The second Indie Humble Bundle has launched, giving everyone the opportunity to pay what they want for a collection of five fantastic indie games. It was released a couple of days ago, but the bundle has already managed to raise more than half a million dollars, with proceeds to be split between Child's Play, the Electronics Frontier Foundation and the developers themselves. Braid, Osmos, Machinarium, Cortex Command and Revenge of the Titans are all part of the deal. Read on for details.
There's a ticker on the Humble Indie Bundle site that's recording the number of purchases made, the amount of money being donated to each cause and a list of top contributors. Minecraft's creator Notch is currently top of the table with his contribution of $2000.
All you need to do to get hold of the bundle is head over to the Humble Indie Bundle site , enter the amount you want to give into the payment box, adjust the sliders to decide exactly how much of your donation goes to each charity and the developers, and then press buy. Each game in the bundle comes DRM free. It's a great collection, here's what you get.
Braid
This time mangling platformer has become famous for its fiendish puzzles. Each world introduces a new ability that lets you screw with space-time in a fresh new way, and each challenge asks you to take your new abilities to their logical extremes. It's a game of elegant brainteasers and eureka moments, set in a dreamlike world that's beautifully evoked by David Hellman's artwork.
Osmos
Osmos is a game of cellular combat set in a floating, ambient world. Your cell can absorb other smaller cells, but can be consumed by larger ones. The catch is that you have to expel mass to move, so you become smaller as you travel through the environment. Oh so often that juicy looking blob you're angling for can suddenly turn out to be twice your size when you've bridged the gap.
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Machinarium
This beautiful hand drawn adventure game follows the trials and tribulations of Josef the robot. He's dumped in a scrap heap outside of robot city, and must reassemble himself so that he can make his way home. There's no speech in the game, but character's thoughts and needs are depicted by animated doodles suspended in floating thought bubbles. The junktown visuals and fantastic sountrack present a disarming world packed with hidden mysteries and sharp puzzles.
Cortex Command
In Cortex Command you play as a disembodied brain who must take control of a series of clones and robots to do your bidding. The game takes place on a single plane, and you must take control of your minions individually to mine gold, upgrade your forces to protect the megabrain and eliminate the gold digging competition.
Revenge of the Titans
Revenge of the Titans puts you in charge of a force of androids that form the last line of defence against an incoming alien invasion. It's a tower defence RTS in which you have to gather resources to research and upgrade your defensive towers, and then deploy them as efficiently as possible against the hordes.
Cortex Command and Revenge of the Titans are still in development, but if you buy the games you'll receive all future updates and full versions of the game for free as they finish development. Check out the video below for an overview of each game. Proceeds from the sale can be donated to Child's Play and the Electronic Frontier Foundation .
Part of the UK team, Tom was with PC Gamer at the very beginning of the website's launch—first as a news writer, and then as online editor until his departure in 2020. His specialties are strategy games, action RPGs, hack ‘n slash games, digital card games… basically anything that he can fit on a hard drive. His final boss form is Deckard Cain.
