What Was The Last Game You Played?

[Miguel Sanchez]

Gorogoa (PS4, 2018)

In the Annapurna Interactive Deluxe Limited Edition, Gorogoa is introduced with a word from its creator: 

Gorogoa is a (sort of) 2D puzzle game where you move square images in a two by two grid to manipulate the scenes depicted within and solve the puzzles. Doing this progresses the story in the pictures, which involves a young boy seeing a mysterious creature from his window, discovering what it is, then spending the rest of his life searching for offerings to give it.

Gorogoa was created by one man, Jason Roberts. It took him five years to commit this story to video game format, hand drawing all the images and animation. There is a decent amount of information on this available online, including the inevitable youtube video essays, but this one is actually from Roberts himself so it's a bit more relevant:

There are a few other, longer talks from him on there too I've just discovered. I'm sure I'd find them interesting, but the one I've linked is a good starting point.

To start, the gameplay. The puzzle mechanic is the best kind of puzzle mechanic - inherently simple, but able to be expanded and made more complex as the game progresses while still retaining the core concept. There are four squares and up to, but not always, four images on them which show the story happening. In order to progress you need to move the images around to allow it to progress. To start, the boy walks into a cupboard in one image, when he walks out you need to move another image over to allow him to walk out on to a roof top and into the next area he needs to. It's a very simple process which is explained intuitively with no words much more effectively than I've just managed. 

As someone with very poor logic skills who doesn't play puzzle games very often, I see strengths and weaknesses here. The premise is intuitive and easy to pick up. It also offers a tremendous amount of satisfaction on your first playthrough when you work something out and are able to progress. Because of the limited amount of combinations though, there are times where you can eventually progress just by moving the pictures around or zooming in and out enough times until you've exhausted near enough every possibility and just move on by default. This slightly undermines the sense of satisfaction which comes with a puzzle game (and which in this case is arguably complementary to the story), with progression in these cases accompanied by mild annoyance rather than genuine achievement.

On a purely visual level, if it took one man five years to create and animate all of these images then, quite simply, it was worth the wait. Every individual image in Gorogoa is gorgeous. The fact that most of them can zoom in and out shows even more depth and detail is even more remarkable. The game's design and aesthetic is strengthened massively as a result here, as on a surface level each image is striking, yet the knowledge that there is more adds to both the beauty of the image and the feeling of depth within the game. The way some puzzles are solved through tricks of perspective and manipulation links the art style to the core game mechanic very effectively, making the whole experience feel more cohesive and perfectly self-contained.

I really need to just talk about how great the art is. So many of these individual images are striking in a way which makes you just want to look at them on their own, without a game or any other distractions to take in. The colours, the detail, the changes in interaction when you're zoomed in or out in certain frames, it's remarkable. The minimalist soundtrack in the background is almost too reserved, but for the most part it allows you to focus on the puzzles and the story without overwhelming an additional sense for the player.

If the game is worth playing for its two to three hours of puzzles and images alone, then what of the story? I don't really know how to describe it outside of what I said in my opening paragraph without looking really dumb and uncultured. A boy sees a creature of some sort - if I had to compare it to anything I'd say it's like a combination of a classic Chinese dragon and images of Aztec gods with bright colours, fierce faces and lots of flowing details and extrusions. I think it's supposed to look spectacular and undefinable because that's what the boy perceives it as. It also ties in to the constant theme of the game's images having more detail you see when you zoom in, as we eventually see later in the game. 

(There was a break in the writing of this review where I went off and read a bunch of stuff about Aztec culture then did other things.)

Gorogoa's story ostensibly depicts a man's life as he attempts to find and collect five fruits to offer to the mysterious creature he sees from the window in his youth. We see different stages of his life - as a child, as a young adult going through what appears to be some apocalyptic event, as a slightly older adult deep in study/learning, as a seemingly depressed working man (still staring out a window) and then back to a child briefly before what appears to be the end of his life, as an old man in a wheelchair looking at what I realise as I'm typing is a destroyed version of something he interacted with earlier in the game.

Remember when I said earlier I was going to make myself seem really dumb and uncultured? This is where it happens. If I watched the hours of the game's creator explaining his motivations, if I knew anything about religion or philosophy and had another few weeks I might attempt to uncover and explain everything myself. I'm sure there are multiple parallels and allegories and as many different layers to the narrative as there are in the pictures. What's ultimately most important is that the game constantly keeps you invested in what's going on and eager to find out what everything represents.

What I can say with certainty is what I think about the story in conjunction with the images and the music and the gently satisfying core mechanic. It's a beautiful combination. Actually, genuinely beautiful. It might take a few plays of the game where you know how the puzzles work and can properly focus on the details without frustration, but there's a lot to discover in this game if you want to take the time. It's remarkable that a game with no words, spoken or written, with no prompts or direct control over the characters can contain the poignancy which Gorogoa does. It feels as if each action, each movement, is a moment for reflection on the consequences for the man. The result is an experience which can last as long as you want to keep exploring, always with the sense that a deeper or more profound understanding is waiting for you each time.

If anyone's keeping score, that's two for two from the Annapurna Interactive Deluxe Limited Edition. I don't want to say something as brief as Gorogoa is perfect, but I'm having a hard time thinking of any other way to finalise my thoughts on it. I don't think there's a single thing I would change about it.

[Miguel Sanchez]

Gorogoa is also currently on sale on the PS Store, if you're interested.

[accies1874]

The Quarry

It's from the same folk who did Until Dawn and is the same idea, only set in a teen summer camp which is even more up my alley. 

Sadly, though, this annoyed me to a great extent. The Choose Your Path thing is still quite fun, but it's all too apparent at points that the game anticipates which choice you'll make. At best, this would result in awkward pauses (lots and lots of awkward beats) in conversations, but at worst it made narrative beats and character reactions come completely out of nowhere which created an accidentally tripping and confusing experience. Key events happened off-screen in two playthroughs too. I also didn't feel like I got to shape characters the same way that you could with Until Dawn, and it was way too restrictive.

Despite getting annoyed at it after one run-through - the ending I got wasn't even an ending; it was absolutely nothing - I got around seven hours into a second one before quitting for good after being railroaded into shooting a key character. In the lead-up, I chose all the dialogue options to not attack him, however the game insisted on putting me into a scenario where I was forced to so I deliberately missed the QTEs to see what happened. Instead of the playable character doing nothing, they shot the other one, leaving a key piece of the plot inaccessible (I also missed it on the first playthrough which was my fault). After one run, you get the option to rewind three deaths but this was a result of QTEs so that wasn't possible either. What made it worse was the playable character acted proud of it despite that not aligning with anything that happened before. 

There were also a few technical hitches on my old PS4. Slowdown, early/late lines of dialogue and some characters' mouths were weird, looking like the didn't have any top teeth or did have an abnormally large mouth. I was pretty certain that tech issues cost me a couple of times, and it was so janky for me towards the end that I wasn't invested. I also think that in 'choice' games, once I start making mistakes then I lose interest. 

There are good things and pretty much all of the set-up of the peculiarities is really interesting, and I'm sure if you have a smooth playthrough (narratively and technically) then it'll be fun, but I felt like I was breaking the game simply by playing it which is just kinda shite. 

[Miguel Sanchez]

Sounds like they took a leaf out of the David Cage book of interactive drama - humans don't have to act like humans if you want them to do something the player doesn't.

[DA Baracus]

Grim Fandango

Remastered, although a press of a button gives you the original graphics.

This has great humour, has a lovely, original world and a brilliant soundtrack. There are some great, memorable characters (none more so than Glottis!). The story is fun and amusing. I enjoy these type of puzzle games.

However...too many of the puzzles are just obscure nonsense that really make little to no sense. Puzzle games shouldn't be easy, but they should be logical and allow you to work things out. Too often that wasn't the case here and that let this game down.

[accies1874]

Sounds like they took a leaf out of the David Cage book of interactive drama - humans don't have to act like humans if you want them to do something the player doesn't.

Yes exactly. At least Detroit Become Human had the excuse of having playable robots tbf

[Miguel Sanchez]

What Remains of Edith Finch (PS4, 2017)

In the Annapurna Interactive Deluxe Limited Edition, What Remains of Edith Finch is introduced with a word from its creator:

Like I'll have heirs or bookshelves.

I played What Remains of Edith Finch almost two years ago and I didn't write it up at the time. I didn't feel like I had anything to say about it. Playing it again now, I felt like I might have something to say about it. The problem is, the Queen died about two hours after I finished it and sort of diverted my attention. I'll do my best, I suppose.

What Remains of Edith Finch is a walking simulator narrated by Edith, the last of the Finch family. Odin Finch moved the family home from Scandinavia to Orcas Island off Washington State. The house capsized and sank just before they reached land, so they built a new one and several generations of Finches lived in it over the years. Most of them died in mysterious circumstances leading to Dawn, Edith's mother, sealing all their rooms shut. Edith's narration comes back to the house several years after the two of them abandoned it and great grandma Edie at the same time.

I'm not sure if it says anything that while thinking about how to write this game up that I haven't spared any thought for justifying or explaining the term walking simulator. I don't mind it, as a concept or a descriptor. The term is appropriate, and the genre is as valid as any other. There's nothing remarkable deployed here. You walk around at a singular pace, there are occasional contextual moments of interaction with the environment, some to progress the story and some to just hear a bit of information. Sometimes the movement changes in the context of the story, sometimes the interactive parts do, but it's pretty consistent throughout.

The use of text to display what the narrator says is interesting. They act as subtitles, but while they appear on screen as they're spoken they're usually broken or brushed away by some movement of the player. We learn early on that Edith is documenting what she sees, says and thinks in a diary so this is an effective connection between the inner monologue we're exposed to and the environment which is provoking it. The overall tone of the Finch house and Edith's movements through it is a sort of still gentleness, so the words appearing as a semi-interactive object doesn't feel out of place.

The aspect of the game which had the most effect on me this time and made me write this was the house, so I should talk about that. On her walk up to it Edith says she always hated it growing up. I can see why. The whole game has the air of a surreal fairytale about it and the physical structure of the house is probably the best representation of this. As generations of Finches entered it new bits were built on top in increasingly impossible fashion. It looks like a child's drawing of a house from the outside, and as you progress through it it feels this way up close.

Inside the house is just... close. It's narrow, tight and every available space is lined with books. Most of them have individual titles, and some of them even have real titles which reflect the things you're seeing in the rooms. It all feels very profound and deliberate. If Edith didn't like growing up there in a weird house in the middle of nowhere, I think I would have. As I played and slowly walked the narrow corridors I genuinely had moments of childlike wonder, where I felt some vague half-memory of wanting to be or being in a home where I was lost, overwhelmed by the scale and sense of personal or familial history which to me was all-encompassing. The Finch family felt important, and their home did too.

The outside felt just as grandiose. The coastal setting made me think of a gothic version of The Great Gatsby, with the remnants of the former house visible in the water (red light rather than green light) and the surrounding bay grey and oppressive rather than majestic and hopeful. As you go through the individual stories of each Finch in and outside of the home you find the surroundings just as surreal and improbable as the interior. As a walking simulator the game really shines here, because each new thing you discover heightens to the importance of what you've already learned while still pushing you forward to add to it.

Technically, the game is alright. On a graphical level it's not ultra high quality, but the more reserved detail and colouring level works. It makes everything feel... I think cosy is the right word. Close. Familiar. This does pose some problems though, as there's very little colour in the game and the whole thing is actually quite dull. I had to turn the brightness up several notches to be able to see my way around and this ended up bleaching out some of the dimmer areas you explore. I know I said it's a grey, dingy sort of area but at times it feels like the game goes too far in one direction and ends up suffering for it.

This is most apparent when Edith's commentary takes us to the rooms of her dead family members. Many of these feature bold, bright colours, but that's irrelevant really in a technical context. In an impossible house, the stories of what happened to the Finches are equally unbelievable. I don't want to spoil what happens to any of them but one thing I do remember from my first time playing this game which differed now was how sad they all made me feel. Not because people died or other people grieved, but there seemed to be a real sense of loss and waste.

Some of the Finches have more tragic tales than others. Some have more sombre tales than others. Like Walter, who shut himself underground for thirty years. Lewis, who at 21 was so unfulfilled in his life he retreated entirely into his imagination. Gregory, who produced every parent's worst nightmare. You get small glimpses into the lives (and deaths) of these people that last minutes at most yet somehow you fell profoundly affected by what happened to them. The strength of the setting and the notion of both the house and the family as a distinct character here is prominent, as everything builds up and you realise how significant everything was in the history of this strange family. 

The game is fairly short - two hours or so, I think - so I don't want to detail too much of the story here. I think this is the sort of game where your reaction to it depends on the life you've led, or even where you are in it when you play. I'm broadly the same as I was two years ago yet I found this more affecting second time around, having remembered very little of the details. Everything about the game just feels important somehow. I don't think that happens very often. 

[Chris_the_rover]

Just completed stray, fun wee puzzler

[BFTD]

On 08/09/2022 at 21:30, DA Baracus said:

Grim Fandango

Remastered, although a press of a button gives you the original graphics.

This has great humour, has a lovely, original world and a brilliant soundtrack. There are some great, memorable characters (none more so than Glottis!). The story is fun and amusing. I enjoy these type of puzzle games.

However...too many of the puzzles are just obscure nonsense that really make little to no sense. Puzzle games shouldn't be easy, but they should be logical and allow you to work things out. Too often that wasn't the case here and that let this game down.

I've only played Grim twice, once on release and again when the remastered version came out, but I don't remember having those kind of problems with the puzzles. You're not the only person I've seen complain about that, though. Maybe my brain's just weird. Or possibly I was just inured to the old "try everything with everything else" strategy when nothing seemed to make sense.

My main annoyance with that and Escape from Monkey Island was that they both tried a desperate last-ditch attempt to make adventure games look like 3D action titles. The presentation really didn't suit the genre. Glad that developers were eventually able to go back to the traditional LucasArts/Sierra feel, only with snazzier graphics.

[ConcernedReferee]

getting back into World of Warcraft *gulp*

a lot of it is pure nostalgia but it's also just kinda relaxing 

[BetsyWade]

Haha i'm just completed stray too, very fun and soundtracks really amazing!
I hope you don't mind, i just want to recommend that platform for MOD APKs & Premium Apps. All is free! Go to  https://techzapk.com/ and enjoy!

Edited September 24, 2022 by BetsyWade
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[Miguel Sanchez]

Telling Lies (PS4, 2019)

In the Annapurna Interactive Deluxe Limited Edition, Telling Lies is introduced with a word from its creator:

Telling Lies is a FMV game which tells the story of David, an FBI agent who goes undercover to infiltrate an environmental activist group who are planning to disrupt the construction of a gas pipeline. Rather than a linear, choice-driven narrative however you instead piece together the story by watching video clips of video calls and recordings, allowing the story to build up gradually.

I've played one FMV in my life. Erica, earlier this year. It was nonsense from a creative perspective, and while it looked nice it was a bit shallow. In Telling Lies the format is used in an almost meta fashion, where you control someone searching through an archive of video recordings of David and all the people he interacts with over the course of the story. You search for videos by typing in words. If the word is spoken in a video, it shows up. Through watching new videos you learn and think of more words to search for.

This structureless structure has benefits and drawbacks. If you just search for characters' names as they're spoken you almost get the story in chronological order - all the videos are timestamped so you can get a general idea of when things are happening. One name will progress to others as new characters are introduced and it's almost exciting listening out for a new name, knowing you're going to learn something new when you next search. On the other hand, there are 169 videos you can search for so you're almost certainly going to miss some of them, and see some of them in an order that can be disorientating. There's one strand of the story which I think I saw out of sequence earlier than I should have and I had trouble seeing where it fitted in with everything else. It can also be difficult if you see video calls out of sequence. Seeing one half of a conversation then having to wait a few hours to find the other half can be quite jarring when you realise what it is you're watching.

I didn't know what to expect going into this game. I was open-minded enough to the FMV format but I didn't realise it was going to come with some assembly required. It just works though. You really do get a buzz from finding the right word to bring up new videos you haven't seen. You do genuinely care about the things going on in David's life and the women whose lives he ruins. The acting from each character is natural and engaging. You don't ever really think you're watching staged recordings. It's also interesting how much detail goes into some of the shots. As much as you need to follow the dialogue to uncover the story, there are always visual cues in the background to look out for too. Even though you're only ever seeing what a phone or a camera can record, nothing you see feels constrained. The result is something which really does keep your attention for the couple of hours you'll spend with it.

The biggest problem with the meta format is the apparent lack of instruction. You view the videos on a computer desktop which is fine. There are files you can click on which explain what RETINA, the software you're using to view the videos, is. It also explains where it came from, and why there's an apparent rush against the clock to view videos. The identity of the person viewing the videos isn't revealed until the end and I found it a very flimsy premise once I realised what was going on. For the first three or four in-game hours I was too engrossed in searching for videos, once I started struggling to find new ones I wondered what the point was. Did I need to find out something specific? Was I going to fail if I didn't? The game isn't very clear on the actual purpose of what you're doing and this spoiled my initial playthrough slightly, putting me under an unspecified - and as it turned out non-existent - stress to finish it. You don't, as it happens. Once the in-game clock reaches 5:37 it stops, you can keep watching videos as much as you want. If you finish the game you can restart at this end point and keep searching for any videos you missed.

I think in a world where interactive drama exists in video games, Telling Lies does something different. You don't need to guess how David Cage thinks humans react to words or actions to progress a story the way you'd like to. Here you have one story which you have to uncover and piece together yourself, but presented in such a way as to make this actually engaging. The writing and performances of all the cast help a lot and I can't give enough credit to them, but the non-linear way you interact with the story is ultimately the game's real strength. The story itself isn't that remarkable, but the people and the way you consume it are.

[Theroadlesstravelled]

I've been replaying Sleep Dogs. It's the game's 10 year anniversary.

Really good fun. Probably the only time I've wanted to go to Aberdeen.

[Clown Job]

Sins of a Solar Empire (PC)

Not really much to say except I loved this game when it originally came out and I still love it to this day, especially with the mods available for it 

[Miguel Sanchez]

Need for Speed Heat (PS4, 2019)

Two years ago (!) when I wrote a review of Need for Speed Payback, I wrote this:

The main problem with the characterisation, the writing and the world building in Payback is how generic it is. At the start when the story and characters were being introduced they all felt so bland and uninteresting it was almost uncanny. The whole game feels like it was designed by committee to be as bland and inoffensive as possible. Weirdly though, there are times where it feels as if it tries to mock that kind of media. There are some 'characters' that talk like stereotypical online streamers/influencers and I'm clearly supposed to feel like I'm in on the joke with the game. It's like parents in a bad American sitcom trying show how down with the kids they are, breaking your spine with cringe in the process.

I'm not even sure why I'm picking out one paragraph to compare it to Heat. I could take that review and re-post it, changing the odd word and saying there was less to do I went back to that review to see what I thought of it and realised that just about everything I said stood out as relevant to Heat. I guess I should actually try writing something original now, although that's more effort than you get in this game.

There's a semblance of a story, but since the game barely bothers to impart it on the player, I'm not going to bother either. Somewhat hilariously the game gives you a large selection of characters to play as. They all have the same lines (although different voices) and none of them have any names. And you can change them at any time you want during the game with no changes. In a way I almost admire the brazenness of making something so lacking in personality. It's like it's gone so far bad it's looped around and earned my grudging respect. I chose the skinny Asian girl as an homage to the original Midnight Club.

If the window-dressing of Heat doesn't matter, what of the driving? It's an open world Need for Speed game so you can make a decent guess at what you're going to get. Heat is centred around a central mechanic which is actually quite interesting and has a decent amount of potential. There are sanctioned races in Palm City during the day. These take place on closed circuits on the streets. You earn money from these, allowing you to buy cars and upgrades. You then switch to night and there are still plenty of races available, only these take place on the streets illegally and the cops are out to chase after you while they're happening. Participating in these races improves your reputation, allowing you access to bigger and more important events. You also have to deal with the police during and in between races, trying to avoid having your car destroyed or stopped by them and losing all the points you've built up. 

On the face of it, this is a solid foundation to base a game around. There's lots of potential for different kinds of events, a significant difference in gameplay and to even make the corrupt police storyline actually matter. This doesn't happen though. The day races are boring, the night races are annoying slaloms. Palm City is lifeless and unremarkable with no atmosphere or just... anything at all. But the police, oh no. Playing an arcade open world game with unrealistic depictions of speed like this I'm reminded of Burnout Paradise. There you can take out rival cars in a way which is deliberate yet simple. When you start out in Heat, the police will catch you and stop you or destroy you. Your early cars, no matter what the upgrades, will not be a match for them. You'll get stopped, you'll lose everything you've built up in the night, you'll get frustrated and you'll put the game off. By the time you build a decent car you'll be too fast for the police and never see them at all, and the challenge will be gone. 

I need to say more about Palm City. I was very critical of every part of Payback but thinking about it now, I can remember bits of the city. That was based on Las Vegas and there are distinct areas. The urban areas in the centre, the offroad sections up in hills and mountains, the long straight roads out in the desert where you can get up to speed. Heat doesn't have that. Palm City is loosely based on Miami and Florida and it should have a distinct profile. We've all seen what highly exaggerated Miami looks like in a video game. Here though, there's nothing. There's no colour, no life, very little variety, and this is exacerbated when you see the switch from day to night happen with very little effect on your surroundings. It feels like one of those mats you had when you were young for driving cars around on. There might be roads and buildings, but they're all two dimensional and now you're old and withered and your imagination isn't compensating enough. 

I don't think I like the driving physics. It's really weird how slow the cars feel. I mainly drove and upgraded an R32 Skyline (in classic Calsonic #12 colours obviously) throughout the game and whether it topped out at 150 or 240 miles per hour, it handled the same and just looked the same getting there. I don't really know how to describe the sensation but it felt like I was driving with some unseen electronic shackles applied to the car, just holding it back from what I'm expecting. You know those dreams you have where you're trying to run but can't move your legs properly? It felt like that, in game form. 

I don't know who this game is supposed to appeal to. I have more than a passing interest in racing games and I found it, at its best, forgettable. If you like putting weird engines in cars and creating or downloading all manner of hideous liveries for them, there's something here. There are lots of cars and a seemingly endless array of customisation options. Like Payback there are different kinds of driving you can tune a car for, but this actual interesting feature of that game doesn't matter anywhere near as much here. The driving itself just feels stale, easy to pick up and not really requiring much more than that not only to finish the game, but to explore the world or do anything else. That probably sums up my problems really, it's something which is focused on the superficial at the expense of literally everything else. And it can't even do the superficial right.

[BallochSonsFan]

I bought the final cut version of Disco Elysium.

I've managed 15 minutes so far. I've had an existential crisis. I've had a fatal heart attack running away from a cafe/dive bar owner. One of the strangest games I've ever played, but at first glance also one of the coolest and most interesting game concepts. Standard point and click RPG but with all sorts of interesting psychological choices.

Need to spend way more time with it, but so far its something I think I'll enjoy. Graphics are really stylish too.

[Ramonbunn]

Battlefield 1 was the last game OI played. There was an issue with the game I found (Battlefield 1 can’t connect to the game servers error). However, I resolved the issue with the help of a method mentioned here. Besides that the game is awesome I think.

[Gianfranco]

The Italian mission is my favourite in Battlefield 1.

[Stellaboz]

I've recently gone back to GTA 5. Love this world, such fun.

[Clown Job]

I pre ordered (I know, I know) Modern Warfare 2 

Got early access to the single player campaign, yet to complete it but must admit really enjoying it so far