It's one of those curious coincidences that in the same month that Control featured strange invasions fuelled by beings from something labelled "the astral plane", Astral Chain should emerge with exactly the same basic concept and language. The similarities effectively end there, though both do feature a degree of mystery and otherworldliness. Where Control is … Continue reading Astral Chain
There's space for a lot more mystery in mainstream games - for fewer precise map-markers and arrow-straight narratives. Remedy's Control seems to be fighting that tide of conventions, for as much as it's also a conventionally impressive third-person shooter. You play Jesse Faden, a mysterious young woman arriving at the equally mysterious Federal Bureau of … Continue reading Control
I get it. I get the draw of it all. The challenge that feels insurmountable, before rearranging itself into beatable patterns over time, all funnelling into the dramatic catharsis of victory. Soulsborne games (is that moniker still current, given the latest entry?) demand precision, dedication and care, and reward players with drips of mythic story … Continue reading I’ve given up on Sekiro, and I’m not sorry
With a near-perfectly pitched level of difficulty, Celeste is an enjoyable, simply-told parable of self-belief and perseverance. Its emotional insight has been overstated, but it is nonetheless a compelling package. Players take control of Madeline, a young woman seeking to climb the mysterious Celeste Mountain. It doesn't take long to realise that she's seeking a … Continue reading Celeste
2018 was a good year for games. Red Dead Redemption II, oddly reluctantly and despite its overlong story, offered extended periods of exploratory calm that offered glimpses of gaming's true potential. Hollow Knight's Switch port paired a sublime game with the perfect platform, and offered a superlative sense of discovery and risk. Spider-Man wonderfully perfected its … Continue reading God of War – 2018’s Game of the Year
Guest post by Tom Franklin In 2004, Spider-Man 2 was released for the Xbox, PS2 and Gamecube. Based on the Sam Raimi film of the same year, it has for over a decade been held up as the shining example of games based around everyone’s favourite wallcrawler. Finally, it has been surpassed by Insomniac Games’ … Continue reading Spider-Man
Scrabbling desperately through narrow tunnels gives way incrementally to empowered exploration and secret-sweeping in Team Cherry’s excellent Hollow Knight, re-released to fanfare on Switch. This is a medtroidvania dungeon-crawler that stands alongside greats of the genre. In a subterranean world of insects, players play a diminutive knight armed only with a rusted nail, who awakens … Continue reading Hollow Knight
David Cage’s reputation is a slippery thing; industry punching bag, egotistical oddity, potential visionary – all these labels swirl around him depending on the audience. His latest game, Detroit: Become Human has been welcomed as his most well-rounded and playable yet. His previous, Beyond: Two Souls, is a hot mess. Cage is clear in his … Continue reading Beyond: Two Souls
Gameplay excellence and narrative madness have been comfortable bedfellows for videogames over the decades. As the form found its feet, expectations of competent storytelling grew only slowly, and are still remarkably forgiving. Bayonetta and its sequel, re-released this year for Nintendo’s Switch, exemplify this divide. Their combo-chaining fighting gameplay is responsive and accessible, scaling to … Continue reading Bayonetta & Bayonetta 2
Subsurface Circular is a curious and promising artefact (now followed by Quarantine Circular) that layers simple visuals and effective sound onto what is essentially a nicely crafted linear text adventure. Circular’s world is one of ubiquitous automation; an underclass of variously sentient robots and AIs run manufacturing and processing functions for society, while only ‘management’ is left … Continue reading Subsurface Circular
