Wednesday, May 8, 2024
Columnists

Here are a couple of quick-to-play physics games that will keep you entertained for a few of hours. 'Physics games' usually assign physical properties to objects in the game, and the puzzle is learning how to manipulate those physical properties to manipulate the object.

We Happy Few is set in 1964 Britain, in an alternate timeline in which the nation lost the war with Germany. The citizens take a drug they call Joy that keeps them happy and causes memory loss, which is a bonus for many of these people. They have a lot of memories they’d like to suppress. But the drugs just aren’t working as well as they used to.

As time has passed, the leaders in education have adjusted and altered curriculums to align with the perceived needs of contemporary society. Two generations ago, a traditional education included a healthy dose of the sciences, civics, mathematics and traditional languages like Latin.

Chuchel, from Amanita Designs, is another lighthearted game from Jaromír Plachý. He started work on Chuchel shortly after finishing Botanicula in 2012.

It's a hand-to-mouth existence; you never know where your next meal will come from, unless it's from a warden or a trusty. You never truly know who you're sleeping against or where your next ten bucks'll come from. There's no privacy living in the underbelly. You can lose your soul there. And in "Harbor Lights," a new short-story collection by James Lee Burke, you could also lose your life.

Sweat gathered onto the tip of my nose, the surface tension soon giving way to dripping at a surprisingly fast pace. My hands dampened from sweat cascading down my arm as I positioned myself in my starting block under a hot Texas midday sun.

Metamorphabet is an alphabet game with simple animations. Each letter transforms into an animation that morphs into another with the click of a mouse. The animations are whimsical and really help to …

Gris (2018) from Spanish studio Nomada, with artwork by Conrad Roset, is a side-scrolling game that manages to break out of well-worn tropes with the use of stunning artwork, color and contrast. There is no dialogue or narration.

You might have noticed that I don’t review brand new games from big game companies. There’s good reasons for that.

I’ve followed Hank Green on YouTube for years, so when he recommended a word game the other day, I got my phone out and installed it immediately.

Amanita Designs is celebrating its 20th anniversary, so now is a great time to talk about the game that started it all, Samorost.

I've seen this game around the Steam platform for some time, and it keeps being suggested to me as something I would enjoy. So the algorithm had it right, and here I am playing Buddy Simulator 1984. It's not what I expected. Elements of cozy psychological horror and grief make it more than just a retro game.

"Throw your toys into your fire, and play with them as they burn. An adventure that takes place almost entirely in front of a fireplace - about looking up up up out of the chimney, and the cold world just on the other side of the wall. From the creators of World of Goo and Human Resource Machine."

Another game from my favorite indie game company Amanita Designs, Creaks is a side scrolling puzzle platformer, entirely hand drawn in ink and watercolor, including our humble protagonist character.

Valve has had to add extra security for developers on Steam after hackers updated several games with malware that allowed them to take control of their brower access tokens.

In the game Superliminal, by Pillow Castle Games, you’re helping Dr. Glenn Pierce test its SomnaSculpt technology by going through a dream therapy program.

Human Fall Flat is a puzzle-platform game developed by Tomas Sakalauskas, founder of the Lithuanian studio No Brakes Games. It’s one of those games that can be really fun, or really frustrating, depending on how much patience you have.

The year was 1988, and my friends had convinced me to go to a comic book convention in Austin, Texas. This was back before comic book conventions became a big deal. At the time it was just a bunch of comic book dealers with folding tables in a big room. The reason my friends wanted to go was that Steve Jackson would be there to introduce some smaller Dungeons and Dragons-style playable modules.

Dark, many-legged parasites are killing your tree, and you, along with your tree friends, have to save the last seed.

There's a lot of simulators out there. Some of them are pretty odd. Along with truck driving, farming, construction, power washing, and gunsmithing, you can play as a medieval alchemist!

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 8 | Next »
Currently viewing stories posted within the past 2 years.
For all older stories, please use our advanced search.