Indie Spotlight Two-fer Touts ‘INK’, ‘Thomas Was Alone’
Welcome to Indie Spotlight!
Today we bring you a two-for-one special that’ll be sure to fill your geometry quota for the weekend — INK and Thomas Was Alone!
Both titles are puzzle platformers with simplistic graphics (your characters are all shapes) and extremely easy to pick up and learn. They each bring a very unique flavor of challenge that keeps you pining for more.
INK
Created by Zack Bell Games, INK puts you in control of a little white square that paints the floor and walls it touches. Why is that important? Well, the whole game is invisible! You begin each level with no knowledge of where you are or where you can go.
To help spread it around, your double jump will throw paint around as well, to really get some coverage. If you die, any paint you’ve spread sticks around, so each puzzle becomes a trial and error kind of thing. You’re also able to jump off walls, resetting your jumps and letting you get around with ease.
The game is kind enough to give you a few peaceful levels to get the hang of it, but from there it ramps up to impressive levels of complexity. Spikes on surfaces, enemy blobs and projectiles try to keep you from your goal. To top it off, every so often you get a fast-paced boss fight! Considering how low-key it looks (which I love), it ends up being a really fun experience.
INK is available on Steam or can be purchased directly from itch.io.
[divider]
Thomas Was Alone
Created by Mike Bithell, Thomas Was Alone involves a cast of various shapes (all four-sided), each with a name and a particular set of traits. Thomas, for example, is a vertical rectangle with decent jumping. Claire is a large square that can float on water.
These traits are combined in various ways to get you through the environments. You take control of any one character at a time, with the ability to swap between them (and you’ll have to do that often and sometimes skillfully). Some areas will require you to stack them on each other, while others need you to proceed in a particular order.
The most impressive part, however, is the narrative and atmosphere of the game. A neutral voice tells a story as you play, developing the characters’ thoughts and goals. The script alludes to the culture of a digital workplace and a fictional(?) history of the age of computers, which tickles my software engineer side!
Thomas Was Alone is available on PC and PS3/Vita.
The ease of entry and clever mechanics of each game’s world made for very enjoyable experiences. I highly recommend any puzzle platformer fan to give these a try!
