I have decided to make an effort toward both organizing and galvanizing my reviews process on this site, beginning with select independent (or “indie”) videogames, which, for one reason or other, received notoriety over the past year and change. As is blatant from even the most cursory glance at my post history over the last twelve months, output has become an issue across the board, regardless of topic or category, so the hope is that emphasizing one above the rest, if temporarily, will further populate said categories as well as make me a half-productive human again.
As for the time-frame, I landed on “season” because the word implies a serial release schedule, and the 3-4 month window of an actual calendar season is enough for substantial (or at least respectable) output while not dragging on to our eventual mutual boredom and the delay of the next review season. Though in this first circumstance, with fall ending exactly a month from today, I will be extending the review season through the winter. These posts (in this case indie game reviews) will not be the only writings here unless my productivity remains frozen outside of them; again, the seasonal emphasis will be merely that.
First for review is D-pad Studio’s Owlboy, which I played through a year ago and afterward drafted a review for which I (obviously) never finished. The game’s upcoming release on the Nintendo Switch has reinvigorated my interest in doing so, however, as it pulls much of its inspiration from Nintendo’s most heralded properties. Perhaps this more direct association between the game and its influences—by virtue of their simply sharing a platform—will support my position, in a testable way mind you, concerning how the game grapples influence itself.
You can access these reviews below this paragraph as they become available, or refer to the reviews category of the site. Owlboy will be first, as mentioned, followed by the likes of Hyper Light Drifter, Detention, ABZÛ, RiME, and many others. If you have a game suggestion for review, or simply want to discuss a recent indie release (relatively speaking), please make use of the comments section below. Thanks, as always, for the indulgence.
May 2018 Update: Some or all of the titles mentioned will now be covered in short, focused posts as opposed to reviews. My writing malaise touched on in the introduction to this post continues, and both fall and winter have, as you can see, come and gone. That said, I still want to contribute to the discussion surrounding these games, and in a few cases at least, will.