Michael Brough excels at designing systems that are simpler than they sound—better understood through exploration than explanation—and his grid-based games keep getting smaller and more complicated. In Imbroglio, his latest, your little dungeon-crawler has two health counters in the form of hearts a
Sign up to receive each week’s Playlist e-mail here! Also check out our full, interactive Playlist section. HELIX (iOS) BY MICHAEL BROUGH This shoot-’em-up is less of a bullet hell and more of a thumb ballet. Arc your preferred digit in graceful concentric circles around jellyfish and moonrocks to m
In his first proper release since last year’s titanic cyber-roguelike 868-Hack (which made our top ten games of 2013), Michael Brough aims for something weirdly sedate. The aesthetic remains defiantly his—glitchy, esoteric, and weirdly lithe—but the movements now are not excruciatingly economic or a
I know that art is supposedly the ultimate expression of human emotions and whatnot, but THIS ARTBOT. Like clockwork, it creates and churns out abstract and frequently mesmerizing pixel art four times a day. It’s called Great Artist and it lives up to the moniker. This is truly impressive work for a
Nova-111 looks like a valiant stab at solving the dilemma RPGs have faced ever since D&D hit the computer screen 30-some years ago: turn-based or real-time? Turn-based systems allow players sufficient time to strategize, but real-time just feels more alive. But it turns out you don’t have to commit
In a recent interview, the always-astute Michael Brough, maker of the outstanding 868-Hack, was asked what he thinks of “the state of the indie scene.” His response was doused in irony, pretty much dispelling the idea of an indie scene, and is the smartest thing I’ve read all day. Really, it’s kind
