In most platforming games, you’re fighting against the world around you. You’re trying to beat a level, nail a seemingly impossible series of jumps, or defeat a powerful boss. But even though Yoshi and the Mysterious Book uses familiar gameplay – you traverse the world by jumping, climbing, and, uh, eating – it reframes your […]
Zero Parades: For Dead Spies wants you to question the price of forgiveness. After leading a crew of spies through a failed operation, protagonist Cascade is willing to pay whatever amount is needed to reestablish contact not just with fellow agents, but with the friends she let down. After being “frozen” for five years and […]
Playing Mixtape is like playing a video game version of a high school movie. Kids banter about the meaning of life and the theme songs that would play when they walk in a room. They’re worried about looking cool at a big party. They’re obsessed with finding booze. But under all of those tropes is […]
For the last week, I’ve spent every evening unwinding by speeding through the Japanese countryside, blaring Babymetal as I take in the sights. Forza Horizon 6 is ostensibly a racing game, one in which you play an up-and-coming driver intent on making a name for themselves. But, like the rest of the series, it’s also […]
Water gets all the credit. When gaming companies want to show off new graphics technology, things tend to get wet; splashing waves that are only possible with the latest physics engine, or puddles that can reflect the world around them thanks to ray tracing. But there’s something special about snow. It might not be as […]
It took me a while to get into Esoteric Ebb, a new CRPG from developer Christoffer Bodegård. The elevator pitch is basically Disco Elysium, but in the fantasy style of Dungeons & Dragons: You play as a cleric wandering around a small town who’s trying to figure out, among other things, the mystery of why […]
The last few weeks have bordered on overwhelming for science fiction fans. While Project Hail Mary is dominating the box office, For All Mankind is currently in the midst of its penultimate season, with a spinoff streaming next month. When it comes to games, Capcom kicked off a new sci-fi franchise with Pragmata, and Housemarque […]
The alien world of Saros feels like it has been touched by King Midas. The sky is golden after another impossibly frequent solar eclipse; rocks, specifically those of the precious resource Lucenite, radiate a shimmering amber. Even the body of our gruff hero Arjun Devraj (played by Rahul Kohli) is liable to turn deep, opulent […]
The first rule of Titanium Court is that you can’t explain Titanium Court. Not because we’re living under the omerta of an 8-bit Fight Club, but because it’s one truth I can stand by. For the past week, I’ve been facing the consequences of getting isekai’d into a digital pastiche of the entire history of […]
When Vampire Survivors first exploded onto the scene, it was pretty much all I could think about. The formula of jumping into runs, taking on thousands of enemies, and becoming absurdly overpowered kept me picking up the game again and again – Steam says I’ve played it for more than 60 hours. Over time, though, […]