Publisher Gravity Game Arise has announced that new puzzle title Arctictopia is now available on Steam PC. Developed by Taiwan-based indie developer Gamtropy, Arctictopia is a game intended to focus more on helping you chill out rather than intensely test your skillz. Here’s the official breakdown of Arctictopia from Gravity Game Arise: Arctictopia is a puzzle game set in the
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Welcome back to 80s August, The Splintering’s month-long celebration of everything 80s. Derp. Despite being primarily famous as a 90s console the SEGA Genesis (aka Mega Drive) was actually released in 1989, so the launch games and other early titles can still lay claim to being entertainment artifacts of the 80s. One such launch game is Thunder Force II. I know what
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Publisher Hamster has announced that vertical shooter Gun & Frontier is now available on Nintendo Switch and PS4 as part of the digital Arcade Archives series. Originally released in arcades by Taito in 1990, Gun & Frontier puts one or two players behind the stick of the Desperado, “earth’s latest fighter plane.” Your mission: strike and destroy the vicious cabal
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Gravity Interactive recently announced that their horror MMORPG Requiem Online is now open for pre-registration. The game is expected to go live on 25 August. Set in a bleak, nightmarish world teeming with monsters, Requiem Online is actually being “relaunched” following a number of improvements and other changes (which may not be improvements, depending on your point of view). Here’s
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Independent comic book creator Ryan Drost recently completed a crowdfunding campaign for the second issue of Stealth Hammer, a sci-fi fantasy superhero book starring a spunky teenage heroine. We were fortunate enough to get a chance to discuss his Stealth Hammer campaigns, and his plans for the future of the series. As always, the answers below are represented as closely to “as
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Welcome back to 80s August, The Splintering’s month-long celebration of the greatest decade since the chicken laid the first egg… or, wait… Today we’re going to look at Chack’ N Pop, an arcade puzzle platformer released by Taito in 1983. A horde of monsters has stolen all of Mr. and Mrs. Pac-Man Chack’n’s hearts, so now they don’t love each other, or something
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Earlier this week, Shi creator and Crusade Comics founder Billy Tucci revealed that there is a brand new, 6” Shi action figure coming soon via Executive Replicas. The Ana Ishikawa figure has over a dozen points of articulation, and will come with multiple accessories and swappable heads. According to Tucci, the design process on the Shi action figure has been
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While we typically use our 80s August event to focus on entertainment produced during the 1980s, there is also room for covering things that are inspired by the era, too. That’s why today, we’re looking at The Mighty Mascots issues 4-6, which is published by Alterna Comics.
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On Wednesday, indie game publisher Digerati announced plans to release the futuristic sci-fi puzzle-platformer Overloop on PC, Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbone, and SeXbox. Developed by Charge Games, Overloop is described as “a light-hearted adventure set in a dark future where big brain scientists create a cloning gun.” The game begins when this weapon is mass produced and made commercially
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Konichiwa! Welcome back to 80s August, The Splintering’s month-long celebration of the greatest decade since the development of opposable thumbs. Today, we’re going to take a look at Ninja JaJaMaru-kun, an arcade style 2D action game developed by Jaleco and released for the Nintendo Famicom in 1985. Ninja JaJaMaru-kun is technically a spin-off, as the game stars the little brother of Ninja-kun from Ninja-Kid. Princess Sakura has
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The 2.5D platformer Space Tail: Every Journey Leads Home is slated for a release this Fall for both Nintendo Switch and Steam PC. However, for those who are eager to try the game out, there will be a free demo available exclusively on Steam titled Space Tail: Lost in The Sands. In Space Tail, players take control of Bea, a
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On Monday, Brenden Swan launched a crowdfunding campaign for Spiderwebs: The Voyeur of Utter Destruction, a 56-page, manga-sized graphic novel. The project is already fully funded, having raised more than $1,200 at the time of this writing. Written and illustrated by Swan (Strangelove: I Want to be Chrome, DisintegrationStreet), Spiderwebs: The Voyeur of Utter Destruction is a romantic thriller that
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Independent comic book creator Keith Gleason recently launched a crowdfunding campaign for The Mighty Mascots issues 7-9.* Written by Gleason, illustrated by Ian Waryanto and Anton Bandi and published by Alterna Comics, The Mighty Mascots is an action comedy series starring a team of superhero cereal mascots. Here’s the official pitch taken from The Mighty Mascots Indiegogo campaign page: The
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On Sunday , SNK announced that a new installment in the Fatal Fury franchise is currently in development. Also known as Garou in other regions, Fatal Fury is the foundational franchise on which SNK’s legacy of fighting games was created. This game will be the first new title in the series since the release of Garou: Mark of the Wolves
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Welcome back to 80s August, The Splintering’s month-long celebration of the greatest decade since movable type. When I was in elementary school, one of my friends had a computer in his bedroom that we would stay up all night playing around on. He was the only person I knew with a computer, and coming from a household that only gamed
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On Thursday, Ante Comics launched a crowdfunding campaign for ANTE: Steam Junk Western issue zero, a 52-page book that is intended to be the first of an ambitious 20-book storyline. The project is already fully funded, having raised nearly $2 thousand at the time of this writing. ANTE: Steam Junk Western is described as a “fun series, full of jokes,
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Earlier this week, Augmented Liberty launched a crowdfunding campaign for their very first comic project titled Do You See What I See? The project is already fully funded, having raised more than $1,300 at the time of this writing. Written by Nick Brewster and featuring illustrations by Jeesoo Kim, colors by Matt James and letters by the prolific Eric Weathers,
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Welcome back to 80s August, The Splintering’s month-long celebration of the greatest decade since the chicken laid the first egg… or, wait… Today we’re going to take a look at ATARI Force issue one published by DC Comics in 1984. Written by Gerry Conway and illustrated by José Luis Garcia Lopez, the DC ATARI Force series actually serves as a sequel to five mini comics that
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Konichiwa! Today we’re going to take a look at My Deadly Beloved by Jean-Paul Deshong.* Set in the beginning of Japan’s unification period (approximately 250-500 AD), My Deadly Beloved is a girthy, nearly 200-page, mostly black and white graphic novel. I say “mostly” as there are moments where splashes of color are used for mood or to highlight certain parts
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ININ Games has once again set out to deliver the glories of gaming past to the huddled masses of modern gamers, this time choosing to do so with Turrican Anthology Volume 1 and Volume 2.* Stemming from the early 90s and consoles such as the Amiga, the SEGA Genesis and the Super Nintendo, the Turrican series hasn’t been as readily remembered
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Earlier this week, Vector5Games released Jungle Joe, a brand new Commodore 64 game four decades after the system’s heyday. For those out of the know, there is a fairly healthy C64 indie/homebrew scene. She why have I decided to to highlight Jungle Joe? One word: Alliteration! As for Jungle Joe, it’s a puzzle-adventure game where players must build a ladder
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Publisher Games Operators recently announced that the futuristic horror game Cryospace is coming next year to Steam PC. Developed by Kuklam Studios, Cryospace takes place in “a world inspired by the science fiction books of the 50s and 60s and the original Alien movies.” Here’s the official breakdown of Cryospace from Games Operators: Whether you call it a stroke of
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Indie game developer and publisher 7 Raven Studios recently announced that After Wave: Downfall is now available on Xbone and SeXbox, is coming soon to Nintendo Switch on 4 August, and finally to PS4 and PS5 on 5 August. After Wave: Downfall is a vertically scrolling, arcade-style shooter set in a sci-fi world decimated by a great flood. One or
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Welcome back to another Crowdfunding Review here at The Splintering. Today, we’ll be taking a look at Jawbreakers: Grand Bizarre, which contains three separate stories by different creative teams. For those of you not familiar with our review format, we grade a crowdfunding campaign on four distinct categories: Book Content and Quality Communication and Fulfillment Packaging and Shipping Stretch Goals
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Have you ever played a Castlevania game and thought, “I wonder who is Dracula’s decorator?” Thanks to developer Astirian-Rae Games and publisher Gameparic, it could be you! Okay, it’s more complicated than that, but Dracula’s Castle is coming soon to Steam PC, nonetheless. Dracula’s Castle gives players the chance to recruit underlings, defend your home from pitchfork-wielding mobs, and of
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Veteran comic book creator Andrew (Andy) Belanger recently launched a crowdfunding campaign for Mother Trucker: The Double Whammy, the first two issues of a six-issue series. Written and illustrated by “The Animal” Bob Anger and featuring colors by Tatto Caballero, Mother Trucker takes place in a sci-fi world inspired by 80s pro wrestling and monster truck rallies. Here’s the official
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On Tuesday, independent game developer Brian Lynch released his first game REDSHOT via Steam PC. Developed by Lynch as a one-man development team, REDSHOT blends bullet-time mechanics into the Metroidvania formula (“Metroidvania” being gamer speak for a non-linear action adventure game. Sorta). Here’s the official breakdown of REDSHOT from Lynch: REDSHOT is a bullet-time Metroidvania where everything is deadly, but
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Welcome back to 80s August, The Splintering’s month-long celebration of the greatest decade since I found that genie lamp and wished to live forever! We love it when other folks get in the 80s August spirit. Today, we’re going to highlight a splendid video that The Nostalgia Nerd posted covering the mysterious Max Headroom airwave highjacking incident of 1987. Sure,
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An idea is like a virus, resilient, highly contagious. The smallest seed of an idea can grow. It can grow to define or destroy you. -Dom Cobb from Inception, 2010 Stop Me if You’ve Heard This One Let’s try a social experiment, shall we? I’m going to give you a scenario, and you tell me if it sounds familiar. In a
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“Heyyyyy youuuu guyyyyys!” Welcome back to 80s August, The Splintering’s month-long celebration of the greatest decade since the Archimedes’ Principle of density. The creative minds at Clownfish Comics (perhaps most known for their work on the Clownfish TV YouTube channel) are prepped to launch a crowdfunding campaign for Crimson Rhen of the True North, a 130+ page hardcover comic book
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