racketboy.com

When I was a kid, it seemed like videogames only came from the USA or Japan. As the years have gone by, the industry has globalized and we see games being developed in all sorts of corners of the world. What are some good games from countries other than USA and Japan? And if you care to elaborate, do you think their culture adds a unique flavor to the game?

Here's a few standouts that spring to mind:

Zeno Clash: Developed by Ace Team of Chile.


The Void Developed by Ice-Pick Lodge of Russia


Minecraft Developed by Mojang of Sweden


I don't know enough about the respective cultures that these games come from to know if the games are influenced by their nations of origin, but each one has a very unique feel to it. Zeno Clash has a primitive brutalness to it's gorgeous fantasy world. The Void is dark and bleak with a cold beauty that emerges out of its isolated landscapes. Minecraft is hearty and joyful with the endless promise of creativity and the constant threat of destruction. Perhaps it's partly due to their cultural origins, perhaps not, but each of these games presents a unique and compelling world that is not like what we traditionally see in videogames.

Also, this seems apropos...

Crazybus: Developed by a dude from Venezuela.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_VJZAqViT4

I don't know that any game I've played has given me the feeling of being in the midst of epic, medieval warfare like this game and the developers were Korean. It has the huge, hack n slash battles of Dynasty Warriors, mixed with RTS gameplay as you issue orders to your troops and officers, and rpg elements as you level up characters, cast magic spells and customize your army. The word epic gets throw around a lot in regards to video games, but this game was FUCKING EPIC!

And of course from Michel Ancel and Ubisoft's Montpellier studios in France we got Beyond Good and Evil. The game has a unique style all its own, particular in its worldly soundtrack. Wikipedia puts it better than I can:

"The soundtrack incorporates a wide variety of languages and instruments from around the world. Mainly Bulgarian lyrics were chosen for the song "Propaganda", which plays in the game's Akuda Bar, to allude to the Soviet propaganda of the Cold War. It uses a recording of a telephone conversation by Héral with a female Bulgarian friend to represent the government's control of the media. It also incorporates Arabic string instruments and Indian percussion. A song called "Funky Mullah" was originally planned to be used in the Akuda Bar, but it was replaced by "Propaganda" because Héral decided that its muezzin vocals, recorded on September 8, 2001, would have been in bad taste in the wake of the September 11 attacks. "Fun and Mini-games", a song that plays during hovercraft races and other mini-games, includes Spanish lyrics. The lyrics for DomZ music were created from a fictional language with prominent rolling "r" sounds. The crashing metal sound effects of "Metal Gear DomZ", music played during a boss fight, were recorded from the son of Héral's neighbor playing with scrap metal. The voices in the city of Hyllis were also recorded by Héral himself."

Eric Chahi
France

The disturbing thing about Another World is that it was developed by one man. Insanity.

Y'know, there are such a significant amount of developers in western europe and canada (UK and Canada are supposedly the biggest game developing nations after Japan and the USA) that it seems kinda weird to talk about them on this list, at least from my vantage point as a Brit.

alienjesus wrote:Y'know, there are such a significant amount of developers in western europe and canada (UK and Canada are supposedly the biggest game developing nations after Japan and the USA) that it seems kinda weird to talk about them on this list, at least from my vantage point as a Brit.

Agreed, this does seem like a weird thread idea. Stuff like Another World is interesting to bring up though since it was done by one guy, etc. Lots of huge developers over in Europe and whatnot thesedays.

The Witcher is from Poland.

Machinarium (as well as the other Amanita Design games) is from Czech Republic.