David Daw has studied the history and future of television and has a master's in Broadcast and Electronic Communication Arts from San Francisco State University along with a BA in genre fiction from NYU. More by David Daw
Since most free games are (usually) made by small teams on shorter timelines, they have to scale down their games in comparison to AAA titles with budgets in the tens of millions and hundreds on staff. Scaling down doesn’t always have to be a bad thing, though; sometimes whittling a game down to its core elements results in a game with a laserlike focus on what makes it fun. This week we’ve got free games that make less into more in different ways.
Alex is a freelance videogame writer who writers for PCWorld's GameOn. He likes Star Wars a lot, maybe a bit much. More by Alex Rubens
I went into The Unfinished Swan knowing absolutely nothing about it. That doesn’t happen very often these days, especially with a downloadable game as unique as The Unfinished Swan. It is unlike any other game I’ve played before; it doesn’t hold the players hand or instruct you what to do and where to explore, but rather trusts your instincts to lead you in the right direction. That’s a huge pressure to put on a player, but The Unfinished Swan does so with such grace and subtlety that I didn’t fully recognize what I'd done until the game was over.
The Unfinished Swan starts in a rather odd way. After you download it from the Playstation Network Store ($15), you load the game and all you see is a targeting reticle in the middle of a blank white screen. It seems odd until you press one of the triggers and fire a ball of black paint that splatters across a blank white object somewhere in this blank white virtual space, defining a portion of the world. Once I discovered this mechanic of exploration it wasn’t long before I was shooting as many paint balls as I could, trying to make the space more defined and more comfortable to me.
It was a weird and unfamiliar feeling to be walking through a space that I couldn’t fully see. Though in a world where gamers are often concerned about draw distances in games as much as the games themselves, it was somewhat refreshing to know that visual acuity didn't really matter.
I found myself painting a basic path on the ground when entering a new area before spinning in a circle, firing paint in all directions hoping to hit a wall of some kind and understand where I was. It was disconcerting, not immediately knowing if I was in a room or outside in a garden; playing The Unfinished Swan makes you acutely aware of how dependent humans are on a sense of place. Locational awareness is often overlooked in games since you can immediately see and understand the virtual space you're exploring; when that sense is taken away, things become disconcertingly foreign.
The blank canvas worlds of The Unfinished Swan become a huge mystery, one that I felt compelled to unearth. It was almost as if I was actually painting these environments from scratch, though they existed invisibly all along and I was only making them visible the the eye. The Unfinished Swan is fantastic because it inspires feelings of both creation and exploration, allowing you to form worlds from nothing and then explore them at your leisure. It felt almost as if I was playing two roles simultaneously, the scientist opening up parts of the maze for the lab rat to explore.
As I progressed through the areas, the story began to unfold, bringing new mechanics with it that were just as simple and relatable as the last. After the first area (which is all stark black and white) shadows are drawn in grey, making it easier to pick out details of the invisible world before you lay paint to canvas. These highlights lessen the thrill of discovery, but they don't kill it entirely.
David Daw has studied the history and future of television and has a master's in Broadcast and Electronic Communication Arts from San Francisco State University along with a BA in genre fiction from NYU. More by David Daw
This week’s collection of free games are about growing up and getting older. It’s more fun than it sounds.
This week we’re tackling free games that take a look at the process of growing up and getting older. It’s not the most popular theme in all of gaming (Super Mario Bros: Contemplate Your Own Mortality, coming soon to the Wii U) but in recent years with the rise of indie gaming and art games developers have been creating more games about growing up. Thankfully, they’ve managed to make some pretty fun games about the process.
David Daw has studied the history and future of television and has a master's in Broadcast and Electronic Communication Arts from San Francisco State University along with a BA in genre fiction from NYU. More by David Daw
At just over 2 pounds you won’t want to carry this keyboard around with you just for fun, but when you do need to move it the comparatively low weight (along with the detachable USB cord and complimentary storage sleeve) make the process a lot easier. The BlackWidow Tournament Edition, as the name suggests, is ideal for gamers who frequent tournaments or LAN parties and would like a keyboard that’s a little simpler to detach and move around than some of the higher-end gaming keyboards Razer offers.
That doesn’t mean that Razer has sacrificed quality for portability, however. The Tournament Edition sports the same Cherry MX Blue mechanical keys as it's older brother, and it feels as sturdy and responsive as any keyboard I’ve used.
David Daw has studied the history and future of television and has a master's in Broadcast and Electronic Communication Arts from San Francisco State University along with a BA in genre fiction from NYU. More by David Daw
This week we’ve got 5 different games that redefine difficultly in games. Some are hard to play, some are hard to watch and some are just brutally difficult for everyone involved. If you’re looking for a game that challenges you, each of these will fit the bill in their own way.
Alex covers desktops, everything from fancy to practical. He's also an avid (addicted) gamer and loves following the industry. More by Alex Cocilova
We love zombies. Correction: we love slaying zombies. That's why we're excited that The Walking Dead: Episode 4 - "Around Every Corner" was released today on PC with little warning. It seems that the latest episode of Telltale's point-and-click game takes a turn for the macabre, as the walking dead have become the slayers (I promise, no spoilers). If you've been playing The Walking Dead since the series began, you've survived three action-packed and emotional episodes; the group has changed, loyalties have shifted but the captivating drama and tension of the core game remains the same.
Sure, there's about 2.4 billion games to play right now (XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Dishonored, Borderlands 2 with the new Mechromancer DLC) but The Walking Dead: Episode 4 is at the top of my priority list. I'm a sucker for story and continue to get more excited as the five-episode game nears its completion.
Cassandra Khaw is an entry-level audiophile, a street dancer, a person who writes about video games for a living, and someone who spends too much time on Twitter. More by Cassandra Khaw
A smoggy cityscape. A single lampost cocooned by shadowy tentacles. An introduction that promises the ability to cavort with devils, converse with cats, wrestle tigers and navigate resolutions. A sly greeting, "Welcome, Delicious Friend."
The landing page for Fallen London sets the tone for the whole experience. In an industry fueled by big guns, dazzling visuals and coarse humor, Fallen London is an anomaly. Not only is it a browser-based social game that does not suck, it's one that has enjoyed positive attention from reputable media outlets like The Escapist and The New Yorker. Equal parts gothic steampunk and Lovecraftian mythos, Fallen London, which is probably best described as a social choose-your-own-adventure romp through a metropolis two streets away from R'lyeh, is slow, refined and beautifully written.
