Part of what makes Weekend Download so fun is sharing games that aren't yet complete, are just concepts, are experimental, or are just plain weird. They aren't epic journeys that will consume entire days of play time. Instead, each little nugget of freeware gold does one thing particularly well. And even if it isn't perfect, we still like to share, allowing more people to play crazier games and giving the creative game developers a little more attention!
Rework the Dead: Evil (Windows, 77.1MB, free) - A tense sidescrolling survival-horror game with loads of blood, tons of shooting, enemies ambushing you from around corners, and an atmosphere that keeps you on your toes. Move with [WASD] and aim with the mouse, keeping a constant eye on your ammo supply, which tends to deplete itself rather quickly. Doors must be opened manually, and you'll find a fair number of control panels, lockers, and movable objects to mess around with, many of which can be used to get rid of those pesky enemies. Rework the Dead is as much about strategically getting rid of the bad guys as it is shooting everything that moves, so, like any good survival-horror game, play it cool, aim true, and don't get scared.
Pon (Mac/Windows, 16MB, free) - Pint-sized adventure games gained firm ground in the casual/indie realms after the release of Knytt. Pon, from developer Bov, is one such game, combining a charming art style with exploration-based gameplay, complete with an inventory system, simple puzzles, and a day/night cycle that synchronizes with your computer's clock. As Pon, you are on an epic journey to find medicine to heal your ailing relative. As you walk around this pixellated 2D world, you'll encounter a few items and characters you can interact with, many of whom have small requests to make of you. Pick up items, wear different sets of clothes, and hop around the world, careful not to fall to an untimely end. A new version of Pon was just released, and more updates are planned in the future, so keep an eye on this great-but-getting-better game!
One Day Outside the Time (Windows, 2MB, free) - A tiny little 3D maze game made over the course of five hours using a limited color palette. Move around using the [WASD] keys and jump with [spacebar]. Climb up steep ramps by jumping repeatedly, and look around with the mouse to find new areas to explore. Step in the undulating squares to save a respawn point, and do so as often as you can, because you'll fall on more than one occasion! The game is far from polished, so don't expect a studio-quality experience here, but considering the constraints with which it was built with, it's an interesting bit of game to experience.
Note: All games have been confirmed to run under Windows 7 and are virus-free. Mac users should try Boot Camp, Parallels, or CrossOver Games to play Windows titles, Linux users can use Wine. If you know of a great game we should feature, use the Submit link above to send it in!
Not a fan of having to change the system clock to see more than 3 screens in Pon.
Found a bug in Pon:
If you save on the boat, and then fall off, when you load you'll just keep falling into the water and have to restart
Wow, just got stuck running in a wall when I loaded my game, and have to restart again. Think I'll hold off finishing this one until they can figure out a working save feature.
Pon seems to have a number of bugs in it. Once I started and the starting movie wouldn't run because my character was trapped in the blackness to the left of the room (it was so cold!), another time I bought the planks but walking up to the guy to build the bridge did nothing. Game needs a little work.
Anyone else find ODOtT's camera controls to be extremely annoying? I use a touchpad, and am running it via WINE, so I can't say if it's a bug on my end, but it's really frustrating...
I tried downloading Pon, but when I open the game, I get A House in California.
Wut.
:c
tinyflames:
Same thing happened to me! No idea why, but I got around it by going to "Open With" and selecting the Flash Player.
I have a Mac, though. Also, I'm a noob. :C
Pon seems to be under construction though it seems interesting, hope to see working updates.
One Day Outside the Time requires some good mouse moving (or patience when using a trackpad), the game is short but it felt worth it.
@tinyflame
If you're using the Swf. version 1.1, then try dragging the file into an empty tab on Safari- that runs flash files as they usually play. If you're using the Mac version, good luck, hope you manage to figure something out.
And when I open Pon, VVVVVV opens as well, and quitting the latter also closes the former. Weird.
Apart from the bugs here and there, Pon was definately the winner of this WD.
Yeah, Pon is too buggy to play it as is. At one point I loaded my save only to find my character stuck in one spot, running in place. The game is too slow for me to bear playing up to that point again.
One Day Outside the Time's camera movements are pretty hard to control, even with a mouse. Lowering the speed and inverting the up/down movements would make it a whole lot better.
kgy121:
Thank you for your magical internet wizardry
What the heck do you do when die in Pon?
tinyflames, press R.
Linking real time to game time is one of those ideas that seem like a great idea in theory but turns out to be a horrible idea that ruins the game in the vast majority of cases. This is one of those times.
Ok, I played Pon once, and died, no 'restart' or 'try again' anywhere, so re-opened, now I hit play, and it comes up with the "you died" message, and I can't do anything! Even re-downloading the game hasn't helped!
Ruka. Look up.
@tinyflames:
I have a Mac, too. You hold Control and click (or just right-click if you have a 2 button mouse) on the program, and a menu should pop up that lists open, open with, move to trash, etc. You go to "Open With" and it has the programs that will open it. A House in California for whatever reason is the default, but if you look down the list, the Flash player should be there. Select that, and you're good to go.
Oh, and don't be scared by this block of text I used to describe how to do it. It only takes a second to do once you know what to do.
ok, now I'm at the sliding puzzle thing, had to re-load in the middle, now I can't get the pieces to move again!
Update