2021 Competition Entrants

by Dominik Konečný of Ateliér Duchů
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Hadr is an atmospheric game you play with a piece of flying cloth. Everything the cloth covers vanishes. Just like memories. Or that old magic trick.
On a short journey through a handful of hand crafted rooms filled with puzzles, you can enjoy the uncertainty of realtime simulated fabric of your avatar accompanied by the interactive ever changing meditative music.
Hadr is there to make everything disappear.

by droqen
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A compact, subversive dungeon crawl experience.

by Amanita Design
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A little boy falls asleep to a horrible nightmare. Can you make him happy again?

- Brand new psychedelic horror adventure from the creators of Botanicula and CHUCHEL
- Endure and escape three unforgettable nightmares
- Solve deeply disturbing puzzles in (not so) charming environments
- Deal with suspicious smiley faces and pink bunnies
- Creepy songs and screeches from the Czech freakfolk band DVA

by Glenn LaBarre
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Website

Happy Grumps is a love letter to classic roguelike adventures with a twist. Instead of trying to steal treasure or fight monsters, you are on a quest to spread happiness to a grumpy world.

by Blackbird Interactive
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300 years from now, humankind has industrialized much of the solar system. Corporations are all powerful. Earth has deteriorated into a place of squalor and decay. In orbit, a new breed of worker has emerged - the Shipbreaker. The labor is extremely dangerous, but for a select few, the hazard pay is worth the risk.

Equipped with cutting-edge salvaging tech, carve & slice spaceships to recover valuable materials... and pay your billion credit debt to LYNX Corp:
• Experience daily life as a blue-collar spaceship salvager
• Cut and destroy at will within a next-generation physics simulation
• Upgrade tools and unlock new perks to take on harder, more lucrative contracts

by The Game Bakers
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Two lovers gave up everything and escaped to a lost planet to be together. Glide through a mysterious landscape, explore a fragmented world and fight against what's trying to tear them apart in this RPG adventure about love, rebellion, and freedom.

Does love really conquer all?
Yu and Kay have escaped to a forgotten planet, leaving everything they knew behind.
Play two lovers at the same time as they settle into an unknown world. Explore the planet looking for parts and material to fix your ship and make it a cosy home. Enjoy moments of everyday life as a couple while cooking meals, crafting and collecting precious resources to make it to the next day. Fight against those trying to tear you apart by synchronizing actions in combat. All that matters is to stay together.

by Team Bapy
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Heart of Enya is a 2D narrative-focused strategic RPG with visual novel elements. You play as Willow Wisp, a campfire spirit who guides a group of amateur adventurers in harnessing the warm magic of self love to fend off the Frost that surrounds them.

Cycle between helping them connect with each other at night and advising them in battle with icy foes during the day. Fighting can be difficult, so feel free to retreat back to the campfire and make some soup to warm your heart again.

by Abby Sherlock and Kathryn Yu
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You're locked in a mysterious room. But who are you? And why are you here?

Heirloom is a first person exploration game which primarily uses audio and environmental storytelling to immerse the player in the lives of three women in the American South. Kit, Hailey, and Anne Marie make up three different generations from a single family in the 1970s and 1980s. After uncovering a dark secret, it's up to the player to assemble together the pieces of this multigenerational story.

by Arnold Holler, Philipp Sigl, Daniel Wiendl, Melanie Bartl, Christian Höll
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Love multiplayer but hate other people?
You're trapped in a time loop. After the time runs out it will rewind back to the start. Every action you performed previously will now be replicated by a clone of you. Cleverly plan ahead and cooperate with your clones across multiple timelines to overcome the challenges in this innovative puzzle shooter for Oculus Quest/Rift.

by Florian Grolig / smpl Games
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High Rise is a innovative take on the match 3 genre. A relaxed casual puzzle experience. Match colourful cubes and watch them merge, grow and your 3D puzzle cityscape rise.

by Solar Powered Games
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Highrisers - An Urban Survival RPG.
A pixel-art exploration and survival retro game. Procedurally generated skyscrapers await with seemingless unlimited possibilites to salvage, loot and craft gear.

Humanity has been struck by a mysterious prion disease, which left those infected trapped in an eternal dream. Unable to wake up, they transformed and changed into the mysterious dreamers: sleepwalking, zombielike creatures that shun the light.
They now dwell in the dimly lit urban canyons of the cities and the lower levels of highrise buildings, hiding away from the sun; only to come out at night, trying to get those who still resist.

by Elder Tree Games / Binary Solo Games
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It's a time of war, and the young people are gone away to fight. Among the elders left in the village, only Hisato is willing to stand guard at the gate. In this time of unrest, many people are traveling, homeless, or looking for work. Hisato must decide who to permit and who to refuse. There is only one month before the snows come. The village must store up enough food to last the winter, but will Hisato last another night?

In this light Role Playing adventure, guide Hisato through each night guarding the gate. Every stranger admitted to the village joins the community- for good or ill. The fate of Hisato and the village is up to YOU!

by Aconite Co
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Explore a dreamlike mansion, photograph mysterious spaces, confront your deepest secrets and confess them online as Carmen, junior architect and new hire at an elusive firm.

In a near-future social media world, you're charged with photographing the inside of an opulent building — but beware: the house is getting to know you too, perhaps better than you know yourself.

You'll explore lush environments with your phone's camera in 360° as you search for hidden objects, solve puzzles, and get to know the characters within Carmen's world.

by Nuclear Lunch
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Homeland: Lay to Rest is a short third person action-adventure game about a monk disciple who fights corrupted guardians with a chakram--a thrown, homing, circular blade--to redeem their overrun childhood home. Journey through the remains of The Disciple's lost underground home and relive painful and joyful memories alike as you fight to purge the source of the corruption.

by WhyKev
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Hoplegs is an unconventional and entertaining platformer where the gamepad buttons are your legs! Create and share your own levels, challenge your friends, and have fun!

by Digitality Studios
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HordeCore is a kick-ass side-scrolling shooter set in a post-apocalyptic world. Play alone, or as a team - and destroy, survive, craft, and explore!

by Rachel Li, Qin Yin
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You are alone on a cold Christmas night, stuck at home, in a foreign country. You get through it by cooking a hot dish intended for six people. Hot Pot For One is a game about the bitterness of lonely times, and the sweet comfort of food that keeps us going. We wish to evoke those emotions through simple and smooth interactions such as putting ingredients into the pot, watching them cook, seeing them being eaten, and eventually dumping the rest away.

The concept of the game came from our personal experiences as international students. One of the most challenging things about living in a foreign country is that you are far away from your family and friends. And that can be very lonely. Luckily, one thing that can put our minds at ease in those times of difficulty has been to make and eat food from home. The familiar taste of hometown summons happy memories, and warms our hearts. It helps us retain our power to fight on.

Those experiences inspired us to take this opportunity to express the loneliness of being away from home, as well as the satisfaction of consuming our favorite food, in the form of a game.

by Wet Little Games
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You are a Bodybuilding Baywatch Babe.

You have been training all your life.

But you want to be stronger.

When you find a hell fiend within The Whistle of Ultimate Power, he offers to help you. But first, you must complete one task. Make every seagull on the boardwalk...

Smooch.

by Bark Bark Games
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HOUSE is a horror adventure game where you play as a young girl exploring a dangerous house that's trying its best to kill you and your family. Race against time to change the fate of its characters...or fall into darkness yourself.

by DigiPen Iota Studios
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A single-player platformer set in the beautiful wilderness, follow an adult wolf and her pup in their story of unconditional love. When their home is destroyed, they must seek a new shelter. Together, they brave rough terrains and overcome dangerous obstacles through the seasons - but will it be enough to finally reach paradise across the mountains?

by Broken Arms Games
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It takes a hundred days for a vine leaf to complete its life cycle: from spring to autumn, the leaves thrive and provide the fundamental energy to grow the grapes. Hundred Days will put you in charge of managing a small and abandoned winery: from selecting the types of vine you want to grow, to naming your final product, every decision of the challenging business of winemaking will be in your hands. Take care of your vineyard, learn to follow the rhythm of the seasons, harvest, label your bottles and sell them on the market: every choice you make will have an impact on the quality and quantity of the wine you produce and sell. Increase the reputation of your company worldwide, expand your business and manage the tight schedule of your daily tasks. Each turn will represent a day in your new life: once your business is up and running, attention to details will be key to succeeding in your endeavours. In fact, as opposed to classical tycoon games, in Hundred Days you'll make progress by constantly improving every aspect of your venture, honing your skills to perfection and meticulously planning the required activities: rather than mechanising the production, care and craftsmanship will be your guiding pillars. This is a winemaking simulator that will make you aware of the struggles endured by real-life winemakers, while rewarding you with the pleasures and secrets of a millenary tradition.

Hundred Days is a game about winemaking that involves balancing resources and managing time. However, even before considering it as a business, making wine must be understood as a complex art. To be a successful winemaker, you'll need to get a grasp of chemistry, live by a strict routine, have a bit of luck, and infuse your craft with a lot of passion. In 1990 Yves Hohler, lead designer and co-founder of Broken Arms Games, moved with his family from Switzerland to Italy to pursue the path of winemaking. Even if at the time he was only a child, this decision has shaped his existence ever since: he attended and graduated from the Oenological High School Umberto I (in Alba, Italy) to become an expert in the field. At the moment, besides being a professional in the video game industry, he is still continuing the winemaking family business. Loosely built on Yves personal experience, the game's narrative can be considered partially autobiographical: the player, in fact, will start their journey from an abandoned winery, and will consolidate the business day-by-day, learning from their mistakes. Broken Arms Games, as a studio, is based in the Italian region of Piedmont which is renowned for the production of world-famous wines such as Chardonnay, Nebbiolo and Barbera, just to name a few. The entire team is deeply connected with the cultural heritage of Piedmont (a winemaking region) and this makes the experience depicted in the game a truly realistic simulation. Hundred Days takes pride in offering the player a thorough experience: real data provided from local winemaking businesses have been used and implemented in the game, while even the in-game tools and machinery are modelled after the real ones.

by DigiPen Pterodacted Studios
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ALL IS FAIR IN HYDE & SEEK. BETRAY, OUTWIT, AND DEVOUR YOUR FELLOW GUESTS TO SECURE YOUR FREEDOM!

Hyde & Seek is a 4-player party game that pits you and your fellow "guests" against each other in a deranged Victorian survival game. You have one goal: collect gems from around the manor. But be careful - when night falls, the manor's guests will turn into monsters! Be the first to collect ten gems and escape the manor!

by Happy Ray Games
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A turn-based tactical RPG about a group of troublesome magic students. Use timing mechanics to power your spells and block attacks, explore the twisted halls of a vast magic school, fight challenging monsters and bosses, and uncover dark secrets never meant to be found.

by gunsturn, Inc.
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In this game, you will guess what other players have drawn and connect the words together.
This game can be played online or offline.

by Jens Lelie
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iloilo is a tiny walking sim about a lonely fisher that's delivering fish to a seemingly abandoned island. Embark on the smallest journey by delivering fish to the island residents.

This game is created to fully relax and come to peace. To have a tiny break from life and compensate for the many tense action games, or stresses in daily activity.

by Impulse Control
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Impulse Control is a projectile launching game with realistic building destruction. Take a personality quiz as you play through the levels and get assigned a personality profile! The resilient structures make Impulse Control challenging, while at the same time it is a casual and relaxing game to play.

I hope you will find it rewarding to destroy a structure that is rigidly connected like a real building not just blocks toppling over. I hope that the demonstration of this modeling technique will allow you and to see the potential applications for accurate structural modeling and response in video games.

by Jump Over the Age
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Play as an Artificial Intelligence guiding a stranded xenobiologist through a beautiful and mysterious alien ocean. A non-violent sci-fi story, enter a world of wonder, fear and vulnerability, unraveling the history and ecology of an impossible planet. What will you discover together?

In Other Waters tells the store of Ellery Vas, a xenobiologist who discovers extraterrestrial life while searching for her missing partner.

When Ellery is called to planet Gliese 677Cc by Minae Nomura, only to arrive at an abandoned base, she finds herself adrift in an ocean of secrets, with little more than a malfunctioning diving suit and a strange AI to guide her. You are this AI.

Guide Ellery—and keep her safe—as you dive deeper and explore an underwater alien landscape. The planet's unique life, and its dark history, are yours to uncover and the bond between you and Ellery will be tested by the secrets you learn. Through this shifting narrative, In Other Waters asks questions about the nature of "natural" and "artificial" life, and investigates what it means to be a human in an epoch of extreme environmental destruction. For life to continue, it must change.

by We Create Stuff
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In Sound Mind is an imaginative first-person psychological horror with frenetic puzzles, unique boss fights, and original music by The Living Tombstone. As you awake in the corridors of an inexplicable building, you find the environment takes on a life of its own and leads you to discover a series of victims, all exposed to the same experimental chemical. In your search for answers, bizarre visions emerge and introduce a host of imposing horrors…and a cat named Tonia.

From the creators of the cult classic Nightmare House 2 comes In Sound Mind, a witty first-person psychological horror with frenetic puzzles and unique boss fights. Traverse a series of unsettling memories as you journey within the inner workings of the one place you can't seem to escape—your own mind.

by pancelor
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A worryingly recursive puzzle game about pushing boxes into other boxes. Rearrange the structure of the world itself to forge a path to the exit!

The game's 50+ puzzles are designed to take the player on a difficult but rewarding journey, showcasing the bizarre and delightful consequences that emerge from the game's basic rules.

by Somnium Games
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Inked is a tale of love told in ink on paper. You play as the Nameless Hero who sets out on a quest with his love Aiko to find out who is harming the world around them. On your way you will solve puzzles by using various geometrical shapes, each puzzle taking you closer to solving the mystery. Following your journey is the mysterious Artist, the person who drew the world around you. Your stories are connected in more ways than one, and the journey you will take will change you both.

by Gateway: Jacob Hvid Amstrup and Lucas A. V. Møller
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Inkslinger is a story-driven, Romancepunk tragedy with typing-game mechanics.

You play as a professional inkslinger -- one of the many writers employed in Brassknee's Wordshop. Your job is to help formulate the letters and speeches of your Isle Shammer clientele.

You'll write words for celebration, causation and contemplation. The power of your inkveins allows you to consider a variety of different approaches for each letter's paragraphs.

But through the veil of work lies forgotten trauma. A voice begins to speak to you in recurring daydreams, telling you about your tragic past in Nomania.

by Charline Faure, Simon Gigant, Thomas Imbert, Chiara Rosmarino
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You play as Lepid, a child lacking a special talent in a family where everyone is expected to excel at arts.
Follow Libelle's instructions throughout the house, solve puzzles and confront your tyrannical relatives to gain enough confidence to step out the front door!

IRA

by ABShot
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2D Quarter view, Oriental Fantasy
Bullet hell Action shooting roguelite game "IRA"

by Julia Makivic and Chris Stedman
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IRL: The Game is a collaboration between game designer Julia Makivic and author Chris Stedman. The game is inspired by Stedman's latest book "IRL: Finding Realness, Meaning, and Belonging in Our Digital Lives" and explores themes of what it means to be real online. Players click through posts in a surreal digital landscape and interact with a series of exciting internet personalities. In the process, players examine their own relationship the internet and how their digital life intersects with their physical life.

by E McNeill
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Ironlights is a VR dueling game with fluid, slo-mo melee combat. Challenge your friends online in skillful 1v1 duels, or test your skills in the single-player campaign!

Ironlights features dynamic back-and-forth swordplay thanks to a unique melee combat system. All weapons shatter on impact, and you have to swing them back behind you to "reload" them. You can't just wiggle your sword at your opponent. Instead, you'll need to parry their attacks and cleverly slip past their defenses in a tense slow-motion fight scene. From huge greatswords to quick rapiers, each weapon has its own unique weight and physics. Pick your favorite fighting style, whether you're a Knight or a Ninja.

by Argonautics
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When wayward and spiteful souls refuse to move on to the next life, they find themselves clinging to the shores of the Isles of Limbo.
You are Echo, a guardian of this space between worlds, tasked with the duty of dislodging these souls and sending them on their way.
Use your weapons and agility to maintain the order of the void, and defend the source of your power- the Crystal.

Arena-based hack-and-slash combat Fight off waves of enemies with the weight of your hammer and the grace of your sword.

Spellbinding Visuals A hybrid of 3D and hand-painted art styles, animated to create a breathing, if not quite living, world between worlds.

Powerful Music Each stage tells the story through its music- the energy of conflict between chaos and order.

by So Romantic
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Jack Move is a JRPG that features a unique blend of gritty cyberpunk story telling, turn based battles and beautiful modern pixel art. Take on the role of Noa, a vigilante hacker who is thrust into a world of murder, kidnapping and dark research after her father goes missing.

by David Rhee and Elyot Grant
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Explore a world of colorful jelly blocks that can be deformed and stuck together. Use them in surprising, unexpected ways to build clever contraptions and solve delightful puzzles.

by TriTrie Games
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Jessika committed suicide, and it's up to you to find out why she did what she did by prying into her digital past. What at first seems to be a job like any other quickly develops into a dark drama with twists and turns.

In this full motion video mystery adventure you are part of a group that specializes in processing digital footprints of deceased people - all on behalf of the relatives. What at first seems to be a job like any other quickly develops into a dark drama with twists and turns.

All you need is your laptop and some basic background info about the "victim" – in this case it's all about Jessika. Access her database and browse her files by typing different search terms. These will give you access to video clips, audio files, notes, and news articles. Share those with the client and your colleagues to dig even deeper. Use your savvy and combine the facts to unfold the true story of Jessika.

by BitBull Ltd.
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An intense, arcade-style, 'bullet hell' SHMUP/STG in which you must master a vast array of ridiculous weaponry in order to defeat a race of evil aliens who are intent on abducting innocent civilians and turning them into mutants. Jetboard Joust blends the spirit and intensity of 1980s arcade coin-op SMHUPs with the replayability and tactical elements of hardcore modern roguelikes. Don't expect a story. Do expect frantic, fluid, fast-paced 60fps action, big guns, and explosions!

by The Lovable Hat Cult
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A game about falling in love
and falling out of love

In the 'Journey Of The Broken Circle' you dive into a beautiful universe, where a satisfactory gameplay, combined with a deep story throws the main character into a self-discovering journey which makes it a rewarding and different kind of game.

by Studio Chili
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Step into the world of the Keepers, mystical little beings that watch over the forest that they call home. While exploring, they make a peculiar discovery that leads them on an adventure to far reaches of the forest that they've never seen before. Imbued with the ability to manipulate the growth of plants, they must leverage the world around them to reach their destination and learn the secrets of the forest.

This flagship game from Studio Chili is a beautiful, cooperative experience filled with engaging puzzles and platforming that require you and a friend to work together. With adorable protagonists exploring a gorgeous forest world and accompanied by an evocative original score, Keepers of the Trees will test your wits and tug at your heartstrings.

by Freaking Games
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King of Retail is a first person store simulator. Be the manager and be in charge of all aspects of running a store.
- Ordering, displaying and selling articles.
- Interviewing, hiring and scheduling of your staff.
- Advertising, reacting to events and setting up the right deals.
and much much more.
And when you think you got all of this covered, play the campaign mode where you must take up contracts to begin your journey of taking over the city with multiple stores and chains run from the headquarters of your corporation.

by Tackorama Ltd
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Kitty Rainbow is the 2D platformer where rainbows are your platforms, weapons and shields.

You play as a rainbow-wielding cat on a mission to spread brightly coloured joy by removing bumble bees, off-beat music, and other unpleasant things. Your rainbows protect you from the bad things that can kill you and also provide you with platforms to walk and jump on.

Chasing you is the misery ghost who lurks near you at the start of every level. Initially stunned for several seconds the misery ghost wants to keep everything dull, grey and joyless. Spend too long shooting rainbows and jumping on rainbows and the ghost hunts you with increasing ferocity.

by NIDAL NIJM GAMES - SOLO DEVELOPER - ONE MAN ARMY
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FURSAN AL-AQSA - THE KNIGHTS OF AL-AQSA MOSQUE is a Third Person Shooter game which addresses the Israel x Palestine conflict from a Palestinian perspective, breaking the cliché of representing Muslim and Arabs as Terrorists, Bandits, Villains and the Americans/Israelis as the "Good Guys" and "Heroes" of History. This is the first game in the games industry which addresses such a sensitive topic, in a realistic way, showing the other side of history, which is very unknown by people, mostly here on west.

You play as Ahmad al-Falastini, a young Palestinian Student who was unjustly tortured and jailed by Israeli Soldiers for 5 years, had all his family killed by an Israeli Airstrike and now, after getting out from prison, seeks revenge against those who wronged him, killed his family and stolen his homeland, by joining a new Palestine Resistance Movement called Fursan al-Aqsa - Knights of al-Aqsa Mosque.

I am a brazilian muslim, son of a Palestinian Resistance Fighter, and I always wanted to tell the history of my father, and the history of my people, the palestinian people and their resistance against oppression. Through this game I want to show to the whole World that Fighting for Freedom is NOT Terrorism, Fighting for Life is NOT Terrorism, Fighting for Protecting the Homeland is NOT Terrorism, Fighting against the Oppressor and its Savagery is NOT Terrorism, that Palestine Resistance is NOT Terrorism!

And despite having a completely different story, plot and thematics, but, on it's heart, Fursan al-Aqsa is a love letter for Goldeneye 007 (N64), the Eternal Classic Shooter of all times. Even the legendary Martin Hollis, the director and main programmer of Goldeneye 007 loved and praised my game:

https://twitter.com/martinhollis/status/1359189828173238275
https://twitter.com/martinhollis/status/1359190260173987846

by Gaël Bourhis
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Kristallijn is a short first-person ambient game experimenting around the strobe effect.
It's an experience about motion without motion, where the interval between two flashes becomes an unresolved space, questioning the continuity of our perceptions and our existences.

KUR

by Really Ragdoll
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KUR, a retro inspired Sci-Fi FPS; Boot flesh-wearing robots across the screen and cling to your sanity as you bail out 'The Corporation'. Hired to stop their demented AI, you're no hero- you just want a paycheck.

Features
- Retro SciFi Aesthetic with classic 90's humor & lore.
- 20+ Handcrafted levels across Six different settings.
- Variety of Weapons (shrink guns, Gatling lasers, incendiary rounds, Time Pistols, & so much more)!
- Unique Enemies warning, they wear human flesh but just want hugs
- 'The Boot' - Slide, Kick, Punt, BootJump, & Hop your way through KUR.
- Bumping metal / dubstep soundtrack perfect for killing defective AI!