Virtual SEA
Games and Gaming from Southeast Asia
The year 2020 has already started so it is about time to look at the upcoming game releases. And what a year it will be for fans of the Indonesian gaming scene! Indonesia has by far announced the longest list of games for 2020. In recent years, it has been shown that Indonesia can produce quantity as well as quality. Will this trend continue in the new year?
Lately, our wordsmith Andreas has been commuting by subway frequently and therefore has more time to play on his mobile phones.This short mobile game mash-up features three gems from Southeast Asia that entertain him every day on the way to work!
It’s clear that inspiration for this game was the popular platform adventure Limbo. But unlike its role model, Incubo fails to achieve its brilliance. Too immature are the mechanics, too dirty the programming and too simple the style. Nevertheless, Incubo is perfect for those who are not afraid of any challenge and are interested in scary stories outside the mainstream.
Some games are easy to learn and easy to play. Then, there are games that are easy to learn but hard to master. And then, there is Retrograde Arena by Indonesian team Freemergency.
Gambir Studio recently completed the development of their mobile horror game in collaboration with Indonesian cosplayer Lola Zieta. Are you curious about the quality of this unlikely cooperation? Check out the following review!
If you have been playing videogames for a while, you will undoubtedly encounter a certain fatigue either of recurring gameplay or – as in the author’s case – of uninspired recycling of settings, topics or locations. Is seems like the videogames industry is repeatedly offering the same experiences inspired by either North American or Japanese cultures and regions. Here at Virtual SEA, we strongly believe that game developers from under-represented areas of world such as Southeast Asia can offer new and refreshing ideas to videogames. Can She & The LightBearer from Indonesian studio Mojiken satisfy this expectation?
Pamali, which means abstinence, prohibition or things that should not be done at a certain place or time because they can cause evil.
There are a few moments most people never forget in their lives. The first day in a new school is possibly one of them – for the best or the […]
Here at Virtual SEA, we are working hard to represent the vast diversity of Southeast Asian video game development. While we give our best at covering as many games as possible through in-deep reviewing, there are still a lot more games that just fall under the table due to simple lack of time and resources (not to mention each of our own piles of shame). Now we want to give credit to all those little gems we played only for too little time to craft a proper review, but which still deserve your attention. This time, we present to you indie games from Singapore and Indonesia. Go and give these games a chance!
Who’s the main protagonist in the Harry Potter universe? Harry himself may be a good guess, he-who-must-not-be-named would make the best antagonist. Honestly, isn’t Hogwarts, the magical school, and home to all of Harry’s adventures the secret star? A school for magical kids with secrets everywhere, astonishing architecture and a curriculum that makes every other study look like boring chores. And then Hogwarts is lead by one of the most characteristic figures of all time: Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts. Ever since, players all around the world have been waiting to become the head of magical school themselves. And here comes “Valthirian Arc: Hero School Story” to fill this gap.
Here at Virtual SEA, we are working hard to represent the vast diversity of Southeast Asian video game development. While we give our best at covering as many games as possible through in-deep reviewing, there are still a lot more games that just fall under the table due to simple lack of time and resources (not to mention each of our own piles of shame). Now we want to give credit to all those little gems we played only for too little time to craft a proper review but which still deserve your attention. This time, we present to you indie games from Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia. Go and give these games a chance!
Nostalgia. That’s what obviously comes to mind when talking about Azure Saga: Pathfinder, the new game of Indonesian developer Masshive Media. It is in most of its aspects a trip down memory lane, reminding of classic Japanese role-playing games. The developers tried to transfer the classic feel of those story-driven games with turn-based combat into a modern costume. That seems to be a trend now, as we have seen other attempts by Southeast Asian studios such as WanderJahR or Legrand Legacy.
Lobster Empire is already the third game released by Indonesian studio Maulidan Games within one year. Claiming to become the fastest video game developer, the team based in Surabaya aims at releasing more games in a shorter period than conventional studios of the same level. After a detour into the RPG-Genre, they return to the studio’s origins with Lobster Empire: tycoon games.
Legion Tale is a turn-based RPG with tactical encounters and quick-time-events (QTEs). It tells a common fantasy story about a kingdom divided by war, an outside aggressor that is both evil and ugly and of course a hero who will save the world.
What happens when a dedicated development team both has a passion for music and Japanese role-playing games? They decide to mix the best of both side into their first release. Newcomer Klappanome from Malang, Indonesia is currently working on Valz – a rhythm game and JRPG cross over for mobile devices.
Steam Greenlight is dead! After almost 5 years, Valve closes down its community driven publishing system in favour of a new system, called Steam Direct, with the goal to increase the quality of the published games and to avoid fraud. Steam Direct will go live June 13th, which still gives us some time to take a look at the most recent – and last- contributions from Southeast East Asian game developers. This time, we have a wide variety of games from Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore and the Philippines. Let’s hope we will still see some of these games on Steam later!
