Gamasutra sister site IndieGames' co-created bundle service Indie Royale returns with its six-game Winter Bundle, featuring turn-based single and multiplayer strategy game Greed Corp, award-winning satirical indie adventure game based on a William Shakespeare play Hamlet, or The Last Game Without MMORPG Features, shaders and Product Placement, unique music/rhythm-platformer BIT.TRIP RUNNER, and more.
First up is a challenging turn-based strategy game from W!Games, Greed Corp, available for Windows on Steam. This multiplayer game also offers an extensive single-player campaign and is set in Mistbound, a rich, fictional world inspired by the destructive environmental effects of industrialization.
IGN raves: "If you fancy yourself a fan of either turn-based strategy games or heady board games, you'll definitely want to check out Greed Corp. The fact that you have to destroy the ground beneath your feet in order to harvest resources makes for some fascinating choices."
Also included in this seasonal bundle is point and click adventure game Hamlet, or The Last Game Without MMORPG Features, haders and Product Placement from mif2000 available for Windows on Steam. Players become a scientist who travels back in time and gets mixed up with characters from William Shakespeare's play, Hamlet, and embark on a puzzle-solving mission to save Hamlet's girlfriend, Ophelia, from the clutches of the evil Claudius. According to Gamezebo, "[t]he puzzles in Hamlet are true brain-teasers, and very creative."
Next up is a music/rhythm-platformer from GaijinGames BIT.TRIP RUNNER available for Windows, Mac and Linux on Steam, Desura and DRM-free. BIT.TRIP RUNNER is the fourth chapter in the award-winning and critically acclaimed BIT.TRIP series.
When playing to a chiptune soundtrack that includes Anamanaguchi, players will learn the various mechanics that control CommanderVideo over the course of the first few of 50+ stages: running, jumping, sliding, kicking and more. GameSpot says of BIT.TRIP RUNNER: "Simplicity, complexity, and difficulty work in harmony in this marvelously scored entry in the BIT.TRIP series."
Also featured is an old-school, turn-based fantasy strategy game from Illwinter Game Design, Conquest of Elysium 3, available for Windows, Mac and Linux on Steam, Desura and DRM-free. [NOTE: The Top Purchaser of the Bundle will also get a Conquest of Elysium 3 branded mouse-pad, laptop skin and patch.]
Players choose the era, how the map plays out, the commanders for the game, one of 17 different characters including a Necromancer or Dwarf Queen, and then the difficulty level of the AI. Hooked Gamers says Conquest of Elysium 3 "is an entertaining turn-based game that can either last for days or only a couple of hours and given the freedom of choice when you set the game up, you will have a unique experience each time."
The next game in this bundle is an abstract shooter from Hermit Games, Leave Home, available for Windows on Desura and DRM-free. As players slide through a fixed-time gamut of levels filled with glowing bursts of death, they will muse over the quietly mysterious yet strikingly beautiful visuals. Players will also get a different experience every time, with the game adapting its difficulty to their skill. DIY Gamer says that Hermit Games "has done an exceptional job with creating a challenging experience worthy of the ones who wish to undertake it." And Joystiq raves, "[r]egardless of where you play it, you really should."
Last up is an exploration-based game where the horrifying story slowly unfolds from The Working Parts' They Breathe, available for Windows on Desura and DRM-free. Players become a lone frog who descends into the depths of a flooded forest, not yet knowing the full extent of its tragedy. To survive in a brutal, oxygen-obsessed ecosystem, players must help it see the patterns and hidden truths that make up the system - horrible as they may be. Kotaku says: "They Breathe is proof that you don't need realistic graphics or complicated gameplay to tell a horrifying story."
Finally, those who pay $8 USD or their currency equivalent during the Winter Bundle will get a piano jazz and chiptune pop music album for the soul 'BLUESCREEN' from PROTODOME. This unique album, available as part of an Indie Royale partnership with seminal chiptune label Ubiktune, was built around an electric piano having a "dialogue" with the bleeps and bloops of a Game Boy, alongside saxophones to liven things up.
