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September 23, 2024 8:36 PM Subscribe
UFO 50 is an anthology collection of 50 games made by the fictional company UFO Soft in the 8-bit era.
The project (official website) was conceived by Derek Yu of Spelunky (prev) and Jon Perry (best known for work on board games, including Air Land and Sea, with the team growing to six during development.
Genres span include the traditional (point-and-click horror adventure Night Manor, metroidvania Porgy) to...odd hybrids, like a classic Might and Magic-style dungeon crawler with Punch Out style combat.
And of course, there are secrets.
The project (official website) was conceived by Derek Yu of Spelunky (prev) and Jon Perry (best known for work on board games, including Air Land and Sea, with the team growing to six during development.
Genres span include the traditional (point-and-click horror adventure Night Manor, metroidvania Porgy) to...odd hybrids, like a classic Might and Magic-style dungeon crawler with Punch Out style combat.
And of course, there are secrets.
I already bought for PC and looking forward to finding some free time to play it. I enjoy the reviews, which don't seem to know how to review it — which is perfectly fine! But there's clearly some really interesting stuff in there.
The meta thing, I'm happy to wait a little bit on, so people say "oh play these 3 early because there's some interesting stuff hidden in them, hold off on these 2 since blah blah blah." But apparently all that is just icing on the cake. I loved Animal Well and Tunic without getting even slightly into their bottommost levels of secrecy. I'm happy to read about it or watch a video from people who spent 40 extra hours doing the work, god love 'em.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 9:20 PM on September 23 [2 favorites]
The meta thing, I'm happy to wait a little bit on, so people say "oh play these 3 early because there's some interesting stuff hidden in them, hold off on these 2 since blah blah blah." But apparently all that is just icing on the cake. I loved Animal Well and Tunic without getting even slightly into their bottommost levels of secrecy. I'm happy to read about it or watch a video from people who spent 40 extra hours doing the work, god love 'em.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 9:20 PM on September 23 [2 favorites]
I've heard this plugged as a video game that will remind you why you love video games, and a friend of mine who has it confirms.
I've been watching macaw45 stream it in the background. It does seem kind of incredible. They seem polished, well designed, with good art and pretty fantastic music. Because most of the games are fairly short (though many are longer as well) they remind me of PICO-8 games. The quality is so good that if they were a PICO-8 game, would be the best PICO-8 game.
posted by fleacircus at 9:37 PM on September 23 [2 favorites]
I've been watching macaw45 stream it in the background. It does seem kind of incredible. They seem polished, well designed, with good art and pretty fantastic music. Because most of the games are fairly short (though many are longer as well) they remind me of PICO-8 games. The quality is so good that if they were a PICO-8 game, would be the best PICO-8 game.
posted by fleacircus at 9:37 PM on September 23 [2 favorites]
Half the fun is being delighted at the variety as you flick through them at random until one grabs you. I've been particularly taken by gravity-flipping Metroid clone Vainger.
My only complaint is that while the difficulty of these games is not quite as hostile as the nominal era, they're mostly too tough for me to comfortably dabble.
Maybe when I'm a few more games deep I'll change my mind. The difficulty does force you to appreciate them on their own terms rather than breezing through without engaging.
posted by Lorc at 12:53 AM on September 24
My only complaint is that while the difficulty of these games is not quite as hostile as the nominal era, they're mostly too tough for me to comfortably dabble.
Maybe when I'm a few more games deep I'll change my mind. The difficulty does force you to appreciate them on their own terms rather than breezing through without engaging.
posted by Lorc at 12:53 AM on September 24
I finally reached the halfway point in this collection yesterday and I've been playing for five hours (anything from a two-minute "nah, this isn't for me (right now)" feeling to a "oh no, I've been playing this for almost an hour, I have to stop and see what else is in there" realization).
It's nothing short of marvelous. The variety on display, even when it's a video game I would absolutely not try as a stand-alone (retro) game - by having it be part of a (fictional) collection, with (fictional) notes and (fictional) commentary I'm just too intrigued not to have a look at it.
(And yes, as Lorc said, several of them are quite difficult.)
To my excitement, the Eggplant: The Secret Lives of Games podcast has set out to cover each game of the collection for the next 50 weeks, which seems a great opportunity to go through the collection at a slower pace. (Or revisit individual titles, in my case.)
posted by bigendian at 2:40 AM on September 24 [2 favorites]
It's nothing short of marvelous. The variety on display, even when it's a video game I would absolutely not try as a stand-alone (retro) game - by having it be part of a (fictional) collection, with (fictional) notes and (fictional) commentary I'm just too intrigued not to have a look at it.
(And yes, as Lorc said, several of them are quite difficult.)
To my excitement, the Eggplant: The Secret Lives of Games podcast has set out to cover each game of the collection for the next 50 weeks, which seems a great opportunity to go through the collection at a slower pace. (Or revisit individual titles, in my case.)
posted by bigendian at 2:40 AM on September 24 [2 favorites]
I enjoy the reviews, which don't seem to know how to review it
Yes! Everyone seems to really enjoy it, which is lovely. But I'm trying to figure out if I should get it, and the conclusion of all the reviews seems to be "here are 50 good new games for you". You know what else contains 50 good new games? My Steam watchlist! So what makes UFO 50 distinct from that?
posted by Hermione Dies at 4:35 AM on September 24
Yes! Everyone seems to really enjoy it, which is lovely. But I'm trying to figure out if I should get it, and the conclusion of all the reviews seems to be "here are 50 good new games for you". You know what else contains 50 good new games? My Steam watchlist! So what makes UFO 50 distinct from that?
posted by Hermione Dies at 4:35 AM on September 24
You know what else contains 50 good new games? My Steam watchlist!
Yeah I'm incredibly tempted by this, but I need an answer to an important question: When I buy it and go back to Balatro, have I added ONE game to my Steam backlog, or 50? Because the former I can probably justify, but the latter seems irresponsible...
posted by The Bellman at 6:13 AM on September 24 [2 favorites]
Yeah I'm incredibly tempted by this, but I need an answer to an important question: When I buy it and go back to Balatro, have I added ONE game to my Steam backlog, or 50? Because the former I can probably justify, but the latter seems irresponsible...
posted by The Bellman at 6:13 AM on September 24 [2 favorites]
This thing is like a pirate NES cart filled with 50 games that could have existed but didn't.
Some of the games are shockingly perfect for the vibe of "how did I miss this back then?", an ache for a past that almost but doesn't quite exist.
My current Game of the Year.
posted by andreaazure at 7:04 AM on September 24 [3 favorites]
Some of the games are shockingly perfect for the vibe of "how did I miss this back then?", an ache for a past that almost but doesn't quite exist.
My current Game of the Year.
posted by andreaazure at 7:04 AM on September 24 [3 favorites]
Absolute triumph, game of the year for sure x 50. Never played such a fantastic package of games before. Highly recommend to anyone.
posted by GoblinHoney at 7:40 AM on September 24 [3 favorites]
posted by GoblinHoney at 7:40 AM on September 24 [3 favorites]
I’m at 10 hours played already. Tried the first 30, beaten none, got 3 gifts for my little buddy.
Warptank is probably my fav so far. Magic Garden is brilliant but I’m so bad at it. A lot of these are just super clever, though I’m terrible at all of them.
posted by rodlymight at 8:36 AM on September 24
Warptank is probably my fav so far. Magic Garden is brilliant but I’m so bad at it. A lot of these are just super clever, though I’m terrible at all of them.
posted by rodlymight at 8:36 AM on September 24
I like how they're clearly trying to be a less-sucky actually good Action 52 right down to having a flagship game featuring a team of anthropomorphic animals that's brazenly positioned as a potential new toy sensation.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 9:21 AM on September 24 [3 favorites]
posted by RonButNotStupid at 9:21 AM on September 24 [3 favorites]
Wow I remember this being announced but I didn't know it was out! I consider Spelunky to be the best game of its decade (counting it as a 2008 release) and will gladly follow Derek Yu wherever he goes.
posted by SaltySalticid at 12:09 PM on September 24 [1 favorite]
posted by SaltySalticid at 12:09 PM on September 24 [1 favorite]
I remember this being announced but I didn't know it was out!
Yes, instead of the planned two, it fittingly (and maybe ironically?) took eight years of development for the eight fictional years of UFO Soft games to be done.
posted by bigendian at 2:37 PM on September 24 [3 favorites]
Yes, instead of the planned two, it fittingly (and maybe ironically?) took eight years of development for the eight fictional years of UFO Soft games to be done.
posted by bigendian at 2:37 PM on September 24 [3 favorites]
Not only are these all good little games, but they're wildly creative. What if Pong, but you choose from a roster of guys with different special abilities? What if a side-scrolling golf game except the ball is a walrus who can flap his flippers to kind of hover a little bit? What about a side-scrolling exploration platformer with the weirdest control scheme ever? Or if you had more lives than usual and your dead previous lives stay on the screen and become platforms? What if the legend of zelda had idle game mechanics? And what if one of the guys who made all these games put a puzzlehunt in the code and left access to the dev terminal open?
it's wild. it's an embarrassment of riches
posted by rifflesby at 5:21 PM on September 24 [6 favorites]
it's wild. it's an embarrassment of riches
posted by rifflesby at 5:21 PM on September 24 [6 favorites]
If you like idle games, check out Pilot Quest, in the bottom row!
posted by JHarris at 5:46 PM on September 24
posted by JHarris at 5:46 PM on September 24
Very cool. Thrifted Air Land & Sea a couple of weeks back, and just got to play it. A very clever game with only 18 cards...
posted by Windopaene at 6:54 PM on September 24
posted by Windopaene at 6:54 PM on September 24
I've been playing the hell out of this. It's a shoe-in for my Game of the Year. I'm flabbergasted at how amazing, full, and deep every game I've played so far is. I've played the first 17 or so, plus Pilot Quest (since it has an idle game component that rewards playing other games and coming back). There's a ton of games I haven't dusted off yet that I'm very excited for, but I keep playing these 17 because there's so much there. Early favorites are Bug Hunter (oh my god, best turn-based strategy/tactics game in ages), Magic Garden, and Bushido Ball. Barbuta is also lovable as hell as an homage to the janky, esoteric proto-Metroidvanias of the 80s.
Buy and enjoy without hesitation, is my recommendation. I'll be playing it a bunch and coming back for years.
By the way: if there ever was a killer app for the Steam Deck, it's this one. I can't imagine playing it on a desktop PC, it really works on the handheld with instant sleep/resume. (Switch edition will be amazing when it happens, but until then, this is a great option to consider.)
posted by naju at 9:33 AM on September 25 [2 favorites]
Buy and enjoy without hesitation, is my recommendation. I'll be playing it a bunch and coming back for years.
By the way: if there ever was a killer app for the Steam Deck, it's this one. I can't imagine playing it on a desktop PC, it really works on the handheld with instant sleep/resume. (Switch edition will be amazing when it happens, but until then, this is a great option to consider.)
posted by naju at 9:33 AM on September 25 [2 favorites]
Also if anyone is interested, this fellow on youtube is showing off one game a day for 50 days. He's going into each one blind, so it's interesting to watch him come to terms with the controls and mechanics and get his off-the-cuff impressions.
posted by naju at 10:07 AM on September 25 [1 favorite]
posted by naju at 10:07 AM on September 25 [1 favorite]
Try this. From the game grid, cursor to the bottom and off, to bring up the sort option. (It should default to "chronological".) Then go left one step, and you'll be in the Garden. You have your own little person with a house who lives his life there, and you can unlock things to furnish his world with by playing the games! It's like an homage to the ancient 8-bit computer entertainment Little Computer People!
posted by JHarris at 8:48 AM on September 26 [2 favorites]
posted by JHarris at 8:48 AM on September 26 [2 favorites]
and Jon Perry (best known for work on board games
More relevantly, Derek Yu and Jon Perry were the people behind Eternal Daughter, essentially the original PC metroidvania
posted by one for the books at 10:55 AM on September 26 [2 favorites]
More relevantly, Derek Yu and Jon Perry were the people behind Eternal Daughter, essentially the original PC metroidvania
posted by one for the books at 10:55 AM on September 26 [2 favorites]
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