A few weeks ago I bought that big bundle of indie games for charity (over 100 games), and now that it’s the holiday break, I decided to start digging into them. My first pleasant surprise was the Itch.io app, that basically serves as a Steam-like way to deal with your Itch.io-purchased game library. So Lost Constellation is called a supplemental experience to the upcoming Night in the Woods, a game I was already interested in, but didn’t realize how much until playing this. This is a fairly long (maybe an hour or so) adventure game experience, and I had a wonderful time playing it last night. It made me that much more excited for the release of Night in the Woods, which I’ll now be grabbing as soon as I can. You can download it for free.
Month: December 2016
The Last Guardian
Well, it’s here, and as expected, it’s quite something. I’m especially a fan of Ico – I liked Shadow of the Colossus as well, but never finished it – and this so far (about 2-3 hours in) is bringing me back to that original game, feeling like I’m on this journey with a companion I’m starting to care a lot for. So far, what I love the most are the realistic animal movements and behaviors of Trico, as well as the cartoony and nicely animated boy. Sure, it can be a bit frustrating when you’re trying to solve a puzzle and it feels like Trico is just not cooperating, but I just take it as another part of the puzzle to solve (like when I need to handle my dog in real life). I really want to take my time playing this.
Bravely Second: End Layer
I was interested in playing the original Bravely Default game, but never got around to it. I’ve been in an RPG mood of late, and my first instinct was to play that game, but when I checked our company lending library it was already out, and so I decided to go for its sequel, Bravely Second, which was available. I’m about 3 hours in, and enjoying it quite a bit. Initially, it was the overall look that really grabbed me, from the character designs to all of the environments, that look quite distinct. Then, I started appreciating how interesting the “brave” and “default” aspects of the combat system work, which add a neat level of strategy. And now I’m also really into the soundtrack, which is a joy to listen to. So happy I picked this up to play, it’s going to make for some nice holiday memories.
Gravity Rush 2 (Demo)
I was fully expecting to enjoy this – based on how much I like the first game – but what was especially great to see is just how beautiful it looks. The main character especially looks like a playable cartoon, and the movement is a joy to watch. I think what I enjoy seeing the most out of games this generation is the levelling up in character animations. It’s going to be a treat to play this when it comes out.
Nier: Automata (Demo)
Played this the other day, and wow, even though I was already looking forward to this game, it managed to surpass my expectations. The combat is pleasantly a bit on the Bayonetta side of things (one of my favorite series and character), it has a cool sci-fi setting (which I prefer over the fantasy of the first), a mech suit, and what I imagine will be an interesting RPG story. I cannot wait for the full release.
Scotland Yard Tokyo
As much as I love playing board games, and played quite a lot of them when I was a kid, I somehow never played Scotland Yard. I know what it’s about though (I think I may even have an iOS version I bought on sale a while back), and I think it’s pretty neat that there’s now a Tokyo version available. More details via Spoon & Tamago.
You know I love Spoon & Tamago and tend to link to a lot of things that Johnny shares there, and so I think it’s worth pointing out his recent look at the most popular posts from the site this past year, as well as the most popular products that the site sold through its webstore.
Let Her Paint
I love this colorful fashion shoot (and more here) by Tokyo-based photographer Chris Mollison for Rogue magazine.
More Woodblock Prints
A week or so ago I shared the lovely woodblock prints of Hasui Kawase, as shared via Twitter by Darran Anderson. Here’s some more great art of the era shared in tweets, of Koho Shoda (pictured above) and Tsuchiya Koitsu.