Keeper of the Labyrinth
Keeper of the Labyrinth is an interactive fiction game about identity, self-discovery and learning to accept and overcome the flaws we find in ourselves.
You:
A young witch who, with the passing of your teacher last fall, must take on the mantle of Keeper of the Labyrinth.
The labyrinth:
A vast being which waits at the edge of the sea. It has been here longer than any can remember, and for as long, it has been the sacred duty of the village witch to explore its depths. But strange things happen within its halls, and that journey is not for the light-of-heart.
The solstice night:
It is the night of the winter solstice, the longest night of the year, and it is your turn to make the journey. Forced to eschew the festivities, you don your cloak and gather your tools of witchcraft: runes, candles, a piece of chalk, a wand, a knife. What rituals will take place within? What is your quarry, waiting in the centre, that your teacher once mentioned? And more pressing, perhaps: what watches you from the darkness?
Make your choices, find your path:
There are many paths through the labyrinth, many side chambers to explore and twists to find. Many beautiful realizations, strange encounters, and deep horrors await you at each turn. With each, find new truths about the labyrinth through which you pass, and perhaps, yourself. Your choices too, have consequences; are you too apathetic, rushing your task? too cowardly, avoiding difficult choices? or too doubtful, unsure of where you’re going?
Journal:
Retrace your steps with a dynamically updated journal and table of contents which keeps track of your version of the story, depending on the choices you make, and in which order.
Gallery:
Unlock a gallery of more than 14 hand-painted illustrations to accompany key scenes on your journey through the labyrinth.
Content warnings:
Offers a robust system of content warnings to pop up before possibly disturbing scenes.
Carefully crafted prose and music:
Original soundtrack composed by the author to accompany each scene in the story.
Read More: Best Nonlinear Text-Based Games.
Lushfoil Photography Sim
Experience detailed, true-to-life recreations of various landmarks around the world. Each environment is authentically recreated using reference photos taken on location, and includes detail at both a small and large scale.
- Capture Every Detail
Use a realistically inspired DSLR to observe and capture the world around you. Includes an abunance of settings that you’d expect from a real-world professional camera, including Auto/Manual Focus, Exposure, Contrast, White Balance, Aperture and a selection of filters, for full creative control over your shooting. All photos are saved to your hard drive, like a collection of real photos.
- Leave no Stone Unturned
Objectives are not the first priority in the game, but it will reward the types of players who are patient, observant, and like to venture off the beaten path. Each environment is filled with Unlockables, Secret Objectives, Collectibles, and Easter eggs that not everyone will find.
- Smooth as Butter
Each environment is very efficiently optimised and doesn’t need the latest hardware to run. There are extensive custom settings that will help the game run on a wide range of systems, and will still take full advantage of high-end cards.
- VR Support
A Virtual Reality DLC will be released in Early Access shortly after the game comes out. I’m a huge advocate for VR and I would love to give everyone the opportunity to experience the level of immersion that VR offers.
Read More: Best Nonlinear VR Games.
Sea of Leaves
A young girl disappears from her hometown, leaving friends and family.
After many years, she returns to her place.
What was behind her vanishing?
Sea of Leaves is a contemplative game set in the Gargano, a remote region in southern Italy.
Half drama, half mistery, the story of Sea of Leaves revolves aound a disappearance from the perspective of the missing one.
In Sea of Leaves you will explore the story through the stream of consciousness, which will reveal thoughts, memories, feelings and sensation.
Read More: Best Nonlinear Drama Games.
Creepy Mahjong
Creepy Mahjong is a dark theme Mahjong solitaire with a twist.
Levels follow a story, but each time you play, the story might be different.
Completing some levels or failing to, will bring you to a different path of levels to explore.
In each level, you have to fight a monster, and with the pass of time, your life reduces.
Each time a pair of tiles is removed, you get back some health.
If you get stuck and your health isn’t too low, you can escape and get a new monster to fight with, but be careful because your health is carried from one level to another either if you win or escape.
To bring you more into the creepy mood, this game purposely has no hints or shuffle, and some levels might not be solvable due to the random tile placement.
It’s up to you to figure out and decide when it’s time to escape and try to find another match or keep fighting.
Create and Share your own Levels
Purchasing Creepy Mahjong, you will also get access to a Level Editor where you can create your own design.
After designing your level you will obtain a code that you can use to share it with your friends and community.
Share your creations with your friends for an endless challenge!
Input
Mouse (+ Keyboard for shortcuts)
Dead Ink
In the year 2207 the quantum state of your brain was encoded in a stream of photons and beamed into the cosmos. A pioneer of a glorious new age of light-speed travel, destined for fame and glory… at least that was the plan.
Fight
Plunged into a hostile world where every being is made of ink and manufactured at 3D printers, you must harvest ink to survive. Fight your way down a hand-crafted labyrinthine tower in this hardcore melee combat experience.
Escape
Choose between printing the best gear with your hard-won ink, or using it sparingly to get more chances. Can you escape from the tower or will you run out of ink?
A Hardcore Experience
Dead Ink is designed as a hardcore experience with uncompromising and punishing combat. Running out of ink will result in a game over and starting from scratch.
Features
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Souls-like with a unique 3D-printing core mechanic
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Unravel a nonlinear, hand-crafted vertical environment
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Anticipated 6-10 hour play time with a variety of weapons, enemies and bosses
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Harvest ink from enemies and use it to print your corporeal form, weapons and items
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Choose how to spend your ink — on better gear, making more attempts, or on blueprint upgrades
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Running out of ink is game over
All the Delicate Duplicates
A short, first person adventure with a strong artistic vibe, and a focus on narrative rather than puzzles. You explore the home of a family who has endured some form a mysterious trauma, which involves some psychological and metaphysical themes. Uncovering the narrative occurs through inspection of objects left lying around the home. One of the novel aspects of this game is the multiple timelines, allowing you to explore the setting and story at different points in time. The somewhat enigmatic story is intriguing and indeed I would have liked to have seen it fleshed out even further.
– Real player with 2.6 hrs in game
Absolutely Highly Recommended… IF:
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You have an OPEN mind
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You go into this knowing it is an experience, not really a “game” like most would define “game”
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you can deal with disturbing ideas, seeing the world as someone with a debilitating neurological condition (aka/mental illness0 might see it, every day
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You aren’t a pew-pew-pew-pew only kind of gamer, with extreme biases agaisnt anyone who is different than you.
Especially that last one.
Worth Full Price. Absolutely.
– Real player with 2.4 hrs in game
Castle Rock Beach, West Australia
Beautiful, Teleporting is very broken as you fall through the map a lot and the items seem to have a lower resolution as soon as you teleport to the place. On the other hand, walking regularly in game is soothing, beautiful, the movement is realistic and you can hear your footsteps on different surfaces, it also never falls through the surface and every item has time to render in so it’s resolution is much better. The only downside to walking is it makes a high percentage of people who play VR motion sick. Teleporting doesn’t make you as sick, but again, it is broken. I luckily don’t get motion sickness from VR at all, so I can write a great review for this outstanding game.
– Real player with 2.8 hrs in game
Matt Newell is a young talented 3D artist who deserves more fame. In April 2020 I experienced for the first time his interactive fully explorable virtualscapes on Steam. I started with the exploration of Myrdalssandur, an outwash plain in the south of Iceland. Then I experienced all of his works on Steam: Fushimi Inari, Wakamarina Valley and Castle Rock Beach.
Photorealism is not enough to describe the experiences. Matt brings out the best from Unreal Engine 4; assets, textures, rendering of light and shaders are at the state of the art. Oh yes, rendition of light is superb! He succeeds to create a virtual Nature that is more beautiful than real Nature! It’s not properly Nature, it’s an idealization of Nature! It’s a Nature without perils, without insects, without dangerous animals, without smells, where you don’t risk getting dirty with mud, you don’t get wet even if it rains. It’s a Nature expressing just an outstanding aesthetic beauty able to enjoy your eyes and lull your soul. Walking in such virtual world at sunset or at sunrise or when raining, it is satisfactory, relaxing, charming. There are just you and Nature, accompanied by an ethereal soundtrack and environmental sounds! You just take a stroll, discover interesting places, take a few photos, enjoy beautiful seascapes and landscapes with different lighting and weather conditions. Today, contemplating wild and unpopulated landscapes or seascapes is impossible, tourists are everywhere and everytime; and it’s not rare to find trash even in the more remote lands, reminding you how many two-legged pigs are in the world! Plus, you have to organize and afford long and stressful travels! On the contrary, thanks to Matt’s artworks you need just to turn on your PC and sit on your sofa for enjoying elegiac and spiritual experiences; they are well suited for people searching for a break from the everyday stress in our crowded society, especially during pandemic emergency! “Walden: A Game” (USC Game Innovation Las, 2017) gives you similar feelings.
– Real player with 2.3 hrs in game
IRENE.HOUSE
IRENE.HOUSE is a creative exhibition featuring the sculptor, Irene June. Based on a series of conversations with June, this project explores their relationships to home, ancestry and dreams.
IRENE.HOUSE features a HUD-less design and no playable or NPC characters for an immersive, spatial experience. This project also features performances made in collaboration with Irene, conversation snippets, and camera roll footage.
ABOUT IRENE JUNE
Irene June engages in sculpture and ritual to create sites of generational healing and spiritual reverence. Using culturally specific materials such as incense, and funerary joss papers, June’s work often invokes animal and geologic forms in relation to the landscape of their personal human experience.
Please visit our Online Manual for game instructions and to learn more about Irene’s art practice!
Moadra
An interstellar alien race, the Neera, has deployed an expedition to the long-lost planet Protea VI, hoping to discover their lost heritage. Eventually, the sand-swept planet turns out to be far more surprising than meets the eye, and suddenly the expedition goes quiet.
Your mission is to play as alien soldier Moadra and investigate the incidents on the planet. Upon discovering the expedition’s fate, Moadra becomes separated from the rest of the squad and is forced to delve deeper into the perilous depths of Protea VI.
From barren wastes and freezing ridges to lush caverns and decayed ruins, Moadra must traverse a sprawling world, face the unknown and unveil the secrets of their ancestors through non-linear exploration, offering a truly immersive and challenging gaming experience.
Traverse a massive interconnected world non-linearly and unveil the grim mysteries of Protea VI at your own pace. Endure the challenging combat and evolve Moadra’s abilities, solve light puzzles, and reveal countless hidden paths and secrets throughout your mission.
Strive through the desolate surface of Protea VI and ascend the deadly, freezing summits. Examine the infested research facility, kindle the crashed spacecraft, and explore the remains of an alien civilization that once inhabited Protea VI.
Experience Moadra’s agility by jumping over chasms and pools of acid. Roll and dodge enemies and crawl through narrow tunnels. Dive into deep lakes and reach immense heights using wall-jumps. Eventually, run with blazing speed and fly to unknown altitudes.
Confront the enormous variety of hostile creatures and malicious species inhabiting Protea VI. Fight against them with an arsenal of weapons and special abilities, and survive their onslaught by swift reflexes and cunning tactics.
Be prepared to encounter the ultimate challenge of Protea VI. Fight against gargantuan monsters in cruel and multi-phased battles that will push the limits of your skills like nothing else in the game.
Blow up unfriendly creatures and organisms to absorb their Protoplasm, lumps of energy-packed biomass. Consume it inside organic chambers to apply metamorphosis, and evolve your abilities and weapons to new levels.
Activate your scanner bot and use the X-Ray vision to examine the creatures and surroundings more closely. Reveal hidden paths and secret areas invisible to the naked eye, and map out the places you explored.
Untangle the tragedy of the Neera expedition, save yourself and the lone survivors. Uncover the lost secrets of your ancestors who once inhabited Protea VI, and conclude the events leading to their extinction 20 000 years ago.
Nuke Land
Nuke Land is a huge open world with dozens of cities and settlements. As you travel you will meet many enemies, both human and mutated insects. Weapons in Nuke Land are the main argument, but there are not many of them left. However, you can find a weapons craftsman. He will help you restore and upgrade weapons. You have a variety of activities: trade, work as a mercenary, racketeering and other monkey business. Choose what you want to be: a mercenary or a merchant; the mayor of a forlorn village or decide to conquer all the towns and proclaim a new state.