The developer of the massively successful independently developed game Papers Please, Lucas Pope has launched the playable demo build for his next PC game. The demo was launched very quietly with no big hub bub made over it.

The game is called Return of the Obra Dinn and is set in 1808 and the game tells a tale of the sailing merchant ship, the Obra Dinn. The Obra Dinn was thought to have been lost at seen six years prior however, so what’s it doing back? Well, no one knows for sure yet, Pope says “This is a very early playable build,”…”There’s not much content and it hasn’t been tested. Progress is not saved.”

The game makes use of a beautifully stylized dot matrix styled graphical world to lead the player on a first person adventure full of mystery at sea. For those of you that are interested, the demo can be found at Pope’s site. 

[Source]

Hotline Miami 2, the sequel to the celebrated indie hit from last year, has a rape scene, and scenes of other sexual violence, to reinforce its message; as always, this has drawn the ire of critics, who flat out oppose its inclusion in the game.

PCGamer, when previewing the game, was attacking an unnamed female enemy on screen; the words ‘FINISH HER’ flashed on the screen, and so he proceeded to attack her, at which point the character undid his trousers and pinned her, the implication being that he was raping her.

Of course, even within the game, the rape is purely fictional, as it is a scene being shot on the sets of a movie (in fact, the director shouts ‘CUT’ shortly after the rape scene). However, that hasn’t stopped many from criticizing what is an uncharacteristically bold scene to include in a video game.

“I stroll up to finish the job. Instead, the control is taken from me by the game, and my character, the Pig Butcher, pins her down and drops his trousers,” said Cara Ellision, the previewer of the original build. “This is it, I think. I am feeling betrayal. I feel betrayed by something I love”.

Whereas no one condones rape, and I certainly do not, there is something to be said about the hypocrisy that lets rape scenes in other mediums, such as books, movies, and television (including the much celebrated Breaking Bad in the case of the latter, which includes repeated instances of spousal rape in its fifth season) slide for artistic integrity, but not video games. If critics are serious about video games growing as a legitimate medium of storytelling and an artform, then the same concessions need to be made to them that are made to other mediums as well.

The developers of Hotline Miami 2 remained unavailable for comment. We’ll keep you posted on how this story develops.

[Thanks, CVG]

Seriously, check it out. It looks awesome. From the stylish direction of the trailer to the highly stylized graphics, the voice acting, the choice of music, the gameplay which looks like a cross between Limbo and a 2D Mirror’s Edge, and the actual atmosphere itself. It looks pretty wonderful, actually.

It’s got a really striking graphical style, and it’s immediately become one of those games for me that I need to keep an eye on. Just watch the trailer and you will understand.

Contrast is a puzzle platformer that is due for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and PC later this year. It will be made available digitally with no plans for a retail release. No Wii U, PlayStation Vita, or Nintendo 3DS versions have been announced yet either.

Stay tuned to GamingBolt for what I hope will be some fairly extensive coverage of this delightful looking game.

The Kickstarter page for new game Project Phoenix has gone live, and the game looks to be pretty ambitious in its scope.

The page describes the game as a JRPG with ‘squad based RTS gameplay’ at one point, and an RTS with ‘Japanese RPG influences’ at another, is nonetheless a ‘AAA title’  which is bringing together the top talent from Japan and the west, including famed Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu. The game promises a nice amalgamation of eastern and western sensibilities, and also claims to be the first Kickstarter video game project from Japan.

Project Phoenix is aiming chiefly to be a single player game, though multiplayer modes and functionality is not out of the question; it is also aiming for PC, Mac, and Linux versions. iOS and Android versions will also be made, but they will be different games. Other platforms, which include the PS4, and possibly the Wii U and Xbox One, are also being floated, and might be accommodated if the game reaches its goals.