No, no. You are not wrong, my friends. Here we are for another article about Brazil’s Independent Games Festival 2021 – aka BIG Festival 2021 – coverage. After talking about the show, the games running for Best Game , games running for Best Art, and games running for Best Sound, today we will know more about the games that ran for Best Gameplay. I can tell you this was one of the categories that my friends here at LiX were more interested in – mainly because we had a few Belgium games running for the prize.
Now, let’s know more about these games!
Best Gameplay
Green Hell
After seeing Green Hell in the Festival, the first thing that came to my mind is ‘How can it be possible that I’ve never seen this game before?” Green Hell is an open-world survival game situated in the Amazon Forest, where your objective is to survive and escape the forest. Counting only with a radio from where you can hear the voice of somebody you love, you will be questioning what is real and what is not when your mind starts playing tricks on you after so much time alone. How long will you be able to survive in this endless and inhospitable forest?
Green Hell was released in 2018 and is available for Switch and PC, where you can find it on Steam. A version for PS4 and Xbox is expected to be released in June. I better start stocking some food for this adventure.
Not for Broadcast
And here it is again! Not for Broadcast was nominated the game with the Best Gameplay of the Festival! Kudos to our friends of NotGames!
In this game, you will be responsible for broadcasting a channel to the public. Using four camera feeds, you can mix their signal into live production, choose the headlines, show ads, and repress the content when necessary. Now that this country is controlled by a radical government, what will you do with all this power in your hands? Will you censor the news and be rewarded for it or expose the truth? Choose what goes on-air – and live with its consequences.
The game’s prologue is available for free on Steam, where you can buy the full version of the game if you dig in it.
Not for Broadcast also run for Best Game and Innovation.
Pathologic 2
Pathologic 2 is a survival game where you play as the surgeon Artemy Burakh in a quest to find a cure for a disease that plagues his homeland in Russia within 12 days. The game presents beautiful graphics and a creepy atmosphere that will leave even the bravest of players in some distress…
First released in May 2019 for PC, we reviewed its Xbox version in early 2020. The game is available for Xbox and Steam.
Pathologic 2 was also running for Best Game, Best Narrative, and Best Sound.
Per Aspera
Control the most advanced AI ever created in a mission to terraform Mars and prepare it for the arrival of humankind. Controlling a legion of drones, you will work the surface of the planet while some mysterious force tries to stop you.
The game is available since Dec 2020, offering a free demo on Steam.
Per Aspera was also running for Best Game and Best Game: Latin America.
Slash Quest
The talkative and always-growing hero and the knight who carries it. Wait, what? In Slash Quest, the wilder of the sword is merely a tool to move it around! You, who found this talking weapon lost in a distant land, must take it back to the kingdom – and save it along the way!
This curious and very original game is only available in Apple Arcade. I hope to see it coming to more platforms soon!
Slash Quest was also running for Best Game: Brazil.
Solasta: Crown of the Magister
In Solasta: Crown of the Magister, your fate will be decided on dice! This upcoming turn-based tactical RPG based on Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition ruleset aims to be the most faithful adaptation with the Tabletop Ruleset ever created!
Scheduled to be released on May 27th, the game is available on Steam in Early Access. You can buy it from this link. Hopefully, we will see a console version for this game too.
The Last Cube
The Last Cube is a puzzle platformer with exciting mechanics that revolve around stamping stickers with power-ups to each side of the cube and, with them, solve puzzles and find secrets in each level.
The game is expected to be released in 2021 on Steam, where it has a free demo for you to try out.
The Last Cube was also running for Best Game by Students.
The Textorcist: The Story of Ray Bibbia
In this very original adventure, you play as the exorcist Ray Bibbia and will need to free a poor girl from an evil possession. Dodge tons of bullets in this bullet hell while typing the exorcism’s formula to cast away evil once and for all.
Available since February 2019 on Steam, the game has a free demo. Thanks to the nature of its gameplay, I find it difficult to see this game on other platforms. But as I was wrong about Scribblenauts coming to Xbox, hopefully I’m wrong about this one too.
Trifox
If you have been following LiX for some time, I’m sure you have already heard (or read) about Trifox. The game has already figured in 6 different articles, being the last one a preview by our Tiny Potato (AKA Maui). The title is a twin-stick action-adventure where you fight your way through swarms of enemies, environmental challenges, and thrilling boss fights.
As we’ve been expecting this game since 2017, it’s hard to pinpoint when it’s going to be released. While we wait, you can try its free demo on Steam.
You Suck at Parking
The second of the Belgium games available at the festival, You Suck at Parking is a racing game where the goal is to stop. That’s it. You will need to stop in each one of the parking spots as fast as you can. But to reach each of these parking spots, you will go through ramps, loopings, teleporters, and much more!
The game will release in 2021, but it already has a free demo on Steam.
And with these two Belgium games, we finish today’s list of finalists. Tomorrow I’ll bring you another list of games exhibited at the festival.
See you soon!
With a history of gaming that goes from his old man’s Atari 2600 to his Xbox One, Rafael or RAF687, our Brazilian editor, has a love for games as old as he can remember. He has already spent countless hours in many consoles (Mega Drive/Genesis, Sega Saturn, PS1, PS2 and Xbox 360) and is always ready for more (as long as his wife is asleep). Raf has been writing for LifeisXbox since 2017, with a passion for games of almost all genres – though we know he has a special place in his heart for RPGs, racing games and anything that includes pixel art. Writing about games has always been a childhood dream to Raf, dream that he has fulfilled reviewing games for you here. You can drop him a message at Twitter, Facebook or Xbox Live at any time.