Okay, what’s the most important part of any RPG, western or Japanese? Okay, yeah, the storyline, characters, and the battle system, but besides that? THE VILLAGE! Where else are your heroes going to go to get quests, restock items, hear the latest gossip, and lay their heads at night? Weather it’s Whiterun in Skyrim, The Town of Baron in Final Fantasy 4, Tristram in Diablo, Vizima in the Witcher, or even the Citadel in Mass Effect, the city/town/village is the glue the keeps the entire game together. Kairosoft’s downloadable title is one of the few games that simulates what goes on inside that village. You build a village from the ground up, building shops and houses for your residents. Your goal is to attract adventurers. These adventurers then go on quest that you give them, earn money, and (hopefully) spend it on your shops, thereby generating income for your village. You can hold special events, expand your town, and unlock new types of buildings. The only major issue with this is the one common to most business/city simulator games: once you begin to generate lots of income, the challenge disappears. Also you’re only in this for a high score. Even so, the game gets incredibly addictive, and you’ll love the 16-bit style retro graphics. If you got an iPhone or an Android, download this game and you’ll experience firsthand one of the most important, yet unappreciated parts of the role-playing-game genre.

I know how the world is going to end, and it ain’t pretty. It starts with one small bug known as…Hope. And not the Barack Obama kind either. You see, some unlucky schmuck in Indonesia gets infected by it after eating some bad cattle. Other than some mild insomnia and some nausea, the guy doesn’t think much of it. However, the virus is able to spread via insects and tainted livestock, and other people in his village catch it. Of course some tourists from Britain come over, and after mingling with a few ‘working girls’, they inadvertently take the bug with them back to the United Kingdom. Before the summer, the bug has evolved quite a bit, as now that nausea turns to vomiting, those coughs turn to pneumonia, and anemia begins to develop within the blood streams of those effected. This gains the attention of the international community, but the virus continues to develop new strains, making it harder and harder for scientists to keep up with it. Making matters worse, now Hope is being spread through air and water. As infections start showing up in first world countries like the U.S and Japan, it gets increasingly harder to keep a lid on the virus, as even our antibiotics are no longer enough to fight it. Affected citizens degenerate into outright insanity as whole governments are being shutdown to deal with the threat. By the end of the following year, there is no place on Earth that hasn’t been affected by Hope. The lucky ones are already dead. The ones left become living corpses as their bodies slowly degrade. Advanced dysentery shuts down their digestive systems as their stomach immediately reject any thing they try to eat. Humanity is left to die a slow, agonizing death within 2 years after the first infection.

That nightmarish scenario isn’t real thankfully. However, if it happens in Ndemic Creations/Miniclip’s Plague Inc, then you will have won the game. That’s right, your goal is to develop and evolve a super virus so that it will kill off all of humanity.
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The original Just Cause was a game that came out during the early days of the Xbox 360 lifespan. Although it was far from perfect, it did have a lot of potential as a Grand Theft Auto meets Mission Impossible style free roaming espionage title. This game’s sequel improves on it in every way, enabling players to pull off batshit insane stunts straight out of a Hollywood blockbuster.
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You know what was great about old school action games? You didn’t need upgradable stats, cinematics, a-list voice talent, or any other bells and whistles. No sir, all you needed was a bunch of enemies to shoot as you ran to the right of the screen and a bunch of weapons to shoot them with. Intrusion 2, the sequel to a 2008 flash game brings back this action. Developer Aleksey Abramenko spent three years on this title, and it was worth every minute. Playing as some guy, you set out to stop a bunch of bad guys for whatever reason, but did you ever play these types of games for the plot? Ninja please. If you want story, go play some Final Fantasy. All you need to know is that there a shitload of bad guys who need to be murdered to death. Got it?
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If La Mulana had been released on the SNES, it would have stood right up there with games like Castlevania and SUper Metroid as one of the greatest titles of the 16-bit generation. The game isn’t pretty shabby today either. La Mulana is an upgrade of an independently developed game. The original La Mulana (available for free on Tiggit) was done as a tribute to classic MSX games, and was developed by Takumi Naramura. A company known as Nigoro snatched up the game, upgraded it’s visuals to resemble 16-bit gaming systems, and ported it to WiiWare, while GR3 Project ported it to Microsoft Windows. Having a exploration-heavy style of gameplay similar to Metroid and later Castlevania titles, La Mulana puts players in the role of a young archaeologist who explores an ancient tomb. You’ll gather items and abilities to progress, and the game is non linear. The game has a high difficulty level and leaves it up to you to figure out how to progress. You’ll run into several bosses and characters throughout your journey. If you’re a fan of classic action games, you will want to add this to your collection. It’s available at Gog.com, where it’s discounted as part of the site’s winter sale.

25 years ago, Mega Man made his debut on the NES. Over the years he became one of gaming’s most iconic characters, and the games he starred in have became synonymous with classic platforming action. This year is the blue bomber’s 25th anniversary. although Capcom has been a bit lax with the series as of late. Thankfully a fan created this title merging Mega Man with another iconic Capcom franchise: Street Fighter. Instead of giving it the cease and desist treatment, Capcom swooped the game up and decided to release it free on the http://capcom-unity.com website. SfXMM is a classic Mega Man style title, but instead of WIly’s 8 robot masters, you fighter 8 Street Fighters. The game is typical Mega Man: you’ll select what order by which to complete the stages, make your way through various hazards, and fight the level’s boss at the end. The music is composed of Street Fighter anthems, remixed 8-bit style. While the stages are a bit shorter than other Mega Man games, and there is no save feature, this is an excellent fan-project and a great celebration of two of Capcom’s biggest franchises. Plus, we’re getting it for free, so I’ll withhold any complaints.

Strange Journey is a completely different direction for the popular RPG franchise, and at the same time it takes it back to it’s classic dungeon-crawling and exploitation heavy style of the classic SMT: Nocturne. Taking place in a sci-fi setting in the near future, you take control of a soldier who was sent to investigate a black hole in the Antarctic. When you get there, you discover that the place is full of demons. Thanks to a special device however, you can communicate with some of them, and convince them to fight alongside you in true SMT fashion. The plot is dialogue heavy, but it will keep you hooked. Whether you’re new to the franchise or a diehard fan, Strange Journey will present an interesting new twist for the SMT franchise, while still giving gamers plenty of the RPG demon-collecting gameplay the series is known for.

Jamestown is an independently developed bullet hell game. Developed and financed over a 2 year period by a three person team, Jamestown tells the tale of an alternate reality 17th century where the British are at conflict with the Spanish over colonies being established on Mars. In a deviation from our history books, the Spanish team up with martian aliens to wreak havoc on the British. Your character is a former prisoner saved from execution who sets out to clear his name. There are only 5 levels, but they are challenging and many of them have to be unlocked. You can use money earned during the missions to upgrade your ship. Up to 4 players can join you locally, and players will enjoy the beautiful graphics and twitch gameplay. Jamestown was included in Humble Indie Bundle 4, and it has downloadable content available for it on Steam. Fans of old-school shooters will love it, and if you got 3 friends, the co-op makes it even better.