PEGBRJE: Myth Bearer, Hyper Sentinel and CHESTO — At The Checkout.
So many ‘xels.
Myth Bearers is a 2D adventure RPG made by JC Bailey, an indie developer who‘s working to make games every 4–6 months. It also features a soundtrack by Snabisch. Players are an unnamed avatar, destined for greatness (probably) but currently stuck in a cell. It will take all of the wits in the world to break out, and slowly unravel the plot that surrounds our individual, but for now — time to delve into some dungeons.
As is with open world RPG titles, the gameplay elements will vary in importance depending on how players approach the world and their own personal preferences; the systems however remain the same. Combat is done in a pseudo-turn style, in which players will walk up to the enemy that they wish to smite and click on them to attack. Their attack goes first, and the enemy attack goes second, then the ‘turn’ is over. When not attempting to destroy all opposition, players will mostly be wandering around the world looking for items to upgrade their current equipment or doors to find new hidden ways to venture forward. Enemies don’t drop items, so no need to worry about missing out on any loot. The reason? Well, it all has to do with placement.
See, as players roam the world they’ll notice that enemies are placed in very specific locations and cannot move. Hovering over them reveals all of their stats, including how much damage each instance of combat will do to either party. The reason is that enemies double as ‘gates’ of sorts, blocking player progression with specific leveled enemies while also opening up the possibility of multiple paths. The world is open, after all, and can be explored quite extensively without killing many enemies at all as long as planning is done prior. It almost turns the title into a puzzle RPG, where it rewards players for accurately planning which enemies to attack to lose the least amount of health to make it to the next objective, item, or level. Combat feels more like the key that players have to unlock the puzzle, their resource to work with that allows them to break through certain areas while balking at others. Even with the addition of magic, it’s mostly about exploring to figure out a route that fits the current state of the game to continue where players think the game continues towards.
Unfortunately, this makes Myth Bearers my absolute nemesis; I don’t really do hardcore pre-planning, I’m more of a brute force kind of person. For context, I made it to the first actual town with about 40 deaths. I regret none of them, and if there were negative side effects I ignored them.
For you that were able to see this before losing many lives and begin planning out nifty routes to feel clever, levelling up without dying and chaining together kills to explore the world, this is definitely a game to check out. The retro feel definitely bolsters this open RPG feeling, reminiscent of titles of old that I wish I knew (but I don’t). If you are more like me, you may find this a frustrating experience of ‘head meets brick wall’ until it clicks and your playstyle alters. It’s definitely not a title for everyone, but those that it is for will definitely enjoy breaking this puzzle.
Hyper Sentinel is an action arcade shmup made by Huey Games, an indie studio and publishing partner out of England. Players are a ship sent to destroy massive carriers and space destroyers in order to save… something, probably. The details aren’t important. What is important is the absolute bullet fest and explosions that will be following.
Players have multiple modes that they can play with a relatively similar gameplay loop — destroy everything destructible either on screen or on the ship, and don’t die. Players have their ship, a button to shoot, collectibles that give powered up bullets, and more in order to fulfil the job at hand, culminating in a boss fight that concludes the mission. Where Hyper Sentinel decides to alter the script is in the fact that the game isn’t railroaded — players can turn around.
To explain, Hyper Sentinel’s missions revolve around destroying the tops of space destroyers, much like in many sci fi movies; destroy the guns and external facilities to draw out the boss, as it were. Since this is a ship, however, it doesn’t make sense to follow the standard formula of bullet hells, where players have control of the 4 directions but are ultimately on a rail road heading towards the boss regardless. This doesn’t fit the theme very well, so instead players are railroaded in a different way; left or right. Picking a direction means that the ship will continue going that way until turned around or reach the end of the ship. It might not sound like much, but it definitely felt like it altered the atmosphere and gameplay with this simple change.
Adding on a fantastic art style (especially the 3D art on the cover), responsive controls and the ability to play it on mobile and you’ve got a full bodied shoot-em-up for many audiences. There are a few different game modes to try out as well — I did Arcade mode for the simplicity, but there’s an endless Survival mode and a Boss Run mode for those that just want to fight off bosses constantly. I don’t have any nostalgia for the era of arcades, but I can appreciate a solid title that made me enjoy the genre for it’s simple fun. If this sounds like your jam, grab it and give it a whirl.
CHESTO — At The Checkout is a hell simulato — I mean, a cashier simulation made by Josef Who?, an indie dev also known for their work in studios such as Broken Rules (Old Man’s Journey) and Parallel Circles (upcoming title). This title has players working for a mega grocery chain known as CHESTO attempting to achieve legal minimum wage in the UK while also assisting in making CHESTO’s profits skyrocket. This is a global chain however, so the individual’s performance is chartered and marked on the global scale. We’ll cover that later.
Basic gameplay is exactly what one would expect for a cashier, and as someone who had the stereotypical high school job in a grocery store (albeit on a much smaller scale) it was like reliving a nightmare. Items will be dropped — literally — onto the conveyor belt to be slowly brought towards the player at their behest to scan. Mild aside, didn’t realize that spacebar actually moved the belt, so I was doing it manually and it was brutal. Anyway, finding the bar code and scanning the item allows for it to be ‘paid for’. To do so, dragging the item into the scanner will lock it into place, allowing for players to rotate it until they can find the bar code and get the satisfying ‘beep’ noise, to which it’s unlocked and put in the basket. Each item (and subsequently each customer) that is sent on their way increases the wage that the player makes, which also means that it increases the amount the company makes. This continues onwards until 20:00, to which all items scanned will no longer earn the player money as CHESTO closes at 8 and as we all know, overtime doesn’t exist.
Now if one is feeling a little rebellious against their capitalist conglomerate overlords, there are some ways to make things a little bit more interesting. The first is the obvious, avoid the scanner and just add the item into the basket so it becomes free. If, however, the customer is giving major attitude, why not just scan the item twice for added cruelty or toss the item onto the floor? Sure, the items can get tossed onto the floor by accident thanks to all of them having physics and bouncing around, but that doesn’t matter. Sure, this will result in a loss of funds for the company, which means that the likelihood of getting fired is higher. It’s all about sticking it to the corporate. Unfortunately for me, my replacement mouse hasn’t arrived so items getting tossed onto the floor was a bit of a regular occurrence, pre-existing intentions or not.
The best way to describe CHESTO — At The Checkout is when the shift ends ; players are informed of their wages, and then told to visit a website to see how CHESTO is doing worldwide. In actuality, it is actually tracking the ‘company’ as if it existed, covering the current profits and what the CEO Toni Schesiner is up to. After becoming disenfranchised, players will attempt to quit the game only to realize there is no escape.
Welcome to CHESTO. Paper or plastic? Just kidding, you’ll get neither.
