Don’t Forget Me, the debut outing from The Moon Pirates, is an intriguing premise. A “new breed of puzzle game” that combines adventure game puzzles with keyword-driven exploration of people’s memories, it’s a unique take on cyberpunk and complex moral thought experiment on individuality and freedom—if one that feels a …
The House in Fata Morgana is a masterpiece on every level, and a game that truly pushes the artistic boundaries of the medium. Few things are quite as bizarre to me as the never-ending arguments about whether visual novels are “real” videogames, about whether they’re something you play or something …
Before We Leave, a non-violent, chilled out city builder from Dunedin-based Balancing Monkey Games is making its way to Steam on May 13, thanks to a new partnership with Team17. Taking place in the aftermath of an apocalypse, Before We Leave is all about building a thriving settlement full of …
“What the fuck? There’s literally no possible way to win this fight. I know I said that before, but this time it really, truly is impossible.” I think I’ve said words along those lines (or more… colourful variants) in just about every turn I’ve taken in Quinterra. Not as a …
There’s a lot to be said about the comfort of a daily routine. When life gets chaotic, routine can keep you grounded, give you something solid to hold on to in the middle of a storm. The more enjoyable and less demanding, the better: reading a few pages of a …
From LittleBigPlanet and Kirby’s Epic Yarn to Yoshi’s Woolly World and Sackboy: A Big Adventure, it seems like “textile-themed platformers” are becoming a genre of their own—as oddly specific as that may seem. It’s this trend that Where’s Samantha? jumps on, and while it lacks the budget and refinement of …
This morning, Nintendo held its latest Indie World Showcase, unveiling a swathe of indie games making their way to Switch in the next year or so. In true Nintendo Direct fashion, it was a no-nonsense show focused on reveal after reveal, without much faffing around in between. There were plenty …
The steady stream of chilled-out farming games continues with Deiland: Pocket Planet Edition. Coming from Chibig, the studio behind last year’s charming (if a little rough) Summer in Mara, it’s a “reimagining” of a remake of their very first game—what started as a humble mobile game got remade for PlayStation …
Plenty of games dive head-first into the eternal question about the meaning of life. Plenty of games tell stories about redemption, about what people will do to clear a guilty conscience. But I’ve never played anything that explores these themes quite like Adios; it turns out that a short-form story …
One of my favourite things about Touhou is just how creative the fangame community gets with it. There’s Touhou mahjong, Touhou rhythm games, Touhou metroidvanias, Touhou roguelikes, Touhou RPGs … so why not a Touhou kart-racing game? Cue Gensou SkyDrift, a game that pits the delightful residents of Gensokyo against …
