S
hovel Knightmeets The Deer
Hunter in the tenseRoulette
Knight, which was conceived
for this year’s Ludum Dare. The
theme of that game jam was
‘combine two incompatible genres’,
and here developer Four Quarters
has mixed the RPG with a game of
Russian roulette.
Rather than taking on hordes of
monsters, you’re battling yourself by
loading a revolver with a bullet and
aiming the weapon at your knightly
head. Using a point-and-click
interface, you’ll load the cylinder
with some bullets, spin the chambers
and pull the trigger, while managing
your equipment, abilities and even
visiting a handy shop.
As in the real Russian roulette,
you’ve no idea whether a bullet will
fire. If it does, though, you’re not
guaranteeda trip to the mortuary.
Perhaps thanks to your metal helmet,
you can generally survive a single
headshot, although you will need to
restore your health sharpish to
outlast another. The odds of death
increase if you choose to load
additional bullets into the revolver’s
cylinder – but then so do the rewards,
with greater gold and experience on
offer to the bold.
It might sound a little like a
five-minute distraction, but there’s a
surprising amount of depth to this
hastily developed browser game. In
addition to the varied skill tree, and a
stream of worthwhile loot, there’s an
unusual difficulty system that has you
opting in to deadlier gun damage in
exchange for better rewards.
It’s an element of risk/reward
that speaks to the game as a whole,
which is built around that action of
loading a pistol and hoping
for the best. It never gets
old, and never stops
creating drama.82
KNIGHTY KNIGHT
Point and shoot in ROULETTE KNIGHT. By Tom Sykes
EXPECT TO PAY
NothingDEVELOPER
Four QuartersLINK
http://www.bit.ly/rouletteknightNEED TO KNOWThere’s a shop that refreshes
frequently with useful loot.Chance determines whether
you eat a bullet or not.W
e’re hardly short of
first-person horror
games, but here’s a
spook-’em-up that’s a little more
interesting than most. Trapped
inside your flat, you have to collect
a list of items in order to perform
some sort of science experiment,
using a device that seems to meddle
with the laws of reality.The upshot of all your meddling is
the eventual arrival of, yes, a ghost, a
figure who taunts you with ethereal
sights and sounds. You’ll know the
sort of thing if you’ve ever seen a
horror film: sinister laughter
chuckling in your ear, weird little
bugs crawling from the bathroom
fixtures, and furniture shuffling
around of its own accord.
Umfend is a well-paced,
atmospheric horror that feels a little
like PT (if PT was made for the
PlayStation in about 1996). You’rebuffeted from room to room by a
supernatural force, which locks and
unlocks doors as it pleases, and seems
to have a master switch for the lights.
Your only hope of defeating it is to
repeat your experiment, which will
maybe banish it for good.
Through strong sound design,
varied and largely unpredictable
ghostly experiences, and – perhaps
most important of all – a bit of
restraint when it comes to jump
scares, developer Aihasto has
managed to create a competent
horror that’s fairly creepy despite the
low-res visuals. The game even
manages to give its low-poly spook an
air of menace, with adept camera
work and animation making up for
its simplistic 3D modelling.
It’s not the best horror game out
there, but I don’t think
you’ll come away from this
twisted love story
disappointed.61
GHOST ADVENTURES
Science goes awry inUMFEND. By Tom Sykes
EXPECT TO PAY
NothingDEVELOPER
AihastoLINK
http://www.bit.ly/umfendpcNEED TO KNOWNeverhireapoltergeistto
redesign your kitchen.Who is this ghost girl, and why
is she terrorising your flat?Roulette Knight / Umfend
FREE GAMES REVIEW