suteF (6.7Mb)
Looking for a game that contains intense cartoon violence, blood and gore, mild (sort of!) language and about as crass humor as you’ll find anywhere? ‘suteF’ was released just 3 days before the New Year and is already well hitting the free Indie Games popularity stakes!
“Ted Lauterbach's 'suteF' takes us on a ‘wonderfyingly horrific’ puzzle-filled platforming journey that is as disturbing as it is strange. You assume the role of Aramas, a blue-skinned creature who is trying to find his way out of ‘The Abyss’, which is a foreboding place populated with horrific creatures and dangerous physics-based puzzles. While the milieu is bizarre, game play consists of the usual mix of crate moving, anti-gravity switches, lasers and using of the game's wraparound level structure (you can fall off one side of the screen and appear on the other). The less-than-precise control scheme forces you to forget about long leaps and nimble maneuvers; 'suteF' is more about manipulating the environment than Mario-esque flying leaps. Nevertheless, you do have a few tricks up your sleeve, like a simple, clean jump with the 'Z' key or extending a grappling hook with 'X'. Whether we're walking down dark corridors littered with lifeless corpses, interacting with the terrifically strange, or witnessing a level shift suddenly in the midst of gameplay, playing 'suteF' provides a constant stream of unexpected delights. If you're a fan of Lauterbach's combination of dream-like horror puzzles and platforming, 'suteF's' predecessors, though less sophisticated 'Fetus' and 'Descent' are worth checking out too.” (I’ll post reviews for these during the week)
It starts off with your ‘blue’ character vomiting blood which is a good indication of what to expect!
‘suteF’ propels the player forward with haunting visuals and metaphysical happenings: you'll want to see everything though, and see what happens . . . next! . . .
“As you meander though the industrial-like levels which seem to realize a deeply black nightmare, you'll encounter and interact with a variety of denizens who seem far more at home here than you do. In fact, the sense of being lost and of trying to escape (another theme from Limbo) is very palpable here, and is well executed on the whole. But more than anything, it's the sense of not knowing what to expect, and what you might encounter on route that's so good here.”
“It’s a thought-provoking game. Giving the player an infinite amount of time to proceed at their own pace, suteF allows you to experiment (infinite lives) at will in order to pass to the next level. Typically, in any level you need to hit a button to turn on a static-filled TV screen, which you then need to reach to pass. As you'd expect, the puzzle part of the game involves figuring out how to get to the spot to turn on the TV and then reach it. Using numerous parameters (and introducing them at a steady pace) like standard platforming features , duplicates or ghosts of yourself, etc, the puzzle play does a fine job of keeping you busy from level to level. Additionally, many of the complications that arise are rather unique (like the fore-mentioned "ghost of yourself"), or the puzzle or puzzle rules changing as you try to solve it; and keep the play from getting stale through obviousness. You can even lose or partially lose abilities previously gained! Furthermore, the rules of the game continue to change up on you, such that even death isn't always what you're expecting.”
Even if most (!) of the puzzles are relatively easy, this does give you the chance to explore this vast and substantially cheerless world, that is if you can find your way around . . . and out back to sunlight and sunshine! There are a few real brain-teasers on the way! And it gives a very good sense of foreboding , eerieness and creepyness . . .
If you like the horrific, the macabre and ‘dead’ retro graphics, with a soundtrack to match, you’ll love playing ‘suteF’! It’s about a two hour (or somewhat more!) journey into a strange nightmare and the very depths of the unknown!
If you haven’t happened on this before, it really is a ‘must have’ for your puzzle platforming collection!
The game autosaves when you complete each level.
Download HERE
Video HERE