Source: Early Access Purchase
Price: £10.99 (£8.02 until 24 Sept 2015)
Where To Get It: Steam

At times, it’s hard to say what you think about Edge of Space. Right now, for example, it’s close to the beginning of the game, and I’m talking to a shark with a jetpack and a high pitched voice, who’s afraid of not-Metroids, while trying to build a base out of dirt and magical sandbox game powers. I mean… What do you say to that? If that was part of a normal conversation, would you be surprised if people who could overhear would edge away slowly? But such is the world of Edge of Space, which is less about world building, and more about building, in a world.

The Exodus. A tragic day… And those who were most affected were unaware…

Similarly, it’s not quite useful to talk about Edge of Space as a “sandbox” game, because that’s a genre that already has a wide variety of different approaches, even some to do with the whole “Building a home” part. And Edge of Space definitely has a difference there, in the form of “command control.” A base isn’t truly considered yours until it’s not only constructed, but powered, and so… You’re never truly safe going down the layers of the shattered world of Achoa until your next base down is truly ready. It’s an odd choice, but not necessarily a bad one. Especially since death is by no means a permanent problem. In fact, this is both the curse and blessing of Edge of Space: That it truly experiments.

For example, what you can build mostly depends, not on blueprints, but on using your experience of this hostile world (Even if it comes from digging tiles) to expand your repertoire. Sometimes this will mean you learn you need a resource before you ever encounter it, but it’s an interesting way of doing things, and I actually kind of like it, considering you can focus where you want to, for the most part. Resource collection, however, is… Not really a pain because of speed, but because there’s a high chance you’ll have to look around for enough of a certain resource. I thought I’d lucked out in my main review run, because I’d found lots of titanium, uranium, and aluminium within easy reach, but then I realised… “Ah, crap. I’m actually aiming for Explorer armour, which uses Biomass as one of its main components.” Also Protoleaves, Protoroots, Protocellulose, and Protoseeds. Which are found in five completely different types of block or terrain feature.

Home Sweet Home (#1 out of 20)

As you might have guessed, your inventory will fill up quite quickly. Progression is basically a case of “Build a base. Store things in it. Get good enough armour and kit to go deeper, build another base, transfer stuff you think is important between them. Rinse, lather, repeat.” It’s a relatively slow paced game. Go too far down, and not only is there a chance of dying to increasingly aggressive creatures, there’s a chance of dying to the increased radiation, the closer you get to the core.

Similarly, if you’re looking for story in your sandbox, expect to have to piece it together. You start off knowing only that the world is called Achoa, you are a member of ArkCo, and that the ship you were on got attacked while leaving Earth. You’ll occasionally find zombie ex crew members, and start piecing together both this strange world you’re on (Where there is atmosphere, but the land is somewhat shattered, and the atmosphere gets worse the lower you go), and perhaps the story of what really happened.

Overall, this one’s a game for the patient. It’s not unfriendly to new players (Although keybinds will confuse first timers), the difficulty curve is dependent on how far you push versus what you’ve got (So is mostly under your control), there are some interesting events and places if you’re willing to hunt for them, but it’s definitely not for those who like a quick start, or want to feel attached to a single area. People who are likely to yell “BUT THAT’S SILLY!” at jetpack sharks with lasers, plants that fire plasma balls if you hit them with energy weapons, and other, stranger creatures, may also wish to give this one a miss. They’ll be missing out on something interesting, but I understand people have different ideas of “interesting” versus “silly”.

Oh, research trees… I admit, I have a weakness for them. Especially when they’re unlocked by doing what I’m meant to do.

I happen to find jetpack sharks with lasers on a world like Achoa relatively reasonable.

The Mad Welshman smiled as his rocks, mud, clay, and assorted junk was turned into many, many useful ferrosilicate building blocks. “Truly,” he thought “We live in the most advanced age!”

And then he shot a jelly, because it was annoying him.

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Source: Cashmoneys
Price: £17.98
Where To Get It: Steam
Other Reviews: Early Access 2

Everything is broken. My atmosphere generators have caught fire, I have people trapped in the living quarters due to a planning mistake, and one of my astronauts is waiting in the airlock for a wingman who will probably starve a little while after Airlock Boy runs out of oxygen. Some of these problems are intended. Some are not. But most of them are hilarious either way.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

MAIA, a science fiction survival and base management game by Simon Roth and the MAIA team, has had a patch history almost as interesting as Dwarf Fortress. Chickens once flocked to magma vents as soon as a game began. IMPs would, in proper Asimovian fashion, try to do impossible jobs. Cats and dogs would walk on the surface of the incredibly hostile world (Called, funnily enough, Maia), with nary a care in the world that they weren’t breathing oxygen, but an incredibly volatile mix of horrific toxins. But for all that, the core idea has come across quite well, and 0.50 continues the trend.

The game’s AI, for example, has gone through some fixing. This is a good thing… And a bad thing for those of us who have been playing somewhat differently beforehand. Before, turrets were a curiosity. Now, they’re a necessity if you want your home to stay powered, as the local megafauna think that your outside buildings are either really good scratching posts, or things they trip over and get annoyed at. But let’s talk about what can be done in the game for a bit.

Essentially, right now, you control a small group of plucky (doomed) british colonists, who have somehow managed to survive long enough to build a small base in a rocky outcropping on the world known as Maia. Or, more accurately, you plan rooms, buildings, and mining operations, vaguely hoping that they’ll do what you want. That’s harder than it sounds. But it’s also more fun and challenging than it sounds.

A little cluttered, but I don’t want MegaFauna using my towers as itch-relief.

For example, you need to leave room for your IMP robots (Yes, the Dungeon Keeper reference is intentional) to be able to expand the base. You have to make sure you don’t open the whole thing to the toxic atmosphere. You have to start from simple needs (Power and Air), working your way up the hierarchy (Air, Food, Sleep, Stimulation), and initiate research into the world that surrounds you. Right now, that process is mostly automated… But already, the first signs of having to ask your colonists to do more work than just putting things up are showing, with Necroscopy. All that is right now is being able to cut apart and study one of the Megafauna of the world, and, once your research level is high enough, build a reactor chamber and dope your water to help stop the colonists going stir crazy (Which… May have side effects), but research also already allows for better energy storage, better food production, bigger oxygen tanks… And a little something that helps save your colonists from endlessly having to repair things.

An intelligent servo-bot, currently equipped with a repair module. These little fellers will happily maintain your atmosphere generators… Right up until they develop a phobia of repairing things!

“I can’t take all this BUILDING! BUILDING BUILDING BUILDING, GRAAAGH!”
…Okay, maybe not yet. But it’s apparently in the game plan.

You can perhaps already tell, just maybe, that Maia is not going to be a game where things are safe once everything is built. From the beginning, team MAIA has talked of intelligent doors that refuse to co-operate, IMPs with a fear of the dark, things breaking down, things going wrong… And all the while, your colonists communicate with HQ in short messages and procedurally generated haiku. Pretty good ones, actually. It’s a black comedy of a game, which is why I’ve stayed interested throughout the Early Access process so far. The visuals and music pay homage, in their way, to 60s and 70s science fiction, with bulky space suits, tape-reel computers, and alien creatures that look goofy, but are threatening. The UI is quite minimalist (Although it does need a better way to examine completed research, and more clarity on which is LOAD, and which is SAVE), which is good, and the function of things is usually pretty clear, even when it’s currently “NOT YET DEFINED.”

So if you like the thought of a dystopian, understated, science fiction simulator with a fair dose of black comedy, MAIA is definitely one to keep an eye on. But be warned, as is often the case with Early Access games, there are bugs. There are problems. But they are definitely being ironed out, on a fairly regular schedule, and I’m pretty confident, by the time it’s done, that it will be a thing to behold.

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Source: Cashmoneys
Price: £6.99 (Episode 1), £23.99 (Season Pass)
Where To Get It: Steam

It’s a sad fact of life that we grow old, and we die. It’s unavoidable, really. But there’s something my father said once, and it’s stuck with me ever since he did: The Norse believed that so long as stories of a person survive, they aren’t truly dead. Their stories still affect us. And, in a sense, this appears to be the theme of the new King’s Quest, lauded as a prequel, but… Just as much a continuation of a long running series.

The facial design and animation is something to behold, very fitting to the story it wants to tell.

So, a little background, because King’s Quest, despite the lack of number after its name, is most definitely a continuation of a franchise thought long dead: Way back in the late 80s to the early 2000s, there was a company called Sierra. And one of its first products of note was King’s Quest. It wasn’t a pretty game, although it was considered so at the time. It was an arbitrary game, mocking you for deaths that weren’t always your fault (That bridge… That fucking bridge), and some of its puzzles were poorly communicated (Nikstlitselpmur in particular). But somehow, it caught people’s imaginations, and the Land of Daventry was known and beloved to many, with the exploits of the royal family (King Graham, Queen Valanice, and the Prince and Princess, Alexander and Rosella) being followed by many an adventure game fan. Of course, it wasn’t to last, and with the 6^th installment, and the death of Sierra, the title lapsed into obscurity.

Fast forward to the 28^th of July, this year, when Activision, having already resurrected Sierra as its Independent publishing brand, and asking The Odd Gentlemen (Creators of ) to make a new installment using the Unreal Engine, released the first episode of a planned 5… A new beginning.

Reactions, so far, appear to have been mixed. So let me put my own two cents in. I don’t mind the controls, they’re pretty simple, and I have yet to find any problems with controlling Graham (Past Graham, that is, as told by of the Magic Mirror of Daventry, and Grandpa Graham, the much aged ex-King.) What I was less enthused by was that, of all the design elements of the original series, The Odd Gentlemen decided to keep the arbitrary deaths (Albeit to a lesser extent), but not the comedic messages. Either that, or they’re not so good at comedic death messages. The second “puzzle” (For the beginning’s environment puzzles are not terribly complex) involves two wheels, one of which leads to certain death, one of which leads to progress. They even tell you as much. However, when going for the obviously wrong one (Although the death was not precisely what I expected), I got… The equivalent of the Prince of Persia’s “No, wait… I got that wrong, let me start again.” It was quick to get back to the scene in question, and indeed, the checkpoints throughout the first segment were fair, but… It felt like trying for a homage, and missing the mark.

References to the game this is effectively rebooting abound, but they don’t outstay their welcome.

Still, it grew on me. The first section, while somewhat arbitrary, wasn’t incredibly hard to master (in fact, I quit after I’d finished, to check how long it took me. Half an hour, including one and a half cutscenes afterward), and ended on an interesting choice. The voice acting definitely drew me in (Chris Lloyd playing Elderly Graham quite well, and other talent including Josh Keaton, Michael Gough, and Wallace Shawn… Who we shall mention again in a minute or two) and the game is undeniably pretty visually, with the music and sound hitting the right notes too. Buuuuut…

There’s not really a polite way of saying this… Yes, Odd Gentlemen, we loved Princess Bride too. I have yet to meet someone who doesn’t (Although I’ve met people who hadn’t watched it). Wallace Shawn was pretty memorable in it. But if I wanted to see Vizzini get outwitted in a prisoner’s dilemma puzzle that’s rigged, I’d watch Princess Bride. Or I’d watch something Wallace Shawn has done that isn’t just Vizzini, because the man’s done other damn good work. You’ve clearly got chops for writing some heartwarming fantasy coming of age stuff, I can tell that from the very first scene where Gwendolyn talks to her cousin. In fact, I quite like Gwendolyn. I didn’t at first, precisely because she was filling the same role as Fred Savage did in Princess Bride (And similarly wasn’t too fond of Elderly Graham until he started showing more character than “I am reliving my glory days” and… Filling the same role as Peter Falk did in… Do I need to say it?)

Whisper’s voice actor, along with the rest of the cast, manage to make the stereotypical and archetypal… Believable. “But most of all… Whisper… Love Whisper!” <3
…Me too, buddy.

So there’s an annoyance ranted out. But this episode of the game definitely doesn’t deserve a panning, because it definitely does have highs. Gwendolyn is a strong character. She’s intelligent, as bloodthirsty as I’d expect a small child to be. The characters shine, even the ones that seem somewhat stereotypical (Acorn is the Big Guy with a heart of gold, for example), the voice acting is top notch, and the puzzles often have multiple solutions (I’ve mostly gone for the friendship option in playthroughs so far). The game, as you can see, is quite pretty, and the writing has been interesting. Most of my complaints outside of the Vizzini “homage” are niggles, and I’ve not been stuck on a single puzzle element for more than about five minutes.

For the price, King’s Quest, Episode 1 will, like Graham’s puns, grow on you if you like adventure games, especially games like Life is Strange or The Wolf Among Us, which concentrate more on an engaging story than “Use cat hair with glue with [list].” If you’re not terribly fond of exploring an area, or don’t like arcade segments and quick time events in your adventure games, I’m sad to say you’ll find this a bother. Give it a go if you think you can get around it, otherwise avoid.

The Mad Welshman has befriended many a creature in his lifetime. Some of them he regretted. But most of them still come for tea and biscuits. Like Steve and Susan.

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Source: Cashmoneys
Price: 79p
Where To Get It: Steam

DISCLOSURE: This article is two reviews. The one I wrote before I’d even played the game, and the one I’d written after I’d played.

WARNING: The pixellated dad dongs have been censored for people who don’t like to see pixellated penis. Can’t help on the talking about their existence, though.

Before

Oh, Vidoegames, I miss them so. Still, videogames *are* the better format.

The experience of showering with one’s father, when a small child, is a memory that few children truly forget. The same goes for showering with your mother, regardless of gender. It isn’t always a bonding moment, but it can be, and, at that time, things are simpler. As you get older, it is no longer considered proper to shower with your parents (Generally), and so the experience is lost, gone forever. Until no- Ahahaa, I can’t actually finish that sentence.

But showering with your dad is a thing that may well have happened in your life. Or your mum. And losing your parents in a public area is definitely a traumatic experience, as is reaching for someone you thought was your parent, but wasn’t. It’s also a time where you (might) honestly laugh at what we know as “Dad Jokes”

SWYDS2015, as it’s going to be called now, doesn’t really evoke much of that. Except the Dad Jokes. That, it has in spades. Basically, it’s a rapid fire arcade game, with different games unlocked as you go, where you run around trying to shower with the right dad (Or grab the right dad, as another example), and each gets harder somehow as the game progresses. Get the right dad, get points and some flashing text. Get the wrong one, don’t get points, some different flashing text, and lose health (Obviously, you lose by doing the wrong thing enough times.) I could speculate on the hidden meanings of SWYDS2015. I could talk some more about the experience with, or cultural connotations of bathing with parents (Which I doubt my own would appreciate). I could bemoan how it’s only dads, or about how the pixellated penis is so prominent, or how parents and children having different skin tone isn’t represented. I could even speculate about whether reports of the POC parent sometimes disappearing is a bug or a sinister social commentary (A bug I’ve not encountered, but has apparently been reported, and most likely fixed.)

It’s dangerous to shower alone, take this!

I could. But I won’t, because of three things. 1) It is 79p. 2) It will take you a lot less than 2 hours to work out whether you like it or not, being simple to play. 3) Steam Refunds exist now. Would I recommend it to anyone? Fans of dad jokes and simple arcade games that you can while away a short break with, who aren’t offended by pixel-junk is my best guess. Is there anyone I can’t recommend it to? People who don’t like to think about showering with their father, or seeing pixellated tallywhackers, or simple arcade games.

That last paragraph, by the way, is in earnest. No, the joke is…

After

In The Bath was a good song by The Divine Comedy. This fact has little to do with what’s going on in this screenshot. Not much does.

The experience of showering with one’s father, when a small child, is a memory that few children truly forget. The same goes for showering with your mother, regardless of gender. It isn’t always a bonding moment, but it can be, and, at that time, things are simpler. As you get older, it is no longer considered proper to shower with your parents (Generally), and so the experience is lost, gone forever. Until no- Ahahaa, I can’t actually finish that sentence.

But showering with your dad is a thing that may well have happened in your life. Or your mum. And losing your parents in a public area is definitely a traumatic experience, as is reaching for someone you thought was your parent, but wasn’t. It’s also a time where you (might) honestly laugh at what we know as “Dad Jokes”

SWYDS2015, as it’s going to be called now, doesn’t really evoke much of that. Except the Dad Jokes. That, it has in spades. Basically, it’s a rapid fire arcade game, with different games unlocked as you go, where you run around trying to shower with the right dad (Or grab the right dad, as another example), and each gets harder somehow as the game progresses. Get the right dad, get points and some flashing text. Get the wrong one, don’t get points, some different flashing text, and lose health (Obviously, you lose by doing the wrong thing enough times.) I could speculate on the hidden meanings of SWYDS2015. I could talk some more about the experience with, or cultural connotations of bathing with parents (Which I doubt my own would appreciate). I could bemoan how it’s only dads, or about how the pixellated penis is so prominent, or how parents and children having different skin tone isn’t represented. I could even speculate about whether reports of the POC parent sometimes disappearing is a bug or a sinister social commentary (A bug I’ve not encountered, but has apparently been reported, and has most likely been fixed.)

I warned you about the Dad Jokes. This is only one of many.

I could. But I won’t, because of three things. 1) It is 79p. 2) It will take you a lot less than 2 hours to work out whether you like it or not, being simple to play. 3) Steam Refunds exist now. Would I recommend it to anyone? Fans of dad jokes and simple arcade games that you can while away a short break with, who aren’t offended by pixel-junk is my best guess. Is there anyone I can’t recommend it to? People who don’t like to think about showering with their father, or seeing pixellated tallywhackers, or simple arcade games.

That last paragraph, by the way, is in earnest. No, the joke is…

The Mad Welshman has Dad Joked many a time before. “I have some words for you -” “Hi, words, I’m dad!” … See?

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As any cat owner can tell you, cats domesticated humans, not the other way around. It was a clever scheme, but only recently have we acknowledged precisely how clever cats really are. In a video game. Obviously, I’m not being entirely truthful here, this is just a charming puzzle game, but it’s hard not to talk as I have been considering the concept of this puzzle game: Descendants of Schrödinger’s Cat, stopping the earth from leaving its orbit and plunging into the sun… With cats riding on trains.

Simple. Logical. Cute.

Yes, that is The Cat Machine. Much like a cat, it is audacious, clever yet simple, and unbearably cute.

I could have made the screenshots the first three messages of the tutorial, and I’m pretty sure people would have flocked to buy the game for charm. But enough purring in delight, let’s talk what it all means.

Essentially, it’s a track puzzle. There is at least one train of cats, different coloured tracks, and always, at the end of each, a white cat. The cats must be directed to tracks of the correct colour (So they fly off and preserve the Earth’s angular momentum), and all the white cats must leave on the white tracks that are pre-placed. It’s a logic puzzle, and, while it’s simple in concept, it adds new wrinkles as time goes by. You cannot cross tracks, for example. Not even if they’re the same colour. And the cat train must never collide with itself.

Things start pretty simple, and clear…

In fact, half the problem with reviewing this game is because its rules, and its spaces are clear. Solutions, on the other hand, are not so clear cut. For example, you do not have to use all the tracks. But you have to be careful where loops are placed. I know in one level, I have to get the cats to finish, no matter how they travel, with two yellow cats. I have to think, not just in terms of order, but loops. And there’s this nagging feeling I’m not being as efficient as I could be. And I know it can be broken down by whether there’s an even or odd number of cats…

There’s not a whole lot of variety in the music or visuals, but you know what? The puzzle music is simple, giving you room to think, and the colours are very clear, which, as a colourblind person, I am very grateful for. However, one bug, which definitely needs to be fixed, is that trying to speed up the game will inevitably lead to a collision of cats… Even, it sometimes appears, on straights. That’s slightly frustrating, please fix it, devs!

…But ramp up in difficulty as the game goes on. This is still a fairly early puzzle.

For £6.99 though, there’s more than fifty of these puzzles (Which start to get difficult around six or seven puzzles in, and, if you like a good logic puzzle, this is definitely not a bad purchase. Apart from the tutorial, it concentrates on the puzzles themselves, leaving you to ignore the sometimes hit-or-miss dialogue from your mentor of the game, Science Cat. And I like that. It’s got a little charm, but nothing is getting in the way of what the game is: A good set of logic puzzles about herding cats. And we all know what they say about herding cats.

As he watched another cat fly by, The Mad Welshman mused about criticisms of Quantum Physics, Real Cats, and the elusive dream of the cat-and-toast motor. Truly, he thought, Cats are magnificent creatures.

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