IndieGo #29: Moons of Darsalon and ArcRunner

Games and science fiction have been long-lasting allies ever since 1962’s Spacewar! united the medium with the genre. In 1978, the depiction of an alien assault in Space Invaders captivated a generation of arcade goers, with the coin-op generating the modern equivalent of 50 million dollars a day. As such, electronic games have had a fixation on the future, envisioning everything from navigating through a cluster of Asteroids to the gladiatorial matches between Light Cycles in Tron’s radiant micro-world. With IndieGo #29, we explore the home computing references that fill Moons of Darsalon before reconnoitering ArcRunner’s third-person, cybernetic action.

Moons of Darsalon, Dr. Kucho! Games, $19.67

Before releasing chart-topping house anthems like “Can’t Stop Playing” and “Love Is My Game”, Daniel Manzano Salazar (aka Dr. Kucho!) must have spent quite a bit of time on hardware like the Commodore 64 and Amiga. Before Moons of Darsalon lets players loose on a succession of stages that demonstrate the game’s fundamentals, there’s a loading screen that emulates loading up a game on the old C64. Sporadically, the title uses a speech synthesizer that sounds incredibly close to the ones found on early home computers. If you’re of a certain age, you probably used these to make prank calls.

And if you are in the doldrums of adulthood, you’ll probably recall DMA Design’s Lemmings. This 1991 release challenged players with sheepherding dozens of dimwitted creatures to safety. Often, Moons of Darsalon does the same but provides a command set closer to Oddworld series. You can direct Darsalon’s denizens to follow you, stop, or proceed left or right. But these detainees have a bit more autonomy. If it’s too dark, they grow scared and freeze up, forcing you to use your flashlight to illuminate the way forward.

Comically, they are chronic complainers. They’ll inevitably stumble, squandering a few points of health. When this happens expect a procession of dialog bubbles as they carp about your managerial skills. The result is both funny and frustrating. Likely Moon will conjure up salient memories of gaming before the corporations chipped away at innovation. Salazar’s ambitions weren’t diluted by a legion of focus testers. Instead, it feels as if every wacky mechanic the developer dreamt up has been left in, and Moons is a better experience for it.

As with most physical-based games, bumbles are plentiful- that’s part of the design. As you’re moving a crate to create an improvised step, it can easily plummet downward before splintering into useless pieces. Behind the scenes, almost every interactive object has a restrained number of health points. Expect your Darsalonians to leave gravestones regularly. Luckily, the end-of-level rescue requirement is lenient towards manslaughter. But occasionally, I was tempted to kill them myself when an NPC refused to climb an incline that I had built with one of the game’s environmental manipulating tools.

Moons tosses quite a bit of variation your way. Beyond the walking constructing gun, you’ll also gain a blaster, a jetpack, and the ability to control vehicles. Ultimately, it’s hard not to appreciate Dr. Kucho’s kitchen sink approach when the role of rescuer grows wearisome and malevolent aliens begin to fill each stage. Toss in a level editor and a GIF maker, and there’s probably enough substance here to keep players contented and to ensure the cursing flows frequently.

Score: 80

Moons of Darsalon is recommended for those who enjoy old-fashioned, fiddly games where accidents and amusement occur in equal measure.

ArcRunner, Trickjump Games, $19.99 ($17.99 launch price)

Habitually, science fiction witnesses humanity terminated by their own creation- artificial intelligence. In ArcRunner’s neon-drenched future, AI has been infected by a Metavirus. The result is a population rounded up for ‘reprocessing’, while cybernetic units have gone into sentry mode, eliminating any potential threats. As such, humankind’s last hope is a rebellious machine that firewalled itself and a general whose consciousness has been loaded into an android body. Yes, you’re tasked with navigating through the arc and installing a quantum backup drive while the entire facility tries to gun you down.

Initially, the game provides access to two different characters. The soldier has a shield that reflects any incoming ballistics, while the ninja can go stealth and stay hidden from any electronic eyes. Of course, both resources are tied to the energy meter positioned below your health gauge. This regenerates at a speed that can be exasperatingly sluggish when you’re under fire.

The other difference between the characters is their melee weapon. The soldier carries an energy hammer that is powerful but leaves you prone immediately after use. The ninja carries a blade that’s much speedier. Later, you’ll unlock the hacker, who adds their own distinctive approach to combat.

A third-person perspective is employed as you hunt down the enemies who spawn in each subsequent area. Success involves prioritizing your targets. That pursuit can be tough when you’re assaulted by flying foes who make a beeline for you while bipedal adversaries shoot from afar. As such, ArcRunner might remind players of Risk of Rain 2’s demanding firefights.

As with most wave-based action-driven titles, eliminating surges of subordinates as well as the sporadic boss is engaging, at least in short doses. Normally, death comes from behind or when you’re in the middle of a crossfire where shielding and dodging aren’t effective. A slow rotation speed when using a controller and a vague meter showing enemy attack location aren’t that helpful either.

Fortunately, the game provides a few perks that help offset this irritation. You can pick up primary and secondary weapons dropped by foes across each run. Don’t expect to fawn over the loot, there are a restrained number of weapons and defense items to ensure the pace is lively. At the end of each area, you’ll get to visit a cryochamber, which lets you select upgrades such as missiles that automatically launch every 30 seconds or extra armor based on your hit points.

But the most helpful benefit comes after you’ve earned nanites during a run. These allow you to purchase permanent enhancements that augment your damage output, defense, energy, and gadgetry. Unfortunately, inflation is rampant in ArcRunner’s utopia, doubling the price of every individual upgrade after purchase. The upside is that the game’s augmentation is palpable across each successive attempt.

Pleasingly, the game offers online cooperative play with public and (pin-protected) private matches. Although you’ll have to contend with a separate save file for progress, intermittently it feels like ArcRunner is scaled for multiplayer. Here, up to three participants can team up into a fire team, coordinating to take down enemies. While blowing up environmental objects takes quite a few shots in the single-player game, a trio can instantly trap enemies in their explosive radius.

With a few tweaks, ArcRunner has the potential to be a capable roguelike third-person shooter. Although some might grumble about the game’s slower speed, the approach favors tactical enemy takedowns rather than the kind of reflex-driven firefights that dominate the market. Additional environments, weapons, and supplementary could catapult ArcRunner from promising to prodigious.

Score: 75

ArcRunner is a competent third-person roguelike shooter that works best as a co-operative experience. With more variety and a bit of scaling, it could easily accommodate individuals, too.

Moons of Darsalon and ArcRunner were played
on PC with review code provided by the publisher.