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Back when I was content lead at Spellborn Works, I created multiple ‘mood pieces’ to reflect upon the universe of “The Chronicles of Spellborn”. These texts were written at a conceptual level, to provide artists and fellow designers with an idea of how the game world behaved on its own. This one was intended to convey the game mechanics of combat into Spellborn reality. Enjoy.

“It seemed to work for you.” Larrah turned towards the Berserker again. “But this guy is still staring at me, standing still, while I am standing still and we’re talking. Something tells me he’ll start attacking us any mom-…” As the Berserker’s axe suddenly cleaved down just a few inches in front of them, Larrah was initially surprised by its speed and secondly by the fact that she had been right. She jumped backwards out of the way and slapped her hand on one of the Crests adorning her armour.

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Probably the closest we’ll ever get to a full-fledged HD Okami, I’m afraid. Still, this game turned into an essential purchase now.

And while we’re in the fighting zone, it seems Namco and Capcom are joining forces:

Can’t wait for the inevitable Hwoarang vs. Juri match!

I suddenly remembered I still had to download Limbo.

A one-and-a-half hours later I seem to have accumulated a score of ’70′, which for some reason my brain automatically interprets as a completion percentage. It might be right.

Whatever the case, Limbo is excellent. In a way it feels like it’s the sequel to Another World (or Out Of This World, if you prefer): you are constantly pushing the boundaries of your environment and skills, trying to figure out the way forward. Sometimes it even likes to take the way backward, leading to some very clever stuff indeed.

It also manages to not frustrate, which is rare for a game that seems hell-bent on making you suffer through endless trial-and-error sequences. Quick restarts after death and sensibly placed checkpoints, make the game work in ways that tickle the brain. Even more rare is how the game sensibly uses timing and pin-point accuracy as solutions without making you doubt your judgment.

There’s little to criticize here. Certain mechanics are repeated a few times, but it’s hard to be negative about those instances as they are used very cleverly yet again. The game’s price of 1200 MSP might be its biggest problem; it’s relatively high for something that acts and looks like a retro-game.

Hopefully people can look past that, but I fear most will forget about downloading Limbo altogether.

Back when I was content lead at Spellborn Works, I created multiple ‘mood pieces’ to reflect upon the universe of “The Chronicles of Spellborn”. These texts were written at a conceptual level, to provide artists and fellow designers with an idea of how the game world behaved on its own. It’s a bit raw and rough around the edges though. Enjoy.

The glow was weakening. Ankhcandles weren’t supposed to do that. Richan Druyk did not know a lot about ankhstones and how they worked, but he did know an ankhcandle made of the stuff wasn’t supposed to lose it glow until after 50 years at least. This one he bought three weeks ago at that stupid merchant with his stupid speech impediment in stupid Pit District. Last time he ever went there.

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