I prefer not to talk about a game that is not fully released, let alone a demo, but Fear the Timeloop seemed to have positioned itself in a different spot. The reason behind avoiding making a comment on a game before the full release often comes from the common practice amongst the developers not to reveal critical game information, such as gameplay or basic lores. Fear the Timeloop seems to have warranted enough talking point, though I do wish to see some major polishing work before it can be launched.
Tagged Steam
Return of Obra Dinn Spiel
The legendary developer of Papers, Please returned with another retro style game, or had returned in 2018. Yes, I am writing for a game 6 years too late, despite it not getting a major update since. For 6 years the game is left with what I would call a breathing room for improvement, while having an overflowing narrative based on dry world-building exercise.
The King is Watching Spiel
I have lost much hope for RTS genre. I am growing too old for it. Starcraft II was one of the recent real-time strategy I enjoyed, but that game came out in 2010. I recall the game and the genre in general progressively becoming more physically demanding to add more contents, until we saw Overlord or a game designed to automate or pre-program combat encounters. The King is Watching, in many ways, sits in between. It has a tick-based clock, but the game enforces the progress of “real time” in its own right.
Shinkansen 0 Spiel
I am always bit confused about Chilla’s Art games. The developer has published many retro styled Japanese horrors, and as far as I could gather, games are never set post 2010s, the age of smartphones. There is always a digital camera, a flashlight, or a camcorder. The supernatural horror as we know it, or at least the one I grew accustomed to, rarely functions within the boundaries of current technologies. Shinkansen 0, as far as I know, is the only game that is set in contemporary world with onboard WiFi.
Faceminer Spiel
AI was the talk of the town during Christmas dinner, so I thought to give Faceminer a chance. Even before AI was such a hit, we — everyone who has seen the crypto ads on social media — have seen the whole mining rig as a business opportunity to ‘work from home’. It has been always been a brief talking point during light hearted dinners. What if we had bought ourselves a powerful workstation fit for crypto mining or local AI training to switch jobs?
The Operator Spiel
As a fan of Orwell series, a similar game released in 2016, The Operator immediately had my fullest attention with its retro take on agent-handler system. The retro futurism from the 90s was wild, and the game does not shy away from it. The media thought ancient computer systems hooked up to a CRT monitor could handle nation-wide surveillance and advanced softwares to zoom in beyond the tinest pixels.
Routine Spiel
Routine is, or was, a game in development hell for 13 years. Announced in 2012 with the release window set in 2013, it is no wonder the talks I could find on the game are largely the pure surprise on the mere fact it had not been fully abandoned. No doubt with 13 years of development the game has gone through major changes in directions as well. As a gamer, fortunately, I was not waiting in limbo for 13 years as some of the eager players must have been.
Pools Spiel
There is a new subgenre of horror which most horror lovers would have already seen one way or the other — liminal horror. Some of the liminal spaces went viral online, such as the Backrooms, for invoking sense of eeriness or uncanniness to the space itself. It is an acquired taste, even in the world of horror.
Early Access and Narrative Work
Of all things Valve is pushing, I find Early Access program to be easily abused because it demerits the narrative element of a game. Any games that are heavily based on its narrative or storytelling have limited shelf life; the moment it is released it will slowly sip through any and all social medias. But developers can choose not to use Early Access. The fault truly lies on the games that use Early Access and laser focus on the system’s weakness for its advantage.
How to Fix Steam Link Audio on macOS Host
It is less likely scenario for macOS to be the host than the client for Steam Link, but it does indeed happen. I usually set my MacBook Air to be the host for Steam Link to play a stream the game session over to my phone, and no doubt there are other use cases where a Mac is the Steam Link host.
Parasocial Spiel
I was waiting for Chilla’s Art to make landing on non-PC platforms for a while; any other successful horror indies have ported their games over with or without the help of porting studios. That hasn’t happened as of yet. Regardless, Chilla’s Art titles have special place in the indie horror scenes of serving realistic modern Japanese horrors.
App to Convert PC Xbox App Saves for Different Platforms
I’m on the process of writing a similar themed op-ed that highlights the exact issue I am having with the Xbox App. One would imagine save files on all PC games would be platform-agnostic, so long as the platform in question has a Windows presence. That is simply not the case with the Xbox app for PC. Xbox uses its unique save file structure, possibly for cloud support.
Fears to Fathom – Home Alone Spiel
The second season of Fears to Fathom series is already underway, and I thought to come back to the series as it is slowly being released on other platforms. Currently, only the fourth episode is available on the PlayStation with DualSense support. Fears to Fathom is an anthology; the episodes are not connected from one another, as of yet. Home Alone, the one this piece is about, was the debut title of the series and also available for free.
Order 13 Spiel
I suppose calling Order 13 a job simulator would be a euphemism. Order 13 is a horror game with big enough emphasis on the job of warehouse workers. Though I have never worked in Amazon warehouse before, I can safely assume jobs in the warehouse is more separated and specialized, instead of having one employee on the look out for the products, packaging, labeling, and shipping it out from his/her lane.
Dyson Sphere Program Spiel
As Dyson Sphere Program is a simulation game still in Early Access without a story mode, I wasn’t sure when I could safely say I finished it. I prefer not to talk about sims that go on forever, as they tend to be more “simulation” than a “simulation game”. Fortunately, the game does have an ending, or something akin to an ending in the tech tree, where the narrator congratulates the player on finishing the monolithic task.