Humble Bundle is currently offering a selection of indie games featuring female protagonists as part of its weekly bundle deal. A minimum donation gets users four titles: Lilly Looking Through, Ms. Splosions Man, The Cat Lady, and Defender’s Quest: Valley of the Forgotten. Paying a little more throws in a three more games, all of which are excellent choices for spending time away from the triple A action shooters of mainstream gaming.
Paying US$6 throws two extra games into the bundle: Long Live The Queen and The Yawhg. Long Live The Queen is an interactive story where players guide the life of a princess until she grows up to become the Queen. It is similar to Princess Maker RPG; a game that was enjoyed more than any male gamer would like to admit. The Yawhg on the other hand is another storytelling game, albeit with a different twist. Instead of the usual interactive story, it provides randomised outcomes and multiplayer. That is collective story telling over the internet; it may not be for everyone, but it is worth a look for even the most hardcore gamer.
Bumping the donation up to US$10 adds Valdis Story: Abyssal City. Which despite the name, is not another storytelling game. Rather it’s a good old fashioned side-scrolling beat-’em-up title. Not entirely the best of the lot, but still a substantially well made game.
This Humble Bundle supports Girls Make Games; a kind of summer camp for girls to learn about programming and the skills needed to make video games. It seeks to get more girls into programming and making games; which after the recent Gamergate saga, it something that the industry could use.
