You need to keep this heart alive and shuttle it from Vancouver to Tijuana. Keep that furnace alive as well; slowing down in these parts is perilous. May the Llord be with you.
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The shortest and most mechanically simple Mullins jam game of the three I've played to date, but also the most compelling and engrossing. I love it when I'm thrown into an eerie world as a vulnerable nobody and told nothing.
Me encanto, gracias Daniel
This is a review of "Keep It Alive" a short game by Daniel Mullins:
link here
With the announcement of Pony Island 2, I thought it was time for me to see if more of Mullin's game jam games were available as I had enjoyed Boba this year and previous entries such as "Sacrifices must be made" which became Inscryption.
I will start with a TLDR and that is whilst I do not think this game is as clever as either of the previous Jam games mentioned it is definitely worth your time and the zero it costs in money to grab a hold of.
Keep It Alive as the title refers to a heart, you’re a train driver in a pixel style quite reminiscent of Mullins other efforts - that has to crank a machine to keep this heart beating while also keeping the train filled with coal and the carriage defended as they all travel from Vancouver to Tijuana.
It’s an oddly fun but creepy premise which is what we’ve come to expect with Daniel Mullins’ games.
The genius of this little game is how it is played, WASD is all that is needed as you move your character left and right to the crank and coal, keeping your eye on the gauges above and occasionally using S to tie-up your laces (wasting time) and W to do something else which I will hold off from spoiling.
As far as a game like this goes, I cannot see it being extended into something large/full price but it does have some legs and would be a very interesting segment in a larger game.
You make some stops and there are some things that make the journey harder including terrain and outside interference which can create some chaos.
I could see this escalating further and even some extra tasks needing to be done still keeping to the simple controls if needed.
Overall it’s a very smart little game, that is well presented and manages to pique the imagination just a little in its extremely short run time and for how much you need to put into the game, it definitely gives you more back.
link here
With the announcement of Pony Island 2, I thought it was time for me to see if more of Mullin's game jam games were available as I had enjoyed Boba this year and previous entries such as "Sacrifices must be made" which became Inscryption.
I will start with a TLDR and that is whilst I do not think this game is as clever as either of the previous Jam games mentioned it is definitely worth your time and the zero it costs in money to grab a hold of.
Keep It Alive as the title refers to a heart, you’re a train driver in a pixel style quite reminiscent of Mullins other efforts - that has to crank a machine to keep this heart beating while also keeping the train filled with coal and the carriage defended as they all travel from Vancouver to Tijuana.
It’s an oddly fun but creepy premise which is what we’ve come to expect with Daniel Mullins’ games.
The genius of this little game is how it is played, WASD is all that is needed as you move your character left and right to the crank and coal, keeping your eye on the gauges above and occasionally using S to tie-up your laces (wasting time) and W to do something else which I will hold off from spoiling.
As far as a game like this goes, I cannot see it being extended into something large/full price but it does have some legs and would be a very interesting segment in a larger game.
You make some stops and there are some things that make the journey harder including terrain and outside interference which can create some chaos.
I could see this escalating further and even some extra tasks needing to be done still keeping to the simple controls if needed.
Overall it’s a very smart little game, that is well presented and manages to pique the imagination just a little in its extremely short run time and for how much you need to put into the game, it definitely gives you more back.