A Revival of the Old?

Minecraft, part of a new digital games trend

In the modern world of gaming, there is a plethora of new, upcoming games with amazing state of the art graphics, but there is also a surprising rise of “retro” graphics.   Two new games in particular break the modern mindset of graphical excellence; their names… Minecraft and Magicka.

Even in the beta stages, Minecraft is a successful game in Europe, which can be easily described in one word: Legos.  Minecraft’s sole developer, Markus Persson, incorporates old, block-like, pixelated graphics with new technology to create a cartoon-like, survival game in which the player tries to battle the dark creatures of the night and create and customize their own world.  Persson is consistently creating new animals and fixing bugs in the beta stage, but the most surprising thing is that, independent individuals are consistently coming out with new and improved custom maps, texture packs, and modifications.  There are millions of things to do in these worlds and millions of ways to do them.

Magicka is another European title which brings the players back to the “good ‘ol days”.  After a short introduction to this cartoon-like RPG, one can slightly recognize the idea of Blizzard Entertainment’s Diablo or the old Gauntlet series.  Magicka is a simple, single or multiplayer, hack-n-slash game which brings upon a new twist of modern technology.  This unique game allows the player to combine and wield different elements to their will.  For example, one can easily add the elements water and frost to create ice, and each mixture of elements can be used in different ways, such as for a shield or projectile.  The wide gamut of combinations is only further complimented by the game’s humorous dialogues, which reference many modern topics in a sort of gibberish or Swedish language.

Both of these European titles are amazing games, which bring back the retro feel to games, and they apparently are warmly accepted by the European gaming society.  I wonder if the United States will accept them in the same manner.