Following Freeware: June 2013 releases

For a taste of the supernatural this month you can party with a ghost or investigate a paranormal crime. Alternatively, you can find yourself continually one step behind or engage in a quest that is not as “shitty” as it first appears. If those aren’t enough you can always escape too far into a book, or take a back door route you may struggle to return from. All these await you in this month’s roundup of releases from the freeware scene.
 

Shitty Quest

So here you are, a shitty-looking character in a shitty-looking room. With only the most basic of features and minimal animation, you don’t think much of your life. Perhaps if you could just work your way out of this place, you might find something better out there in the world. But there may be more to this world than first meets the eye, and you may have more of a role to play than you expect.

Whilst the basic setup looks less than promising, JimMakesGames has produced something with surprising depth. The initial graphics are deliberately poor, with both characters and backgrounds drawn with intentionally thick lines, many with a wavy hand-drawn look. Animation is basic but effective. There are some later scenes with better graphics and animation, however, and the reason for this is heavily tied into the story. The game is fully voiced to a good standard and also includes some appropriate sound effects.

Clearly this is not a game to play if you are offended by the word “shitty”, which crops up a lot. Other than that, there is no swearing in the game, as the dialogue is usually much more witty and thought-provoking. Your initial task is to escape a two-room area with virtually no detail and only one other character, who is the epitome of laziness. Once past this first location a greater quest starts to open up into a truly tense second half. Dialogue is used to persuade characters to provide assistance, and you will also make use of a small but cleverly conceived inventory.

Shitty Quest can be downloaded from the AGS website.

One Step Behind

The case. That was all you wanted to track down when you set out tonight. But as you travel from place to place across town, it soon becomes clear that you are not alone in your interest. It seems all the players in town are after the case, and they are not above engaging in a little gunplay and violence to reach their goal. Do you really have any chance of success when, wherever you go, it always seems you are one step behind?

Drink Cider. Make Games. have created a low-res mystery thriller of surprising depth. The character graphics are decidedly blocky, with the models completely faceless. Despite this lack of detail, different clothing style and colour are used to make the various people you meet easily distinguishable. The background graphics are a bit more elaborate, with locations ranging from a damp and seedy cellar to a neon-lit club. Slow, ominous thriller music plays throughout, backed up by a variety of sound effects, such as the breaking of glass when effecting an unorthodox entry.

The action is split across four major scenes. These can be played in any order, though it is recommended that they be played in order for the story to make the most sense. Even in the right order, the plot is still somewhat mysterious, with the value of the case everyone’s after never fully explained. The tale still manages to be gripping though, as you get the feeling of a much larger story playing out around you, and various references to the different factions in play are reminiscent of such classics as The Maltese Falcon. The puzzles are mostly simple inventory puzzles, though the protagonist’s habit of getting captured often adds the complication of limited movement.

One Step Behind can be played online at Kongregate.

BackDoor: Door 1 – The Call

A dream of falling is nothing to worry about, or at least so a young man thought. But when he wakes, the room he is in is most definitely not his bedroom. Guided by a mysterious voice on a nearby telephone, the young man sets out to escape from this peculiar situation. But his problems are only just beginning, and he is a lot further from his comfortable bedroom than he thinks.