CHENNAI: Cube Escape is a series of games made by Rusty Lake — the most popular ones available being Seasons and Case 23. It is one of the most daring mobile games, as it demands full concentration on an interface that is normally accessed by casual gamers. Advertised as a room escape game, each episode is one-time play. It is made intricately with different parallel puzzles to be solved within the game through interaction with objects and characters. The imagery is artfully simple, with a tinge of surrealism and horror. Through its jump scare background music and storyline made complex through time travel, the eldritch game resembles a customisable cartoon version of a Tim Burton movie.
Yet another game with beautiful art and sound is Alto’s Adventures by NoodleCake Studios, an endless snowboarding journey of Alto and his friends. The game is simple, with few controls. The USP are the visuals showing changing weather, and curvets over chasms. Fading Light is a similarly minimalist designed game. It involves a glowing cube pirouetting across a maze, with its light ebbing into the darkness if not refuelled by floating orbs.
Though Mortal Kombat X slurps phone capacity, you have to give it a shot because, well, it’s Mortal Kombat. If there’s anything bothering you, divert your energy to downloading the game. Let it test your patience as it loads, and then experience the amazing graphics right under your nose. The game is easy to play, letting you focus on the audio effects and the fatalities!
This unassuming game by a little known Playdead called Limbo, will take you by surprise with the amount of sophistication it brings to a mobile game. The protagonist is a young boy in his journey through Limbo, recognisable only by a silhouette. The entire game is set in a grey to black monochrome. However, the realism is brought by the vivid sound cues and thorough visual experience of the void, with the absence of buttons on screen.
The downside? Only the demo is freely available and covers very little of the game. Cheers to all the ads that facilitate free (but not unimpeded) games!
(The writer is an economics graduate who spends her leisure time preparing for the zombie apocalypse)