Tag: Narrative »

Steam Link Spotlight is a feature where we look at PC games that play exceptionally well using the Steam Link app. Our last entry was XCOM: Chimera Squad. Read about how it plays using Steam Link's new mouse and keyboard support over here.

For this entry, I took a look at a fascinating game about communication. Signs of the Sojourner by Echodog Games examines how traveling and connecting with other people can change you in the process. While this has been explored in plenty of other games and media before, what's remarkable about Signs of the Sojourner is how it translates this message so elegantly through simple card game mechanics.

If you really want to be spooked for Halloween, there are few mobile games that can do the job better than Kaigan Games’s Simulacra. This is a game I included on my list of games to get you in the Halloween spirit specifically because it’s the most horrifying game I’ve played on a phone, bar none.

With the season of creepy stuff and spooks upon us, it feels right to chat about our favourite spooky games, doesn't it? Everyone's got one that stuck with them regardless of the platform. Whether it's the rhythmic drums of Slenderman, the gross mutilated family of Resident Evil 7, or the static radio sounds from Silent Hill 2 (AKA the greatest horror game of all time), everyone's got that one game that rubs them up the right and wrong ways.

In mobile it's a little trickier, only because it's tougher to balance the content and controls in such a way that the experience doesn't feel cheap or underwhelming. That's not saying there aren't tons to choose from, of course. We're very much spoiled for choice.

Some of you may absolutely leap at the chance to climb onboard an aeroplane. Some of you may not be too thrilled at the idea of flying, but will get on with it without much fuss. Some of you may be paralysed with fear, like me, from the moment you step in the airport.

However you handle flying, this is a handful of games you really shouldn't be without. I mean, it's not the end of the world if you don't have them, but they're good fun and a good distraction for those less tolerable of air travel – trust me.

2018 has been a bit of a mix in mobile gaming. We've had some real gems like Oddmar, Candleman, and Dandara, and we've had some disappointments, but what about the future?

These upcoming games have me excited for a number of different reasons, and some of them are a little – er – weird. Though it's easy to just focus on what we know is coming and what we know we're going to get, it's much more fun to look forward and speculate on what we don't know, eh?

No? Just me? Well, we'd best get to it then.

Girl With a Heart of (that's the full title, best make peace with it) tells the story of Raven, a young girl living in the dark city of Underfoot. A young girl with an artificial heart. When Underfoot is attacked by the Light's army, Raven will have to make use of her special "condition" to play a vital role in this war. What that means is a mystery (for now). How it all ends will depend on the player.

The concept behind Girl With a Heart of's world is what really caught my attention. I find the idea of a world where the presumed roles of light and darkness are reversed to be fascinating. I also enjoy a good interactive narrative, and I'm curious to see some of these choices and experience some of these "life-altering consequences" for myself. But to do that, I have to wait.

Girl With a Heart of is due out in the App Store next month (November 17th) and will carry a $2.99 price tag.