Indie Games of 2011

Achron

Developer: Hazardous Software
Platform: PC Exclusive
Release Date: TBA 2011

We’ve followed Achron closely over the last 12 months, and we’ve even been one of the few publications to go hands-on with it. However, if we’re honest, we still can’t easily wrap our heads around it. Achron is a hugely exciting game, but it’s also incredibly brain-breaking.

Achron is, at its base, a fairly standard strategy game. Base building, sci-fi settings, two forces in an age-long conflict and lots of resource harvesting; these are the dishes upon which Achron’s menu is based. Also, time-travel. In Achron, players can jump forwards and backwards along the timeline, in both singleplayer and multiplayer, via a timeline that sits at the bottom of the screen.


As such, the tactical potential is nearly unlimited. Suffer an early defeat in battle? Send reinforcements back through space-time to reinforce your past self! Want to launch a risky, surprise attack? Jump your most powerful units forward in time and into the enemy base!

Of course, matters get even more complex when you start wondering about all the paradoxes and philosophical problems that can be thrown up, but the good news is that Hazardous came up with solutions for most of these a long time ago. The technology is sound and, for the most part, all the developer has been doing lately is fancying up the graphics and polishing what we’re sure will be a very bright gem indeed.

Blight of the Immortals

Developer: Ironhead Games
Platform: PC Exclusive
Release Date: TBA 2011

Currently in playable beta, the final release of Blight of the Immortals is likely to be the source of more upset, bloodshed and black eyes in the Bit-Gamer offices than any other game, ever – even more so than Barbie Dress-Up Adventure!

An online boardgame from the devious minds behind Neptune’s Pride, Blight of the Immortals is another glacially-paced multiplayer RTS that too often results in best friends tearing each other apart in real life. As with Neptune’s Pride, the actual mechanics of strategy – the army and resource management – has been stripped back, so that the focus is more on real diplomacy between players.


One of the new features, however, is a common enemy for players – the Blight. Unlike Neptune’s Pride, which continued until one player controlled a clear, set majority of the map, Blight of the Immortals ends only when the players have successfully quashed the Zombie infection. When that happens, the winner is whoever holds the most territory – meaning that wily players can potentially play the system and end the game early.

It’s here, of course, that the central attraction of Blight of the Immortals is unveiled, and you can see that it’s not just a game, but also a personality test. Ask yourself; if you were playing this game with your friends (and you should, because it’s free) then which ones could you really trust – and for how long?