Steam] Enjoy your summer vacation like you're on vacation! PC Indie Games from Abroad: Scandinavia

Enjoy your summer vacation with a travel feeling! PC Indie Games from Abroad: Scandinavia

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1. "Passpartout: The Starving Artist

2. "Mosaic

3. "No Time to Relax

From today, you too can be an artist! An artist simulation where you sell your paintings for a living1. "Passpartout: The Starving Artist

• Passpartout: The Starving Artist " (Flamebait Games)
• Genre: Simulation
• Released: June 6, 2017
• Price: 980 yen (as of July 18, 2021)
• Copyright: (c) 2017 Flamebait Games

Sweden is a country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. I have an image of a sophisticated and beautiful country with colorful, picture-book cityscapes and fashionable furniture made by a famous manufacturer, and "Passpartout: The Starving Artist" was born in Sweden.

Passpartout: The Starving Artist" is an unusual simulation game that allows players to experience the life of an artist. The word "artist" can refer to a painter, a musician, or a director, but the artist you will experience in this game is a painter. And although the game was created in Sweden, it takes place in France, with its capital Paris, the famous capital of the arts. The player lives in France as a painter. When the game begins, the player is presented with a dimly lit street corner scene with a small garage and two long, simple tables. This is where the story of a fledgling painter begins.

The goal of the player as a fledgling painter is, at any rate, to earn money. The player receives bills on a regular basis. The player controls the painter and must earn hard to pay the rent, wine, and baguettes to survive here in France. Although baguettes are a typical French food, I wonder if it is nutritionally balanced to eat only baguettes, and I also think that the player should save money by not drinking wine, but let's not get into that.

Now, then, what a player should do to earn money is really quite simple. All you have to do is to draw pictures, arrange them, and sell them. So, you click on the easel in the garage and start painting. There is no simplified system of choosing what kind of picture to paint, or combining certain commands, nor is the process of painting skipped.

The player actually paints on the canvas with the mouse, simulating a painter in action. There are no assignments or missions, so you are free to paint whatever you like, but for someone who is not used to painting, this "freedom" was a bit confusing and difficult.

However, since one has to draw as much as possible and sell as much as possible in order to survive, it is a good idea to not hesitate and draw as much as you like with the pen, or even with the mouse. There are many kinds of colors that can be used, and the thickness of lines can be adjusted freely, so it is possible to draw elaborate pictures if you want to.

Once you have drawn the picture, given it a title, and placed it outside, you have completed your product. You can earn money for baguettes and wine (and rent) with this ......, but it is not so easy. The paintings have to catch the eye of people on the street, be liked, and be purchased in order to earn money.

However, most people stop and look at the painting for a while and then say, "This is nothing more than a piece of trash.

"This is nothing more than a piece of trash," they say.
"Did a three-year-old draw this?"
"Your painting will make friends, but it won't make art.

He left with harsh comments such as, "I thought it was a good work of art. It is a little, if not quite heartbreaking to receive such harsh comments on a work that I thought was a masterpiece, but in order to survive, I must continue to create art without being discouraged. This experience of "working hard even when your heart is broken," which is hard to experience in other games, can be called something unique to this artist simulation game.

When someone finally shows interest in your painting after overcoming numerous harsh comments, you finally have a chance to win money. The transaction is conducted in an auction-like system, in which negotiations are conducted by clicking the balance mark against the price offered by the customer, and the amount of money is increased.

Negotiations can be repeated, but be aware that in some cases the price may go down. If a reasonable price is reached, the player receives money from the customer in exchange for the painting, but of course, the sold painting goes to the customer and does not remain in the player's possession. This once-in-a-lifetime experience of having only one work of art in the world is an interesting aspect of this art-themed game. By the way, if you click the download button that appears when you check the exhibited paintings, you can save a screenshot of the work on your computer.

The basic way to play this game is to draw whatever you like, such as portrait-style paintings, still-life-style paintings, and abstract-style paintings, as you see fit. Players need to constantly come up with new ideas to create pictures with new tastes, and to experiment with their own styles.

Also, since each customer has his or her own taste in paintings, creating paintings that suit each customer's taste is another key to selling effectively. However, it is not always possible to clearly identify their tastes, but it is necessary to infer them from the harsh comments they make after viewing a painting. Do you just keep on painting the picture you want to paint, or do you think about the picture that the customer might buy? ...... Perhaps this conflict is the true essence of this work, "experiencing the life of an artist.

Passpartout: The Starving Artist" is a one-of-a-kind simulation game that allows you to feel like an artist with its unique system of "selling your paintings. Even if you are not good at drawing, you can easily play the game as if you were a doodler or a painter, so if you are interested in the game, please give it a try.

A must-see for busy modern people! Mosaic" is a modern adventure about a businessman who escapes from his boring life.

• Mosaic " (Krillbite Studio)
• Genre: Adventure
• Released on December 5, 2019
• Price: 2,050 yen (as of July 18, 2021)
• Copyright: (c) 2019 Krillbite Studio

Norway is a country located on the western coast of the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The country's name is said to derive from "Norlebæk," meaning "northern road," which somehow reminded me of "Hokkaido," but I heard that Norway has about the same land area as Japan, which made me feel a little closer to this country, even though I have never been there. Mosaic" is a work born in Norway.

Mosaic" is an adventure game with monotone-based low-poly style graphics. The main character is a company employee living in a densely populated city. He wakes up in the morning with the alarm on his smartphone, checks his e-mail, fixes his sleeping habits, brushes his teeth, gets ready for work, checks the mailbox in the office, fulfills his quota at work, and occasionally opens his smartphone to play app games to kill time. ...... The game is a monotonous and solitary day-to-day life. In this game, players actually control the main character and experience his daily life.

The main character's daily life is really quite bland, with no change or excitement, and the player will feel a sense of boredom that is probably intentionally created. The dark monotone visuals and the slow movement of the protagonist combine to create an undeniable sense that the player is living a boring life. The game also features realistic information such as a notice from the company that the contract will be terminated if the player is late five more times, web news such as "safety risks created by the concentration of population in large cities," and a notice of a large bill that will be deducted from the player's bank account, The player is not only in control of the protagonist, but also has to deal with the reality of the situation.

The player not only controls the main character, but also the actual tasks he performs for the company, which are very work-intensive.

The job is to collect moving dots generated from the bottom of the screen to create hexagons, and to connect them upwards and downwards. It may not be clear from the text, but it is not clear even when you actually try it, and you have no idea what this work is for or why he is being asked to do it. But of course, this is a calculated and deliberate "unfamiliarity. I think this sense of "doing a job that you don't really know what it is, and doing it in an unobtrusive manner for the sake of a quota" will be something that will stick in the craw of some members of society.

Another thing the author would like to promote is BlipBlop, a smartphone game that can be played in-game.

This is a so-called "clicker game" as typified by cookie clickers and the like, but in any case, it is simple and unadorned in appearance. All the main character, or the player, has to do in "BlipBlop" is to click on the screen. Once you have accumulated a certain score, you can open up a function that allows you to double or triple your score with a single click, or even a function that automatically earns you a score, but to be honest, there is nothing special about that. BlipBlop" has no major objective, is monotonous in operation, and is the ultimate way to pass the time, giving players an easy-to-understand experience of how boring the protagonist's life is.

Incidentally, "BlipBlop" is also available as a free smartphone game in the real world where we live. If you download and try it out, you may be able to experience the world of this work even more intimately. However, it is incredibly monotonous and boring. ...... (Having said that, I have to admit that I was a little bit addicted to it.)

The main character is living such a boring life, but one event gradually changes his daily life. The event is an encounter with a goldfish that pops out of his mouth while he is brushing his teeth in the morning as usual.

Whether this is reality or his fantasy is not revealed, but at any rate, the protagonist's life is changed by the appearance of this goldfish. And this is where "Mosaic" really begins.

The player can deviate from the usual path to the office and gaze at the beautiful shining sun, rescue a cat that is stuck in a tree, or listen to the music of a street musician playing in a small park. ......

After the encounter with the goldfish, the player is able to escape, as if resisting an irreplaceable reality. It should be noted that color appears in the monotone world when escaping reality. This is an impressive performance that allows the viewer to feel the main character's great emotional turmoil as she encounters an event in her gray everyday life that can be called a "sense of being alive. I believe that this direction will be very moving to modern people who live in a depressing life similar to that of the protagonist.

One of the features of this work is the almost complete absence of dialogue.

There is no so-called narration-like text other than dialogue that explains the protagonist's feelings or situation. The interpretation of what the protagonist sees, feels, and changes in his/her state of mind is left to the player. There are many abstract scenes in which reality and fantasy are intermingled, and I felt that the real appeal of this work is the feeling of viewing a high-quality short film.

Mosaic" is a film that uses skillful direction and unique visuals to depict a theme that resonates with people today: "escape from the routine and boredom of everyday life. It is a must-play for working people who are feeling tired of their daily lives.

No time to relax! 3. 3 slapstick life simulation board games that everyone can play together "No Time to Relax

• No Time to Relax" ( Porcelain Fortress)
• Genre: Board game
• Release date: February 28, 2019
• Price: 1,420 yen (as of July 18, 2021)
• Copyright: (c) 2019 Porcelain Fortress

Iceland is an island nation in the North Atlantic Ocean. From the image of its distinctive name, this author imagines a place surrounded by snow and ice, like the Ice Land in the Super Mario series, but in fact, there are many volcanoes, which also produce hot springs and the "Blue Lagoon," the largest open-air bath in the world. Hot springs, that's nice. ...... Anyway, "No Time to Relax" was created in Iceland.

No Time to Relax" is a life simulation game that can be played by up to four players. In reality, however, it is more like a board game than a simulation game.

Incidentally, this game has been ported to Nintendo Switch under the title "No Time to Relax." When the port was released, the official Twitter account of the Embassy of Iceland in Japan introduced the game as a video game from Iceland. I remember that I was surprised at the unexpectedness of the embassy's account introducing the game, and I liked it and RT'd it.

Board games have their own victory conditions: the first person to reach the goal wins in backgammon, the person with the most total assets wins in Momotetsu, etc. In this game, the victory condition is simply "to lead a more fulfilling life than anyone else. The game's victory condition is to "live a more fulfilling life than anyone else." Although this may sound incredibly difficult and intimidating, it is actually a point-based game in which players compete on the basis of the sum of four parameters given to each player, as well as scores obtained by loving pets and completing hidden missions.

It may sound a bit complicated, but to put it very simply, the player who does as many things as possible wins, and it is best to play the game with the feeling that "life is about having fun.

The game board on which the game takes place is shaped like a town and fits on a single screen, with no scrolling elements. The player's objective is to perform actions on the board each turn and increase parameters in order to win.

There are four parameters: money, health, happiness, and brain (study). However, there is also a negative parameter called stress, and it is important to note that working and studying all the time can cause stress. This system has a very realistic flavor, which may explain why the game is called a "life simulation game.

In board games, players usually perform actions according to dice or cards, but the system in this game is quite unique.

In short, players are "free" to do whatever they want.

During your turn, you can move freely to any square (facility) on the board and perform any action at will. If that is the case, you might think that all players can score as much as they want, so there is no competition. ......, but of course that is not the case. There is something that binds the players in this game. It is "time.

When the player's turn begins, the hands of the clock at the bottom of the screen advance automatically and rapidly. In addition to this, actions such as movement and facilities will further advance the hands of the clock. When the hands of the clock make one full revolution, the turn is over and it is the next player's turn.

The player is constantly forced to choose between actions as time progresses in real time, while making plans such as "go to the burger store to eat, go to the university to study, and go to the job office to change jobs...".

As the title suggests, there is no time to relax, and this unique time-limit system is the most interesting and unique feature of the game.

In addition to the time limit, the game also has a variety of other restrictions that can make players nervous. The most important of these is eating. If a player fails to eat during his/her turn, he/she will be penalized by having less time to act on his/her next turn. Time is money, and time loss is the biggest penalty in this game. In other words, eating is an essential action ......, but it is human nature to forget to eat when you are thinking about other things. By the way, when other players forget to eat, the proper (?) way to enjoy this game is not to tell them, but to sneer at them. It is the right (?) way to enjoy this game.

In addition, the "rent payment" that comes every certain turn and the "new clothes purchase order" that comes unexpectedly will not only limit your actions, but also decrease your money. Incidentally, if you skip your rent payment, a certain amount of money will be deducted every time you work and earn money as a loan payment. It is a realistic system that makes you feel the harshness of life.

Furthermore, the forced random events that are executed by flipping cards at the beginning of each turn are also a nuisance. You may get some positive events such as money, but the possibility of such events is very small. However, it is hard not to smile when you see other players suffering from negative events.

Incidentally, this game is available in Japanese localization, but the translation is quite peculiar, and the phrase "a team of thieves from Mie Prefecture" pops up even though the game is from Iceland. The synergistic effect with the graphics, which also have a peculiar taste, gives the player a unique worldview to enjoy.

No Time to Relax" has a simple system that allows anyone to play by simply selecting a location and performing actions, but also features a time limit and negative events that keep players busy. The game also supports online play, so you can play with friends or strangers. Furthermore, the game is compatible with Steam's "Remote Play Together" feature, so if one of you owns the game, you can play online with a friend, making it a fun way to play with like-minded friends over voice chat. If you are looking for a board game that can be enjoyed by everyone, please try this game and enjoy your "no time to relax" life.

We can't take our eyes off Scandinavian indie games!

So, we have introduced three games that we highly recommend.

In fact, the global blockbusters "Minecraft" and "Clash of Clans" (a.k.a. "Clash of Clans") were also created by Nordic game studios. The Scandinavian game industry is something to keep an eye on. ......　So, we will see you again someday with a special feature on games from around the world that may (or may not) make you feel like traveling abroad!

Author: Nero Hyakkabe

Freelance writer who buys too many games. Currently, I have more than 300 games in my stack. Also a novelist. Author of "Goaken Unrated Edition" (Kodansha) and "My Mother's Lie" (in "Malicious Kwaidan") (Takeshobo).

Twitter: https: //www.twitter.com/KINGakiko

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