Kill Screen Magazine's Blog, page 426

Dark Souls 2: A review in weapons

Speak, inventory.

The creator of X-Com looks pretty psyched about his new Kickstarter project

We’ve talked about X-Com creator Julian Gollop’s wizardry tactics game Chaos Reborn before, but we’re going to talk about it again because it hit Kickstarter yesterday, and because we never pass up an opportunity to talk about wizards. 

Well, actually, we do. Under normal circumstances, we can take or leave the magic-dabbling old Gandolfs, but this isn’t normal circumstances: this game has some truly spectacular fucking wizards. They can summon a legion of wingmen—from rock-wielding rock-people to manticores; spread viral ooze across hexagons; and you know they’ve got some magical wizard missiles. 

What’s exciting about all this, aside from the wizard-on-wizard action, obviously, is that you can detect a sense of inspiration in Gollop’s mannerisms and tone, like this is the game he’s been wanting to make for thirty years and he’s finally getting the chance to do it thanks. Considering X-Com is the strategy RPG of the forever, that’s truly promising. 

Terrifying Theo Jansen sculptures recreated in miniature; are adorable now

The artist and engineer Theo Jansen is famous for constructing strange, skeletal, self-propelled, kinetic sculptures that scurry eerily down the beaches of the Netherlands. He’s a guy we like to keep our eye(s) on because his work infuses architecture and artistry, much like games do. But now his walking shore creatures, or “Strandbeests,” have birthed hatchlings in the form of tiny 3D printed models for sale for $39 to $113 at Shapeways. While the models are scaled down to fit in the palm of your hand and don’t capture the articulate majesty of their parents, Jansen says they have a notable advantage in the cuteness factor.

A hacktivist artist printing the US Constitution on a sales receipt

There’s something startling about seeing a document with the reverence of the US Constitution scrolling out of an everyday receipt printer. And this art project by Thibault Brevet bores into that patriotic nerve. Revealed at SXSW, the CONSTI2GO is a small electronic device that lets anyone reproduce the noblest of American documents and let freedom reign with the push of a button. It’s that easy.

 This is not exactly the dream key-ring utility for red-white-and-blue bleeding patriots, I don’t think. This smacks of sarcasm of some kind, though I’m not sure which. Brevet previously created the DRM Chair, a wooden chair that breaks after the eighth time you sit on it. So we could probably safely assume that there is some kind of political statement being made, be it echoes of Occupy Wall Street or something else. But I’ll let "We the People" written in tiny smeared black print on a sheet of paper that would ordinarily hold the inflated cost of milk speak for itself.

Local-multiplayer game Heli Brawl is Matisse meets Messhof

Something about developer 2bam’s depiction of Walter from The Big Lebowski getting his head blown off is distinctly Henri Matisse. The art direction in their game Heli Brawl, alternatively, Helibrawl, has a similar striking color palette and deformed abstract quality. But the other half of it—the fierce yet simplistic local-multiplayer action; the whirling pinwheels of vomit; the crude, square brushstrokes and mild probability of dizziness—that’s all Messhof. You know, the guy who made Nidhogg and a bunch of other awesome games. I'm not saying Fauvists were the forerunners of the sloppy/beautiful games movement, but they sure can look alike if you're squinting.

Heli Brawl is a work in progress with no release date, but you can keep up with the project on the dev’s blog, with the added bonus of pixel-gore gifs. 

Oquonie is a maze worth entering

Unlike, say, every other videogame maze ever.

Let's gawk at Hyper Light Drifter's preposterously hot pixel art

We already knew action-role-player Hyper Light Drifter was easy on the eyes. That was a done deal. But this new trailer really hammers the point home. 

In case you missed the Kickstarter campaign that blew up last year, this gorgeous showpiece of pixel art is also a game, and judging from the footage of slashing and gunning we see here, a fine one. It follows a teleporting crusader tailed by an amicable drone through an advanced society collapsing in the ruin of mutant fossils, e-waste, and genetically engineered bio-freaks in incubators. Obvious differences aside, it’s kinda giving me a Secret of Mana flashback. 

No date has been announced, but the devs previously bumped the release till the end of the year for a longer incubation period. It's coming to WiiU, PS4, Vita, and computers everywhere, so you're probably covered. 

Firewatch looks like Walking Dead and Kentucky Route Zero's love child

Campo Santo, the self-described "small but scrappy" indie studio announced last year, finally revealed Firewatch as its first game. If you're a podcast listener, you'll recognize Campo Santo as the latest collaboration between Idle Thumbs host and ex-TellTale lead designers Jake Rodkin and Sean Vanaman. Many other seasoned designers shape this company's star-studded team, hailing from notable developers such as Double Fine (Brutal Legend and The Cave), 2K (Bioshock II), and Klei Entertainment (Mark of the Ninja). 

The developer's blog describes Firewatch as a "single-player, first-person exploration mystery set in the Wyoming wilderness." You'll play as Henry, whose peaceful summer job as the fire lookout in Yellowstone National Park gets interrupted by "something strange." The game's official website promises an experience of ominous isolation. Delilah, your supervisor and sole human contact in the wilderness, remains only reachable by handheld radio. Like much of season one of Walking Dead, the interpersonal decisions you make in Firewatch "can build or destroy the only meaningful relationship you have."

Add some haunting artwork from graphic designer Olly Moss into the mix, and this game's projected 2015 release date starts looking way too far off for our comfort.

Papers, Please's Lucas Pope says "AAA" and "indie" are useless distinctions. We applaud

We have comments by another so-called “indie” game auteur disavowing any interest in this whole indie-ness business. This time it’s Papers, Please creator Lucas Pope, who, speaking at the BAFTA Games Awards this week, said that there are no indie game-makers, just individuals and studios making small games and large games. 

To be honest yeah, I feel [these labels] are a little redundant…. A lot of those games are very successful, so the categorization of indie games and triple-A is kind of dissolving a little bit. 

We’ve beat this drum before and we will keep beating on it because the label “indie” has been keeping so-called indie games in a separate and lower sphere from the major leagues. You might lament Pope’s words as a further erosion of the idea of an indie scene. They by and large are. But a better way to look at is as the erosion of the old monolithic studios and McDuckian game publishers, where one day soon they will have to stand on the same ground with individual artists creating, as Pope puts it, “personal games which express something important." We could use more of those, regardless of the financial situations in which they're created. 

New PBS Game/Show asks if Dark Souls is the best hope for videogame narratives

A quick googling of Dark Souls’ story will open a rabbit hole into the churning gut of lore. From the true identity of Sen, who we know of only through a lone kanji character on the side of a deathtrap, to the exodus of the otherworldly mushroom people, everything is laid bare. 

This exegesis results from the innovative way Dark Souls tells its story—not through cut-scenes and garrulous inn-keeps, but with subtle, purposeful, environmental cues. It turns the act of discovering the story into a game itself, a technique we’ve also seen in critically praised narrative games like Gone Home and Dear Esther. 

Does this new kind of storytelling solve the age-old riddle of how games can be fun to play and tell a captivating story without the two stepping on the other’s toes? 

Watch the episode to find out, and let us know what you think in the comments.