Top 10* Interesting Games A MAZE./ 2021
The festival A MAZE./ BERLIN of arthouse games and playfull media featured 250 projects from indie developers and midcore studios. Our team has selected 10 of the most attractive and interesting for the casual players. Most of them are still in development.
*- by catagamazine
YOU SUCK AT PARKING
Genre: extreme parking simulator
You Suck at Parking is the world’s most EXTREME parking game, and the only racing game where the goal is to stop (probably). The game is all physics based and you drive, drift, jump and teleport through tricky courses and can even make your own tracks!
Platform: PC, PS4, PS5, XBoxOne, XBox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch
WAYFINDER
Genre: Animation, Generative Art, Natural World
Wayfinder is an expression of our connectedness to the natural world. It's an opportunity to renew a damaged ecosystem through discovery and verse. The calming, contemplative gameplay is symbolic of the cause-and-effect relationship humans have with nature. It underscores our role in both affecting, but ultimately remedying, the effects of climate change through action and a greater appreciation of the environment.
Small tokens of memory, time, and life dot the landscape. When activated, they reveal words hidden in the wind. Strung together, they express something deeper, inspired by haiku poetry and the desire to capture nature’s fleeting moments in a handful words. Collecting these moments helps bring balance and biodiversity back to the decaying landscape.
The art is generative. The visual assets and poetry are assembled procedurally and algorithmically through code, creating different combinations for each new visitor. The textured, hand-illustrated aesthetic is delivered in real-time, and the poetic verses are created with a mix of artificial intelligence/machine learning and generative processes, providing thousands of possible combinations. As such, Wayfinder is an ever-changing, emergent artwork with infinite possibilities. Each time it runs, it produces a new and individualized world.
Platform: Web, iPhone, iPad, Android Phone, Android Tablet
VENICE 2089
Genre: Explorative and Narrative Game
In Venice 2089, you'll explore the city through the eyes of Nova, a bored teenager who has currently no clue about what to do in life and just wants to relax from the stress of their usual routine. Ride your hoverboard and interact with your toy-drone, in a city affected by tides and climate change.
Platform: PC
SAY NO! MORE
Genre: Indie, Story-driven
Say No! More is the world’s first NPG (NO!-Playing Game). Play as an intern with a burning desire to say NO! to everything and everyone. Customize your character, say NO! in different styles and languages, clap back at mean colleagues and change the world!
Platform: PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Nintendo Switch
PAPER TRAIL
Genre: Puzzle Game
Departing on a journey of self-discovery, Paige must fold and tear her way through an ethereal paper world. Meet unforgettable characters, solve mind-bending puzzles and piece together the Paper Trail as you travel far, far from home.
Platform: PC
NUTS
Genre: Mystery, Adventure, Narrative
A single-player surveillance mystery set in a remote forest. Record the squirrels, report your findings… and uncover the secret that the curious creatures are hiding.
Platform: PC, Mac, Nintendo Switch
MILITSIONER
Genre: first-person surreal immersive runaway simulator
Plan your escape from the Giant-Policeman.
Militsioner is a first-person surreal immersive runaway simulator. Use your voice to speak to the Giant Policeman and other characters and plan your grand escape before you are sentenced to jail.
You’re arrested on this ordinary day in the provincial town where the Giant Policeman lives and works. You haven’t broken the law, have you? Of course, someone must have been telling lies, but absolutely everyone thinks you’re guilty. Don’t stick around for too long.
Platform: PC
I AM DEAD
Genre: Adventure, Exploration, Hidden Object, Puzzle
I Am Dead is a charming puzzle adventure game from the creators of Hohokum and Wilmot’s Warehouse about exploring the afterlife.
Morris Lupton is the recently-deceased museum curator of the tiny island of Shelmerston who is reunited with the ghost of his dog Sparky, only to discover that a disaster is about to destroy his beloved island.
Together, they must uncover Shelmerston’s ancient mysteries, prevent the island’s volcano from erupting, and save the place they call home.
Morris and Sparky must unearth a number of Shelmerston's lost and scattered ghosts. To find them, the duo must visit the places they spent time in, dive inside the memories of the people who knew them best, and learn the stories of their lives.
To help with their mission, Morris uses his newfound power that allows him to peer inside objects and people to reveal their contents and memories, like a supernatural X-Ray!
Platform: PC, Nintendo Switch
GENESIS NOIR
Genre: Adventure game
A noir adventure spanning time and space. You play as No Man, a watch peddler caught in a love triangle with other cosmic beings, Miss Mass and Golden Boy. When your affair turns into a bitter confrontation, you will witness a gunshot fired by a jealous god—otherwise known as The Big Bang. Jump into the expanding universe and search for a way to prevent or destroy creation and save your love.
Platform: PC
INUA
Genre: Narrative Puzzle Game
Inua tells the story of the great polar bear, Nanurluk. Separated from her cubs by the madness of men, it is up to the player to help her in her quest to restore harmony to the world. He will follow TaĂŻna, Peter and Simon, 3 characters separated by decades but whose destinies are mysteriously linked.
To do so, he will have to unravel space and time to solve puzzles and guide the characters. Each level is composed of several scenes taking place in the same place, but at different times. Supervised by an Inuit author, the original scenario of Inua is inspired by Inuit mythology, and based on the story of the Franklin expedition: a real British expedition sent to explore the Arctic in the 19th century.
Platform: PC