Many indie scene watchers are already calling this the game of the year. The oddly-named Eets: Hunger. It's Emotional is a beautifully designed puzzle game, combining Lemmings and cult PC classic, The Incredible Machine. The aim is to get a cute little creature from one side of the screen to the other, using different gadgets and food stuffs to overcome obstacles.
Developed by Vancouver-based Klei Entertainment Eets was once intended for the PSP and DS, but after meeting with several publishers the company was unable to secure a deal. CEO Jamie Cheng talks about this process in an interesting development Post-Mortem on Gamasutra:
"...after some initial interest, we were turned down, mostly during the marketing review stage. The consensus was that we had a great game, but the staff had no idea how to market it to the general public."
Ah yes, that'll be the exciting, risk-taking and innovative western videogame industry on top form then.
After a brief dalliance with Valve's Steam system, the team decided to go it alone with online distribution. They've worked hard to build community elements into the dedicated site and the game itself, which features a level editor so that players can create their own challenges and then post them online.
Perhaps this'll start a tenuous new trend for puzzlers based around merged early-Nineties classics. In which case, Cannon Fodder meets The Settlers anyone?
