I’m becoming increasingly impressed with the French indie scene, and not only because my last name is Leray. Joining Meckensleep (Soul Bubbles) and Golgoth Studios (awesome-lookingTokiandJoe & Macremakes) as purveyors of gorgeously-animated 2D games are Press-Start Studios, whoseTwin Bladeswill hit the Xbox Live Indie channel this Christmas.
InTwin Blades(the name is the worst thing about the game), you play as a B. B. Hood-inspired nun tasked with protecting her village from a zombie invasion. I know, I know, zombies are played out, but I’m guessing the game started development before the zombie-craze hit the games industry. Or maybe not—Press-Start, located in Strasbourg, was founded only this year.
Anyway, the game is very nicely animated and I really dig the tunes. I’m kind of worried about the gameplay, though. On the one hand, there’s a chance that the gun-and-scythe combos will lead toaShank-style beat-’em-up; there’s also a chance that shooting mindless zombies might get old. On the bright side, the ice gun upgrade (near the end of the trailer) is really cool, and I like the idea of some RPG-lite elements to mix things up.
Anyway,Twin Bladesis already out on the iPhone and seems to be pretty popular in Japan—it’s sitting pretty at ninth on the Japanese App store. The game will cost you 240 Microsoft bananadollars, but Press-Start promises free DLC.
Check out theirdevblogfor more info, and hit the gallery for some screenshots.
