ESGS 2016 was full of gamers, the games they play and the game developers behind them. While many were impressed and happy to try the games of major sponsors, there were quite a few gems that many would recommend playing by the independent developers. One such game would be the one developed by Nico Tuason, Lithium City.

Lithium City is a fast paced isometric tactical shooter, drawing inspirations for its gameplay from Hotline Miami and Transistor. Showing off highly responsive gameplay while trying to take out a building floor full of robo-thugs. You can choose to improvise and rush through every target you catch in sight, or you can take a more tactical approach and try to deceive your enemies to always have the best position to attack possible. Both are made possible thanks to how AI has been programmed and the dash function added to player’s mobility options. At the same time, Lithium City achieves a minimalistic but appealing look as it draws its ideas from Nico’s love for Ghost in the Shell, Tron and Deus Ex.

A quick interview reveals that Nico Tuason has been working as a full time independent developer for roughly six years, with Lithium City being a huge part of the last two. Gaming has been his hobby since the early 90s where if asked about his favorites he’ll quickly bring up Half Life, Command and Conquer as well as Wing Commander. He admits that lately he hasn’t been able to play as much as he used to, considering that he’s also assumed a bigger role in taking care of 3 kids. Most of the time, he says, that he plays games in order to study them.

At the moment, Nico is looking at releasing Lithium City on Steam during the earlier part of 2017. He asks anyone interested to follow @LithiumCity for updates or visit his website www.nicotuason.com to see more of his other works.