I buckle a mean swash

If you were a friend of mine around the launch of the Special Edition of Secret of Monkey Island, I probably tried to thrust it upon you. I was in the midst of exploring the point-and-click adventure genre, as I had passed it by when I was young, and Secret of Monkey Island was the new high point. Maniac Mansion is a wonderfully well-designed puzzle box, but Secret of Monkey Island is a symphony. Its puzzle design is near perfect, and its humorous sc??ript makes it extraordinarily rewarding to solve them.

Monkey Island 2 might be better than that, but following those two hits, the series took a dive. Curse of Monkey Island, Escape from Monkey Island, and Tales of Monkey Island are all fine. Okay even. But the first two games weren’t fine, they w??ere magic.

So Ron Gilbert has rejoined Dave Grossman on the series and has promised to deliver Monkey Island back to its lofty status. Well, I don’t remember him saying that; he probably didn’t. However, that’s how us fans all took it. But can Return to Monkey Island really live up to those classic titles?

Return to Monkey Island (PC [Reviewed], Nintendo Switch)
Developer: Terrible Toybox
Publisher: Devolver Digital
Released: September 19, 2022
MSRP: $24.99

Leading up to launch, I heard a lot of speculation about Return to Monkey Island ignoring everything after the second game and being a direct sequel to LeChuck’s Revenge. I want to be clear here, that is not the case. I don’t know that it needed to be the case because the Monkey Island continuity was hardly ever perverted. The first two games d?idn’t start some overarching narrative that was fumbled when handed to other teams. They were dumb, self-aware pirate tales. There’s even a joke early on that the games are typically bad with conclusions.

No. Murray the Skull has returned, Elaine and Guybrush are already married, and Guybrush even recalls a situation from Tales of Monkey Island. Do you need to have played those games to appreciate Return to Monkey Island? No, but also yes. Return to Monkey Island leans heav??????????????????????????ily into self-reference. Much of the adventure takes place in locations from the first game, and characters from those turn up. So many of the jokes lean on the “good ‘ol days�that I’m not sure I would have appreciated them as much if I had missed out. Considering my memory is foggy of some of the later titles, I probably missed ??a fair few, even as a fan.

[embed]//youtu.be/nKub-41C0BE[/embed]

You look like a guy without many options

The story has Guybrush Threepwood recalling a tale to his son. This time, it’s on the subject of the Secret of Monkey Island. But not that one time he did it, this is a different time. He arrives back on Melee Island to assemble a crew and fund another expedition to the island. This time it’s different! There’s a different assortment of pirate leaders, and he secures passage in another way. No, I lied, it’s about as inconsequential as the other Monkey Island narratives.

Being back on Melee Island gives the game an excuse to roll out an assortment of returning characters. Return to Monkey Island eventually does set sail, only to return back. I guess what I??’m saying is to keep expectations very low on what kind of story is being delivered here.

On the other hand, I’m happy to report that the puzzle design is about where it used to be. You can choose to play on an easier “casual�mode that cuts down on the puzzle complexity. I didn’t check it out because I’m not certain why I’d want to play an adventure game with fewer puzzles. I’d recommend you do the same since there’s also a hint book available in-game to prevent you from running circles. It’s pretty handy; first pointing you in the direction of where you’re looking, then giving more and more hints until it outright tells you. There’s nothing as obtuse as Monkey Island 2’s infamous “use monkey on pump�puzzle, so if you’re comfortable with?? �0s adventure games, you’ll be fine here.

Use pamphlet on ghost pirate

The humor is also on point, even if it does stick its thumb out to previous games a bit too much. When left to its own devices, Return to Monkey Island has some sharp insight into the world and humanity’s more selfish side. Guybrush himself has a habit of ruining lives just to further his personal goals, and it’s really given the spotlight. It’s less wacky than the latter-day Monkey Islands and closer to the sharp wit of the first two titles, and I think that’s what?????????????????????????? I and a lot of other fans were hoping ?for.

It also marks the return of Dominic Armato to the role of Guybrush’s voice. While he di??dn’t ?take on the identity until the third game, he’s sort of become the de facto voice of Guybrush. He has this sort of ineffectual front that makes him seem naive while secretly being dizzyingly acidic. He’ll charm you with his naivety, then steal a precious family heirloom just to ruin it to get an item of questionable value.

Other big voices make their return, but since so?? much time is spent listening to Guybrush and so little of it on the other characters, Domin??ic’s return is rather key.

No, you say bye first

The big question here is if Return to Monkey Island manages to reach the quality of the original classic titles. The answer is ye?s, but also no. This is absolutely the closest the series has come to returning to its pinnacle. The puzzle design, the charm, and the game’s flow are all pretty much spot on. Above all, the humor is still as sharp as a shattered Jolly Rancher,?? landing a lot of chuckle-worthy strikes.

However, it’s the third time this joke has been told, and time hasn’t made it any fresher. So much of Return to Monkey Island is callbacks that it doesn’t feel like it stands on its own. It’s an excellent companio??n piece for the other games, and a love letter to the fans of the series, but I also feel like it takes a few jabs at them. I can only ever see myself playing it again in sequence with t??he rest of the series. At the same time, it’s a breath of fresh air after the middling titles we’ve been given since 1991. At least we can stop holding our breath and laugh again.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

The post Review: Return to Monkey Island appeared first on Destructoid.

Punch ’n�Click

Several years ago, back when covering PlayStation Vita games was still a viable option for gaming websites, I took a chance on a review for an indie adventure game called Demetrios: The Big Cynical Adventure. Not to rehash bad memories, but like many of the reviews I go out on my own to find, I didn’t care for it too much. Clearly, others did. The game has been ported to just about every major piece of hardware on the market, including a 4K version on the PlayStation 5 and Japanese localization on the eShop.

While the game’s creator, Fabrice Breton, and I didn’t see eye to eye on the game, several months after my review was published, he invited me to take an extremely early look at his next project. Squeezing out an unoptimized Mac version of the demo, I thought the concept of combining the classic point-and-click puzzle solving of Demetrios with a beat-'em-up action game showed some promise. It was a bit rough around th?e edges, but its potential was extraordinary. I wished him good luck with the project, not really knowing if I wou?ld even be writing for Destructoid by the time it came out.

Five years and some change later, I’m still here, and tha?t little demo has blossomed into a full-fledged game that might be worthy of being on your wishlist?.

BROK the InvestiGator (PC)
Developer: COWCAT Games
Publisher: COWCAT Games
Released: August 26, 2022
MSRP: $19.99

BROK the InvestiGator is an example of a game where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. It’s set in a dystopian world where society is divided into two groups: the Drumers, those who live in a domed city where life is pretty easy, and the Slumers, those poor unfortunate souls who have to survive in the toxic wasteland that surrounds the dome. Set over a tumultuous three-day period, players will take control of two characters w??hose fates are linked. Brok is an anthropomorphic alligator who works as a lowly detective for people in the slums. His adoptive cat-son, Graff, lives with him?? and is in the final week of exams at a school that will guarantee him a life in the dome if he passes. Over the course of six chapters, players will explore the lives of these two characters and the shared trauma that defines their relationship.

And actually, the game goes harder into the trauma than thought it would. Brok is continually haunte??d by nightmares of a fuzzy past he may not fully rem?ember. Graff tackles unanswered questions about his parents while trying to escape the hell that is the slums. Their journey together will shine a light on some of the revelations of their past. I think the narrative handles these concepts with care even if the dialogue for some characters could use a little brushing up.

Except for RJ. He’s perfect in every way.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=pG6t21-Yfys

Fight with your brain and your fists

For both Brok and Graff, players will make their way through the world in classic point-and-click adventure fashion. You’ll talk to a lot of different characters, complete some intelligently conceived puzzles, and collect clues to solve the mysteries Brok is faced with. You’ll also need to find time to help strangers, pay bills, and do a little fighting, and I’ll be honest, getting the best ending for this game will probably require multiple playthroughs or extensive use of the game’s many save slots. BROK can be a bit brutal with how it doesn’t let you fix your mistakes, but it isn’t unnecessarily unreasonable. Just be sure not to accidenta?lly kill someone like I did.

That “whoopsie�death happened when I inadvertently hit the button to switch Brok to his action stance, which constitutes the “punch�of this punch ’n�click adventure. Brok and Graff can do a little fighting throughout the game and they’re pretty decent at it. Both characters feature a simple one-button combo with a few special attacks, but there are some significant differences in their abilities. Graff is far more capable of fighting in the air than Brok with a dive kick worthy of Iron Galaxy Studios. Most of the?? fights will have you squaring off against the different robots that are meant to keep order inside the dome, but you’ll fight some Slumers and cops as well. Or, you can? do your best to avoid the fight.

At many points in the narrative, you’ll be given two paths on how to escape a situation: with intellect or with violence. Naturally, the violent path is far easier than trying to piece together the often too-many steps you need to take to avoid a confrontation. As I said, the fighting here is pretty simple, even simpler than what we got in Super Punch Patrol. But it? holds up well. And it would hold up a lot better if Breton approached this game from a different angle.

Not always a peanut-butter-in-chocolate situation

BROK the InvestiGator is primarily a point ’n�click?? adventure title. It has the feel and presence of those classic Sierra games from the �0s. Beat-'em-up action is thrown in where possible, and for the most part, the adventure side of the game doesn’t get in its way. But when it does, it can be aggrava??ting.

Let me give you an example. In the game’s second chapter, Brok will be in jail. One of the ways you can get him out is by fighting his way through the police station. Now, the jail and police station are designed in a way that makes them ideal for an adventure game with plenty of interactive objects and some great scenic design. But for a beat-‘em-??up, they’re too clustered and claustrophobic to work that well. From the vantage point, it can be tough to tell if my characters are in the enemy’s? attack line and I had to go through a lot of game-over screens to make it through this section. If you fail enough, you will have the option to lower the difficulty, but that wouldn’t be necessary if the action portion of BROK was a bit more fine-tuned with increased immunity frames and more useful dodge.

If anything, I wish this game were developed primarily as a beat-'em-up, rather th?an an adventure game, because I think the whole package would have benefitted from that approach. I know one of the themes of the game is about avoiding violence, but when you are forced to resort to fisticuffs, it would be nice if the gameplay were the best it could be.

I want more of this

And that’s what I mean when I say BROK the InvestiGator is more than the sum of its parts. I charted little issues throughout the game (as well as one big one where it will consistently needle you if you make a mistak??e in an investigation) but none of them overshadowed everything I enjoyed about it. I really like what Fabrice Breton has put together here. He did an outstanding job bringing this world to life with outstanding character art, a well-realized world, and a story that’s worth seeing through to the end.

I think Brok is a brilliant little creation, Graff could very well be the star of his own game, and Ott, Graff’s best friend who is a half-breed, is the perfect little sidekick for this adventure. When comparing it to Breton’s previous game, this is leaps and bounds better and I would love to see this mash-up of genres further explored?? and evolved in the future.

BROK the InvestiGator is ve?ry much an experiment, but it’s an experiment that?? works. As the second title out of COWCAT Games, it shows real growth and actually has me looking forward to what comes next from this one-man studio.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

The post Review: BROK the InvestiGator appeared first on Destructoid.

This game has two buttons dedicated to the Butt-Only Alien

I think one of the reasons I fell so hard for Animal Crossing back on the GameCube was it transported me back to a simpler era in my life. In the fall of 2002, I started my senior year of high school amongst strangers as my family moved to the area just a few weeks before. It was the third and final high school of my academic career, and while in hindsight I appreciate the fact I didn’t bother to get too close to anyone because I was zipping off to college the next year, it was a less than ideal situation for an awkward dweeb on the precipice of adulthood. That’s why I spent so many hours retreating into my Animal Crossing town, spending my evenings hanging out by the river and walking through the trees just as I did when I was a kid in?? Western Washington.

To be honest, I still use Animal Crossing as an escape whenever I get fed up with life as an adult. I need that break, that opportunity to retreat into my rose-tinted memories of an uncomplicated youth where the only responsibility I had was making sure I got home before dark. Maybe it's just a form of arrested development, but the part of my brain that doesn’t want to grow up will always get excited about simple, laid-back games that lo?osely connect to those adolescent years.

That part of my brain is the reason I’ve been obsessing for the last month about the localization of Shin-chan: Me and the Professor on Summer Vacation -The Endless Seven-Day Journey- even though I couldn’t tell you a single thing about the Shin-chan manga or anime series.

Shin-chan: Me and the Professor on Summer Vacation -The Endless Seven-Day Journey- (PC, PS4, Switch [reviewed])
Developer: Millennium Kitchen, Star Factory
Publisher: Neos
Released: August 11, 2022 (Switch), August 25, 2022 (PS4), August 31, 2022 (PC)
MSRP: $39.99

Shin-chan: Me and the Professor on Summer Vacation -The Endless Seven-Day Journey- is a spin-off of the never-localized Boku no Natsuyasumi series. Developed by Millennium Kitchen, the franchise taps into those nostalgic feelings of the past by putting players in the shoes of a young boy visiting a small town for a month in 1975 (or 1985 for Boku no Natsuyasumi 4). Rather than offer players the thrills of their contemporaries, Boku no Natsuyasumi games have settled on a far more quai??nt and quiet experience, one that revolves around catch?ing bugs, going fishing, playing games, and chatting with the locals.

The formula is more or less the same with The Endless Seven-Day Journey, only it’s been given a significant dose of Crayon Shin-chan. The Nohara clan has relocated for a week to the tiny mountain town of Asso, where five-year-old Shinnosuke will spend his days exploring the beautiful countryside as various storylines play out around him. The central plot of this jaunt has to do with a wannabe evil Professor who keeps reaching back in time to transport dinosaurs to the empt??y streets of Asso.

Shinnosuke’s vacation is only supposed to be for a week, but in a fit of rage, the eponymous Professor traps him in one of those infinite time loops you might have heard about. Every time Shin and his family leave, he falls asleep and wakes up back at the beginning of his trip. Hence, the “Endless Seven-Day Journey.�It’s a pretty decent setup that ??results in a lot of good feels and neighbors banding together?? for the greater good.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfimgCLsIAk

Groundhog's Week

Because of some machinations of the narrative, you’re not really starting back at square one whenever Shin-chan loops. Everything you collect and all of the areas of Asso you unlock carry over with each reset. Additionally, the storylines you start during one week will keep going into the next, which is just one of the reasons tying the narrative to a t??????????????????????????ime loop doesn’t really work for this game. Even when you’re given a further explanation about how the time loop works, it doesn’t adequately legitimize the narrative relying on the plot d??evice rather than just extending the length of Shin-chan’s trip.

Thankfully, it’s an enjoyable trip and one I don’t mind extending long past the 10-hour run time and into New Game+. Fishing and bug collecting are the type of peaceful and stress-free activitie??s I need to unwind after these ridiculously hot summer days. Stress-free describes most of what you’ll do in Asso, from growing vegetables to taking up a job as a reporter in the local paper. For that, you just need to play the game as you would anyway?? and the stories will write themselves along the way.

The only bit of stress you’ll find in The Endless Seven-Day Journey is the dinosaur card battles. Using a simple rock-paper-scis?sors formula, you’ll do battle with neighboring kids to see who can drain their opponent’s health first. Each of the dinosaurs the Professor brings to Asso is a playable character in the game and cards you collect from chocolate boxes can be used to augment your chosen ??dinosaurs' strength or abilities. The difficulty of these battles does escalate quite a bit, and there are so many cards to collect I didn’t get a full deck until New Game+.

Unmatched Beauty

Of course, even if I did fill out my deck in my first go, I was coming back to this game anyway. The Endless Seven-Day Journey just provides a pleasant and gorgeous world to be in. The hand-drawn background art is exquisite, on par with what you see in well-funded anime films. There isn’t a corner of this game that isn’t dripping in detail, and going through it I couldn’t help but compare it to Studio Ghibli’s Only Yesterday, which also features a trip to ??the Japanese countryside.

As beautiful as the background art is, the character art is definitely an acquired taste. I’ve more or less avoided the Crayon Shin-chan manga and anime because I didn’t care for the? character designs and this game did nothing to change that. What it did do, however, is cement the fact that I’m not a fan of its humor either. Or at least, this twee country version of Shin-chan humor.

I’m not talking about the fart and butt jokes, which don’t really bother me and are prett?y sparse across the game's runtime. I’m talking about the constant mishearing and correction jokes. A charact?er says one thing. Shinnosuke repeats it back as another thing. The character gets angry with Shin-chan. It’s just that again and again until you just want these people to shut up.

Outside of the poor humor, I think this is a very well-written game with endearing characters and enjoyable dialogue. Sure, the narrative around the time-travel aspect does get a bit wobbly as you enter the home stretch of t??he story and one or two of the character arcs you’ll watch unfold do come with a bit of an ick factor attached. But beyond that, I’m pretty pleased with how these storylines play out and resolve.

I came into The Endless Seven-Day Journey expected to revel in its recreation of the leisurely days of summer. I didn’t expect I’d leave it with a whole town full of characters I’m genuinely delighted by. And that’s why I enjoyed being in this world as much as I did. It’s an altruistic bit of nicecore gaming that plays like a warm memory of youth. Even if I don’t care for Crayon Shin-chan, this is a ga??me I’m going to retur?n to when I need a break from adulting all day.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

The post Review: Shin-chan: Me and the Professor on Summer Vacation -The Endless Seven??-Day J?ourney- appeared first on Destructoid.

A replica Murder Castle that's a little too real

Supermassive Games lifted the lid on The Devil in Me, the season one finale of The Dark Pictures Anthology. It's another standalone cinematic horror adventure game with tough choices to make, and with an intriguing trap-l?aying serial killer setup, it's the most promising one yet. In a preview presentation, ??game director Tom Heaton broke it all down.

The game was largely inspired by H.H. Holmes and the World's Fair Hotel, better known as the Murder Castle. It's also drawing from cinema, including the Saw movies, Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, Psycho, Halloween, and Friday the 13th �look out for "hat tips."

"We've tried to capture that sense of claustrophobia and quiet oppression, that sense of a malevolent building, of an unknown threat around every?? corner," according ?to Heaton.

[caption id="attachment_340305" align="alignnone" width="1920"] _{Kate, the show's host, is played by Jessie Buckley.}[/caption]

The story involves a TV production company, Lonnit Entertainment, and its series "Architects of Murder." The finale is going to be about H.H. Holmes, and with a lot riding on the epi??sode, the team follows a tip about a mysterious collector's recently inherited estate, which is said to feature accurate rep??roductions of the Murder Castle's rooms.

Of course, this is a horror story �the film crew is asked to hand over their phones before entering the "hotel,??" and it's located (where else?) on a remote island. ??Here we go again.

The major players

The game's core cast is headlined by Jessie Buckley (I'm Thinking of Ending Things). There's presenter Kate Wilder, cameraman and ex-boyfriend Mark Nestor, chief grip Jamie Teirgan, documentary director Charlie Lonnit, and unfortunate new intern Erin Keenan. Stranded, they're up against a "murderous genius who considers? killing to be a work of art."

One of the do-or-die choices presented in the preview video was straight-up "Kill Kate" or "Kill Erin," so Supermassive won't be letting us off easy. Heaton mentioned that the kills in The Devil in Me are among the "most gruesome, extravagant, and over-the-top that we've ever done." As they said, they were inspired by Saw and classic slasher flicks.

From the look of it, the game's intro sequence will star Holmes himself, following the "playable prologue" formula set by prior Dark Pictures games. That should be fun.

[caption id="attachment_340303" align="alignnone" width="1920"] _{Exploring a spa that's seen better days.}[/caption]

More gameplay improvements

On the gameplay front, Supermassive designed the hotel and characters so that there's a more involved sense of exploration, whether it's climbing, jumping, or pushing boxes around. Nothing we haven't seen before in other games, sure, but a notable refinement for the slow-burn cinematic Dark Pictures series, certainly. Best of all, characters can run.

Different folks also have different items, with a purposefully "simple" inventory to consider. Erin has a directional mic �perfect for hearing through walls �while Mark can snap photos to document crimes, Charlie can jimmy drawers with a business card, Jamie's got a multimeter, and Kate has a pencil, which can shade in paper to suss out clues like that one scene from The Big Lebowski. They can trade, break, or lose their tools.

With that in mind, the puzzles look to be more involved than prior Dark Pictures games, and I am already sweating a maze section. The Devil in Me is going to be a bigger game, too �it's clocked at seven hours. Man of Medan and Little Hope were one-sitting games for me at about four-ish hours, while House of Ashes took me two sessions to complete.

[caption id="attachment_340307" align="alignnone" width="1920"] _{Expect to see lots of mannequins in the Murder Castle.}[/caption]

I've enjoyed all of these flawed-but-fun games in their own ways, some much more than others, but The Devil in Me has the most intriguing Dark Pictures setup so far by a longshot. I am so down to be toyed with by a grisly mastermin???d in their paranoid, trap-filled hotel.

The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil in Me releases on November 18, 2022, across PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. Let's keep this train rolling.

The post The Dark Picture?s Anthology: The Devil in Me has my favorite premise yet appeared first on Destructoid.

If you like to live dangerously, look for a new Min Timer option listed under QTE Speed

Quick-time events are a staple of Supermassive Games' cinematic horror adventures, but are the QTEs too easy in The Quarry? It's a more mainstream game, for sure. And while it can be annoying to botch a micro-event and have that snowball into sweeping story changes, the threat of failure ratchets up the stakes. With a new update today, Supermassive will let The Quarry players increase the speed of QTEs to ra??ise the tension.

The setting in question, Min Timer, is under QTE Speed, which is located in the Accessibility settings from The Quarry's main menu. It's only usable in single-player.

[caption id="attachment_338869" align="alignnone" width="1920"] _{Where to enable faster QTEs in The Quarry using Min Timer.}[/caption]

As the developers put it, "there are a?? multitude of outcomes you can only experience by failing QTEs, so you're likely to see scenes you might never have otherwise �don't be afraid to fail." With Min Timer enabled, "even the slightest hesitation results in gruesome death when things get hectic." Something to consider for a replay, potentially.

For players who rely on or otherwise like to use subtitles, there's a helpful new option �you can have "English voiceovers with region-specific language subtitles." Under Settings, look for Enable English Dialogue in the Audio options. This should be a standard!

Today's update also includes "general bug fixes and polish" for The Quarry.

I've heard complaints about certain achievements/trophies being finicky as hell, and I sympathize with anyone who's trying to go through that multi-playthrough gauntlet. I?f I spread that goal acros?s several years, maybe I'd be down. As is? No thanks!

If you're wondering about that campfire cartoon, surprisingly, it's in the game itself. The Quarry has some funny morbid animations to explain certain game concepts �in this case, QTEs �and they remind me of Fallout's twisted sense of humor.

The post QTEs too easy in The Quarry? There’s a harder option appeared first on Destructoid.

Sometimes it just doesn't click

My love of gaming came a little bit later in life than most, so there are a ton of well-loved games that I need to catch up on, whether they're old classics or recently-released bangers. What's nice is that there's an endless stream of hits for me to pull from, which means I've been binging titles like Pokémon, Ratchet & Clank, and Mass Effect over the past few months, just to name a few. Fo??r the most part, it's been really great to have so many games to play that knock it out of the park �playing the all-tim??e greats all in a row has me reeling over how awesome this medium is.

While I've loved a vast majority of the games I've played recently, there have been one or two that just didn't connect with me, which is a shame considering they're such well-loved titles. The prime example of this is Annapurna's smash hit from 2019, Outer Wilds. In the game, you play a??s an alien caught in a twenty-two-minute time loop as you explore n??earby planets and try to unlock the mysteries of the universe.

When I've asked people what are some must-plays that I missed out on over the past few years, Outer Wilds always seems to make the list, so I gave it a shot a little whil?e ago. People describe it as a "once in a generation gaming experience" or "one of the best adventure games ever made," and I can't miss out on something like that, right?

I can't put my finger on the exact reason why, but there's just something about that game that didn't work for me. Maybe it's the fact that space unlocks an existential horror spiral in me, or that I'm even worse at flying mechanics than I am at platforming, or that I was going through a bad depressive episode?? when I was playing it �I'll never know for sure.

I watched a video essay about the game f?rom someone who loves it, and it? all made so much sense. I could understand why it was a masterpiece and all that, but that still didn't make me want to pick it up again.

These days, it feels like we've gotten pretty combative about liking or disliking media. Something is the best, or it's the worst, and a lot of times we fall on either side of that binary. I kind of had to have this moment with Outer Wilds where I let myself be okay with not loving the game, even if I thought it was?? really cool on paper. Sometimes we don't like things �that doesn't make them bad, it means they're just not for us.

Maybe one of these days I'll rope in my friend who sings Outer Wilds' praises all the time and have h?im sit down with me and walk me through why he loves it, because I find that to be helpful when a piece of media doesn't connect?? with me. For now, though, I'll just have to be okay with the fact that there are some games that I won't really get.

So, are there any well-loved games out there that you bounce off of, or can't get yourself to finish? Wh??at's the last game you abandoned, an??d why?

Let's discuss in the comments below!

The post What’s a well-loved game you bounced off? appeared first on Destructoid.

This feature contains massive spoilers for the entirety of Stray. Do yourself a favor and go play it before you read this.

Putting the cat in catastrophe

The second I saw the announcement trailer for Stray, I knew it was a game I was going to play on release day, no questions asked. I am a cat mom, after all, so anything with a cat, let alone as a playable character, is a big win in my book. While it was pretty easy to get me on board with the premise of Stray alone, one thing I wasn't expecting was just how rich and compelling the story was going to be in this game. I mean, it was published by Annapurna so tha??t should have been my first clue, but even so, it slipped my mi??nd.

To start, the worldbuilding was incredibly detailed and made talking to NPCs, a pretty important mechanic when you're trying to gather information for your quest, a fun and surprising part of the game. It's the details that really got me, like the robot laying on the roof in the Slums looking up at the "stars" that are actually just lights on the roof of the ci??ty, or the robot in Midtown who was sitting reading a book and philosophizing about the "metaphor" of the Outside, or the grim detail that robots in jail can have their entire me?mories wiped so that they're left as the perfect model citizen.

A story in vignettes

A vast majority of the NPC?s had their own little stories, not just in what they were physically doing, but in what they thought of the city they live in and ??how they cope with being stuck there. We have a clear throughline with the cat and B-12 having their own narratives respectively, but most of what we learn about the state of the world and the underground city comes from NPCs giving us glimpses into their lives and inside their heads.

While the whole story of how the city met its demise is an interesting one, what I found most fascinating was how everyone talked about the Outside. Some were afraid of it, because it was unknown and because of the risks they would take to get there. Some were mystified by it (like the Outsiders). And some didn't even believe it existed at all. Regardless of what they thought individually, the Outside had beco?me something of a legend among?? the robots after hundreds of years in the city, and I can't say I blame them.

I also found it so interesting how the robots would speak about humans �they seemed almost sentimental about who the humans were and what they left behind. With the world seemingly in constant decline these days, I've had a lot of existential panic about the idea of humans all dying out one day. I actually find the way Stray discussed life a?fter human existence comforting?? rather than terrifying, which isn't usual for me.

One of the most charming games I've ever played

The whole game has this underlying charm that runs through everything, because it not only has a?n adorable cat protagonist and cute mechanics like scratching at carpets or taking a nap on a cozy pillow, but because it somehow manages to be really hopeful in the face of a bleak situation. All of the characters that help you along your journey, although they may be dreaming of the Outside themselves, ?selflessly put themselves in harm's way or stay behind just to keep you moving forward.

Even what you might consider the antagonist??s of the game, the sec?urity robots, weren't acting with any kind of malicious intent �the protocols that they were carrying out to keep everyone in the city are just remnants from a time when the Outside was still a dangerous place.

Hope, even in the end

What Clementine said in that final moment where she helped us escape the prison really stuck with me �even if it meant she couldn't go with us, just the idea of someone making it to the Outside was enough for her. Then, of course, there??'s the heartbreaking finale of B-12 sacrificing himself so that the cat could open the d??oor.

The image of that little orange cat curled up with his friend on the floor of the Control Room made me cry more than a game has in years. They leave us on the note that while there has been great loss, this cat, and the residents of the city, are at a new beginning full of new, beautiful possibilities. Even in a world where people have gone extinct, love and hope can still thrive, and that's one of the most comforting sentiments I c??an think of in the fa??ce of�well what we're facing.

Stray is certainly one of my favorite games not only of this year, but maybe of all time. Its story is one that I find myself still thinking about, and Stray honestly might have helped change my perspective when it comes to dreading the end of the world. It's only a matter of time before I dive back in and immerse myself in its story again, because I'm certain there are still plenty of hidden details I missed. T??here's certainly so much more to it than I was even able to touch on in this article.

Story Beat is a weekly column discussing anything and everything to do with storytelling in video games.

The post Stray has a refresh??ingly hopeful view of the end of the world appeared first on Destructoid.

It's best if you've got past experience to pull from, but this parody game also holds up on its own

One of Steam's popular new releases this week is a parody of The Witness, and whether you liked that game or ended up bouncing off it, there's fun to be had. The Looker goes to surprisingly great lengths to capture that island-exploring puzzle-solving expe??rience, except it's much more concise �above all, it just wants to make you laugh. Also, it's free!

I think it's something anyone could enjoy, but you'll likely appreciate it more if you've cracked far enough into The Witness to know that it's not just a typical "puz??zle game."

[caption id="attachment_331999" align="alignnone" width="1920"] _{The Looker's main game mechanic.}[/caption]

Just like in the source material, you'll walk around an island and look for puzzle panels to solve so that you can expand the game's?? explorable area, rinse and repeat.

The Looker's puzzle mechanic is the equivalent of a maze on a kid's placemat, and also similar to The Witness, it's a simple premise that goes to some unexpected places. If you've finished The Witness and know how its puzzles progress, you'll know what I mean to a certain extent �but it also goes a step further wit?h some funny games within a game.

It's a parody game through and through, but Subcreation Studio put enough time, energy, and care into The Looker that?? it also holds up as its own thing. I'm...? impressed!

The Looker isn't too long, and it sticks the landing

[caption id="attachment_332000" align="alignnone" width="1920"] _{One of many amusingly long-winded audio logs.}[/caption]

While not every joke or gag hit its mark, I ended up chuckling or outright laughing at a handful of them �an early one being a hint button that just kept giving me friendly non-advice. And there are some good a-ha moments, too. As much as The Looker leans into Big Shitpost Energy when?? there's an opportunity, it's an honest-to-goodness video game.

If you've got an hour (or less if you're smart!) to burn, The Looker is worth checking out. Or if you've only got five minutes to spare, Dunkey has an abbreviated playthrough.

The post The Looker is a funny, free take on The Witness appeared first on Destructoid.

Further down the rabbit hole

Welcome back! Tonight we’ll continue through the absolute fever dream that Fran Bow is turning ?out to be. It started off as a severely creepy point-and-click adventure puzzle?r, and slowly turned into a bizarre Alice in Wonderland-flavored experience.

I wonder if they'll pivot back to unsettling or if we’re headed down this rabbit hole f?or good? I found the creepier section more coheren?t than the one we left off in, so hopefully I can follow along a bit better now.

We got about halfway last time, so pop by tonight? to chill with us and see where the story ends!

Drop by Destructoid’s Twitch channel every Friday at 9:00 p.m. Eastern to hang out.

The post We’re streaming Fran Bow tonight appeared first on Destructoid.

72-hour deal in effect until June 20

As part of GOG's Summer Sale, the site is giving away free PC copies of Beautiful Desolation, a post-apoc??alyp?tic isometric adventure game with some gnarly art direction.

To claim this free-to-keep deal, you'll need to click the green button GOG's home page before 6:00 a.m. Pacific on Monday, June 20. It's a pretty generous 72-hour window.

Before we go any further?, check out this sick-looking skeleton:

[caption id="attachment_330812" align="alignnone" width="1920"] _{Just a friendly chat with a skeleton.}[/caption]

Building off its work on Stasis, Cape Town-based developer The Brotherhood released Beautiful Desolation in 2020, and now the team is gearing up to launch Stasis: Bone Totem at the end of the year; if you'?re afraid of the deep ocean, you may want to look away �or try to face your fears. This team has a knack for crafting cool isometric settings.

It's worth it for the sights alone

Generally speaking, Beautiful Desolation went under the radar, but it got good reviews and has a positive player reception, so it's a ??worthwhile free point-and-click pickup, for sure.

Here's a bit more about the story and setting from the developers: "Mark, a man out of time, searches for his lost brother Don, in a far-flung futuristic era ruled by highly advanced technologies which are both revered ??and reviled. The inhabitants of this world will help and hinder you, as you make new discoveries and navigate the spectacular African-inspired landscape. From thriving villages to crumbling cities, petrified forests, and bone-dry ocean beds, this strange new world holds a multitude of terrains to uncover."

//youtu.be/Y6AjUYpXPxE

I've seen complaints about some design elements �what's you??r tolerance for fetch quests? �but as an overall visual experience, this looks memorable.

June 20 is the deadline, and the GOG Summer Sale has another giveaway lined up.

While you're poking around, you may also want to snag Daggerfall Unity - GOG Cut, a modern take on the classic game that will feel more palatable for some Elder Scrolls fans in 2022 who want to "go back" but not all the way back. It's also free ?�"all you have to do is download the game and simply launch it," according to the team. I love a no-fuss setup.

The free games are rea?lly pilin??g up these days, huh?

The post Point-and-click fans: grab Beautiful Desolation while it’s free appeared first on Destructoid.

They've still got it

While we wait for the next entry in the Dark Pictures Anthology, Supermassive Games is dishing out even more choice-based horror in its familiar cinematic style. And this time, it's the big one �the moment fans have been waiting for since Until Dawn. From the outset, The Quarry tries to recapture that lightning in a bottle in terms of scope, story, and execution, and this?? supernatural end-of-summer-camp adventure hits the mark.

Evil is afoot, and your decisions will once? again? dictate who makes it to sunrise.

The Quarry (PC [reviewed], PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S)
Developer: Supermassive Games
Publisher: 2K Games
Released: June 10, 2022
MSRP: $59.99 / $69.99

The Quarry is a standalone new IP �it doesn't belong to Bandai Namco's Dark Pictures? series �but there are so many? shared traits. And the refinements are stacking up.

If you've been on any of Supermassive's wild rides before, you know what to expect by now �familiar faces from film and TV, lots of chatting, quieter clue-finding moments, plenty of frantic quick-time events, a guiding force in between chapters, and some gut-feeling life-or-death calls. The Quarry covers?? all of those bases, and it covers the?m well.

These games are at their best when they leverage classic horror while also infusing some modern touches, meta moments, and well-timed laughs, which can be a tough act to sustain. The best ones know when to fluctuate between tension, drama, and levity, while also seeding enough mystery to keep you speculating about where the story's headed next. The Quarry hit those marks for me?. It has some of the best-written Supermassive characters yet �a bunch of disobedient, but capable (!), teenage camp counselors trapped overnight �and a few major story t?hreads that collide in an interesting way.

I already said the magic word (supernatural), and I'll just add that The Quarry has its own fresh spin on a horror trope that I'm not spoiling. You'll figure out what it is before it's fully shown, but the way it happens is exciting, and there are more layers to wrap your head?? around before the night i??s over. The game does a good job of splitting up the protagonists into sub-groups and bouncing all around, chapter after chapter, to keep the energy up until the end. And I was surprised by how some of the NPCs fit into the bigger picture. Everything ended up being connected in an at times unpredictable, yet satisfying, way.

You'll surely recognize at least some of The Quarry's extended cast, which includes Ariel Winter, Justice Smith, Skyler Gisondo, and Ted Raimi, as well as smaller appearances from David Arquette, Lance Henriksen, and Lin Shaye. As a Twin Peaks fan, I particularly enjoyed Grace Zabriskie's (collectible) tarot card readings �she's my favorite fourth-wall-breaker yet �and also Siobh??an Williams??, who really comes into her own later in the story.

While many of The Quarry's elements can be traced back to Supermassive's prior games, I think this streamlined presentation is a step up, whether it's hazy "here's how you might die!" premonitions, extra touches like morbidly ?funny animated tutorial sequences, and new prompts. You can tone dow?n the QTEs so you never really have to worry about failing them, and there are slightly more thought-provoking moments when you can optionally interrupt someone (but maybe shouldn't...) or hold your breath in hiding (until the exact right moment when the coast is clear). The dialogue flows well, and I chuckled a bunch.

As for the branching story, when I hit the credits, I immediately wondered how things could've gone off the rails in a totally different way based on any singular decision. Throughout the game, you'll see "Path Chosen" pop-ups after significant (and seemingly insignificant) events, which you can track in a nice visual way in the pause menu, though it's often tricky to suss out what's next. When making ?choices, figuring out whether or not to trust your gut is a big part of the fun. Sometimes, the safe choice is super dangerous.

My most anxious moment involved dropping an important ite??m in a lake at night with razor wire swaying under the surface. I'm shuddering just thinking about it.

Not everyone will want to pay the full premium price at launch for a cinematic horror game like this, and I feel like that's worth acknowledging �it's fair to bring ??up. The value will vary from one person to the next, especially if you're not playing in a group, which is often the ideal way to go. One of the main questions is undoubtedly going to be "how long is?? it?"

Playing alone, The Quarry took me around nine hours, though I missed quite a few world-building collectibles, and spent some extra time replaying sequences with the Death Rewind feature, which can kick you pretty far back depending on the circumstances. Your runtime will depend on your ch??oices, your thoroughness during exploration, and the game mode. There's solo, couch co-op, a streamlined sit-back-and-watch Movie Mode, and online multiplayer (which is coming out after launch due to a last-minute delay).

To give a better sense of the game's scope, there's a decently long prologue and ten chapters. You'll want to get cozy, because The Quarry is likely a three-sitting game. I originally planned to squeeze it? into two nights, but I'm so glad I spread it out. Several scenes would've been too much of a slow burn for me without a breather, though your patience �or group setting �might make a marathon session more ?feasible.

I don't want to say many specifics about the setting, but Hackett's Quarry has a nice spread, with plenty of variety, s?o don't think it's "just a campsite." Even though this is a linear game that funnels you from scene to scene, it has an appropriately big presence.

Despite the Dark Pictures Anthology's unevenness and some frustrating tonal choices (sorry to open that can of worms again), I've been down for every Supermassive horror game so far. Even when they don't blow me away, they're still enjoyable. I'm happy to say that The Quarry is easily at or above Until Dawn, and while it doesn't have quite the same impact �the formula isn't as fresh at this point �it's a much more refined game.?? It taps into comfy '80s horror nostalgia while feeling modern and standing on its own two feet.

There are more ways than ever to adjust the challenge to your liking with granular accessibility settings, and the story has fun tricks up its sleeve for horror fans to untangle as they try to snap together the different story pieces in play. I'm also shocked by just how good these production values have gotten �depending on the framing and lighting conditions, certain shots approach photo-realism for me. I wasn't sure I'd mesh well with all nine of the tee?nage protagonists, and they did need to grow on me (and one never did), but they all ended up being memorable in their own way. Though there's a lot of upfront banter, some of which lands well, and some of which is groan-worthy, the counselors are layered, and it's interesting to think through the choices that dictate their future.

While I can't say I'm dying to do another full playthrough immediately �this is not a short game! �I will say I was into The Quarry just about every step of the way. I'm stoked to see some alternate pathways and gnarly deaths when they ?pop up on YouTube, and I'll do a second run sooner than later. I'll be in the mood again by Halloween for sure.

The Quarry is just as go?od as I was hoping it would be, and that's a pleasant surpri??se.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game purchased by the author.]}

The post Review: The Quarry appeared first on Destructoid.

Fast travel? Sign me up!

Have you ever done that thing where you've played a game too much, and then when you go out into the real world, you find yourself wishing you could use a game mechanic in real life? The example that always comes to mind for me is Breath of the Wild.

I first played it when I was in college in South Carolina, and because I lived near the Blue Ridge Parkway, I was also going on a ?lot of hikes at the time. Now when I got to the top of the mountain, I kept having this impulse to want to jump off, because of course my paraglider would take me safely to the ground below. Thankfully I never gave into that impulse, but I couldn't stop thinking about how fun it would have been to actually get to just pull a glider out of my pocket and enjoy a nice ride with a beautiful view, especially when I felt too tired to walk back down the mountain ??again.

The glider is just one of many popular game mechanics that could prove to be really usefu??l in rea?l life. Over the years games have implemented all kinds of gameplay ideas to either make our experiences more convenient or fun, and now I'm kind of wishing some of these were a part of my day-to-day. Take fast travel for example.

Although there is some debate about which game was the first ever to implement fast travel, one thing we do know for sure is that it's a mechanic that has become prevalent in a myriad of genres, and is pretty much always offered these days in games that require you to cover large maps. I feel like I don??'t even need to tell anyone to imagine what it would be like to actually fast travel, because we've all daydreamed about teleportation at one point or another to mitigate the time and hassle that comes with real traveling.

Of course, the fun of this exercise is that we're still sticking to the rules that? games lay out �so you'd only be able to travel to lo??cations you're already been to.

Or maybe if you opted to go for being able to use an inventory system for a game in real life, you'd be able to carry way more stuff than you usually would without it getting in your ?way, but you'd still have to adhere to ??the weight limits.

As someone who struggles with insomnia pretty regularly, I'd also love to be able to set how long I want to sleep and just do it. Of course, I might not be able to wake up in the middle of the night if I need to. Maybe you could opt into having dialogue choices when you don't know what else to say �but of course, you'd have to go with whatever choices the powers that be gave you, which can sometimes complicate things.

I'm sure there are tons of other ??examples I haven't even thought of, so I want to know: which game mechanic would you choose to have in real life if you could?

The post What video game mechanic do you wis?h you could use in real life? appeared first on Destructoid.

Hopes are sky high

I don't think I'm alone in saying that Tales from the Borderlands was far and away my favorite Telltale game. The quality of the writing and characters was amazing, and it set the standard for choice-based adventures for years to come. When the news dropped this week that Gearbox is working on another Tales game inter?nally, everyone kind of freaked out, myself included. But even with the bare-bones information we have right now, I have a lot of thoughts about the game. I've had enough t??ime to think about it, haven't I?

The original Tales from the Borderlands came out in five episodes over the course of 2014-2015, and without giving away too muc??h, the game en??ded on an ambiguous note, leaving room for a potential sequel in the future. My automatic assumption was that they'd be picking up right where the first game left off, but after thinking it through a bit more, I'm apprehensive.

//twit??ter.com/JayShoc??kblast/status/1517228741721825282

The game's publisher, 2K, said itself that the ?game will feature "new characters and new stories." That kind of makes me nervous.

So much of what made t??he first game so great were its characters, their relationships to each other, and the performances the actors gave. Starting over from scratch when it comes to character is by no means impossible, but it would mean Gearbox putting themselves in a situation where they have even bigger shoes to fill.

Of course, that may not have been a conscious decision on their part �it's possible that they couldn't get some of the cast back for another game all these years later (Laura Bailey and Troy Baker are in high demand, after all). Legal stuff also got pretty screwy given the way Telltale shut down, so it's possible they weren't allowed to use some of the same characters from the first game due to logistics (although Rhys was a fairly prominent character in Borderlands 3).

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="1280"] _{[Image Source: PlayStation LifeStyle]}[/caption]As our very own Jordan Devore pointed out, we also have no idea if anyone from the original Tales team will be working on the new title?, so there's no saying whether it will have nearly ?the same quality when it comes to its tone and humor.

One potential upside that shines through this haze of uncertainty is that the game will likely be developed on a brand new engine, which would be a huge upgrade considering how rickety Telltale's old one was. Players have been complaining for years about the outdated systems, and former Telltale developers expressed their desire to update the engine so they could update how the games feel to play and add all-new features to the tried and true Te?lltale formula.

The devs at the newly-revived Telltale Games discussed ditching the old engine to make way for Unity all the way back in 2018. Of course, the "new" Telltale is a very different case than however Gearbox is working on the game in-house, but either way, it's pretty safe to assume Tales is being developed on a new engi??ne. So regardless of?? how the game turns out, hopefully we have that to look forward to, right? ...right?

My take is that if for any reason, Rhys and co. are nowhere to be found in the new game, I'm okay with that. As much of a bummer it would be to not see that story continued when I was so invested,?? I'd rather see a whole new cas??t of characters than nothing at all.

I will say that above all else, my biggest wish is to keep the awesome musical intros for each episode, because?? those are honestly my favorite uses of licensed music in any piece of media ever.

In the end, I really have no idea what to expect. I'm doing my best to keep my hopes as low as possible so as not to be disappointed, but Tales from the Borderlands really meant a lot to me when I first played it back in like 2016, and regardless of what Gearbox does, there will be no escape from fan expecta?tions. Now here's to hoping they can deliver.

//www.tiktok.com/@destructoid/video/7093205021864594693?is_from_web??app=1&sender_device=p??c&web_id=7052788164067706373

The post What can we expect from the?? new Tales from?? the Borderlands game? appeared first on Destructoid.

"With new characters and new stories"

Whether you're into the main Borderlands series or not, plenty of us could pluck Tales from the Borderlands out of the Telltale Games catalog and consider it to be one of the best choice-based adventure titles. It turned out so much better than I excepted thanks to its funny writin??g and charm. Now, Gearbox is taking a crack at the spin-off with a new game.

Announced during PAX East 2022, there's a new Tales from the Borderlands game on the way from Gearbox Software and publisher 2K. It's coming?? out this? year, surprisingly.

//twitter.com/Borderla??nds/status/1517?228560272003072

As the official tweet says, more details will be shared this summer �presumably at Geoff Keighley's Summer Game Fest. There's little to go on other than name recognition, but according to 2K, the game will star "new characters" and tell "new stories."

While the Telltale that came up with the original Tales from the Borderlands is no more, we have seen the company name �and certain series like The Wolf Among Us �live on.

In this case, 2022's Tales from the Borderlands game is developed internally at Gearbox Software, so while it will hopefully still capture what made the first game great, there are no guarantees it'll be another fan-favorite standout. That said, Tiny Tina's Wonderlands turned out better than expected, so there's some small hope it can win me over.

Honestly, no matter who's developing it �or writing it, or voicing it �expectations would be high. For me, it was one of those lightning-in-a-bottle moments. If you never got around to playing Borderlands 3, it's worth mentioning that Tales protagonist Rhys made a fairly significant appearance in the main story as the CEO of Atlas. So, Gearbox picking up Tales from the Borderlands in-house isn't completely out of left field.

Between the main series, side projects, and the movie, Borderlands is busy earnin'. Of all the?? upcoming projects, though, this is the one I want to turn out the best.

The post Gearbox is bringing back Tales from the Borderlands in 20?22 appeared first on Destructoid.

More console versions are here following the initial PC and Nintendo Switch launch

DigixArt and Ravenscourt launched Road 96 on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S today, and the cycle is complete �it's everywhere it needs to be! The game is $19.99 on the PlayStation Store and Microsoft Store, and the cross-gen versions are bundled up.

Road 96 is a branching road-trip narrative adventure that hasn't left my mind since I played it last year. For all of its quirks and kinks and less-than-ideal baseline performance on Nintendo Switch, I had such a messy, memorable time carving my way through the tumultuous nation of Petria in search of a brighter future across the border. Road 96 is going to be a swing and a miss for a lot of people, but it can also really resonate �at least, it did for me! And?? if you've been waiting on more console ports, the time is now.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOZwxREy0c8

It's one of those games that truly goes for it, and while that approach can fall f?lat whe?n too many elements miss the mark, collectively, I had a good time.

With cornball characters and dramatic story events swinging back and forth between intentional and (seemingly) unintentional humor, it's interesting to hear how the creators think of Road 96. In the PlayStation and Xbox port announcement, the studio describes "moments of action, exploration, contemplative melancholy, human encounters, an??d wacky situations." That's... very accurate! This is a road trip ?game in more ways than one.

In real life, I can't get in a car and drive �or even ride! �for any solid chunk of time without something going wrong. A missed turn. An awkward course correction. A general sense that "this can't possibly be the fastest way there." Shenanigans, every damn ti?me.

In the exaggerated, cartoonish, yet highly political world of Road 96, I feel right at home? as a wayward teen who has to deal with detours every step of th??e way.

Just keep your cool in the taxi.

The post Road 96 brings chaotic road trips to PS4, PS5, a??nd Xbox today appeared first on Destructoid.

The beloved series makes a triumphant return

Of all the games in the point-and-click genre, the Monkey Island series is up there as being one of the most classic. The first four games in the series were created by George Lucas' video game studio LucasArts (now known as Lucasfilm Games), and are known for their witty dialogue and challenging puzzles. Now, thirteen years after the last release in the series, Monkey Island's original director Ron Gilbert and publisher Devolver Digital have announced that they have a new title, Return to Monkey Island, releasing in 2022.

In addition to Gilbert's return, other developers attached to the project include original co-writer Dave Grossman, and composers from LucasArts Michael Land, Michael McConnell, and Clint Bajakian. Tim Schafer, another Monkey Island co-founder now known for creating the Psychonauts series with his?? studio Dou?ble Fine, will not be rejoining the team.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=sahskKAxSCY

Devolver Digital released a teaser trailer on their YouTube channel, which basically serves as a cute way to drop the news by way of a little animated scene, as opposed to showing us anything substantial about what the game will be like. If it's any indication of what the art of Return to Monkey Island is going to look like, though, I thin?k we have a lot to look forward to.

While Return to Monkey Island will technically be the sixth game released in the series, it will serve as a direct sequel to the second game, Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge, which was originally released in 1991. After taking to Twitter, Gilbert shared that he and his team at Terrible Toybox have been working on the game "in complete secrecy," and while he may want Disney to sell him the Monkey Island IP, this is certainly the next best thing.

_{[Featured Image Source: NME]}

The post Return to Monkey Island is coming from the series’ original director appeared first on Destructoid.

Welcome to a dystopian take on New Orleans

When I played a preview of NORCO last year, I was tentatively excited to play the rest of the game. It had the makings of a really cool experience, but I've also been let down by such promising beginnings before. I'm?? still reeling after finishing the game, but one thing I can say for certain is that this is easily my favorite game I've played so far this year.

Just as I said after playing that preview, NORCO is a really bizarre game. However, it doesn't fall into the trap of being weird just for the sake of it �it uses its strangeness to un??settle you in ways that tie into the game's main ?themes really well. Every plot point and character is nuanced, and the game sympathizes with each idea it introduces, regardless of how ugly or off-putting or pathetic it may seem at the outset.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFVhJNfnxCY

NORCO (PC)
Developer: Geography of Robots
Publisher: Raw Fury
Released: March 24, 2022
MSRP: $14.99

The visuals in NORCO are some of the most stunning and evocative I've seen in a game in a long time, and it has some of the most beautiful pixel art I've ever seen. It's moody and atmospheric, feeling like a real space that these characters inhabit, while at other ti??mes, the visuals are trippy, otherworldly, and grotesque. It walks a fine line between reality and fantasy, and I felt that it balanced the two perfectly, whether it was in the writing, visuals, or gameplay.

Genre fiction at its finest

As a piece of genre fiction, NORCO does an excellent job of using its genre to say something meaningful about our present time outside of just being an enjoyable point-and-click mystery game set in the Deep South. The game creates this incredi?ble sense of futility, dread, and inevitability. It's a portrait of people who are just trying to get by to the best of their abilities, and ??the acceptance of a life that they didn't envision for themselves.

It's about life feeling different than you wanted it to,?? something that really hits home in the midst of a global pandemic, and the developers were able to perfectly capture that struggle of wanting the world and the future to be better, but also feeling the world push back when one tries to bring about any sort of change.

NORCO also has one of the best implementations of phones I've seen in a game, not just in gameplay, but in the story as well. It never feels like a mechanic that was implemented for superficial reaso?ns, but instead feels like a natural extension of the characters and how they interact with the world. It somehow manages t??o critique our over-connectedness, as well as the predatory corporations that run the apps that we use all too often, while also still understanding why we use them, and sometimes really enjoy them, in the first place.

Southern Gothic meets magical realism

And the writing �ugh, ?it's so good! It's poetic and whimsical and dark, and feels evocative of other Southern writers like William Faulkner or Flannery O'Connor, but with a nihilistic sci-fi twist. The characters all feel so alive and dynamic, even if we only see them for a second, and when the prose gets more abstract, it really does feel like you're reading poetry.

As someone who is from the South and absolutely adores Southern Gothic, NORCO truly feels like a love letter to both its genre and its setting. Like I said, you can see clear inspirations from Southern writers of the twentieth century, and the story dives deep into the ecological and geographical characteristics of New Orleans, and the reciprocal relationships between the big corporations, the land, and the people who inhabit?? it.

I can also feel clear parallels to another Southern Gothic game that leans into magical realism: Kentucky Route Zero. Even with all of its influences, though, NORCO manages to carve out its own space and identity, not just in the games industry, but in the Southern Gothic canon as a whole. I can't think of anything else that feels quite ??like it, and it's a game that I know I'm going t?o be thinking about for weeks to come.

A few small things

I do have a? few gripes, although they're relatively small compared to the rest of the game. There were places where I felt the gameplay dragged a bit, mostly because of set pieces that felt slightly out of place for being too "game-y." It broke immersion a bit when characters would stop what they were doing to explain and re-explain gameplay mechanics to me, but it only happened a few times over the course of the game's run time.

I will say that NORCO is designed in a way that it doesn't let you feel lost very easily, which can often be the case for point-and-click games. I didn't have to spend a lot of time backtracking or trying to figure something out, and while a few moments felt a little hand-holdy, I'd rather have that than a game that throws me into the deep end all by myself. First and foremost, NORCO is a story gam??e, so prioritizing progressing the narrative over stumping players was a smart move on the developers??' part.

NORCO takes you on a wild, bizarre journey that makes you feel like you've really gone through something when you come out the other side. In a sea of point-and-click narrative adventures, it oozes style, polish, and earnestnes?s in a way that makes me think it will become a staple of the genre in years to come.

Geography of Robots may be a studio that's still in its early days, but after playing this game, you'd think they're seasoned pros. When I get excited about video games' potential in what they can do as a brand new storytelling medium, NORCO is exactly the kind of experience I envision.

The post Review: NORCO appeared first on Destructoid.

Is it too much to ask for the real treasure to be the friends we made along the way?

Aside from games, reading is my other favorite pastime. I've gotten through quite a few books this year, with most of them falling into the young adult or children's literature genres, and t?his got me t??hinking -- why don't we have more games like this?

For as long as I've played games, there seems to be a clear divide between games that are made for kids and games that are made for adults. Kids' games are often simple, and pretty pristine in terms of subject matter, but developers do a good job of making them equally fun for adults. Good examples of this are Minecraft, Animal Crossing, and the Super Mario franchise.

Then we have, well, the majority of the gaming market, which are games made for adults and adults only. They're usually very violent, have lots of swearing, sexually explicit content, et cetera. If you've been around this industry for more than like two days, you know the drill. Older kids and young adults can technically play titles like Uncharted, Horizon Zero Dawn, and God of War, but those are still about adults doing adult things that a younger audience can't really relate to. Games like Fortnite, Grand Theft Auto, and Call of Duty are among the most popular AAA games that children are also p??laying �and those titles are chalked full of enough adult themes to leave any kid? traumatized.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="1200"] _{[Image Source: Polygon]}[/caption]Now don't get me wrong, this is far from a pearl-clutching moment; I love and play those "explicit"? games all?? the time. However, my inner child can't help but notice that there's a discrepancy in the type of content game studios are putting out there. The YA genre is a huge part of the film and literature industries, but it's something that games rarely seem to touch.

Of all the books I've ever read, some of my absolute favorites are series like Harry Potter, His Dark Materials, The City of Ember, and Gregor the Overlander. I have a real affinity for these sort of coming-of-age adventure stories, and unless I'm missing something big, I don't see much of that at all in the games industry. I like stories about revenge, murder, or other intense adult things as much as the next person, but these types of "children's" tales have a certain hope and optimism that I'm m??issing from games.

I guess the closest thing I can think of to what I'm describing is Breath of the Wild, but that game's narrative was a bit bare. I've been told Pokemon fills this role for a lot of people, but unfortunately I missed that boat growing up so I can't speak to the franchises' impact as much. There's also The Walking Dead Telltale series where the player gets to watch Clementine grow up, but those games are so bleak and sad, they still don't quite scratch that itch for me. Minecraft is pretty YA-friendly, but it's a bit too open-ended. I'm asking for something that's specifically story-driven, because I want a game to take me on a ride sometimes, rather than making my own fu?n. I know I'm being picky, but it's my column and I'll do what I want.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="1878"] _{[Image Source: PC Gamer]}[/caption]Life is Strange feels like it's the closest to what I'm describing, but that game leaves a lot to be desired, in my book. The real problem here, though, is that its tone is a bit too dark, too pessimistic to be the next uplifting magical friendship adventure. Oxenfree also falls into this category somewhat, and while I do like it better than Life is Strange, it also leaves you feeling a bit more sad than when you first star??ted it.

Plus, where are the games about friendship? I'm getting down into the weeds now, but I'm sorry, I just don't need another story about how "we were the real monsters all along." So many of these children's series have a through line of the characters having each others' backs and forming unbreakable? bonds, and I really think games could use a? good injection of that kind of friendship into my games.

I would bet money on the fact that th??ere are tons of great little indie games out there that are exactly what I'm looking for, and if that's the case please let me know in the comments. As for the AAA studios, I think this is?? a whole market that they're leaving untapped.

All I want is for a kid or young adult to be able to load up a game and have it be a magical, formative experience for them akin to what Harry Potter was for my generation (JK Rowling can kick rocks, though). I know Hogwarts Legacy is right arou??nd the corner, but like, I'd rather stay away from that franchise from now on, thanks.

I'm certainly not planning on having kids anytime soon, but if I did, I would want them to be able to play games that speak to their maturity?? as they age, while still remaining age-appropriate. I would wa??nt them to experience that same sense of adventure and fun you get from the aforementioned books, just, you know, in game form. Hell, I want that for myself right now.

Story Beat is a weekly column discussing anything and everything to do with storytelling in video games.

The post Where are the young adult games? appeared first on Destructoid.

In like Flynn

[UPDATE: The game's all sold ?out! You can only get it by winn?ing it, now!]

Life is all abou?t change. I recently moved to Denver to get a nice change of pace in life, but now have found myself back in Phoenix among the cacti and sand. I was in a snowy hot tub three weeks ago, and now I'm looking at 96 degrees this Saturday. 96 degrees in March! Why?! I miss the ice forming in my hair as I enjoy the single-digit temperature around me while Tears for Fears lulls me into ultimate Good Vibes mode. Pic included for posterity's sake.

Well I'm back in the desert now, which just goes to show that life is full of changes. Thankfully, one thing that hasn't changed is Super Rare Games puts awesome digital games onto physical Switch carts to make sure that when the great digital wipeout inevitably occurs, there will at least be some record of these games existing. Today they dropped Flynn: Son of Crimson, and if you're a fan of classic handcrafted 2D action, you're gonna wann??a jump? in on this!

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3mjuB44pIE

I'll let the pros do the talking on this one.

A journey about discovery and conflict, Flynn: Son of Crimson follows our titular character, Flynn, as he learns to master the art of Crimson Energy while standing up against The Scourge invasion. Pairing up with your mythical compan??ion Dex, the Guardian Spirit of the Land, it is up to you to protect the beautiful island of Rosantica from evil in this gorgeous 2D action-platformer.

Embrace the Power of Crimson Energy �Discover incredible powers drawn from Flynn’s mysterious lineage,? and help him master the art of Crimson En??ergy.

An Epic Arsenal  - Dash and pierc??e wielding your trusty Crimson Blade, land powerful precision blows with the Crimson Axe, and unleash aerial superiority wearing the Crimson Claws.

A World in Peril - Uncover the ancient mysteries of Rosantica, a??nd collect powerful relics to help face the sinister evils waiting for you in The Scourge.

An Unbreakable Bond - Summon your mythical companion,? protector, and very good doggo Dex in times of need??, and charge alongside her into battle.

Master the Elements - Command elemental mag?ic in the form of fire, ice, and lightning, and use it to overcome the obstacles and ??enemies in your path.

Handcrafted Adventure - Lose yourself in a beautifully handcrafted 2D world filled with gorgeous forests?, fantastic realms, and wondrous creat?ures.

I'll never understand why mo?re games don't hav??e doggy companions.

To enter to win your copy of Flynn: Son of Crimson, drop your info in the widget below. It's that easy!? Click around for bonus entries and make sure to entertain me and my curiosity. I do actually read things when I ask questions in there, so you?r thoughts don't go unnoticed!

We have one physical Switch copy of the game to give away. Super Rare Games is super cool and su??per ship worldwide, so barring a few exceptions, anyone is eligible! If you're not and happen to win, we'll make arrangements to get you something digital, instead. Otherwise no exceptions -- buzz off if you don't want this game. I'm taking my ball and going home, hmph! We'll draw winners around this time next week.

Flynn: Son of Crimson is available in physical form exclusively from Super Rare Games. If you're interested, though, act quick! Once they sell out, this sucker is gone for good! Nevermind they gone!

Dtoid Contest:?? Win Flynn: Son of Crimson on Switch from Super Rare Games

The post Contest: Win Flynn: Son of Crimson on Swi??tch fr?om Super Rare Games appeared first on Destructoid.

Fans have made it clear: the Uncharted movie is a success at the box office

At best, I was skeptical when I heard the Uncharted movie was coming out. It was stuck in development hell for years, and many fans had voiced their concerns about the series being adapted to the silver screen, considering it's just about as close as a game can get to a movie in the first place. Turns out I had a pretty fun time watching it despite my mixed feelings, though, and it ap??pears that plenty of other people did too, because the movie just passed $300 mil?lion in box office sales.

Those are some pretty impressive numbers, and it also means that Uncharted is doing quite well among the?? ranks of video game movies.

Warcraft is the highest-grossing video game film of all time at $439 million, and one of the more successful gaming movies of recent years, 2020's Sonic the Hedgehog made $319 million �a number Uncharted is quickly approaching. It seems that Uncharted has been the most successful game adaptation in the swashbuckling adventure genre, as it surpassed the profits of all of the Tomb Raider movies thus far, as GameSpot pointed out. It's also getting close to the movie that started it all: Raiders of the Lost Ark, which grossed $389.9 million back in 1981?? (not taking inflation into account).

Don't plan on this being a one-off thing, either, because Sony said that they plan on Uncharted becoming their?? next big franchise. Gaming has already started taking over TV and film, so this was inevitable from the start.

As a long-time fan of the series, I'll be interested to see where they take it from here, even if I was less than pleased with how the first movie turned out. Apparently, there are talks of continuing the games after the series' renewed success, which I ?also wouldn't complain about. Look, as long a??s it promises a treasure hunt, I'm there.

The post The Uncharted movie has surpassed?? $300 million at the box office worldwide appeared first on Destructoid.

It's time to complete your SteamWorld collection

We're nearing a new month, and that means it's time to hear about some free games on the horizon across multiple platforms and subscriptions. In the case of Prime Gaming, Amazon Prime members can claim seven PC games in March, a few of which stand out.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-zlQL3OFsk

These games will be free with Prime Gaming on March 1:

• Madden NFL 22
• SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech
• Surviving Mars
• Crypto Against All Odds
• looK INside
• Pesterquest
• The Stillness of the Wind

Those first three are the big boys, so let's run through 'em.

Madden NFL 22 might be worth a look if you're able to push through ongoing issues and do your thing in Franchise mode, although there is always that lingering sense that there's clear room for improvement, and that can be distracting. I mean, you know the drill. That's the annual sports game life. It's worth noting that if PC isn't your preferred platform for Madden, the Xbox version is currently a part of EA Play / Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.

I'm sure plenty of us who loved SteamWorld Dig and even SteamWorld Heist have not taken the time to check out SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech. It's a turn-based RPG with card battling, which is not everyone's cup of tea, myself included. That said, I feel like the SteamWorld charm can do some heavy lifting here, and I think a decent chunk of players have gotten more comfortable with card mechanics from games like Slay the Spire.

As for Surviving Mars, it's a chance to build the (probably) ill-adv?ised colony of your dreams. One of my favorite facets of management/builder sims is the ever-present threat of shit going real bad, real fast, and the n??eed to adapt to situations on the fly.

[caption id="attachment_310022" align="alignnone" width="1920"] _{The Stillness of the Wind.}[/caption]

What about the other four games?

Crypto is a tower defense game with "hackers and other blockchain threats," while Pesterquest is a visual novel for Homestuck fans, and looK INside is a point-and-click adventure that's a family affair. Of the lesser-knowns, I'm most curious about The Stillness of the Wind �that palette is such a mood, and ??the solitary homest??ead premise is unique.

That's it for March, but it's not too late to grab Stellaris if you missed it earlier this month.

The post Amazon Prime Gaming has seven free games to cla??im in March appeared first on Destructoid.

A musical romp through the Scottish highlands

The developers behind indie darlings like 80 Days, Heaven's Vault, and Overboard! just announced a new narrative adventure title called A Highland Song, and I couldn't?? be more excited about it. Players will take on the role of Moira, a young Scottish girl who runs away from home to go and visit her uncle on the coast, who has invited her to his home with the promise of a wonderful surprise. The story will follow Moira's journey through the Scottish highlands, and all of the supernatural surprise??s she'll encounter along the way.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpSsiPTJlYU

Gameplay-wise, A Highland Song is a 2.5D side-scroller with some platforming and rhythm mechanics in there, and it looks delightful to play. Its art style is a combination of hand-drawn animation, painted backdrops, and dynamic weather effects, and will pay homage to the beauty of the country where it is set. The game's soundtrack will be a prominent feature as well, and was composed by Laurence Chapman, along with two award-winning artists from the Scottish folk scene: Talisk and Fourt?h Moon.

As well as developing games, Inkle also created an open-source scripting language called Ink, which is used to create interactive narrative games (it's also what they use to make their own projects, duh). I've been using ink for years, and it's honestly my favorite tool to use as someone who enjoys writing interactive fiction. They've made creating your own games super accessible, and that's something I find really commendable in the games space. Titles like A Highland Song a??re proof of what their tools are able to create, and should serve as inspiration for any aspiring game devs �if they can do it, yo?u can do it too!

This sweet little indie game is one I'll be looking forward to. A Highland Song is currently in development for PC and Nintendo Switch, and is available now to wishlist on Steam.

The post 80 ?Days developer Inkle Stu??dios announces new adventure, A Highland Song appeared first on Destructoid.

What an amazing critter you are

There’s pain beneath the gibberish speak of characters in games like Chulip. The story and aesthetic might be absurd, but that in no way dulls the impact of their sorrows. If anything, the fact that they are dark spots in a bri??ght world, only makes them stand out more.

That’s the vibe I got going into Perlin Festival. It was pitched by saying it’s similar to LSD: Dream Emulator (a game I’m embarrassed to say I haven’t tried) and uses concept art created with the aid of Looking Glass AI. It’s a surreal third-person adventure game, and a demo of it will be dropping for PC on February 14. Because the perfect way to spend Valen?tine’s Day is being immersed?? in an impossible world filled with unsettling characters.

There’s not much setup going in. You enter a place called The Noise, and you travel its various locations by way of doors. You play as Pluto, who has the face of a constellation. Not much information is given about who Pluto is or why they are exploring the Noise, but one thing that I gleaned from my time with Perlin Festival’s demo is that a lot? of interpreting is left up to you. Which is okay, because?? I love modern art.

There isn’t a clear objective in Perlin Festival, and it doesn’t sound like there’s going to be.? According to the developer, Talon Zane, a definitive ending isn’t in the works. The idea is for each player to have their own experiences and play in “sessions.�There’s a certain amount of randomization. While, in my experience, the world is static in layout, there are small details that change every time you return to an area.

Mixed in with the absurdity are short side-quests. I feel as though I only experienced one in my playtime, but I’m not even certain that I brought it to completion. However, I think it’s an important development for people who need more straightforward goals whil?e they wander a fever dream.

In terms of narrative, the game plan is that there won’t be anything heavyhanded and a lot will be left up to player interpretation. It’s a game intended to be discussed and deconstructed. Perhaps even an ARG will work its way? into the final design. Talon Zane also teased that there’s something big planned that he’s not talking about.

The current plan is for Perlin Festival’s full release to drop in late 2022 or 2023, but since this is a labor of love with a solo developer, that’s not a promise. It can be difficult for a 16-year-old developer to get consistent funding, so I’d be amiss to not mention that he’s got a Patreon you can support him through.

As for the demo, I enjoyed the little slice offered up. It’s a worthwhile proof of concept for where Talon is going with it, and it’s interesting to check out. There’s obviously still work to be done, but th??e fo??undation is solid. As a demonstration of aesthetics and goals, it’s tantalizing, and I personally can’t wait to fully explore the Noise.

The post Wade into the weirdness of the Perlin? Festival demo appeared first on Destructoid.

Good lord what is happening in there

If you've ever wanted to play a Steamed Hams game, now is your chance. Modder NeoDement has created a free adventure rom??p for everyone to enjoy.

Described as an "interactive experience," this short Steamed Hams adventure game recreates the famous scene from The Simpsons, with limited controls (walk, open, close, give, pick up), and visuals that are picture-perfect from that era. From the actual "exploration" elements to the cutscenes (like when Chalmers is yelling at Skinner), it takes me back to classics like Full Throttle.

The Steamed Hams game reminds me of one of the most wholesome bits of the industry. A simple experience that people can just download and enjoy on a rainy afternoon. I'd love to see a fully-fledged version take this to the next level, akin to Virtual Springfield. You could wander into all sorts of scenes like this across the town, with dialogue taken straight from the series' long history. Or even just an homage to 22 Short Films About Springfield!

With Telltale kind of maybe making a comeback, there's hope for another resurgence of the genre, at least in terms of tapping into the zeitgeist once again. It's crazy to think back to a decade ago when Telltale was riding high with The Walking Dead, winning awards, and taking things slower. Then they just kind of ram?ped up and started pumping out so many games of varying quality (with pushed episodic release dates) that things went out of control. Maybe they can get back to a reasonable, crunch-free cadence and sprinkle in adventures going forward. I'd love to see the genre thrive as so many other publishers transition to live service factories.

I mean, we already have a predatory live service Simpsons game! I guess I shouldn't be giving Disney any ideas.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpgtt1m3Buc

The post This Simpsons Steamed Hams game is localized entirely in a free dow??nload appeared first on Destructoid.

So let's crack into a first playthrough

Hello hello! I've been soooo busy this week with moving; it's gone well but it's certainly a lot of work to unpack, troubleshoot, and settle in properly. This new spot definitely needs better lighting and some other additions, so I've set that in motion for next week, but at least the internet seems stable enough to join you? tonight on Destructoid's Twitch!

Y'all suggested we play The Council, so let's do it!

Steam introduces The Council as a "narrative adventure where your choices and character growth truly matter" set in a 1793 secret society. We love this genre so it sounds perfect for us. See you there!

Drop by Destructoid’s Twitch channel every Friday at 9:00 p.m. Eastern to hang out �or you can catch an archive of last week's streamed game, Pokemon Legends: Arceus.

The post It’s a nice night to stream The Council appeared first on Destructoid.

Sometimes not knowing is half the fun

This post contains huge spoilers for the entirety of What Remains of Edith Finch. If you haven't played it yet, go do yourself a favor and take care of that, and maybe come back to this one later.

Five years after its release, I still think of What Remains of Edith Finch as one of the best interactive stories ever told. The performances are stellar, especially that of Valerie Rose Lohman as the titular role, the art is beautiful, and the game revolutionized narrative design on multiple occasions. It's a must-p??lay for anyone who likes story-focused games, and it was my most recent replay with a friend, because it seems that when I find something I like I'll just keep going back to it until I die someday.

There was so much to appreciate on this second playthrough, and so many details I missed the first time, but what really struck me in our conversations after the game was finished was just how well Edith Finch uses ambiguity. There are so many stories out there that suffer from what we like to call "ambiguitis" �they don?'t? want to give players or readers or viewers concrete answers so as to seem deep or thought-provoking, but in doing so, don't say anything meaningful about the themes or characters at all.

What Remains of Edith Finch is steeped in ambiguity. The stories that Edith is relaying to us are often outlandish and obviously embellished, and come from a host of unreliable narrators,? from a ravenous eleven-year-old girl, to a puzzled psychiatrist, to a deeply traumatized great-grandmother. There is never really a way to know for certain what happened, but at the same time, the game hints that the truth of what really happened is out there, if you're willing to go and look for it.

Is the curse even real?

The biggest question my friend asked me after the ??credits rolled was, "do you think that the curse was real?" Ironically, my answer was ambiguous: "Yes, and no."

If you don't remember, the Finch family curse is that they're all doomed to die tragically, and most of the time, very young. As we learn from Edith, it's something that they have dealt with for three generations now, with her son being the only known survivi??ng member. As she does her best to tell him what happened to each one of his deceased relatives through her journal entries, we start to get an idea of how the family dynamic worked when she was growing up.

Edith's great-grandmother Edie is a staunch believer in the curse �she spoke about it her whole life. She would even go to the local paper and sensationalize her own family members, like her husband's death by dragon (he was ??actually crushed ??by a slide that he built to look like a dragon), or the "mole man" who supposedly lived under the Finch house (who turned out to be Edie's own son, Walter).

Edith's mother Dawn, on the other hand, fought against the idea of the curse for her entire life. She did her best to shield her children from Edie's stories, in case they might internalize them and continue to make the supposed curse a?? self-fulfilling prophecy.

The evidence

[caption id="attachment_306870" align="alignnone" width="1600"] _{[Image Source: What Remains of Edith Finch Wiki]}[/caption]Some of the death stories are more cut and dry, like Calvin falling off the swing and over the cliff, or Walter being hit by the train, or Sam being pushed to his death by the half-dead deer. Some of the other stories, though, have more ambiguous endings. We have plenty of ev??idence to deduce what most likely happened to them, but there's no way to know for sure.

Like Molly, for example. Her story is one of the most fantastical of the bunch, but it c??an most likely be chalked up to a death by poisoning after she went to bed without dinner, with her final moments journaled whil??e she was in a holly-berry-and-1940s-toothpaste-induced fever dream.

Then we have Barbara, the death that probably has the least amount of explanation associated with it. A former child horror film s??tar, Barbara is supposedly killed by a murderer with a hook for a hand �or at least that's what the sensational comic that Edie left on Barbara's shrine says. If you ask me, the context clues seem to imply that her boyfriend killed her after their ar??gument, and although it's an unsubstantiated answer, all the pieces are there.

Who is the real villain of this story?

[caption id="attachment_306879" align="alignnone" width="1680"] _{[Image Source: Moby Games]}[/caption]When we consider the likely answers to these mysterious deaths, all signs point to great-grandma Edie being the secret villain ?of the story.

According to my friend, her own negligence is what caused so many of the deaths, and in order to absolve herself of her guilt, she doubled down on the idea of the curse. Even having played through What Remains of Edith Finch a few times at this point, I really hadn't thought of it that way. Once he started talking through the hidden details? of the game in more depth with me, though, I realized that all? of the clues were there all along.

Maybe Molly wouldn't? have died if Edie had let her have some food. Maybe Calvin wouldn't have died if Edie hadn't let him play on a swing right next to a cliff. Maybe Sam wouldn't have died if she had taught?? him to be more careful. She keeps shrines of all of her dead relatives in their otherwise untouched rooms. This is either the behavior of a deeply troubled but benign woman, or one who is actively harming her own family in order to make herself feel better. It's all speculation with no real way to confirm or deny.

And that's what makes for some incredible ambiguity, and for some fun for us as players as we're trying to figure it out. Explanations are left in plain sight, but not over-??explained to the point that they leave us without any room to question things. Look at Walter, for example �maybe he was just an eccentric old man, so afraid of the curse that he locked himself away, drove himself mad in isolation, and broke his way out in a frenzied state of unconscious mania. Or maybe Edie locked him down there herself to keep him safe, and when he was finally ready to leave, he was too scared to confront Edie if he went upstairs, so he instead opted to break out through the wall, only to meet his untimely demise.

Either scenario seems equally as likely based on the information the game presents us with, because of some impressively restrained and careful writing, and that type of care is ubiquitous throughout the entirety of What Remains of Edith Finch. There is no definitive truth to any of the stories �whether or not the player buys into the supposed supernatural elements of the narrative is up to them. I am kicking myself, however, for missing hugely important details on my own, and not seei?ng at first just how deep and rich this text really is.

If you want to play a game that will leave you thinking about it for days, go play (or replay) What Remains of Edith Finch, and get to thinking about whose side you might have been on: Edie's or Dawn's. That's something I'm still trying to ??figure o??ut for myself.

Story Beat is a weekly column discussing anything and everything to do with storytelling in video games.

The post What Remains of Edith Finch’s family curse is ambiguity done right appeared first on Destructoid.

The next wave of Humongous Entertainment adventure games is rolling out on Feb. 10

It's strange to get amped up about new versions of old games that I'm highly unlikely to play as a weary adult, but that's nostalgia for ya. Building on the recent Nintendo Switch ports of Putt-Putt Travels Through Time and Freddi Fish 3: The Case of the Stolen Conch Shell, Nintendo fans of a certain age will be able to revisit four more '90s Humongous Entertainment adventures like Spy Fox and Pajama Sam, including one of my favorites.

The Nintendo Switch eShop is getting four Humongous games on February 10:

• Pajama Sam: No Need to Hide When It's Dark Outside
• Pajama Sam 2: Thunder And Lightning Aren't So Frightening
• Spy Fox in Dry Cereal
• Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo

If you're enticed at all, there's going to be a launch-window discount with? 20 percent off from February 3 through February 17, 2022. So instead of $14??.99 a pop, they'll be $11.99.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=7s-nTfDyiKQ

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPJ5uW4_1G8

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCjxN6nk-G4

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=a74aU9W9mwI

My favorite of these childhood point-and-click adventures games is the la?st on the list �way back when, they drew me in with the "roam around a zoo" premise, and I have fond memories to this day. There's one section, in particular, I always mentally jump to.

[caption id="attachment_306856" align="alignnone" width="1280"] _{*So much* time was wasted here.}[/caption]

That said, Humongous had a wide impact on young? gamers' formative years. I'??m sure some of you will prefer the antics of Spy Fox or Pajama Sam over the talking purple car.

In gaming and elsewhere, '90s nostalgia is big right now, and considering that the Humongous catalog has already taken root on Steam, eying up the Nintendo eShop seems like a fairly safe bet. While there's plenty of potential for more waves, I think this running list �a bit of Pajama Sam, Spy Fox, Putt-Putt, and Freddi Fish �is a pretty well-rounded start t?o getting the Humongous Entertainment library established on Switch.

Putt-Putt Goes to the Moon would be my nex?t choice. It was the "classic" i??n my household.

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Being a depressed raccoon detective has never been so convenient

After its release in October 2021, Backbone was making headlines with its wacky premise, gorgeous art style, and unique characters. Keeping up with the trend of neo-noir games featuring anthropomorphic animals, players take on the role of Howard Lotor, a racoon and private eye who solves cases in a dystopian version of Vancouver, Canada. If you were waiting for a wider console release, or just simply haven't gotten a chance to play it yet, I have good news for you, because Backbone is coming to Nintendo Switch on February 9, as was anno?unced on the game's officia?l Twitter today.

In lieu of another normal, boring game announcement, Backbone's Twitter account decided to do something a bit more fun in allowing Howard to tell us himself through the medium of an Animal Crossing fanart. What really gets me about this is the swearing, because there's nothing funnier to me than people corrupting the usually pristine world of AC.

//twitter.com/backbonegame/?status/1483857345725751310?s=21

I can't know for sure, but I get the strange fe??eling that Howard and Tom Nook would get along just fine, considering they are a racoon and a tanuki?? respectfully. That and they can both kind of be hardasses sometimes (but we still love them anyway).

Given the nature of Backbone's gameplay, it should feel great to play on the Switch, and of course it now has the added bonus of being able to take it wherever we want. There's also the sequel to look forward to, which was announced at the end of December and is set to release sometime this year. According to the game's developer Eggnut, they're a no-crunch studio (yay!), and h?opefully that doe?sn't change as the new release gets closer.

I will be waiting patiently until then, and?? I can always start another playthrough �but on my Switch this time.

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What a pleasant surprise

Putt-Putt and Freddi Fish are coming back �again! While a bunch of '90s edutainment adventure games from the Humongous Entertainment catalog got a new lease on life with easily accessible Steam releases, it's time to move into the console space. Two games, Putt-Putt Travels Through Time and Freddi Fish 3: The Case of the Stolen Conch Shell, will release on the Ninte??ndo Switch eShop on January 3, 2022. Remember Pep?

You can find both games on the eShop today, ahead of their launch, and as announced on Twitter, there's a discount. Putt-Putt Travels Through Time and Freddi Fish 3 will normally cost $14.99 each on Switch �a premium compared to the PC versions on Steam ??�but they're $11.99 until January 10. (Speaking of which, there's a big Steam sale right now.)

For some, this will be a nice surprise �a throwback to simpler times. For others, well, I guess you had to be there. I played a few Humongous games in my day, enough that these names are nostalgic, but never these specific entries. Funny enough, I've wondered before what the conveyor belt puzzle game Pajama Sam's Sock Works might be like on Switch.

Admittedly, Nintendo Switch ??probably won't be the ideal way to play '90s-era point-and-click adventure games, but I can see some folks around my age getting bit by the nostalgia bug, esp??ecially if they've now got families of their own. The circle is complete.

Even if you've got zero interest in Putt-Putt or Freddi Fish on Switch, you have to admit, it's nice when games like this aren't left to slowly fade away �assuming the ports are up to snuff, of course. It seems as if UFO Interactive is testing the waters with what should be sure bets, so we'll see if there's enough interest to warrant Switch releases of Spy Fox and Pajama Sam. It'??d be fun to rediscover the whole collection with fre?sh eyes.

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