Saturday, August 24, 2013

August of Games: Day 24 - The Basement Collection


Kaada, who made the song for Coil, well he's pretty eccentric with his music. It all has this old-timey plinking noise, and it really stands out from just about every that gets put out today. I love this song, and this game.

The Basement Collection
Developer: Edmund McMillen (and peers)
Genre (Setting): Variety (collection - most commonly abstract, surreal, and retro-style settings)
Genre (Gameplay): Collection (platformer/physics/puzzle/etc)
What is this game: This is a collection of many of Edmund McMillen's older games from before Binding of Isaac and Super Meat Boy. It contains a lot of games, including the original Meat Boy, Triachnid, and Time Fcuk. They're collaborations with a lot of people, very often Florian Himsl (who has done much programming work with Edmund and was the partner for Binding of Isaac), but also Edmund's older games with Tommy Refenes (the other side of Team Meat). It doesn't happen to include Gish, but other than that it hits every highlight.
One game in particular I want to talk about: If other things like The World Ends With You or Sword & Sworcery are genre-breaking, Coil exists outside the genre system entirely. Like S:S&S, it's what I would call a game poem: a short, focused piece meant to drive an emotional response. Coil takes about 15 minutes to play through. Its story has ended up quite interpretive, even though McMillen had an intended theme, which has led to him not considering it a huge success in his eyes. Fair, but since the last collaborator is always the audience, I think it's a fascinating piece and everyone should play it. You can even get Coil outside of the Collection for free.

What's great about it: Take one of indie gaming's most famous personalities and compile all the games that led to his success, showing how his success was the result of a long road. After Indie Game: The Movie he felt that it gave a bit of the impression of out-of-the-gate success (certainly helped by Phil Fish only entering the scene with FEZ), and he wanted to rectify that impression. It's a cheap bundle for a lot of fun games. Time Fcuk is incredible, Triachnid is tough and charming, and Aether is captivating. And, of course, there's my highlight: Coil. Please play Coil.
I've talked at length back when I played the collection originally, and that's much more detailed:
http://the-logbook-project.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-basement-collection-talk-also.html
 
How do I get it: Mostly through Steam, for $4, and it goes on sale often. Coil is on Steam as a demo, but the whole thing is actually there, being a "demo" just lets it be free. On his personal site, Edmund usually sells physical copies of the bundle that come along with Indie Game The Movie for $25, which is still worth it.

End Recording,
Ego.

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