back to blog...

Like most of population on the planet (gosh that sounds so strange), we're in self-isolation on our homestead to help avoid the coronavirus pandemic that spreading across the world. As we wait for planting season, and from becoming too bored, I've been playing a few new games on my C64Mini.

Several of the the games come from the talent of TND (The New Dimension), where Richard's recently release a few new titles over the past month on his itch.io account.

First up is the new vertical shooter, Nucleo 448, by Leonardo Vettori, Richard Bayliss, and Martin Piper. It's a straight forward space shooter, but has a difficulty curve that suits my skill level very well. Unlike some other such shooter games, I get to enjoy the game a little bit before I'm blasted to pieces. I like the graphics style and, as with most of Richard's games, the soundtrack is awesome.

https://richard-tnd.itch.io/nucleo448

Nucleo 488 C64Mini CJM

Another space shooter, from TND, I've been playing is the horizontal shooter, Delta Run RX, created with S.E.U.C.K. It's a little rough around the edges, but still plays pretty well, even on TheC64Mini. There are some remnants of Uridium in this one. Once again, though, Richard's soundtrack is the highlight of this game.

http://tnd64.unikat.sk/games/Delta%20Run%20RX.zip

Delta Run C64Mini CJM

And, lastly from the offerings of TND is the new release of Toxic. This is a survival-type game where you have to decontaminate a crime scene before the toxic chemicals over take you. You do so by spraying your decontamination fluid on the affected areas and re-fill your reservoir when it's empty.

http://tnd64.unikat.sk/games/Toxic_2020.zip

For a game that requires a little more thought and detective work, I've started playing the text adventure, The Curse of Rabenstein, by Stefan Vogt, of Puddle Software. Although it's classified as a text adventure game, it's more like graphic novel text adventure, with some lovely artwork that sets up each of the scenes you find yourself in.

I've only started playing it, so I haven't gotten very far. But, I have to say that Stefan has a real talent for drawing you in to the game with his written words. I'm looking forward to spending more time with this game and see how the story unravels.

Of course, to play this game on TheC64Mini, you'll want to have your USB keyboard plugged in.

UPDATE

A detailed review of this game can be found HERE

https://8bitgames.itch.io/rabenstein

Lastly, Andy, over on the EverythingC64 forums has released a two level demo of his new game Chiller 2. This game is based on the classic game, Chiller, published by Mastertronic.

Andy has taken the concept of Chiller and greatly improved upon it. It's challenging, but not frustrating, unlike the original Chiller. I haven't been able to beat the first level of the demo, but I'll keep trying. I'm really looking forward to the final version; Andy's done a really good job.

https://t.co/QqFJ7yNmMs?amp=1

If you find yourself with some free time to kill, while waiting for this pandemic thing to blow over, I suggest you give some (or all) of these game a try on your real C64 or C64Mini. You can't work at home 24/7, so take some time and unwind playing these excellent 8-bit games.