Category: Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Synth-soundtracked, ’80s-inspired games are standard fare, but I’m giving HyperParasite a pass for its early access launch today. A twin-stick roguelike shooter (with local co-op) by Troglobytes Games, it taps into the rich vein of classic action movie heroes, villains and cliches of the era. Playing as an alien blob, you’re fragile, but can possess enemies to turbo-charge their attacks and use their health bar until it breaks, whether it’s an off-brand Ghostbuster, Robocop or Kyle Reese. After playing a bit, I reckon it’s onto something; think Enter The Gungeon spliced with Broforce. Below, the early access trailer.

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Bow To Blood: Last Captain Standing from Tribetoy is an odd beast – a VR-optional first person sky-ship shooter, framed as a Survivor-style space reality TV show and with light roguelike elements. It’s out now on PC, expanded and free of its future-goggle requirements after a stint as a PlayStation VR exclusive. Players juggle steering their ship, directing its guns at larger foes, personally zapping smaller enemies with their sidearm from the deck, and directing crew to man various stations. It’s all very strange and creative, and the PS4 original was well received. Below, a launch trailer.

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Contrary to Disney propaganda, Alpha Complex is the happiest place on Earth. You now this because the Computer says so, and disagreeing with Friend Computer is treason. Paranoia: Happiness Is Mandatory is a long-awaited videogame adaptation of the darkly comic tabletop RPG, developed by Black Shamrock and Cyanide, and out later this year. Players lead a squad of elite (not really) Troubleshooters, the most expendable of all red-clearance clone citizens in Alpha Complex, a dystopian underground city. There’s trouble? You shoot it. With a smile. See the debut trailer below.

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GDC, or the Games Developers Conference, has a secret. Except it’s not a secret, and it’s not actually part of GDC.

Every year, a group of people gather in a nearby park for Lost Levels. A book is passed around, and every gatherer is invited to jot their name down if they fancy it. When their name gets called, that person leads a five-minute talk or discussion on a topic of their choice. People normally like to talk about games, and nearly always about how they can be made more inclusive, progressive and positive. I spent three hours there this year crisping under the Californian sun, and they were three of the bestest and wholesomest hours of my trip. Especially when Robert Yang, maker of glistening shower simulators, handed out popsicles.

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EightyEight Games have previously bought us the absolutely splendid 10,000,000 and You Must Build A Boat. Their latest release, Photographs, is a very different prospect. Gone is the match-3, and instead comes a combination of story and puzzle.

This is a collection of five narrative vignettes, each taking about half an hour to an hour to complete, telling stories both through some beautiful pixel art, and via the puzzles themselves. As a puzzle game, it’s five completely different puzzle types, each growing in complexity as you progress. As a story game, these are delicate, heartfelt tales told in developing pixel drawings, scoured by a zooming camera lens for clues.

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Following last week’s announcement of Borderlands 3, publishers 2K today blasted a new trailer which does seem to actually contain several seconds of the game being played in there somewhere. They also confirmed the leaked release date of September 13, as well as a details about the game. In short, it’s more of the usual looter-shooter action but on new planets with new characters and with guns that grow legs and chase enemies. And yes, it will initially be exclusive to the Epic Games Store.

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