Cthulhu Saves The World

Cthulhu Saves the World, by Zeboyd, was part of the Really Big Bundle which released a couple of days back.  This one is like a return to the old-style 2d games I played in the past.. but with a dose of tongue-in-cheek humour too 🙂

Having lost his powers at the beginning of the game, Cthulhu has to undertake a quest and become a hero.. saving the world so he can regain his powers.. although once he’s done, he’ll get back to destroying the world!

The first enemies met are two ‘Gooez’, who have kidnapped a girl on the beach.  Heroism requires that we fight them off, of course!  The combat is turn-based, with attacks selected from menus rather like in Final Fantasy.. physical attacks and special attacks such as Insane Strike, which use up magic points and sometimes apply a status debuff to the enemy.

After winning this first battle, Cthulhu levelled up and got a choice of level up bonus.. one affecting Strength and the other affecting Magic.  I went with the Strength boost.. so now every time Cthulhu causes an enemy to go insane, he gets an increase to Strength too.  Umi, the formerly kidnapped girl, also joined the party after the battle.. and falls in love with our tentacle-faced anti-hero 😮

More random-encounter enemies were to be found in the caves.. providing XP and another little joke in the enemy description!

Zeboyd have capped the number of random encounters in each area, which gives you a little nudge when you’re powerful enough to move to the next area, and also means you don’t end up taking just a few paces and being attacked again, over and over until you’re sick of it.

The first real opposition came from a group of adventurers called the Three Heroes of Goodly Justice.. a Thief, a Warrior and a Cleric.  These guys brought some great dialogue too, and once defeated, Cthulhu notes that we’ll probably see them again because they’re heroes, they’ll respawn at the nearest church anyway 😀

After each fight, the party members HP is restored, and some Magic Points.  I don’t think you get enough back, though.. what you’re given back doesn’t even cover the cost of a spell.  I’ve only found health potions so far, which means my only other option is just dealing normal attacks and waiting for my Magic to regenerate.

Cthulhu Saves the World was originally released for the 360, and was only brought to the PC this summer, where it has apparently done rather well for the developers 🙂

The Indie Royale Really Big Bundle

The Indie Royale team have now released the latest indie bundle: the Really Big Bundle, containing Really Big Sky, Runespell: Overture, Cthulhu Saves the World, Eufloria and Breath of Death VII!

This bundle was made available to pre-order a short while ago, but sight unseen, and I was reluctant to buy in case I had the games already.  However, of these, I have to admit that I’d only heard of Really Big Sky, Cthulhu and Eufloria, and very little about those too..

Really Big Sky is a twin-stick shooter by Boss Baddie, where you face down waves of alien invaders, from actual enemies to laser planets and black holes! There are seven different game modes, including co-op.. and the game is generated from the way you play.. whether that means more of the enemies you do least well against, or simply that enemies grow stronger, I will have to see!

The rest of the pack seems to include games to suit different moods.. Cthulhu Saves the World is an RPG by Zeboyd, where you help Cthulhu regain his powers on a quest of courage, romance, redemption and insanity.. as it says on the tin.  Breath of Death VII is also from Zeboyd, another RPG, but more of a parody.  Sounds like these two are for when I’m in a particularly silly mood, then! 🙂

Runespell: Overture is another role-playing game, but using collectible cards to form attacks.  I think I’m only really going to know what this one is about once I’ve started playing it.. something different to the usual games is certainly worth taking a look at, and might even make me think a little more.

Eufloria is a beautiful, ambient game with exploration and conquest, with new asteroids providing resources which allow you to grow, but also attract rivals.  Like a few other games I’ve played or bought recently, the levels are procedurally generated so you never see quite the same level twice 🙂

I think Eufloria will be the game to calm me down again after the sillier games.. at least on the earlier levels 😀