Waaaait, wait a second. A retro-inspired remake of Team Fortress 2? How'd that happen? What twisted mind thought that up? Oh, that's who. Well, it's a jolly good job, that's for sure. And when you're done playing the game that's all about hats, sans hats, get your serious game face on for the other two releases below!
Ruins (Mac/Win, 25-30MB, free) - Now here's an intriguing game description for you: "Ruins is a game about a dog chasing rabbits through a shadowy, dreamlike landscape." And you know what? That's pretty much the gist of it! This slow, surreal dream world is filled with blurry images and a few recognizable objects, but otherwise it's just you and the bunny. Walk around and explore the land, see what sort of dreams/memories you can discover. Sniff with your nose, and if you're tired, take a nap.
Team Fortress Arcade (Windows, 10.9MB, free) - It's Team Fortress 2, old school beat-em-up style! Built by Eric Ruth using the characters, attacks, and some sound effects from the multiplayer first person shooter Team Fortress 2, this arcade demake plays like an arcade game of yore. Choose your character and fight through a series of stages with up to three friends. Each class has its own strengths and weaknesses, just like in the "big" game, only now, attacks have been re-worked to fit the constraints of a sidescrolling world. If you're familiar with TF2, you'll be surprised how accurate each character's moves are and how much of the game ended up in the demake, even the strong emphasis on teamwork!
Keys of a Gamespace (Windows, 75MB, free) - An adventure game with a deeper meaning? Sure, why not?! Keys of a Gamespace follows a man stuck in quite a rut. By visiting doors that represent pieces of his past, you can help him clear things out and, hopefully, patch things up with his gal. Some stunning artwork in this game, really conveying a sense of melancholy as you dig deeper into his psyche. It's short, but a very meaningful experience that might hit a little too close to home for some players. Note: Intended for mature audiences (an "O" rating) due to graphic language.
Note: All games have been confirmed to run under Windows 7 and are virus-free. Mac users should try Boot Camp, Parallels, or CrossOver Games to play Windows titles, Linux users can use Wine. If you know of a great game we should feature, use the Submit link above to send it in!
Just saying the article that is linked from TF2A does not contain a download link. I had to search around a little before I could find one.
Does Team Fortress Arcade have hats?
It should say Mac & Windows at the top, not just windows, or Ruins is only available for Windows. Either way, there's a mistake somewhere :D
Ruins was lovely.
Sad, and at times quite hostile, but lovely.
Not a single hat in Team Fortress Arcade, I'm happy to report. :-)
Looks like they moved the link on TFA's host site. Fixed.
The TF2 Arcade is good, but falls short of it's possible splendor. There is no spawn protection (that is, an invincibility frame when you spawn/respawn), making getting back into a heated fight at the wrong time annoying. Playing though the whole entire game playing each class once taught me a lesson, I need more people to play with. For example, the Medic and Sniper are overpowered easily by themselves (I had to go melee frenzy on the Medic, but didn't put it to use on Sniper for some reason.). Like any game, it has glitches (E.g. Spy stage, where backstabbed as a medic and I survived on 1 random HP for some reason, and the Spy gets stuck in one position.) In short, it's good, but falls a little bit short.
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