Games of the Week: Foxes, Space Ships, and Louisiana

What’s good itch.io gamers, welcome back to the channel. By channel I mean blog and by gamers I mean people with good taste, but the sentiment is the same! Welcome back to the itch.io Blog! This time we’re here with a few more recommendations to help fill up your free time. 

Tunic

Do you love cute little foxes? Do you wish they carried cute little swords and went on Zelda-esque adventures? Well friend, sit down because I’ve got just the thing for you. Tunic is a game about a cute little fox who carries a cute little sword and, wait for it, goes on Zelda-esque adventures. 

This means that all of your favorite trappings of the genre are here. You’ve got hackin’, you’ve got slashin’, there are even big old dungeons to explore with unique bosses at the end. Where Tunic diverges from the Nintendo school of design is where the game really starts to get interesting. There are Souls-style corpse runs and the game seems content to let you miss tons and tons of secrets. If that wasn’t enough for you, this game does Fez things that I haven’t seen in a decade. No I won’t elaborate on that last point, but if you know you know.
Of course this is complemented by Tunic’s complete and unwavering dedication to The Vibe. When you see that cute fox rolling around in an overwhelming world it really sells how the developer wants you to feel. Soft, cozy, and curious.
Tunic is a great game that I can’t help but recommend to anyone who will listen. 

Norco

Ok I’ll admit I’ve never been to Louisiana, but after spending some time with Norco’s cybergothic depicition of the state I feel like I totally understand the place. (I’m joking please don’t own me Louisianians). This beautiful adventure tells a story of mystery, family, technology, and a bunch of other keywords I won’t spoil. It’s sort of point and click, and sort of something more. Honestly I’m finding it hard to describe the game outside of how it makes me feel. 

On one hand Norco is a game you’ve played before: you click through some puzzles, unravel some mysteries, but as soon as you’re in the familiar you’re hit with a level of depth and nuance in the writing that amazed me. I will admit that I haven’t finished Norco yet (there are a lot of games happening right now!) but if the team sticks the landing then Norco will absolutely cement its place in the top tier of narrative games. 

Space Dragons

You know what genre of games I love? Shmups. You know what I get to cover because I choose the games featured on this blog? Shmups! Let’s talk about Space Dragons. 

If you want a classic horizontal shmup then this is about as good as you’re going to get these days. The pixel art is super crisp and gives the characters a really unique style. There are tons of ships in here to pilot, and you can upgrade them in a bunch of different ways as you progress. To make things even spicier there’s local multiplayer so if you’re looking to add a second ship to the mix you’re contending with even more possibilities. 

If that’s not enough Space Dragons isn’t done yet. Yep, there’s already a great shmup here and it’s only in early access. Hopefully this means we’ll get even more levels, ships, and weapons down the road. 

What have you been playing? Let everyone know in the comments below.