Author: Christian Donlan

[ad_1] Nintendo’s turn-based classic is back in a generous new compilation. I was some way into Black Hole Rising. Mission? Reclamation. Day 9 I think, and I made a mistake that cost the whole battle. Brilliantly, I knew it at the time, as well. I knew I’d been too eager to advance. Heading off…

[ad_1] Super Mario is video games to a lot of people, but behind the brand awareness – and the blockbuster animated movie that is currently breaking records in the cinemas – is a series that never settles into a rut. Mario always weighs the same – he’s always that lovely piece of elastic to…

[ad_1] My favourite Zelda moments generally don’t have much to do with Zelda. They’re not moments of heroism or even action, to be honest. If anything, they tend towards the opposite: a little change in the world that comes unannounced, an accidental glimpse of something from just the right angle in a quiet moment…

[ad_1] Not an original thought, but one that bears repeating. In the same way that every novel is really a mystery novel, every game is really a puzzle, the central puzzle being, how is the game played? What are the rules? Yes. Sure. But also outwards, what is the pace of play, the rhythms…

[ad_1] Road 96 was an ingenious game that could feel, at times, like a bit of a mess. Set in Petria, an Americana-tinged totalitarian state, it followed a range of teens who were making a break for the border and a better life. Even now, the thought of the whole thing dazzles me a little:…

[ad_1] Minecraft Legends is an interesting prospect. Like Minecraft Dungeons, it takes the familiar iconography and building blocks of one of gaming’s most familiar and beloved worlds, and employs everything in a new way. For Dungeons, this meant transforming the game into a hack-and-slash action RPG. For Legends, it means something the developer’s…

[ad_1] On the surface, I don’t think there’s much in Zelda in general that makes one think of Just Cause 2. But this week, the latest presentation for Tears of the Kingdom took me way, way back – twelve years back, which barely seems possible – to a game that I still think is…

[ad_1] I have a memory of talking to Tomas Sala over Zoom or whatnot. He’s in a room in his house cluttered with children’s toys – I think his family had just welcomed a new baby – and he was talking about his game The Falconeer with such quiet passion, talking about an idea…

[ad_1] Navigate a world of information and folklore in this memorably moody visual novel. Hark! What’s that sound? A car backfiring? A gunshot? A train collision at a crossing gate? In Paranormasight, that crashing noise, brisk but richly layered, a bit of metal to it, is the sound of understanding. It fires up the…

[ad_1] Lots of seas this week – well, two, but they’re very different. Down to the seas in Dredge and the things you haul up might take your arm off. No wonder, since this mournful oddity seeks to blend fishing games with Lovecraftian horror. That’s not so much of a reach,…