A Slice of LudoNarraCon
I love it when we get these big indie events. They are a great way to try out a ton of cool games and take a sneak peek at upcoming titles. I want to thank Fellow Traveler for organizing this event!
LudoNarraCon runs until May 13th and covers many games that feature the art of narratives. Stories are a powerful thing, and as an ex-narrative designer in the industry, this is important to me. This event is a celebration of many narrative-heavy games from all over the world, as well as plenty of demos to try out before buying! With fifty-three titles showcased during this event, this is one festival you do not want to miss.
For obvious reasons, I’m unable to feature every game. That would involve long periods without showering, eating or sleeping, and I prefer to keep all of those life bars in the green! Instead, I’ll feature some tasty morsels from the collection on offer for LudoNarraCon. Let’s begin!
Cryptmaster
This is a fascinating dungeon crawler and a title I was lucky enough to check out before its launch. In an industry where AAA titles often feel like reskins of the same design philosophy, it’s when indie titles rise to the occasion. It launched on the 9th of May, just in time for LudoNarraCon. While I’ve only racked up a few hours of gameplay in it so far, its creativity oozes off the screen.
Set entirely in black and white, the visual design is pretty unique. Unlike many dungeon crawlers, players have to use the power of words to advance. Aided by a sarcastic and rather charming demon… thing, it’s up to the player to uncover the secrets of the underworld. Both the adventurers and the demon have lost their memories, so have to work together to remember how to survive. This is where the word games come in, and the amount of diverse dialogue options available is staggering. You can discover things about the environment by typing words like ‘Look’ and ‘Smell’, guess the content of chests and explore how your group of heroes work. It’s all about trial and error: it reminds me of Scribblenauts, just in a cruel dungeon with a grumpy demonic entity chiding you. He has something to say for nearly everything, and it’s worth messing with him. Imagine my delight when he gave me a lecture just because my characters fancied taking a piss. You might be an immortal undead thing, but we need toilet breaks!
Such a creative game, and I’m surprised nobody thought of it sooner.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1885110/Cryptmaster
Slay the Princess
Black Tabby Games are masters of narrative. Their previous game Scarlet Hollow combined excellent writing with a deeply unsettling world and was one of the best examples of how Early Access should be done. If you haven’t picked up Scarlet Hollow yet, I highly recommend it.
Last year, they released Slay the Princess, another visual novel of significant success. One of the highest-rated games released in 2023, they added a chunky content update to the game quite recently. Unfortunately for 2023, I had not picked up Slay the Princess during its launch year. Thanks to the lovely Fellow Traveller, I’ve finally been able to play it and it was worth the wait. While I don’t have much time in it, it might be even better than Scarlet Hollow. That was a huge debut for Black Tabby Games, and they’ve struck gold again with Slay the Princess.
In this disturbing psychological horror, the player comes across a princess in the woods. Their mission? To kill her. This is one of those games where the title fits the theme, huh? She’ll do everything she can to stop that, even if it means murdering you. It’s brutal and beautiful all at once. Expect a more in-depth review from me later this year.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1989270/Slay_the_Princess
Sale Highlights
These festivals are great reasons to promote games, including some juicy discounts! For this, I went through the full selection and picked up a few games I’ve previously played. Some already have reviews up, which I will link to when appropriate. A few games are still on the review backlog… Ahem. Let’s continue!
Dread Delusion leaves Early Access on May 14th, and it made my Best of Early Access list in 2022. This ambitious and creative occult RPG packs great vision and world design, and I cannot wait to try the full version. I also did an interview with James Wragg, the developer of Dread Delusion.
Lil’ Guardsman launched earlier this year and was a fantastic example of clever writing and dialogue. An intriguing fantasy twist on Paper’s Please with plenty of humorous moments, this game warmed my heart throughout. I need to return to it soon once my backlog eases up, but this is really underrated.
Caves of Qud has long been a thorn in my side. That’s not for quality reasons: this is an S-tier indie title on the calibre of Dwarf Fortress, Kenshi, and Rimworld. It’s more to do with me being terrible at the game! Yet of how often I die in Caves of Qud, I can’t not love it. This deep, endlessly replayable roguelike offers a ton of creativity, and despite its brutal difficulty, has so many ways to play that it’s one of my favourite games. Even if I suck at it!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/333640/Caves_of_Qud
Conclusion
Hopefully, this was a good read for you all! I haven’t yet found the time to dig into some of the great demos on offer during the event, but there’s room for a future piece on that! Honestly, between all the full game launches and previews, it can be challenging to find room for these demos. I’m looking forward to trying out a few over the weekend, and in the meantime, hope everyone stays safe.
