, and this version lets you pick between the original 320x480 graphics and the updated 'HD' version found in the WiiWare port. It also features a new English script, remastered music (as well as the original soundtrack), and six new play modes, including a boss rush. Read the rest of the story... Crossover fighting game Blade Strangers releasedAug 28, 2018 - Rock, Paper, Shotgun I settled a ‘Dracula vs. Frankenstein’ debate the other day by referring to the authority on power rankings: Top Trumps cards, where Dracula trounces Frankenstein. Granted the debate was about the books rather than a monsterfight, but it’s still fun to throw fictional folks together to see who’d win a rumble. Enter Blade Strangers, a crossover fighting game released today. Along with pugilists from previous games by developers Studio Saizensen, it draws characters from games including Shovel Knight, The Binding Of Isaac, Azure Striker Gunvolt, and Cave Story. But which is better, a spade-swinging knight or a weeping dead child? There’s only one way to find out: fiiight! (more…) Unbound: Isaac joins fighting game Blade StrangersMay 10, 2018 - Rock, Paper, ShotgunThe best metroidvania games on PCMar 21, 2018 - PC GamerWelcome to our round-up of the best Metroidvania games. That slightly awkward portmanteau refers to a hybrid genre inspired by Metroid and Castlevania. They tend to be 2D platformers that have you exploring dungeons, defeating bosses, and picking up items that unlock new zones of the map. Within this simple format there is plenty of room for variation and, it turns out, lots of gorgeous art. A few of the games on the list have been lovingly crafted by small teams and even individuals over the course of a decade or so. Others, like Dead Cells, experiment with fusing the metroidvania with other genres to create a powerful hybrid. Whichever games you pick, expect lots of 2D platforming and some tough boss fights. Ori and the Blind Forest Ori's warmly animated world and slightly tearful opener barely hint at the incredibly tricky platforming challenges that follow. PC Gamer's Philippa Warr has compared this to a teddy bear that wants to punch you in the face—it's a cute and beautiful-looking game, but damn tricky. The pleasant soundtrack puts you at ease while the game rarely does. Axiom Verge One of the very best modern examples of the form, Axiom Verge is set in a dark, Giger-esque alien world populated by mysterious giant mechanical beings and, of course, a slew of bullet hell boss monsters. New paths open up as you discover fresh alien gadgetry, like a trenchcoat that lets you phase through walls, and a device that lets you control a small alien bug to crawl into new cave systems. Combat is simple—blast the alien things flapping around each level—but there are loads of weapons to discover, and plenty of secrets if you’re determined enough to glitch or blast your way through secret walls. It’s a sinister and slightly unnerving game with some genuinely dark moments, but that makes it a fitting tribute to the lonely hostile corridors of the original Metroid games. Hollow Knight This one takes a while to get going, but once you have a few upgrades it’s a spectacular hand-drawn metroidvania with a snappy melee combat system. Hollow Knight borrows its melancholy apocalyptic atmosphere from Dark Souls, and also its currency recovering system—if you make it back to the place you died you can reclaim your last life’s earnings. Hollow Knight looks gorgeous, and it’s full of interesting bug characters that sell you new gear and give you extra quests. The bosses are challenging and the dodge-and-slash combat is a serious test of skill once you’ve unlocked a few moves and started running into the game’s more serious enemies. The world is beautifully put together, too, and you learn more about the fate of the city as you dash, skip, and double-jump into new zones. Owlboy You’ll notice that many of these games are set underground in endless cave systems. Owlboy is set in a floating cloud kingdom. As said Owlboy, Otus, you have to flap...From shareware superstars to the Steam gold rush: How indie conquered the PCSep 22, 2017 - PC GamerLast week, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds smashed the Steam peak player records . The previous record-holder, Dota 2, while admittedly made by one of the world’s biggest and most powerful games companies, began as a Warcraft mod. These days, we barely blink an eye at the idea that a game can come from nowhere and shake through word-of-mouth, clever concepts, a bit of cool technology like Portal’s… well, portals… or simply by hooking into some reservoir of good feeling, and accomplish more than any marketing budget can dream of. Minecraft is this generation’s Lego. Undertale is one of its most beloved RPGs. Indeed, the world of indie development is now so important that it’s hard to remember that it’s only really a decade or so old. That’s not to say that there weren’t indie games before then, as we’ll see, but it was only really with the launch of Steam on PC and services like Xbox Live Arcade that the systems were in place to both get games in front of a mainstream audience, and provide the necessary ecosystem for them to quickly and confidently pay for new games. In 1979 Richard Garriott set out on his path to buying a castle and going into space by selling copies of his first RPG, Akalabeth, in ziploc bags at his local computer store The massive success of indie games on Steam has of course come with attendant pitfalls. The early access program gave small studios the ability to beta test their games with player numbers they would not otherwise never reach, and gave players the ability to take part in shaping games. However, a lack of guidelines left players and developers with very different expectations as was seen in the reaction to a paid expansion being released for Ark: Survival Evolved while it was still in early access. Steam Greenlight made it easier for indie games to get on Steam but became a popularity contest that was easily gamed, leading Valve to replace it with Steam Direct. All this is largely taken for granted these days, with the big challenge for modern indie games being to stand out. Simply getting onto Steam back then could set a studio up for life. These days the market is full to bursting, with most new releases disappearing from sight almost at once. In both cases though, it’s a world away from how the market began. Back to the start The exact definition of ‘indie’ has never exactly been cut-and-dry. To some, it’s an aesthetic, best summed up by the classic bedroom coder. To others, it’s a more commercial distinction, of working without a publisher. To others, it’s ultimately about the work, with an indie game standing out more for being not the kind of thing you get from a commercial company, rather than really focusing on who made it. There are many definitions to play with, and few hard lines to draw. The poster-children of ’90s shareware, id Software (who you may know courtesy of a litt...Kero Blaster reviewJun 3, 2014 - PC Gamer Kero Blaster's chiptune soundtrack is a perfect analogue for the game itself: effortlessly upbeat and cheery one moment, dramatic or laid-back the next, but always sounding like it could've come from an NES if a composer had spent the past 25 years mastering its sound chip. Kero Blaster is a throwback 8-bit shooter without an ounce of waste: its minimalist story sends a hardworking frog through a viney forest, a tumbleweed-swept mesa, and other charming levels filled with somehow more charming enemies. I wouldn't call Kero Blaster a love letter to the simpler games of the past, because it doesn't wink at you with its pixel graphics and old-school Japanese platforming. Kero Blaster just is one of those games, an NES shooter that happens to run on modern PCs. When I wasn't running out of lives and stuck replaying levels, I was having a great time. Kero Blaster is Daisuke "Pixel" Amaya's take on NES classic Mega Man. Pixel's last big game was Cave Story, a brilliantly designed shooter every bit as good as its inspiration, Super Metroid. Kero is a far humbler game, carved up into compact levels with none of Cave Story's exploration or hidden backstory. But the link between the two is obvious: the same purity of jumping and shooting is intact, and Kero Blaster ties its levels together with story vignettes focused on a cast of four nameless animal characters. Together they run the business Cat & Frog, which oversees teleporter nodes scattered around the world. When mysterious creatures disable those teleporters, the frog gets stuck with the field work of repairing them. The Kero rhythm As Kero Blaster's silent amphibious hero, I blasted my way through a half dozen levels, picking up three new weapons along the way and money to upgrade those weapons and expand my lifebar. My lifebar needed serious expanding. Kero Blaster is not an easy game: every enemy attack takes off a full heart, and with the initial three HP, I died quickly. But Kero Blaster never feels unfair or overwhelms the screen with bullets like Contra: enemies move and attack in learnable, predictable ways. Some touches of modern design also ease the difficulty. A generous invincibility period after taking damage keeps enemies from killing you with awkward sprite-on-sprite bumbling. The shop allows you to extend your lifebar to survive half a dozen hits. At one point, you get a coat, which Kero Blaster's frog hero wears. It lets him take one hit without damage. The coat is a big deal. I was grinning ear-to-ear when I picked up the coat. It's seriously dapper Resident Evil 4's Leon S. Kennedy rezzed down into an 8-bit frog. I immediately stepped on something spiky and lost the coat. That made me sad. The coat isn't a big deal because it looks cool, though it's a big deal because Kero Blaster is so deliberately designed that every powerup is a hard-earned addition, and every platform and enemy placement is carefully calculated. Money accrues like a gold IV drip at first, so I chased eve...Studio Pixel’s Kero Blaster, and its soundtrack, out nowMay 11, 2014 - PC Gamer Studio Pixel's Cave Story was a pillar of the formative indie scene - and now a follow-up of sorts has emerged in the form of his sidescrolling platform shooter Kero Blaster, which releases today. It's a momentous, nostalgic and slightly melancholy occasion - how much has changed in the world of independently created games in just six or seven years. I can't say if Kero Blaster is any good or not yet - its free prologue Pink Hour was too brief and too difficult to really get to grips with - but a recent trailer hit all the right notes, so I'm hopeful that the old Pixel magic is there. After Cave Story, and the many games inspired by it, you might be expecting another interlocking, sprawling Metroidvania, but with Kero Blaster billing itself as a "classically-styled 2D side scrolling action game packed with adventure", I'm expecting a more guided, action-heavy experience from this one. There appears to be a huge focus on collecting, and upgrading, crazy weapons, before its froggy hero uses them to blast adorably evil enemies to smithereens. Kero Blaster can be had for $7.99, or in a bundle with its soundtrack for two dollars more. The following video offers a preview of all the smooth and catchy chiptune noises we can expect to hear in the game. Kero Blaster, Studio Pixel’s latest, gets a name change and a joyous new trailerApr 6, 2014 - PC Gamer If this trailer for Pixel's long-awaited follow-up to Cave Story doesn't lift you up, then I'm sorry but you might be a soulless husk - either that or you aren't overly fond of platforming, chiptunes, or Pixel's expressive yet simplistic art style. One of the two. We've known about Gero Blaster for a while now, but it's recently been renamed Kero Blaster and been given a brand new video, which affords us our first proper gawp at the soon-to-be-released sidescrolling platform shooter. Is May 11th good for you? Well that's a shame, because that's when it's releasing - for $7.99, no less. Kero Blaster, by the way, concerns a gun-happy frog whose monster-killing job takes him to a variety of nicely pixellated locations across the globe. Expect weapon upgrades, giant coins, and barely any travel allowance, as that big trailer up there makes pretty clear. Cheers, IndieGames.Good Friends BundleAug 2, 2013 - AnnouncementNow until Monday, August 5th at 10am pacific, pick up the Good Friends Bundle and get these games for a great price! BIT.TRIP Presents... Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Runner2 - Good Friends Character Pack Cave Story+ Machinarium Portal 2 Psychonauts Super Meat Boy Psychonauts, Spelunky, and Portal 2 characters join the cast of Runner 2Jul 11, 2013 - PC Gamer Nothing says “indie” quite like breaking down the walls of copyright and adding a bunch of characters from games you had no hand in making. And wouldn’t you know it, Gaijin Games is doing just that with their cardiovascular improvement simulator, BIT.TRIP Presents: Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien or "Runner 2" for those who need to work on their lung capacity. Those who drop $3 for the “Good Friends Character Pack” will have access to Psychonauts’ Raz, Cave Story’s Quote, Machinarium’s Josef, Super Meat Boy’s Dr. Fetus, Portal 2’s Atlas (who’s Steam exclusive), Bit.Trip’s invisible Commander Video, and Spelunky's, er, Spelunky Guy. We’re a little bummed that the DLC doesn’t offer new levels of some kind, but it’s hard to complain about anything when it’s a paltry $3, which, as developer Dant Rambo notes, is less than "a bag of hot dog chips." Still, here’s hoping we get some new levels to break in this new cast somewhere in the near future. In the meantime, why don't you watch these character introductions narrated by none other than Charles Martinet, aka, the voice of Mario. Yes, that Mario.New Week Long Deals Available on Steam!Apr 29, 2013 - AnnouncementSave up to 80% on new Week Long Deals on Steam, available now until May 6th at 10AM Pacific time! Daily Deal - Cave Story+, 75% OffMar 1, 2013 - AnnouncementToday's Deal: Save 75% on Cave Story+! Look for the deals each day on the front page of Steam. Or follow us on twitter or Facebook for instant notifications wherever you are! Humble Indie Bundle 7 adds three more gamesDec 27, 2012 - PC Gamer Now there's even more reason to use that holiday cash Aunt Myrtle sent you on something charitable. The ongoing Humble Indie Bundle 7 has just expanded its indie game offerings to include The Basement Collection of Flash games, the action puzzle platformer Offspring Fling, and the retro 2D platformer Cave Story. The original bundle was packed with indie hits Snapshot, Closure, The Binding of Isaac and its Wrath of the Lamb DLC, Shank 2, Dungeon Defenders and its DLC, Legend of Grimrock, and the documentary Indie Game: The Movie. So, for the next six days, you can snatch up nine full games and one movie for a price that's absurdly close to free. If you haven't done a Humble Bundle before, here's how it works: You can donate any amount of money and receive Snapshot, Closure, The Binding of Isaac, Shank 2, and Indie Game: The Movie. But if you pay more than the average ($6.41 as of this writing), you'll also get Dungeon Defenders, Legend of Grimrock, The Basement Collection, Offspring Fling, and Cave Story. The folks at Humble Bundle estimate the total value of this collection at $170. You can even choose how you'd like to have your payment divided between the developers and the two benefiting organizations, Child's Play Charity and the Electronic Frontier Foundation. For more information on the games included in the bundle, check out the trailer for Humble Indie Bundle 7 here.Black Friday deals: the best PC game and hardware sales on the webNov 21, 2012 - PC Gamer Good news, everyone! Steam, Amazon, Blizzard, and more have kicked off Consumer Season by booby trapping the web with potent spending bait such as 33% off XCOM: Enemy Unknown, 50% off The Walking Dead, and 66% off StarCraft II. We spent the morning stumbling through the minefield to compile a list of some of the best seasonal discounts, but stay vigilant: more surprise server-busters are bound to go live as we approach the spendiest weekend of the year. Steam: Like the Summer Sale, the Steam Autumn Sale rotates deals daily, with even more fleeting Flash Sales lasting only 10 to 15 hours, so serious shoppers should check in at least twice a day. As a bonus, you get to follow Steam's adorable doodle story: currently, it seems a turkey is being forced to enter a Felix Baumgartner-inspired high diving competition. But don't just look at the front page: Steam isn't promoting most of its deals, so scan the full list now and then. Here are some of the better discounts at the time of writing: 33% off XCOM: Enemy Unknown - $33.49 / £20.09 50% off The Walking Dead - $12.49 / £10.49 25% off Borderlands 2 - $44.99 / £22.49 75% off ARMA II: Combined Operations - $17.99 / £14.99 25% off Dishonored - $44.99 / £22.49 50% off Counter-Strike: Global Offensive - $11.24 / £8.99 33% off The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - $40.19 / £23.44 75% off Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II - $2.49 / £1.74 75% off Limbo - $2.49 / £1.74 25% off Torchlight II - $14.99 / £11.24 75% off Cave Story+ - $2.49 / £1.74 More Steam Deals Amazon: (Some deals are region-specific) Amazon hasn't been quite as liberal as Steam with the big games, but it has conjured a storm of Lightning Deals on desktop PCs, components, and peripherals. The scattershot selection below should give you an idea of what to expect. HARDWARE: 17% off iBuyPower AM699 Desktop - $579.99 18% off CyberpowerPC GUA890 Desktop - $499.99 39% off Dell S2330MX 23" Ultra-Slim VGA Monitor - $139.99 40% off Samsung Series S24B30BL 23.6-Inch Screen LCD Monitor - $119.99 33% off Corsair Vengeance C70 Mid Tower Case - $97.45 31% off Logitech Optical Gaming Mouse G400 - $34.49 19% off Logitech G600 MMO Gaming Mouse - $64.62 GAMES: 50% off The Walking Dead - $12.49 (Steam code) 80% off Dungeon Defenders - $2.99 10% off Hitman: Absolution - $44.99 75% off all Assassin's Creed games (excluding Assassin's Creed III) More Amazon Deals Blizzard: Blizzard has joined the party with Diablo III for $40 / £33 and StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty for $20 / £17. GOG: GOG's current sale nets you five games from a list of 20 for a mere $10 (just over £6). The list is loaded with some great indie adventure and puzzle games, so if you don't already own them, now's a good time to prepare for that "it's cold outside, so I'm going to drink tea (whiskey optional) and not leave my screen for the next forever hours" feeling. Green Man Gaming: While Green Man doesn't celebrate consumerism with a morbid-sounding Friday, it is offering its usual voucher code...Humble Indie Bundle 4 officially availableDec 13, 2011 - PC Gamer After peeking out from behind Steam's registry files earlier today, Humble Indie Bundle 4 has made its official debut. And yes, it's everything you hoped for. I mean, if this is what happens when the Bundle Wars heat up, I'm all for it. To start off, there's Jamestown, Bit.Trip Runner, Super Meat Boy, Shank, and NightSky. I know, I know. Your piggy bank just let out a frightened squeal and then exploded. But there's more. If you beat the average price, the masters of the not-so-ancient art of indie bundling will throw in Cave Story+ and Gratuitous Space Battles. As of now, said average is just a spec over $5.00. So yes, take your piggy bank's charred ashes and make with the spending.Alan Wake PC and new Humble Bundle teased in Steam registry filesDec 13, 2011 - PC Gamer Some inquisitive fellows on NeoGaf have been raiding the Steam content registry for clues, and seem to have come across some entries suggesting that that Alan Wake may be heading to PC. In further support of the Alan Wake PC release rumours, Just Push Start spotted an interview on Finnish site YLEX in which Aki Järvilehto from Remedy said "we have received feedback from a lot of PC gamers, and I have to admit that yes, we somehow ignored that. Let’s see if in the near future we could have some positive news to tell you about dating!" We love positive news about dating! Way back in 2006, Alan Wake was the poster boy for Intel's Core 2 Duo CPU, and was regularly demoed on PC to show off its multi-threading tech. Then, all of a sudden, it became an Xbox 360 exclusive, and the PC version vanished. As a PC version was worked on heavily in the run up to its release, it theoretically shouldn't be too hard to resurrect it for a Steam release. It'd coincide nicely with the downloadable Alan Wake follow up story, Alan Wake's American Nightmare, which is heading to the Xbox 360 early next year. It's not just Alan Wake haunting the Steam registry files. DIY Gamer have spotted evidence of a very tasty new Humble Bundle. The registry entry suggests that a new bundle may include Super Meat Boy, BIT.TRIP.RUNNER, Jamestown, Nightsky and Shank as a starting lineup, with Gratuitous Space Battles and Cave Story+ to be added after the bundle has kicked off. If accurate, that's a fantastic collection. How much would you pay for that bundle, and would you like to see Alan Wake come to Steam?
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