full circle magazine #65

54

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Written by Oscar Rivera

H

umble Indie Bundle V,

which was released on

Friday June 1, 2012,

may be the best Bundle

for Linux users to date. The new

Bundle brought with it many

welcome changes that were long

overdue. These changes are not

too “humble” by any means. For

beginners, the download process is

not only fast, but also extremely

easy. The quality of the games is

second to none when compared to

other Humble Bundle releases. The

gameplay for all releases is limited

only by your hardware and not by

the software. Last but not least,

the buying process hasn’t changed

a bit, it is as simple as simple can

be, and you can still name your

own price.

Purchase, Download

and Installation

You can no longer purchase

Humble Bundle V, but, for the first

time ever, if you are using Ubuntu,

downloading the Humble Bundle

was as easy as 1-2-3. After making

the purchase at whatever price you

decided, you received an email

with a link that took you to the

download page. At the download

page you chose how to download

your Humble Bundle. For the first

time ever, thanks to Canonical, if

you are using Ubuntu you could

click a button that said “Download

for Ubuntu”. By clicking the

Ubuntu button, you were basically

allowing the games to be

downloaded through the Ubuntu

Software Center. At the time of

this writing (June 2012), all of the

games were available to be

downloaded through the Software

Center, except for Psychonauts,

which was available to download

only through the Humble Bundle

download page. With the

exception of Psychonauts, I had all

of the games installed in my

system in less than 30 minutes! It

doesn’t get any faster than that.

Amnesia: The Dark

Descent

As far as the games themselves,

the selection this time around was

as good as it gets. My personal

favorite is Amnesia: The Dark

Descent – which has been

favorably received ever since its

original release for the PC as

evidenced by its rating of 9.25 (out

of 10) in Game Informer magazine.

The graphics are among the best

I’ve seen in recent years. However,

what makes this game a must-have

for any true Linux gamer lies in the

way it scares you like no other

game can. The first time you play

the game, when you are going

through the setup process, the

game recommends a couple of

things for better enjoyment. First,

it is recommended that you play in

a dark room, with the lights off and

the graphics set as dark as you can

have them while still maintaining

visibility. Second, it is

recommended that you play with

headphones turned up loud. Last,

but definitely not least, it is

recommended that you play to

have fun rather than to beat the

game, in other words you are

encouraged to explore as much as

you can. The last recommendation,

I must admit, is the hardest to

follow due in great part to the fear

you acquire very early in the game,

that prevents you from opening a

door or turning down a dark

corner. The last thin g you want to

do is explore because the game

sucks you in so much that all you

really want is to get a little bit of

your long lost sanity back. Unlike

other horror games, you have zero

weapons at your disposal; instead,

you are constantly either running

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