Hello!
Welcome to the first edition of Happening Again that is specifically focussed on video games. While the AAA market seems to be in a perpetual state of stagnation, the indie scene is thriving, and I’ve chosen five titles from the first half of 2024 that have made me remember why I love video games. Nothing here will cost you £70, and everything is more than worth your time. Anyway, let’s get playing…
Palworld
Pocketpair
POCKETPAIR
macOS/Windows/Xbox One/Xbox Series X/S
£24.99
It might have been mired in hyperbolic social media-fuelled controversy upon its release, (what isn’t nowadays?) but ‘Palworld’ has proven itself to an interesting title all on its own. While it very obviously takes cues, inspiration, and mechanics from other games (‘Pokémon’-style monster catching, ‘ARK: Survival Evolved’ survival mechanics), it clearly touched on something that people were missing from the games it drew from. Yes, the monsters may look very similar to Pokémon, but the fact you can interact with them and set them to work added a whole new dynamic to that style of game. “But it’s just [x] with [y]” doesn’t really matter, if it does it well. And it does. Its initial popularity has died down, but it’s being constantly updated with new Pals, new mechanics, and new areas. If Pocketpair handle this well, it could become not only a rival to ‘Pokémon’, but a mainstay in the genre. For a game that was originally written off as Chinese vaporware (despite the developers being Japanese), it doesn’t half have legs. It’s currently still in early access, but I’m very interested in what the full v1.0 release will look like.
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Animal Well
Shared Memory
BIGMODE
Nintendo Switch/PlayStation 5/Windows
£20.99
The deep secrets of ‘Animal Well’ go far beyond the initial platforming layer of the game. The indie video game market is saturated with metroidvanias, but ‘Animal Well’ stands out for its dense, labyrinthine setting full of eerie but intriguing animals. For the uninitiated a metroidvania, as defined by Wikipedia, is “a sub-genre of action-adventure games and/or platformers focussed on guided non-linearity and utility-gated exploration and progression”. From the off
‘Animal Well’ throws you into its vivid, neon world with little handholding, as you incrementally open up more and more of the map, collecting eggs along the way. Developer Billy Basso says he pulled inspiration from ‘Super Mario Bros. 2’, “flip screen” Commodore 64 games, and survival horror. No surprise there really, as there’s more than a few disarmingly creepy moments throughout the game. It was met with almost universal praise, a triumph for a one-man development team, as well as for publisher Bigmode (run by YouTuber dunkey aka Jason Gastrow). ‘Animal Well’ is an alluring puzzle box that’ll push your grey matter to its limit.
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Balatro
LocalThunk
PLAYSTACK
macOS/Nintendo Switch/PlayStation 4/PlayStation 5/Windows/Xbox One/Xbox Series X/S
£12.79
Poker 2 is one of the funniest, but most accurate descriptions of this game I’ve seen. Anyone with a knowledge of Texas hold ‘em will understand the basic premise of ‘Balatro’, but that’s just the beginning. While pairs, flushes, and full houses and the like are what you’re aiming for (just like a real game of poker), Planet and Joker cards allow you to multiply your score and apply bonuses to your hand. Win blinds to earn money, then spend your winnings on more Joker and Planet cards to up the ante. It’s fiendishly addictive, and has a beautiful art style that makes me wish the cards existed tangibly. Developer LocalThunk has teased a major gameplay update due next year, as well as “two more surprises” coming this summer. If I was a betting man, I reckon there’s a mobile version on the way.
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Hi-Fi Rush
Tango Gameworks
BETHESDA SOFTWORKS
Windows/Xbox Series X/PlayStation 5
£26.99
Debuting to stonking reception back when it released on Xbox Series X/S and PC last year, ‘Hi-Fi Rush’ launched on PS5 back in March, hence its inclusion here. And boy am I glad it did. The game is a triumph. Its vivid, cell shaded-adjacent art style is an evocative throwback to the Dreamcast-era, particularly games like ‘Jet Set Radio’, and when you combine that with its game mechanics. Well, it’s no wonder it was received so well. ‘Hi-Fi Rush’ is a rhythm-based action game in which you assume the role of Chai, a self-proclaimed “future rock star” whose music player accidentally becomes embedded into his body through cybernetic surgery, resulting in him perceiving the world through environmental synaesthesia. And when I say “the world”, I do mean everything. Lights flash, platforms shift, and Chai walks to the beat of the soundtrack. Combat revolves around timing your attacks to these visual cues, and while it may take a minute for it to click, when it does it just works. Oh, and that soundtrack? It boasts the likes of The Prodigy, Fiona Apple, The Flaming Lips, and Nine Inch Nails, to name but a few. Despite the game’s positive reception, it’s been a bit of a rough ride for developer Tango Gameworks. After launching ‘Hi-Fi Rush’ to critical acclaim, Xbox unceremoniously shut the studio down, before proceeding to claim that they needed small, award-worthy games like ‘Hi-Fi Rush’. Go figure. Thankfully, the studio has been saved and acquired by South Korean publisher Krafton. A happy ending, for now at least.
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Lorelei And The Laser Eyes
Simogo
ANNAPURNA INTERACTIVE
Nintendo Switch/Windows
£19.99
“Lynchian” is a descriptor so often misused that I sometimes hate to deploy it. But it seems completely apt for this latest game from Swedish developers Simogo. In ‘Lorelei And The Laser Eyes’ you assume the role of a woman summoned to a mysterious hotel somewhere in central Europe by a cult film director, asking you to track down the missing pages of a script he’s written. But upon arriving at the hotel you are met with a series of brain-melting riddles, all of which plunge you further down the rabbit-hole that is ‘Lorelei And The Laser Eyes’. The genius thing about the game is you’ll soon realise there is no wasted space; every film poster, book extract, and Latin phrasebook is related to some riddle or mystery elsewhere in this eerie daydream. This is a puzzle game proper; have a notebook handy to keep track of Roman numerals, repeated numbers, and iconography as you navigate the cryptic hotel. The game has a striking visual style, a dirty black and white with highlights of pink and red. And the score is just as distinctive, flitting from electrical crackles to loungey jazz interludes. Combine that with mazes, murder, ghosts, and dreams. Oh, and coffee. Lynchian, indeed. I’ll be surprised if this isn’t in my Games Of The Year list.
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