Spirits of Xanadu - blocky indie shooter inspired by System Shock 2

[Infinitron]

http://www.spiritsofxanadu.com

Spoiler

Published by Night Dive Studios, but it's not an old game:

At the farthest edge of the explored universe, the research ship Xanadu slumbers in orbit around a mysterious planet. Her systems remain active but there has been no message from her crew for months. Now a lone operative has been sent to wake the Xanadu and bring her home to Earth.

Spirits of Xanadu is an atmospheric exploration game set aboard a deserted starship in an alternate 1980s. It draws inspiration from classic sci-fi films, novels, and games to create an immersive and highly interactive environment, featuring puzzles and FPS elements in the service of a unique and layered plot.

Key Features:

• Three distinct endings
  You get to decide the ultimate fate of the Xanadu.
• Discover the truth
  Find out what happened to the crew of the Xanadu with fully voiced audiologs, as well as various company and personal documents and e-mails.
• Explore the Xanadu
  Non-linear gameplay and narrative with complete freedom.
• Hot robot action with first person shooter combat
  Avoid the ship's security system and battle several different types of robots in order to take control of the ship.
• Fully interactable environment
  Inspired by the immersive environment of games like Deus Ex and System Shock 2, open every drawer and interact with nearly every object. And yes, you can flush toilets.
• Optional 'Peaceful' mode
  Not a fan of violence against robots? Switch to the Peaceful difficulty setting to make the robots passive, which will allow you to explore the ship, absorb the story, and solve puzzles at your own leisure with no pressure.

Cost is $15.

 

[Jaesun]

 

[TripJack]

some steam review tards beat it in 2 hours, call me when its 50 cents in some bundle

 

[Eyeball]

Fuck your minecraft graphics.

 

[LESS T_T]

I would call it flat-shaded 3D, rather than blocky like mincraft.

The game looks cool anyway.

 

[ghostdog]

I though it was about a sequel to one of my favorite NES games :

 

[zerotol]

Graphics look worse then SS2, story worse then SS2, voices worse then SS2.

fuck this game, just buy and play SS2

 

[deuxhero]

Pretty sure "Xanadu" is an old Falcom series (one of which XSEED registered a domain for recently).

Unlike Cleave and whoever it was, Marvelous/Falcom does have legal staff on hand. This is going get messy.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Graphics look worse then SS2, story worse then SS2, voices worse then SS2.

fuck this game, just buy and play SS2

I always wanted to enjoy System Shock 2 the way that my friends did. However, between some dated graphics, clunky UI, and some design choices that did not survive the test of time, I just didn't get the experience I was looking for.

The control scheme is simple enough that a ham-handed gamer like myself can't mess up too badly when I inevitably wander into a room patrolled by the ship's hostile defense system.

Press 'F' to pay respects, do awesome stuff and win the game.

Performance has been a bit of an issue for me. My main gaming computer is a laptop, which doesn't help. However, the developers have thoughtfully included video options that are accessible from within the in-game menu.

Or play System Shock 2, which hasn't suffered from performance issues since the 20th century.

I would say that if you are like me, and you're looking for a more streamlined experience than System Shock or Alien: Isolation offered, you would probably be happy with this budget-friendly nugget of panic and claustrophobia.

More streamlined that Alien: Isolation...?

 

[Jedi Exile]

Looks sexy. Too bad I am busy with PoE.

 

[catfood]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ker-C8FE2c

 

[zerotol]

watched a youtube review. Guy finished the game in an hour. Granted it has different endings, but ONE hour?

looks like a streamlined game, down to its bare necessities

 

[Melan]

Graphics look worse then SS2, story worse then SS2, voices worse then SS2.

fuck this game, just buy and play SS2

That's the obvious choice until you have already played SS2 so many times it no longer gives you any challenge or sense of exploration.

 

[Peter]

Blocky graphics and (to a lesser extent) short length are fine but this crosses the line from tastefully stylized to just lazy (look at Blendo Games to see how this same approach can yield great results). Big empty untextured rooms populated by models that look like they were put together whilst learning Blender in a game that takes an hour to complete. Also seems too much of a love letter to SS2, totally devoid of originality. Trailer implies some weird hive-mindy stuff going on, and then there's things like the audio logs having exactly the same design as in SS2 (except untextured, r00fles!). Yawn.

It does seem to have a competent atmosphere (commendable with such minimal assets) and voice acting, but with a bit more content, another art pass or 2 (or 3), and more of an attempt at originality, they could have actually had something substantial here. This looks like someone's first little Unity project.

 

[Grim Monk]

Currently available as a free DRMless download on Indiegala:

https://freebies.indiegala.com/spirits-of-xanadu/