Checkpoint XIII: the one that looks like a comic book
This month: underwater jetfighters, slithering horror, and kind birds. Also a puppy!
Hey wassup! Sam here! Hope you’re all good and do you think anyones made a Majora’s Mask medical mask yet? They gotta have. They have. There’s a wooden one on Etsy, which I feel like thats not gonna... help much. Sorry. It’s the morning this is going out and I had done a whole funny bit here with the intro speech from Pokémon and swapped out some of the words, cos we were gonna have both a Mailchimp and Substack version of the mailer going out this month (red and blue versions, was gonna be the “joke”) but Joes rightly pointed out that that might be a bit spammy so, please keep your eye out for a tweet from us in a couple days with an example of how a Substack version of this might look! It’s a lot easier for our Joes to put together and he already does like 75% of the work on this thing! (huge exaggeration! — J) Plus he’s busy with his new puppy I promised not to use as emotional blackmail.
As for the big news this month, outside of Epic Games loudly demanding Apple 1V1 them at Costly Court (Chris Plante breaks it all down over on Postgame), it’s mostly just big games companies not getting it. Lets clumsily group a couple links together for you!
Everyones favourite games professor Cameron Cunzelman lays out the structural anti-Blackness in The Last Of Us II, and just how much of a fuckin’ misery that game is.
The (thoughtless, low-effort and transparent) decision to have a gender-swapping Viking in the next Assassin’s Creed isn’t helpful, argues Sam Greerfor LadBible.
Ubisoft, after a slew of allegations and “stepping down”s is... doing fine. Waverly reports on this, and just how badly/briefly the whole games industry handles situations like these.
Natalie Degraffinried has left Kotaku, and has some thoughts on her time there. Important to note, Natalie isn’t calling for folks to stop reading or promoting the publication (which honestly, was our initial reaction), as there are still, particularly queer and POC, writers and editors working to make the place better.
In some good news, after choose-your-romance mobile app Lovestruck let it’s writers go (or didn’t? Fuck intentional vague business speak), the writer's 21 day long strike ended in an agreement. As Nicole Carpenter writes, this does not happen very often.
Aron Garst chats with Obsidian’s Technical Director on the initial reaction to the (very big) spiders Grounded (a game where you play as a shrunk kid in a garden), and their decision to take the issue seriously.
Take a scroll down memory lane and learn about the history of Flash games and impact they had on the games industry, featuring some excellent quotes from prominent names, in this wicked essay/experience put together by Jonas Richner. Anyone wanna go use the library computers after school?
Autumn is approaching fast but if you want to spend just a bit more time with summer go check out Kimimi's sunny write-up of chill vacation simulator Boku no Natsuyasumi 2.
And finally, here is a concise and thoughtful video on a game called I am dead where are my keys from the always-excellent Umbrella Terms.
Zodiac XX
Virtuoso Neomedia
PC / macOS
This. Game. Rules. If "explosive underwater arcade dogfighting drama" isn't enough of a sell, lemme hype you up a bit more. This surfaced (heh) seemingly out of nowhere with a surprise release on Humble's subscription service, and if you've been longing for some fast-paced, hyper-stylish, hot-as-hell action it would be hard to find anything more perfect. From inside the cockpit of a dope ass underwater fighter jet you are thrust into a high tension drama with your rugged crew of misfits. Everything you do makes you feel like the hottest ace pilot of the high seas. Firing torpedo salvos at enemy ships, chasing rival submarines around the seafloor, and breaking the neon blue surface like a badass cyber dolphin with a rocket strapped to its back. It's all absolutely drenched with style, from the UI and menus to the scenes of your pilot sprinting through the hangar on mission sortie. The soundtrack is provided by Skybridge, Myrone and Checkpoint fav 2 Mello, and it does a superb job of underscoring the action on screen with pumping action for your ears. Go sign up for Humble Trove and get your hands on this hot stuff (and about 90+ more games). — J
RIYL — Ace Combat 7, WipeOut, Star Wars Episode 1: Racer.
ALSO ... A look at the game by Natalie Clayton on Rock Paper Shotgun.
Carrion
Phobia Game Studio
Switch / PS4 / XONE / PC / macOS
Who would’ve even considered that it was US that were the bad guy all along huh? Humans!! Peaceful, money-loving oil-burning plastic-melting sea-shitting humans. And who would’ve thought, that during a global pandemic that’s being drawn out and profited on by countless vile and greedy people, that it feels kinda nice to play as a creature trying to escape (and subsequently squish up) the shitty humans that created(?) and tormented it. Slipping out of an air vent behind some dickhead cop-ass mercenary with a flamethrower and just fuckin throwing him around with your gross gut-tentacles, then eating him to get big, just feels natural. This game offers up that impossible, dream scenario; you get to run/slither screaming into a room full of people that are wrong, and come out on top. Then you get to suck up a new upgrade and learn how to turn into worms to get through that small gap you couldn’t before, and go squish up some other dickheads. — S
RIYL — Ape Out, Inside, that Shadow Complex game you could download on Xbox 360.
ALSO ... Patrick Klepeck, VICE Games’ resident horror buff, chats with level designer Krzysztof Chomicki about monster sympathy, and Kirby.
Bird Alone
George Batchelor / Eli Rainsberry / Allissa Chan / Daisy Fernandez
iOS
I was obviously gonna get this game/experience/friend as soon as I laid eyes on this beautiful bird. Why would you not want them inside your phone? They kick ass! What I wasn’t fully expecting (which is wrong of me, the kinda people that make games like these are smart and thoughful and kind and getting more than you emotionally/spiritually bargained for shouldn’t be a surprise anymore) was how moving of an experience this was gonna be (again, I should’ve seen it coming. I can’t even jump on a Goomba without feeling shit about it anymore I was always gonna get over attached to this bird). It made me realise how often I avoid actually answering when someone asks me how I’m doing. You can’t avoid it here, it’s the first thing this bird asks you every day and there’s no squirming out of it. Happy, or Sad. And this bird, Flip in my case, this funny sweet moving kind and thoughtful bird is absolutely cool with either answer, and helps you get there too. Then you can feed Flip an orange and scratch his tummy and go make some music and feel your whole inside swell up when he starts singing along and then you can plant some flowers together and it’s so beautiful. This bird reminds me daily to face my feelings, and to make sure to take time away from getting trod on by headlines and just letting dread drip onto my face, to do something nice. — S
RIYL — Birds, pets, poetry, flowers, music, talking, painting.
ALSO ... Natalie Flores’ beautiful, personal Bird Alone diary series. I’d recommend playing it for a week or two yourself before reading though!
Guest Reccs
Another musical superstar guest this month!! The inimitable Eli Rainsberry, final boss of laidback understated earworms, best known for Wilmot’s Warehouse, If Found… and Jetstream plus this months recc, Bird Alone! In the few brief moments Sam wasn’t thinking about his phone bird this month, we got to ask for a few words about what they’ve been enjoying recently.
I've recently been finding solace in taking part in remote TTRPGs that one of my friends hosts; the last one-shot we played was Dead Halt! It's a sci-fi cyberpunk-like RPG where you're part of a hotel maintenance crew picking up jobs from the hotel bartender, then taking the elevator to...pretty much anywhere? Maybe? Anyway, we all ended up in a desert and made a bunch of chilli together. I mean there was a bit of combat too but mostly chilli.
You can find Eli’s Bandcamp here (get the Wilmot OST, it’ll tidy up your mind), their website here and deff follow them on Twitter to find out what they’ve got cookin’. Cyber-chilli, probably. Thank you Eli!
Hi there, Joes here to see you off. Also wanted to give a quick shoutout to another game I've been enjoying this month: Fall Guys!I don't think it needs any introducing 'cause it seems like everyone has been playing this, or at least seen some of the buzz! For me, it's a) a nice respite from the perpetual grids of Destiny 2 and Animal Crossing (two games I can't seem to entirely break myself away from) and b) it's another one of those "hangout" games that have completely replaced anything resembling a social life since *checks calendar* March! I don't get to hang out with my friends, but at least we get to curse at giant seesaws together. Oh and here is picture of that puppy Sam told you about! Take care!