FunEffect.com

Having been traumatized for life by Sonic the Hedgehog's terrifying Labyrinth Zone, I am approaching Wake's interesting concept with caution: you control an engineer trapped in a sinking cruise ship as he tries to find his way to the highest point of the boat.

"The rising water mechanic always interested me," says James Whitehead of Boss Baddie (Lunnye Devitsy). He cites other titles with underwater levels like Thunderbirds and Sink or Swim as inspiration. "It’s similar to a zombie style of game where something bad is slowly approaching the player. It’s up to them to provide their own path to safety, and the same is true here."

The only way players can die in this "quiche-sized mini adventure" is by drowning -- obstacles simply knock you out until the constantly rising water rouses you (on more difficult settings, the water level rises faster). You can increase your score in the game, which is submitted to a global leaderboard, by escaping as fast as possible, collecting items, and not fainting.

Whitehead and tester/music composer Alex Sumersai-Rai have worked on the game for six months already and expect to release it for Windows PCs later this month after "more testing, optimising and additional artwork." The final game will have Xbox 360 controller support, 18 achievements, and three difficulty settings. You can download a "rolling demo" from Boss Baddie's site.

[Via TIGSource]

Created by the developer of The Power, In a Dungeon is a short overhead platformer where every room contains a challenge that you have to beat in order to escape from the maze. The map on the floor of your starting location indicates areas with uncollected yellow crystals, and the only way out of your current predicament is to collect all twenty-one crystals from the individual rooms in the labyrinth. (GMC forum thread) Continue reading

Konami and Sinister Pointe, the haunted attractions company behind last year's Saw haunted house, announced a Silent Hill-themed labyrinth opening at Sinister Pointe in Orange County, California

Inspired by the survival horror game series and the films, the Silent Hill maze is set in a vacant movie theater sized at over 10,000 square feet -- that's a lot of room for people to hide around and jump out of corners to scare you! If the attraction has faceless nurses that are even half as scary as the cosplay we featured last May, this thing is too scary for me.

The haunted house will run from October 2nd to October 31st (with a special media and public preview this Friday), and will herald the November 2nd release of Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, Konami's Wii remake of the first Silent Hill PlayStation 1 game.

Apparently, someone heard about the attraction's upcoming opening and broke into the labyrinth last night to get an early peek. You can watch a video from the trespassing adventure below:

It's a good thing the intruder shot this with an iPhone and could upload it to Youtube even after his encounter with whatever it was he ran into. You can find ticketing information for the attraction on Sinister Pointe's official site.

While not a slow week by any means, platformers definitely rule the week. However, experimental games are  the biggest draw of September thus far with the results of the Experimental Gameplay Project being released. Action Ozmoze Indie game players like me are suckers for black and white games and Ozmoze is no exception. With the ability to teleport [...] Continue reading

Labyrinth Hero is a bite-sized roguelike game where each floor consists of only two enemies, a treasure chest, a switch and a hidden staircase. You can play with either the keyboard or mouse, but your hero will only travel at half speed because every living creature on the floor will have their turn just after you've made your move. Once you've dispatched both enemies, the movement speed will then be restored back to normal.

Your maximum hit point is increased by one whenever you put down an enemy. If you lose at any stage you can begin from the first floor with your previous hit point stats, simply by selecting yes to the question asked after you've clicked on the play option. There are only ten floors to explore, and the quest is completed once you've discovered the magical crystal ball somewhere in the final level. Continue reading

Homebrew development team Aetherbyte Studios has nearly completed its first PC Engine CD/TurboGrafx-CD game Insanity, a remake of Stern Electronics 1980 arcade release Berzerk (which saw console ports for the Atari 2600, 5200, and Vectrex). Aetherbyte plans to have it professionally pressed as a Super CD with case inserts and a manual.

Insanity's premise doesn't venture far from its source material: "You are trapped in a robot infested labyrinth on a distant planet. Your only hope of escape is to traverse room after room in search of the way out!"

You can watch newly released test footage of the game below, but note that it lacks sound effects and shows a bug that the developer is currently working to squash.

[Via PC Engine Fan]

Holdover is a puzzle platformer in the style of the old Metroid series, where you are in control of a girl named Marie who had just woken up from a deep slumber inside an abandoned research complex. A holographic image of Marie's father informs her that she was involved in an accident many years ago, and had to be kept inside a medical treatment capsule for some time so that her organs could be regenerated by scientific means. After listening to her father's advice, she sets out to explore the complex and recover her motor skills which were impaired by her long sleep in the life chamber.

The research facility is a labyrinth of corridors, platforms and underwater sections, presumably caused by flooding in the lower levels of the building. Since you can't swim nor jump very high at the start of the game, the time in which you spent underwater will be limited to how long you can hold your breath. This is indicated by the bubble shown at the top left part of the screen, and Marie will drown when this counter reaches zero. Collecting enough blue hearts, and the ability to hold her breath underwater will improve.

Players can save their progress at any time by using the quick save slot, while maps and hints in Japanese can be accessed by clicking on the capture button at the official site. To download the game, just click on the blue button at the upper right part of the web page and a link to the zip file will appear. Take note that Holdover does have some blood and nudity in it. (source: JayisGames, unpack using 7-Zip) Continue reading