The Sea Will Claim Everything Postcard

Sadly, I don't have the time to properly review The Sea Will Claim Everything by Jonas Kyratzes, even though it is the game we are debuting via Bundle In A Box - Adventure Bundle. I do, on the other hand, have the time to impress you with the above postcard (disclaimer: not really a postcard; more of a screenshot). You see, it's not only a beautifully hand-painted picture, but one hiding dozens of whimsical details and a myriad hotspots. Even the tiniest of books on the upper shelf comes with a silly/serious/satirical/brilliant title and author, and absolutely everything you see surrounding The has a story to tell. 

So, uhm, grab the game, will you? 

It's Alive! Bundle In A Box - Adventure Bundle is alive!

Yes, it is true. Bundle In A Box - Adventure Bundle, the indie gaming bundle I and Kyttaro Games have been working on since, well, December is finally live! And it comes with its Indie Dev Grant, its important charity, its unique twist on the pay-what-you-want model, its DRM-free downloads and, well, all sorts of bells and whistles you can discover over at the bundle site itself.

What I'd rather talk about here though are the games we've managed to secure (for your eyes only). Let me present them, starting off with a title that's making its exclusive world-wide debut via Bundle In A Box: 

The Sea Will Claim Everything by Jonas Kyratzes. A huge, stunning, brilliantly written foray into the debt-stricken Lands of Dream and Jonas' magnum opus. Also a game sporting wonderful hand-drawn graphics, a fantastic soundtrack, a huge and incredibly detailed world, demented characters, and, yes, great puzzles!

Gemini Rue by Joshua Nuernberger and Wadjet Eye Games. The indie neo-noir masterpiece that has won a ton of awards and I reviewed (and loved) not that long ago. 

Metal Dead by Walk Thru Wall Studios. Games with zombies are common. Games with a heavy metal theme are too rare. Metal Dead is unique, funny and brilliant. Remember my review? Good.

Ben There, Dan That! (Special Edition) by Size Five Games. A surreal love letter to the Lucasarts adventure and a surprise indie hit I've actually complete three times. The Special Edition comes with all sorts of extras. Oh, and here's an interview with Dan Marshall; the heart of Size Five Games.

Time Gentlemen, Please! by Size Five Games. BTDT's direct sequel and an even better game with extremely stylish graphics and Nazi dinosaurs.  

1893: A World's Fair Mystery by The Illuminated Lantern. Text-adventures (or is that interactive fiction?) are far from dead and Bundle In A Box is doing its very best to bring them back into the hearts of the masses. 1893, one of the last commercial offerings of the genre and a huge and lavishly illustrated mystery, is finally available as a DRM-fee download. 

The Shivah by Wadjet Eye Games. The historically important point-and-click adventure that kickstarted Wadjet Eye Games and a most excellent and at times taxing game with atmospheric graphics and some innovative puzzles.

As for the extras that will unlock as the bundle reaches wider audiences, they are pretty exciting themselves. We've managed to box (heh) the never-before-seen Making Of Metal Dead booklet, and the original soundtracks of both Gemini Rue and The Shivah into a lovely digital present any adventurer should enjoy.

And, that's that. Better head over to Bundle In A Box methinks...

Oh, and please do help spread the word by writing, blogging, twitting, facebooking (?), redditing and googleplusing about it. Thanks!

Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land Review

Sometimes the truths of the universe are too shocking for us to accept and some other times cosmic realities simply cannot be understood. Still, I just can't comprehend why Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land is the only (and thus first) Lovecraftian, turn-based, tactical game I've ever encountered; let alone one of the few games to use the trenches of WWI as a dark and desperate setting.

On the other hand, ignorance is bliss and creative people get strange dreams courtesy of the Outer Gods, who have been slumbering and waiting for an ambitious take on X-Com that will actually feature Dark Youngs, undead soldiers, mad mages, hints of Reanimator and the spawn of Cthulhu. Happily, said dreams spawned The Wasted Lands, which, as should have already been made blatantly obvious, is a lovely turn-based, tactical affair with a few RPG touches.

You get your characters, your action points, your experience points, your oppressive 3D terrains, your campy but delightful plot, your spells, your otherworldly monstrosities, your cultists and your zombified soldiers in one of the most honest (and cheap) strategy games I've recently played. What you also get is a truly elegant adaptation of Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu rules, the first ever sanity mechanics to actually work in a wargame and a most successful atmosphere. 

On the downside, this is a really short game sporting ten or so missions, that will last you for roughly ten hours, and, irritatingly, a game with a few control problems. Apparently, its iOS roots haven't been ironed out, but trust me when I say that you'll very soon be used to its, uhm, eccentricities. Oh, and you can only grab it over at the universally unknown Intel AppUp online store, meaning that more middleware will have to be installed on your ever-encumbered PC.

Still though, hadn't had this much fun with a turn-based strategy game, since, well, X-Com and that should be all you need to know.

Verdict: Cthulhu would smile and devise new tactics.

Related @ Gnome's Lair:

• Cthulhu Saves The World Review
• The prestigious 2011 AGS Awards
• Future Lovecraft: the book
• Classic Cthulhu entertainment

Bundle In A Box to launch on May 23

Yes, the Bundle In A Box - Adventure Bundle will indeed launch on May 23; that's a week from now! Head over to bundle-in-a-box.com, bookmark the site, subscribe to the newsletter and wait for those seven brilliant DRM-free games I have personally hand-picked. Oh, and you do know we are debuting one fantastic new game, don't you?

Adventure Lantern - the May issue

Another month, another issue of Adventure Lantern. Download the (free as ever) magazine here and read all  the latest adventure related news, as well as an eclectic selection of reviews, previews and interviews. Expect quite a bit on The Dream Machine, The Journey Down, The Walking Dead and The Lost Crown. Oh, and while you are at it, do not forget to read (or, well, listen to) this excellent interview with Chris Jones on Tex Murphy - Project Fedora that has just been posted.

Grab a Fedora and Kickstart Tex Murphy - Project Fedora

Tex Murphy, adventure gaming's fedora-wearing, wise-cracking, lovable and down-on-his-luck detective, has been solving crimes ever since his first appearance on 1989's almost classic Mean Streets. More than a few games followed and each and every one of them managed to be a mostly brilliant, generally succesful and usually innovative point-and-clicker that humorously managed to mix sci-fi and noir elements.

Now, as you may have noticed, there hasn't been a Tex Murphy game since Overseer and that was back in 1998. But, as with the recent blooming of the Adventure Renaissance apparently anything can happen, a Tex Murphy Kickstarter campaign happened and you should definitely support it. 

Project Fedora, for this is how the game is currently being called, is aiming to be the best Tex Murphy to date, and, well, hopes are high. It will apparently be another FMV/3D trip to post-apocalyptic San Francisco that will reunite creators Chris Jones and Aaron Conners and resolve any cliffhangers that may have been tormenting you those last years. Oh, and, so you know, there are some excellent reward tiers to help you part with your money; $15 will indeed be buying you a copy of the game.

[EXCITING UPDATE]: The ever-brilliant Adventure Lantern posted a brilliant interview with Chris Jones on Project Fedora for you to read/listen to.

Related @ Gnome's Lair:

• The Sea Will Claim Everything
• J.U.L.I.A. review
• Dan Marshall gets interviewed
• Resonance preview