Vooxe Game

Publisher: Mentor Interactive
Release: Spring

An English-language version of this Spanish title is reputedly heading to the PC early next year. Naraba World: The Labyrinth of Light is an educational game for young children that allows players to learn maths by manipulating light and colour. Let’s see if Rich can tell the difference between this and StarCraft.

Publisher: Square Enix
Release: 2012

Kim Swift returns with Quantum Conundrum, a first-person puzzle game in the vein of her most famous brainchild, Portal. You’re trapped in your mad-scientist uncle’s manor house and must shift between dimensions to manipulate the environment – swapping into the Fluffy dimension to make heavy objects lighter, for example. Sounds like real science to us.

Publisher: Misfits Attic
Release: Autumn

“A Virus Named Tom has a nice Dexter’s Laboratory-esque ’50s vibe to it. It’s a game about a strand of dodgy DNA infecting retro robo dogs, among other things. It’s basically the pipe puzzles from BioShock, with the twist that you’re controlling the virus as he changes the flow of fluids. It’s a simple and amiable take on an old favourite, but we figure Tom is a much less threatening name for a virus than Elk Cloner or MRSA.

Publisher: Two Tribes
Release: Spring

Two Tribes’s sequel to platform puzzler Toki Tori is being developed with the close participation of series fans. They’re opting for an open development process that involves a free (but limited) development version of the game on Steam. The teaser trailer hints at various transformations for the teleporting, egg-collecting hero. Bloody egg collectors. Always ruining omelettes.

Publisher: Pocketwatch Games
Release: 2012

Monaco describes itself as Gauntlet meets Hitman, a top-down retro heist game for up to four players. You play as criminals attempting to pinch cash and loot from secure locations. It’s also dead good: in 2010 it picked up the Excellence in Game Design award at the IGF. Don’t take their word for it, either. We’ve been playing it, and it’s blummin’ ace.