Have You Played? is an endless stream of game retrospectives. One a day, every day of the year, perhaps for all time.
Centuries ago, some unknown ancient sage called Keeron Gillan wrote about a strange action strategy game called Sacrifice. I haven’t heard anyone mention it since. We have failed.
I remember when everything between January and May was a wasteland, but nowadays you’d be forgiven for not having had the chance to try The Division‘s closed beta this weekend even if you did get in. Maybe you were playing The Witness, Darkest Dungeon, Dragon’s Dogma or building a spreadsheet of names to give your XCOM 2 soldiers. Or maybe you simply hadn’t read Adam’s hands on to understand why you should bother.
Good news! Said beta has been extended by 24 hours so it will now cease on Tuesday, February 2nd at 11am GMT, 12pm CET, 6 am EST and 3 am PST. If you’ve received an invite, then there’s still time.
Our Jim kept half an eye on sci-fi sandbox MMORPG The Repopulation [official site], intrigued by players building bases and cities, before he slinked out of RPS and into the woods. We still find wicker rocket launchers hanging from trees so we know he’s safe, but wouldn’t it be nice to see him again? Maybe we can lure him out.
Jim, The Repopulation is in trouble. (Is that the rustling of leaves I hear?) But its developers do have a plan. (Is that the yelp of a man who’s snagged his untamed beard on a branch?) They’re porting it to Unreal Engine, but starting small with a stripped-down spin-off survival game as a base. (Oh, is that a sigh?)
Not for the first time, I’ve spent quite a while recently pondering the nature of roles – more specifically, mechanical role versus narrative role. When we think of RPGs, what we’re usually thinking of is the latter. You play the role of the Hero, but in a universe that’s typically designed to let you define that however you like. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, but there’s a key difference between that and stepping into the shoes of someone more specific. Geralt in The Witcher 3 for instance is – spoiler alert – a Witcher. Every encounter revolves around that, every system involves it, every decision has, whether it’s by your choice or Geralt bringing it up, a mercenary element that reinforces that asking for money in exchange for your services is expected and not, as is often the case, the first step towards douchery and getting the Evil ending.
I’ve also been playing a lot of Hearthstone. The two things are linked.
In 2012, Firaxis took on the seemingly impossible task of reviving one of the most beloved PC games ever made. The original X-COM is widely considered to be one of the masterpieces of the nineties golden age, and since its release there have been sequels, spin-offs and unofficial revivals, but Firaxis’ XCOM was a complete, licensed reinterpretation. It was also rather good. Now, with XCOM 2 [official site] ready for release, Firaxis aim to improve on the formula that made Enemy Unknown such a triumph. Here’s wot I think.
You might hear a lot about Star Citizen [official site], about its grand visions for a sandbox universe and about its $107 million crowdfunded by selling virtual spaceships, but what’s the game actually like now? Is it worth paying for? Well, you can read Alec’s thoughts or you can now go see for yourself. For another few days, a ‘Free Fly’ event lets all and sundry sign up and play at exploring, shooting, questing, and socialising in Alpha 2.1.2.
After we turned out the RPS treehouse’s lights on Friday, locked the doors, and ran down to the pub giggling, an explosion blew out the windows. We looked up, our upper lips coated in the foamy moustache of Real Ale, then shrugged. “It’ll wait until Monday” we agreed. And so it has. Rootin’, tootin’, rude ‘tude-totin’, twin-stick shootin’ Bombshell [official site], the game which supposedly grew from the litigation-smashed Duke Nukem Mass Destruction, is out and yeah, it sounds a bit bum.
