Djebar

I can’t remember the last time I struggled so hard to finish a game.

You misunderstood. I’m not saying ΔV: Rings Of Saturn is a chore or a chore. I found it difficult because every time I start it I can get lost for hours playing he. Not trying to win, not following the story, not looking for (ugh) “progress”. Just exploit, explore, drift lazily in the void. It’s a game that I don’t want to exhaust because I enjoy it too much. I went back into “for a quick dive” twice during this intro.

It has no content. It’s not one of those compulsive, manipulative games forever. You could skim through it efficiently, probably finding all of its secrets and items as quickly as possible. That wouldn’t be wrong, exactly, but it misses the point: it’s a game to be savored, not consumed.

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As I open the door to return after a short break, I’m glad to find that last time you decided that violence at the door was better than marking spots for teammates. Sure, tagging is convenient, it’s helpful, it’s nice, but can it really solve problems that wouldn’t be solved by slamming a door in someone’s face? Of course not. This week, I ask you to choose between risky destruction and precise construction. What’s better: breech-loading grenade launchers or building blueprints?

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Teletext. Notepad. Twitter. A tractor. A pregnancy test. There have been few limits to the weird and wonderful ways enterprising Doom fans have found to play the seminal FPS over the past 30 years, but it could claim both the weirdest and the most wonderful crown. Someone teaches a bunch of lab-grown rat neurons to play Doom. Yes, their literal conscious existence is Doom. I told you it was weird.

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I will definitely continue to play Jagged Alliance 3. While I’m hesitant about my exact feelings on this, it’s crucial. As with its ancestors, you invade a fictional country with a team of dysfunctional freelance mercenaries, managing their equipment and taking on personalities through guerrilla warfare on an open world map each sector of which can host turn-based battles.

It defies the stifling XCOM norm of “two actions per turn” by restoring the old action point method. Each has a dozen action points per turn to split between moving, shooting, or various contextual actions. Chance to hit is never listed, but accuracy can be increased by spending extra action points. It also breaks new ground by giving everyone a small reserve of freedom of movement, keeping battles moving and expanding tactical possibilities. It borrows so much from modern designs and is mostly better for it.

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I started with cats. They lapped up all the milk I could get them, earning me some coin splatter and an extra boost from a lucky first beastmaster. I also threw toddlers there, basking in candy bonanzas whenever I found a pinata to open, along with an assortment of chests, fruit, urns, and eggs. Then I slowly traded it all in for gems, and my board became a pristine, soulless, and essentially fully optimized money printer.

Luck Be A Landlord is all about meeting ever-increasing rent demands by playing a slot machine. Each month gives you a limited number of spins to find money and the chance to add one of three random symbols after each spin. These symbols bounce off each other in a wacky but logical way: bees pollinate flowers, comedians amplify monkeys. Dogs make friends with humans. Billionaires are guillotined.

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Okay, my enthusiasm for the rain has been dampened somewhat. Drenched, maybe. We’re halfway through a soggy July and the ten-day forecast is even gloomier than Marti Pellow’s short-lived team with So Solid Crew, Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Still, a good day for playing video games. What are you playing this weekend? Here’s what we’re clicking on!

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Speaking at this week’s Develop:Brighton conference, tinyBuild CEO Alex Nichiporchik gave examples of how large language models like ChatGPT could be used by game studios to identify “potentially problematic players on the team.” Suggestions included feeding employees’ text conversations and video call transcripts into a system to detect certain words that could indicate burnout and “time vampires”.

After receiving online criticism, Niciporchik tweeted to say that parts of his presentation were taken out of context and that the examples were “hypothetical”.

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Sundays are for updating your drivers. Before you hit install, let’s read this week’s best writing on games (and things related to games).

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In Viewfinder, you solve puzzles by finding the right way to see things, and here you do that by both physically moving through its abstract 3D spaces and mentally wrapping your brain around its mind-bending set of rules. Perspective is key because here’s the thing: it’s a world where you can bring photos to life, with the 2D image becoming a 3D reality when you place it in the puzzle world.

It’s an amazing hook and one I’ve never seen in a puzzle game before. There are echoes of The Witness, Gorogoa and Superliminal here, but Viewfinder’s dizzying puzzles are still very clean. It impresses right off the bat and continues to pull tricks from its silky tophat until the end of its four-hour run. It’s compact, brilliant, and one of the best puzzle games of 2023.

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Every weekend, indie developers showcase their work in progress on Twitter #screenshotsSaturday label. And every Monday, I offer you a selection of these shots and clips. This week my attention was drawn to my immersive indie sims, a great in-world menu system, and rattling pots and pans in a soundscape location. Come see!

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