KEPT YOU WAITING HUH! So sorry folks, this month’s Checkpoint is coming to you very late. Barely made it to number 4 and we’re already slacking! Truth is, stuff got in the way and we had to take some time to focus on other things (Destiny 2 got good again). But we are gifted a whole extra hour (of Destiny 2) this month, courtesy of daylight saving, giving us a lil bit of bonus (Destiny 2) time to put together a roundup of things that caught our attention. Sam played on his phone a bunch and picked out some games to enjoy on the small screen. We also asked some very nice folks about what games they've been enjoying lately, you can read all about it our very first guest feature!
We’re at the end of October, which means things are about to get ~spoooky~. Kimimi is delving into some creepy gems this spooky month and Bullets Points is all about horror games during ghost season. Also a happy halloween from appropriately named website Deep Hell. If you’re looking for a viddygame ghost story, the eerie Marginalia sure seems like it will chill your bones. Kat Brewster rounded up some nice spooky (not scary) games for Priceless Play plus more spooky scary indie games are coming to haunt you on the latest Indie Mixtape podcast.
Now let’s see if we can answer some questions: like what to do when the creator of a game is a scumbag? Why are online game launches so messy? Is Death Stranding an indie game? What’s the deal with all the anomalous architecture in Yakuza Kiwami 2? Should games be hard or easy? And the return of the big one: Can video games be art? Yes, but there are some things we need to consider. In any case, Super Mario Odyssey is getting the art treatment with a review over at The White Pube, and a seriously amazing gallery of photographs.
Welcome to the Checkpoint business section, this time we are deep diving into the moral economy of celebrity video game streaming and learning about the esports biz from the mom of a pro gamer. Here are some things to consider if you’re starting your own studio but if you wanna make it big avoiding taxes seems like the way to go.
Six developers talked to the New York Times about what it means to be a minority in gaming, an industry that is still struggling to give a voice to diverse perspectives. For more illuminating reflections on representation check out these writings about playersexuality and halfway representation, problematic bodies, and the exploitation of queer trauma. Gaming culture continues to uphold a culture of marginalisation which means minorities are still not getting the support they need.
On a very much related note: please consider donating to rebind.io, home of the best most interesting writing you’ll find anywhere (we’ve linked to their excellent pieces multiple times at Checkpoint). They’ve fallen on some hard times and could really use some help!
Sam’s Bobbin’ thru Apple’s Arcade Halloween Spookt-app-ul-arcade-ular
Bleak Sword
more8bit
iOS
Bleak Sword is the perfect antidote to this era of unnecessary (piss mushroom) detail (horse balls). You’re... some pixels in the shape of a person, you have a couple pixels in the shape of sword and there’s about a dozen other pixels that want you dead. The combat is perfectly boiled down; you attack, dodge, block and parry, all with one thumb plus whatever face you pull when you’re wailing on a Dark Souls boss. It’s one-handed toilet Sekiro; as satisfying as it is simple, and sitting comfortably among my favourite games of the year.
TLDR — 2-bit iPhone sword fighting shouldn’t feel this good.
What the Golf?
Triband
iOS / PC
The ad’s Instagram’s decided to fill in the spaces between the various Bull Terrier accounts I follow are almost entirely made up of crap golf games. It makes sense that the genre’s a little over saturated; the act of pulling back your thumb to decide how far and what direction a ball gets hit/bird gets angry has become second nature. What The Golf? takes this all-too-comfortable formula and finds what got to be over a hundred separate ways of making it feel new again. Honestly, there’s an almost exhausting amount of brilliant twists and ideas in here. I guarantee you’ll still be excitedly showing them off to a half-interested third par-ty 4 hours in. Great for the wee ones for sure!
TLDR — Golf game where you don’t just hit balls at holes.
Overland
Finji
Apple Arcade / Switch / PS4 / Xbox One / PC / macOS
An absolutely gorgeous turn based strategy set post some kind of invasion/apocalypse that (as far as I saw) mid-30s folk and big dog breeds survived. The randomly generated starting characters and tense AF gameplay means this is one of those games that you’re gonna be talking about like you were actually there behind that dumpster in the abandoned petrol station when that blue-spined alien blew up that car and that dog almost got killed but ended up saving the guy in the flannel and everyone just about got away. Only downside is that this game’s too good to waste on a phone screen; deff worth paying for the Switch or console version.
TLDR — The Walkies Dead.
Manifold Garden
William Chyr Studio
Apple Arcade / PS4 / PC / macOS / Linux
A good puzzle game is daunting right? Or becomes daunting, slowly, with the introduction of new concepts and obstacles. Manifold Garden has you staring down, then leaping into an infinite kaleidoscopic abyss in it’s opening moments. Just to get to the puzzle. A dizzying mix of Fez’s perspective control and The Witness' walking around stunning stylised scenery that promises to keep you up at night. Honestly I just need more people to play this... and make tutorials. This thing’s tough.
TLDR — Vertigo inducing first person Fez.
Checkpoint's Very First and Very Cool Guest Recommendations
We are super excited to introduce our first guests and subsequently, our first guest recommendations! And it’s freakin’ (our great talented friends) Yaffle and Rayzones! Together they design and make games as Lowpolis, the studio responsible for blessing your Twitter timeline with sweet postcards and a game about drifting cars in a parking lot. They recently released what might be the best possible realisation of the cutest possible concept, x_purrsonline_x , for this years A Game By It’s Cover game jam. Like everything they make it’s considered, smart and topped off with their signature subdued early-internet charm.
Rayzones— I'm really behind on what's coming out right now, still haven't played Hypnospace Outlaw and A Bewitching Revolution even. But some of my latest fun experiences would be Heaven Will Be Mine, Kitchen For One, the co-op mode of Wilmot's Warehouse, and this year's replay of Sonic.
Yaffle — I've just finished EXTREME MEATPUNKS FOREVER and it's ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE and now one of my favourite video games along with Heaven Will Be Mineand Butterfly Soup!
Thank you so much for reading! We are slowly figuring things out so you might see some changes in the coming mailers. Please reach out to Joes or Sam if there is anything on your mind. We promise the next Checkpoint is totally coming to you on time (sorta), or not (Destiny 2). Have a wicked day and play some games!