What are you playing? (2023 Edition)

nicked on 21/3/2023 at 08:24

I would have enjoyed the Witness more if the puzzles weren't so bloody difficult. It's like, I'm either in the mood to stare at a coloured dot puzzle for half an hour, or I'm in the mood to explore a strange, abandoned place, but those two mindsets are incompatible for me. I just wanted to explore a cool island without having to keep stopping to do another escape room problem.

henke on 21/3/2023 at 08:43

I played through The Witness while listening to the Wicked musical on repeat. Got the Rich Evans ending. Loved it.

Sulphur on 21/3/2023 at 08:45

Quote Posted by nicked

Relatable. Most adventure/puzzle games attempt to make their obstacles diegetic, only becoming obvious either to make a pointed comment on the ridiculousness of the conceit (Monkey Island 2, anyone?) via humour, or to to enhance the artificiality and alien-ness of something or somewhere. The Witness doesn't seem to give a shit either way, and purposely spears the entire place with odd mechanisms and wiring to give you a sort of intentionally contrived puzzle-y mood piece of a landscape, from what I played of it. It's definitely not an easy one to like just by apprehending its immediate gameyness.

Starker on 21/3/2023 at 08:53

The puzzles are incredibly well curated and thought out. I was surprised how many interesting variations some very simple concepts could have and how they could be integrated with and even into the environment. The puzzles also fit into the overall theme of knowledge and knowledge-seeking, as they are taught almost entirely without instruction, simply by relying on the player's own observation and reasoning skills, which were then being put to test in a practical experiment.

It's also part of the game's exploration of epistemology from widely different angles. We are presented with snippets from people like Douglas Hofstadter, James Burke, Richard Feynman, and Skinner of the Skinner box fame, but also people like Nicholas of Cusa, Andrei Tarkovsky, Rabindranath Tagore, and spritual guru Gangaji, all kinds of different seekers. And, like the puzzles, it's not presented in an explicitly instructive manner. Players are not given any explanations or context, but simply invited to think about what's being said or shown to them, whether it's a discussion about the nature of truth and logic, a buddhist sutra, or a piece of artwork.

Sulphur on 21/3/2023 at 09:03

Interesting. I never played it far enough to reach those parts, and while a puzzle game that plays around with epistemological concepts definitely intrigues me, part of me wants to reflexively decry it as pretentious Jon Blow blowhardiness - of which there is some, no doubt, but probably not enough for me to dismiss the rest of the game. I'll give it a fairer shake when I get to it again.

Starker on 21/3/2023 at 09:14

I mean, it's definitely got a bit of a vibe of someone inviting you over to show their bookcase, which I understand can make people roll their eyes a fair bit. But it's not because the books are bad.

demagogue on 21/3/2023 at 18:46

I just forever have that (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWqnz-7iQbY) image of Jon Blow quietly weeping in a dark room as Soulja Boy grossly misunderstands his magnum opus while also understanding it all too well. I feel for Blow in about equal measure to the feeling of satisfaction that his ego bubble gets popped like that in a really funny way. Cheers to whomever edited that scene to bring out that bouquet of emotions.

Above all, I don't envy the life of an indie dev. Most of my game ideas get into pretty some deep recesses too, and I can only imagine the agony of subjecting that to public scrutiny! Much like the existential dream that must confront someone bringing pogo sticking & leaf blowing into the harsh light of day.

nicked on 21/3/2023 at 20:33

Ah yes, the eternal struggle between the desire to create and show the world your art, and the cold reality of no-one else ever being as invested in it as you are.

henke on 25/3/2023 at 15:16

Haha no man, being an indie dev is LIVING THE LIFE! Releasing is always a pain tho. With Stilt Fella I was surprised at the amount of pressure that comes with a successful game, the weight of responsibility and freaking out that something was gonna go wrong and people would be MAD! Crossing Guard Joe being a flop was oddly a relief. It's like "oh, no one gives a shit about this game? So I can just move on to the next project then? Great!" I'm gonna try to only release flops from now on.

Anyway, finished Kingdom: Two Crowns. Hard to judge it fairly since I'd learned so much from my mistakes with New Lands before it, but it felt like a smoother ride. Game Overs also felt less punishing since you keep more of your progress compared to New Lands. It's one of those weird games that I was certainly engrossed in for a few weeks but dunno if I can really recommend it.

Also finished my second playthrough of Sable. Still good. Tchia is an open world young-girl-on-adventure game with BOTW-esque gliding and climbing that just came out on PS+, so I dove into that. I was expecting it to be a Sable-alike, but it's more of a Disney's Far Cry 3. Great movement mechanics, decent story, ok looks. I love how unweildy sailing the raft is, requiring you to run between different parts of it to manage sail, rudder, and anchor. My main criticism so far would be that it kinda unloads too many mechanics on you too fast. Like, slow down game, pace yourself, we're gonna be here a while.

WingedKagouti on 25/3/2023 at 15:23

I decided I needed a break from Vampire Survivors. After a combined ~35 hours I was starting to see xp crystals whenever I closed my eyes...

EDF 5 is EDF, so that's what I've turned my gaming attention to. Blowing up hordes of giant ants and spiders as well as UFOs and other stuff is just pure mindless fun, at least in shorter sessions.