I originally passed on “Veks and Silence” years (and hundreds of reviews) ago because it was a game where word on the street was quite mixed, and the price point a little too high given that fact. Well, a price drop somewhere along the line to 80 Microsoft Points has lured me back, and I’m glad it did.
This game looks insanely good for a four year old (yes, *2009*) Xbox Live Indie Game title. It plays a bit like a Contra, or a Shadow Complex: a 2D side-scroller with a pseudo-3D look at times. The game has a comic book art-style, and frequently breaks the fourth wall with self-aware and self-referential humour that fits the rest of the game well.
Levels looks good, bosses on occasion are huge, and the whole thing is pretty impressive. There’s even a character switching mechanic that rubbed me the right way. The controls are a tad looser than absolutely perfect, but for only 80 MSP, and with so much else going for it, I recommend a download anyway.
Here’s what the developer (Edible Entertainment Pty Ltd) has to say about the game:
“Veks and Silence is an action packed 2D side-scrolling zombie shooting adventure! Take control of “Silence” in his quest to destroy hordes of zombies and other undead creatures on an adventure that spans 13 levels. This incredible game contains a variety of fun weapons and features beautiful 3D graphics”
Writings of Mass Deduction 
I passed on this as well, basically because of the price. I couldn’t tell whether the game was going to be enough fun for it. At 80 points, though, it’s no longer a gamble. That’s the beauty of the bottom price point.
In any case, thanks for the heads-up on the price drop and for reminding me of this game.
Price drops are one of the beautiful things about plumbing the XBLIG catalogue for hidden gems. This game was originally released in 2009 IIRC, so who knows when it dropped in price? It could have been any point over the last three years or so.
So was this 240 or 400 originally? I checked and saw I had demo’d it at some point and I’m guessing the price point disinterested me and I would venture to guess that 4 years ago I wasn’t so up on XBLIG as I am today. Will be picking this one up soon
It was 400 originally (I’m surprised I missed that in the review, thanks for pointing out the omission).
As I said in the review, the game is *not* perfect, but it’s got enough going for it to justify 80 MSP, I believe. I’ll be curious on your (and Alan Charlesworth’s) thoughts on it once you play it!
Very well worth 80 pts. After replaying the demo and recalling my first time demoing it I found it rather enjoyable and quite frankly love the artsie look and 2d/3d feel to the game. The controls can be a bit ‘sloppy’ at times and to tell the truth it’s hard to tell what is going on due to all the pretty colors but I did decide on buying it and am glad I did. 400 was defenatly to high of a price point for this game IMO but if they would have debut it at 240 I may have bit then. At 80 it’s almost a steal. Thanks for bringing this reduction into focus!
I just realized that when I set up my Gravatar that I set up my nickname incorrectly.
I wondered who it was who was addressing me so familiarly! ;)