A very late review of an amazing and quite disturbing game I have been obsessed with for the last 6 months.
A Long Process
The first Receiver was born during a 2012 game jam where the Wolfire Games team came up with a pretty unusual concept that focuses more on the gun than the shooting itself. A few months later, a version of the game was released on Steam (still available for the bravest of you) with all its rough edges and rendering, scarce content, and a tremendous level of difficulty. I hadn’t noticed Receiver until last year and to be honest, even if I liked the concept, the content was way too raw for me and I asked for the 3.99 euros refund…
A story about fighter aircrafts, space ships, game design, modding and programming, with a pinch of nostalgia.
Brian Hernandez’s tweets are like madeleines de Proust to me, a reminiscence of an era that shaped my taste in video games. Every now and then, Brian drops a video of his upcoming project featuring an aircraft simulator straight from the ’90s. And every time, the way he blends deliberate angular style and super dynamic effects brings me joy. Tiny Combat Arena is the perfect combo between nostalgia and modernity.
Pico-8 and the retro-gaming trend
From a neophyte perspective, it must be quite puzzling to observe the console manufacturers investing billions of dollars to battle over super high tech specs while Minecraft and its rough pixelated blocks are holding the best-selling game title. Surprisingly, the big pixels have never been so popular and both gamers and programmers are responsible for that unwavering trend. Indeed retro-looking games are cute and nostalgic to play with, but they also are fun to make and they offer plenty of advantages. …
Kevin Kuipers
Co-founder at Gamekult, SensCritique, Molotov TV and Galion.exe. Previously at AlloCiné & daphni. Tech and product lover, VC & indie game enthusiast. @Paris
