Flamberge: Inventive Turn-Based Pike-Stabbing

Graphically somewhat beholden - as 48% of all indie games are, by law - to Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery, but very much doing its own thing in terms of combat controls, Flamberge is a bit of a treat. It's a simultaneous turn-based strategy-RPG with a medieval fantasy theme, and like fellow simultaneous turn-based title Frozen Synapse & Cortex, much of the tactical thinking revolves around a best-guess as to where your opponents will be when the turn resolves. Then you stab 'em with a cute little pixel lance. Or shoot them with a cute little pixel arrow. Both, ideally.

Fashionably unfashionably, there's a demo. (And a Kickstarter, but that goes without saying these days.)

So, for instance, your lance-wielding character could be set to automatically charge at anyone who comes within range, or he can speculatively charge much further in a particular direction that you're confident an enemy will wander to. You've also got to think about where your characters end up come the close of a turn, and whether to activate defensive abilities if you predict you'll be in a spot of bother. It's fast and vicious, and feels pretty fresh with it.

Look, it's probably better to see it in action:

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Look, no, it's probably better to play it for yourself, which you can do with this here three-level, three-character demo (including a boss fight). Shows off the look and the combat pretty well, and suggests a pretty slick affair from Michael 'Hydezeke' Savage-Benoist.

It's on Kickstarter with 22 days to go, though it's already shot past its modest $1500 goal. Planned for the full release are 15 different playable characters with a bunch of upgrade skills, and a multiplayer mode, which is probably where Flamberge will shine the most.