Quality Time-Killers: Liferaft Zero and depict1

You wake up one day to find yourself in a test chamber in the middle of a strange, yet evil, science facility. You don’t know how you got there, but you know you have to escape.

Along the way, you’re encouraged and/or taunted by a disembodied voice. Does this sound familiar?

Among the many ways that Portal has influenced modern games, one of them is through the popularization of this plot device. Evil science labs are on the rise these days thanks to our friends at Aperture Science and many of them have found their way to the indie gaming scene. Here are two games that, sadly, do not offer cake once you complete them.

Liferaft Zero – Developed by Mikengreg

To expect one person to survive a run through a dangerous testing facility is simply unrealistic. Luckily for the staff at the evil lab in Liferaft Zero, there are more than enough clones… er… sisters to go around in Liferaft Zero from Mikengreg, the same dynamic duo that brought you Solipskier.

This game requires you to jump across platforms in order to reach each level’s exit. You get a handy wall jump to help you reach higher areas and out-of-reach places, but the appeal of this title is the grappling hook mechanic. Certain places require you to reach out with your grappling hook and swing towards distant platforms or across dangerous spike pits.

What makes this game a treat is the bonus candy that’s placed in many of the levels. The candy is strategically placed in areas that require you to make the most of your wall jumping and grappling abilities. You will often die a lot trying to collect these bonus sweets, making it even more satisfying when you do reach them. However, if you choose to simply play the level straight through without taking any detours, you can do so without penalty and often without seeing a steep difference in the challenge curve.

The controls take some getting used to, as navigating with the keyboard can be difficult. Falling into spikes thanks to an errant grapple jump can get infuriating, in fact. Once you master the controls, though, Liferaft Zero is a fun diversion that’ll really get your brain working.

Depict1 – Developed by Kyle Pulver (converted to Flash by Miroslav Malesevic)

When you wake up in this evil science facility, you find the usual disembodied voice looking to guide you outside to safety. Only this voice is less like GLaDOS and more like Bizarro Superman, in the sense that it seems to speak in opposites. So don’t believe anything you see or hear in Depict1, one of the big standout titles from 2010’s Global Game Jam.

The first thing to note about this game is that everything is a lie, right down to the main menu. Tutorials are purposely made useless. Things that you would normally collect in other games will kill you and, conversely, things that normally kill you are perfectly harmless. It all makes for one of the most unique puzzling experiences you’ll find, with later levels forcing you to really think outside the box to find the exit. The final level, in particular, is a major stumper and you’ll likely rack your brain many times in an effort to find a solution — assuming, of course, that there even is a solution. Sigmund Freud once famously said, “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.” That quote does not apply here.

The fun in Depect1 is figuring out what’s true and what’s a lie, but the downside is that the game is very brief. The game includes 30 levels, but many of them are short. Even if you get stuck on a certain level, the whole experience will last less than an hour, but it’s an hour well spent. The Flash translation plays just as well as the original downloadable version, so you can jump in anytime.

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