The fundamental mechanic is clever and jaw-droppingly pulled off. The visuals are lovely, puzzles mostly fun, never too challenging and satisfying to complete. It doesn’t matter much, but the characters & story aren’t particularly memorable (unless you count some pretty cringey dialog). Overall a pleasant and worthwhile experience.
In a statement today, Valve announced their plan to discontinue the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) after the 2023 season, but reassure the community that their annual tournament The International will continue. Launched in 2017, the DPC aimed to clarify & formalise invites for The International, but Valve now claim it led to a less varied and exciting competitive Dota scene.
Bryan Intihar previews the expanded NYC and ‘next-gen’ gameplay of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, which is coming out October 20. Looks stunning, visually - and damn, that loading time (or lack thereof) on fast travel is unreal.
In their latest Direct, Nintendo provided an update on its work to convert an old plant in Kyoto into a museum celebrating its history. Set to finish by March next year, they also reveal plans to paint the iconic question block on the museum’s roof. Cool.
Supergiant has provided an update on the much anticipated Hades II. Early Access is set for Q2 2024, and a limited technical test is planned. Much like the first one, major updates post-launch to expand content and story. Can’t wait.
Experimental food sandbox with ridiculous graphics and a focus on a e s t h e t i c s. The lack of significant objectives, and at times unintuitive controls certainly won’t be for everyone, but if you’re up for messing around, it’s a satisfying & delightful time.
Valve are celebrating the 20th anniversary of Steam, which launched on September 12, 2003. As well as games being on sale, there’s a neat retrospective site that looks back through the annual highlights. Love the artwork by Claire Hummel!
Game engine Unity has announced their plan to implement a monthly “Runtime Fee” for game installs, effective Jan 1, 2024. This would mean that developers are required to pay based on - among other things - how many times their game is installed, including for instances like free Game Pass installs, or even people reinstalling. Catastrophically stupid.
Australia’s new Digital Games Tax Offset (DGTO) program has announced its inaugural board members; Johanna Egger, Managing Director of Two Bulls, and Morgan Jaffit, known for his work at Defiant Development (Hand of Fate). They’ll serve three-year terms advising on DGTO applications, which provides a 30% tax rebate for game developers with costs exceeding AUD $500,000.
Let’s get it out of the way: the game has fun moments. The visual and sound design are great, the music is really nice, and of course there’s lots to do. Unfortunately… none of it is revolutionary - far from it - and it has many, many problems (not helped by Todd still telling sweet little lies). I wish the experience was more freeform and seamless, because the overshadowing of dated systems & what it could have been are hard to look past.