The holidays are here already, and Christmas is just around the corner! Looking for a distraction to keep you busy while visiting the relatives or maybe a last-minute gift on the cheap? Look no further than the Xmas Bundle 2.0 from Indie Royale - filled with seven great games that will appeal to just about anyone.
This time, we're leading with two 'first ever bundle' games - physics-intensive puzzle title Colour Bind from Finn Morgan, and Kyle Pulver's awesome puzzle platformer Offspring Fling! (plus an IR-exclusive bonus game, Namiko!); adorable point and click adventure puzzle game Puzzle Bots; addictive turn-based strategy land grab game Little Kingdom; and indie awesomeness from the Serious Sam franchise in the form of Serious Sam: The Random Encounter and Serious Sam Double D.
First up in this holiday bundle is devious platform-puzzler from Finn Morgan, Colour Bind - available for Windows on Steam, Desura and DRM-free. Experience a brilliantly bold color-filled world where gravity is based on color rather than mass while driving a two-wheeled space buggy to solve the physics-based challenges as quickly as you can. Offering 50 single player levels, 20 two-player co-op levels, a procedurally-generated soundtrack, and a full-blown color editor, this game offers hours of mind-bending fun. IGN says of Colour Bind: "[t]here's an abundance of clever ideas at play in this undeniably creative 2D physics puzzle platformer."
Also featured is a well-designed and cute platformer from Kyle Pulver (co-developer of Snapshot and Bonesaw: The Game) Offspring Fling! available for Windows and Mac on Steam, Desura and DRM-free. Save your lost children by getting them through the exit door by any means possible by using the unique pick-up and throw mechanic, even if that means throwing your little ones through gaps to safety or across pits of acid. The intuitive gameplay, perfectly-designed learning curve, 100 levels, and huge replay value will keep you coming back for more. Offspring Fling! offers a unique hand drawn art style and excellent soundtrack, too! Mash Those Buttons applauds Offspring Fling!: "Completing puzzles is funtastic. Competing against the ghost replays are even better. (...) This game will suck you in."
Also from Kyle Pulver is the exclusive debut of bonus game Namiko available for Windows as a DRM-free standalone. Developed during a game jam at the University of Advancing Technology, this clever little game was awarded first place overall *and* first place for fun. It's a little top down defense where you use different powers and upgrades to defend yourself against enemy waves.
Next up in the Xmas Bundle 2.0 is adorable yet genuinely funny point and click adventure Puzzle Bots from Lively Ivy and Resonance/Blackwell Legacy creator Wadjet Eye Games - available for Windows on Steam, Desura and DRM-free. Play as 5 different robots, each with its own abilities and quirky personalities to help the bots work together and solve puzzles. Bomb, burn, push and swim your way through 17 intricately designed levels while enjoying the surprisingly human story and a sequence of clever, well-constructed environmental puzzle challenges. Offering simple game mechanics and challenging puzzles, this game will make you laugh out loud and smile at the adorable little bots. Gamezebo calls Puzzlebots "an incredibly charming adventure, packed with plenty of humor and some deviously clever puzzles."
Also back in an Indie Royale Bundle again by popular demand are two of Serious Sam's recent indie spinoffs from rogue micropublisher Devolver Digital: Serious Sam Double D developed by Mommy's Best Games and Serious Sam: The Random Encounter developed by Vlambeer, both Windows on Steam, Desura and DRM-free. Serious Sam Double D is a hand drawn, side-scrolling shooter featuring over-the-top gameplay and chaotic action. Serious Sam: The Random Encounter is a refreshing take on the RPG genre that offers gameplay based on a clever pixelated hybrid of turn-based battles with real-time, run and gun offense and defense maneuvering.
Last up is turn based strategy land grab game Little Kingdom from Andreil Game, available for Windows on Desura and DRM-free. By combining resource collection, territory defense, economic management, and diplomacy, you'll conquer the world without war! Using a healthy dose of panoptic strategy, you'll expand your territory by building towers in their own hexes and interacting with 3 different kinds of AI: Peasant, Knight and King. Gamezebo celebrates Little Kingdom: "Fun fantasy setting. Enjoyable, though familiar tower building gameplay. Great visuals and sense of humor."
Finally, those who pay $8 USD or their currency equivalent during the Xmas Bundle 2.0 will get a Chiptune album with Funk, RnB and Epic Themes Rhythm'n'Bits from Yoann Turpin! This unique album, available as part of an Indie Royale partnership with seminal chiptune label Ubiktune, is a tribute to video game soundtracks and is inspired by the RPGs from the 90's as well as Sega Mega Drive and Super NES games. VideoGameDJ.com raves "The overall level of musicianship displayed by Yoann on this album, along with the very high production value of it, is frighteningly amazing; even for the talent rich chipscene full of stand-out releases and artists, this one stands out like a 100 story unicorn made of disco balls and laser beams and EXPLOSIONS."
You can find more information on the Xmas Bundle 2.0, including real-time statistics and its current price, on its official website or via its Facebook and Twitter pages. Grab this bundle now while the price is still low (unless kind purchasers lower the price) before you leave to visit the relatives!
I recall a time when ALL games in Indie Royale bundles were "first ever bundled", but now you're repeating games not just from other bundles, but from Indie Royale itself? Shouldn't that be left for the coming Replay collection?
The way I look at it, Offspring Fling, Colorbind, Puzzle Bots, and Little Kingdom are the core of the bundle. They are all in a bundle for the first time, and quite fun games to play, especially the first three. Plus you get an IR exclusive game in Namiko! which you will find nowhere else. That is a great bundle on its own (and many IRs have been 4 core games + a bonus or two).
The Serious Sam games I look at as another bonus, and not an altogether bad one. They're fun games, and for those that did not get the Serious Sam Lightning bundle they're new. Considering the Serious Sam Lightning bundle is 9 months old (give or take), and was a much more limited promotion, I don't think its the worst repeat that could have shown up either.
Yes, I guess you're right. I'd probably be rather happy about this bundle if I didn't already own Puzzle Bots from elsewhere.
I do still think repeats like the IR Serious Sam games belong more in either in a Replay bundle or at least as one of the official bonuses.
That? You now recycling games too? First, recycled games from Humble Bundle, now your stuff too?
Well, you have been wanting the Indie Royale bundles to be more like the Humble Bundle bundles for some time now! ;) Completely agree with Ceildric above, not an altogether bad bundle.
Considering that i got Offspring a little later on Humble Bundle, this one become total rip off for nothing for me.
There must always be at least one point-and-click in every Indie Royale apparently.
Rhythm 'n Bits is surprisingly good though. Got it from the Ubiktune Bundle.
thanks for the bundle
A nice and refreshing bundle, I like it way more better than the current Humble Bundle (7). Little Kingdoms and Puzzle Bots sold me on this bundle.
Please keep bundling "fresh" indie games not featured elsewhere.