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Get your sheepskin coat ready. You can now lead your favourite football team to glory home or away on Nintendo’s flagship system.

Sports Interactive and Sega Europe have teamed up once again, this time to transfer Football Manager Touch to the Nintendo Switch. It’s available now as a digital purchase from the Nintendo eShop. They’ve had help too; sister studio Hardlight (the team behind Sonic Jump and Sonic Dash) have helped out from a technological standpoint to integrate the game seamlessly for the Switch.

Football Manager is the behemoth footy sim, putting you in the hot seat of any club in more than 50 countries across the world. If you’ve ever dreamed of managing your favourite football club, you have the chance. It’s hugely entertaining and so realistic that in real life Sky Sports uses their player stats in their football coverage, and clubs all over the world actually use it as a scouting tool. Football club chairmen the world over have received applications for jobs from players whose only management experience comes from playing the game.

It’s something of an unexpected move by Sports Interactive, the studio behind the hugely popular football management simulator. For years now there has been a swell of gamers wishing that the game would be released on console, only to have their hopes dashed. So far, it has been PC/Laptop or mobile devices, and even that has only happened recently.

However, it makes sense that their first move into console gaming for this massive title would be the Nintendo Switch. It takes advantage of the Switch’s touch interface, making a port of the mobile version of the game a lot easier. Don’t be fooled though, this isn’t a like-for-like substitution. There has actually been a lot more work put into this port to help it take advantage of the other control elements of the Switch.

Football Manager Touch has been fully optimised for the Switch with a bespoke user interface and a customised control system that takes full advantage of the system’s various controller input options, including support for both the touchscreen and Joy-Con



controllers. This gives fans a unique Football Manager experience that can be played on the move or docked at home and enjoyed on the big screen.

In addition, Football Manager Touch on Switch will offer a fully-fledged single-player experience including the series’ acclaimed 3D Match Engine – the first time that the 3D engine has been playable on a home console.

It has been a challenging port as Miles Jacobson, chief of Sports Interactive, explains: “It’s been a huge technical achievement to bring Football Manager to the Switch but, as a studio, we’ve embraced the unique design opportunities that the console offers. Thanks to the support we’ve had from Hardlight throughout the development process we’ve been able to create a Football Manager experience that is just as immersive and enjoyable whether you’re managing on the move during your commute or playing it on your TV.”

Jacobson is as excited about this release as us footy fans are. “This is a milestone release for Football Manager. This is our first console release in a number of years but it is also our most innovative release of Football Manager Touch to date thanks to the various control methods we’ve included that gives everyone a way of playing Football Manager that suits them.”

Football Manager Touch on Switch includes the same feature set as the tablet version of the game. It’s not as fully-featured as the full laptop/PC version, but it’s perfect for casual gaming which is why it makes sense for Switch’s latest signing.

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Games for Change, the festival that brings together gaming educators, developers, researchers, designers and more in the pursuit of gaming for social innovation, has announced the lineup of programming for their 15th annual Games for Change Festival. Running from June 28th to 30th, 2018, the festival will host a number of speakers, panels and workshops at Parsons School of Design at The New School in New York City. By bringing together the broad range of thinkers and innovators within the gaming community, the festival seeks to advocate the power of videogames as a vehicle for social change.

As in previous years, the scope of the festival will be broken down into three tracks, this year’s being Civics & Social Issues, Neurogaming & Health, and the Games for Learning Summit. Each track comes with their own roster of distinguished speakers and interactive panels, such as “Mozak: Turning the World Into a Neuroscience Lab” with Zoran Popovic (Director at the Center for Game Science at the University of Washington), in which attendees will be encouraged to explore the links between decision-making and the mechanics of videogames, focusing on neuroscience and behavioral psychology. The “Games and Empathy” panel tackles the social application of videogames with moderators Matthew Farber (Associate Professor at American University) and Karen Schrier (Associate Professor/Director of Games at Marist College), while “MinecraftEDU” will examine how Minecraft Education is inspiring the next generation of STEM leaders through immersive learning.

In honor of its 15th year, Games for Change co-founder Barry Joseph (also the Associate Director of Digital Learning at the American Museum of Natural History) is encouraging attendees to bring in submissions from previous years to contribute to a pop-up museum. Celebrating the festival’s history through exhibits created by participants, Barry is set to host a workshop teaching copy writing and narrative creation, and the pop-up will be displayed for the entire community to enjoy over the course of the festival.

Last year’s VR for Change Summit, now the 2nd annual XR for Change Summit, will take place on June 30th, bringing the community together for a frank and open discussion on the advancement of new technologies and the development initiatives. Games for Change is expecting additional speakers specifically for this summit, so those interested in attending should keep their eyes peeled for an announcement in the coming weeks.

The 15th annual Games for Change festival promises to be bigger and better than ever while paying homage to their roots, staying true to the sense of social advocacy and passion for change that started it all. Tickets can be purchased here, with single day passes starting at $150.

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With news of the upcoming Banner Saga 3 from developer Stoic and publisher Versus Evil, also comes the announcement of Banner Saga Trilogy: Bonus Edition. This edition of the game will include Banner Saga 1, 2, and the upcoming third release. This is a physical copy of the game which will also include a mini art book, poster, and best-of soundtrack, as well as an in-game digital item called the Horn of Lichbaen. Banner Saga 3 is being touted as the final installment in the series, so this edition of the game will provide the complete story.

Let’s have a quick pop quiz. What is better than guns in videogames? Big guns? Possibly. Bombs and missiles? Now we’re getting there. Tanks? Bingo! Yes, there’s nothing better than rolling around inside an absolute ton of heavily armored, explosive, carnage making goodness. Battle Fleet Ground Assault, which is due for May 1st, absolutely lets you do this and goes one better. Why bother with one measly little tank when you can be part of a bone crunching fleet of them? If you happen to be a bit interested in how you’re going to be able to get your kill on next, you might want to read on.

Marrying VR technology with first-hand survivor testimony from Hiroshima, virtual reality experience The Day the World Changed is set to premiere at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival. The result of a winning partnership between Tomorrow Never Knows, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), Nobel Media and the Saul Zaentz Innovation Fund in Film and Media Studies at Johns Hopkins University, The Day the World Changed promises to shine a grim spotlight on the horrific consequences of nuclear war.

Beginning as a commission by Nobel Media, whose hope was to showcase the humanitarian work of ICAN, this VR experience presents, through three interactive chapters, a historical retelling of the atomic bomb, from its first ever use as a weapon of mass murder, to the nuclear arms race in its aftermath. Creators Gabo Arora and Saschka Unseld, along with producer Jennifer Tiexiera, have come together to create an “unwavering, uncomfortable experience” that will force participants to stare into the gritty reality that is nuclear war, and to combat the detachment that our “fetishization of nuclear superiority” has spurred on.

Opening with the circumstances that led to the development of the first atomic bomb, and the subsequent decision on behalf of the United States government to drop said bomb on Hiroshima, the first chapter will serve as the backbone, providing a basis of understanding for participants.

Leading into the second chapter armed with the knowledge garnered from the first, they will then be allowed to walk through the aftermath of the August 6^th, 1945 bombing, which resulted in the heinous deaths of over 90,000 people. Participants will be able to experience the consequences of these horrors first hand as they walk through the virtual ruins of the last standing structure in Hiroshima.

Finally, The Day the World Changed will return to the present through the resulting arms race, in an effort to espouse to participants the very precarious position we are all in, how close we are at any moment to another unspeakable tragedy, and the importance of public advocacy in the pursuit of abolishing nuclear weapons.

With an admirable message and the goal of elevating immersive storytelling through the use of VR technology, The Day the World Changed signifies the merits of virtual reality in crossing personal and geographical borders in the pursuit of sharing experiences. Premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival, The Day the World Changed is planned to run from April 20^th to 29^th in the Virtual Arcade.

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Editor’s Note: Salutations, readers! My partner, Al Valentín, had some THOUGHTS on the recently released Super Seducer. What follows is a well documented tale of their experience with the game.

The best survival horror game of 2018 has already been released, and it’s Super Seducer: How To Talk To Girls on Steam. Do you enjoy cringing at poorly scripted dialogue with even worse execution by the actors? Do you love getting questionable advice about how to interact with the people you desire? Do you want to be given the chance to be a harasser of women and say the things you know you should never say but in a controlled environment where you don’t have to actually get cussed out? Then, boy, is this the game for you. Play it and get ready to be thrust into an endless oscillation between cringing so intensely that you feel trapped in a void of pure embarrassment with no recourse but sheer terror, or laughing in sorrow at the state of the world until you cry. Or at least, that’s how I felt.

Developed by RLR Training Inc, the company of noted “seduction guru” or Pick Up Artist (PUA) Richard La Ruina, this game uses dating simulator style mechanics to put forth a live action visual novel guide for straight men trying to speak to the straight women they desire. La Ruina starts the game by letting us know that he’s designed a “psychologically challenging” game experience that utilizes “real dating principles” to allow you to reach romantic success. The game is pitched to players as though it’s the freaking Never Alone of the PUA community, allowing you to gain a grasp of the bizarre and mysterious brains and language of women. While it’s framed as a challenging and useful guide, it mobilizes a completely generalized understanding of what women want as though the category is essential, static, unchanging and lacking any diversity in their opinions, outlooks or desire.

With ten different scenarios, players are asked to take control of La Ruina, guiding him through the date with the goal of a kiss, a phone number or a date. Your goal is essentially to impose on women in a variety of everyday situations to get them to want to date you or be with you. This ranges from women walking on their way to meet friends, women you work with, women you see at the club, women you’re friends with. The goal is to not “make it too easy” for the woman to leave without talking to you, to ensure that you can “do most of the talking at first.” You’re trying to create a captive audience as you aim to sell yourself as a person she should want to date.

At first glance, this may seem like what all dating amounts to but there’s a big difference here. These aren’t tips that are aimed at helping people determine whether or not they’re compatible in meaningful ways, but rather teaching people how to manipulate the information they are given by a woman to lull her into a sense of security and enable you to get what you want: sex.

La Ruina and “seduction coaches” like him aren’t here to tell you that you should be yourself and find a person that respects and appreciates that. Instead, they tell you 1) that women don’t REALLY know what they want and it’s your job to MAKE THEM SEE what they really want and 2) what is most important is the end goal of dating and sleeping with a woman rather than treating her like a person, so lying or obscuring the truth is perfectly okay. This is the ethos that guides the game and much of popular culture at large in its depictions of heterosexual romance specifically, as well as more generally. It reflects a culture of coercion where bodily autonomy and “no” actually means “convince me.” It’s a thought process that’s dangerous in any context but particularly that of dating and romance where violence (sexual or otherwise) is a constant concern for many women, men and non-binary people. To not think of this game and the PUA community at large in this way is to be missing a large and important part of the puzzle.

Acknowledging how this ethos shapes the game, we then have to think about the imagery and choices that are built into the game. The goal is first and foremost to help you learn how to navigate social interactions with women. But there’s also two other main aims. One major one is to excite the player. This is done through its casting of attractive actresses to play the parts but also in the way that women are framed as props throughout the game. From the main menu screens where La Ruina makes duck face while wearing guy liner as he’s surrounded by women, to even when he offers us “coaching” tips in between the choices we pick throughout the game, we will be given a different view of the women in question based on our success that is meant to “reward” us.

If you get the question totally wrong, you’re given a red broken heart and La Ruina sits alone on a bed. If you pick an answer that’s merely acceptable, you get a yellow half heart and there are two models who look off camera like Stepford Wives wearing dresses. And if you choose the correct answer, the women surround him, laying on the bed in just lingerie. Their attractiveness tempered, for me at least, by the vacant looks in their eyes, so clearly bored and unengaged. It’s also important to note that literally every single woman within the main game as a model or actress is thin and white, representing a very narrow ideal of who is beautiful and desirable. While body diversity and racial inclusion in a game like Super Seducer isn’t really a prize, it’s plain to see how even this decision again reflects a normative understanding of how women should be and who men should and do want to be with.

But outside of arousing the player, the game is also aiming to make them laugh by giving them outlandish answers that you can choose. There’s a scene midway through the game that aims to teach us about how to get out of the so-called “friend zone,” which begins with La Ruina awkwardly staring at a woman’s pictures on his laptop, biting his lip and stroking the screen with fervor. We then cut to him in a coffee shop with this woman who we learn is his longtime friend. This whole scene offers some of the most upsetting choices. You are given the option to check out another girl while talking to your friend which is absolutely fine especially if the relationship is platonic. But when you select the option that allows you to make note of the woman being sexy and attractive, what actually takes place is La Ruina talking about the woman’s breasts and “fanny” in a way that clearly makes the friend uncomfortable, even going so far as saying how he wishes he could just “slip it in” a little. I’ve got just the tip for La Ruina: that just makes you look like an asshole.

Furthermore, it’s noted that as a person’s longtime friend, you have no obligation to help them unless you can assure that she’s eventually going to have sex with you. When the friend asks for a favor, you can tell her that you’ll do it but only if she gives you a blowjob. Later on, when the friend breaks up with her boyfriend, La Ruina visibly smiles and looks overjoyed at the news, centering himself and the chance to have sex with somebody who he’s supposed to care about rather than centering how she may be sad. Then, the player is instructed to get her to drink wine, make her feel comfortable before kissing her. He’s told to emphasize how “weird” this whole thing is, to pre-empt her objections so that she won’t be able to voice them. Then, when the character asks if he has a condom before they engage in sex, you literally have the option to say, “A condom? What, do you have AIDS or something?” Such a statement is not only inappropriate, but dangerous. Also, if that’s how one might treat a friend, who needs enemies?

La Ruina tells the player to challenge a woman on something she believes, make them prove themselves as intelligent or worthy of an opinion, then approve of them. He tells us that this has a “powerful psychological effect” and will make women want you. But I’ve got to say that if, like in one scenario presented, I’m sitting at a coffee shop reading to prep for the class I teach, and some random man comes infringing on my time and space to then ply me with questions about my work and research, making me prove to them that it matters, my first reaction isn’t likely to be attraction or arousal. It would likely be immense irritation.

Still, the scene with the blonde professor remains one of the most hilarious for the actress’s deadpan delivery that made me guffaw. There’s a moment where La Ruina aims to make a Back to the Future reference and she plainly says she doesn’t know what he means and his response is essentially, “Oh, ok,” before changing the subject. There’s one part where you can ask for her number “too early” and then she says no and he asks why, suggesting she might be a lesbian and she states, “I just don’t want to see you again.” She’s the real MVP. May everybody who finds themselves in such a situation have the strength to stand firm in the face of pushy pickup artists!

But even this scene then just asks us to ask a couple more questions before we inevitably get the number. This extends back to my earlier point: the idea that women can and will say no because they simply don’t like you is not entertained. Instead, it’s just a matter of making the right approach because if you say the right things, follow the right steps, you can never fail. Chemistry is an alien concept for pickup artists; it’s really just a matter of wearing a woman down to the best of your ability.

In yet another scene, La Ruina approaches a woman randomly in the park, and begins to interrogate her on where she’s going and why she’s dressed up while walking by. The woman’s acting skills are pretty poor and the chemistry between them feels robotic, incredibly awkward and like one of the most painful things to watch. As La Ruina continues asking her questions, he then decides it would be good to engage this stranger in a debate about immigration! Not only does it seem ridiculous that somebody would think it’s going to be an effective pickup line but it is about simply arguing against whatever the woman says and trying to get her to see the “other perspective.” This means that if she’s pro-immigration, you’re meant to tell her why immigrants shouldn’t be allowed her and if she’s anti-immigration, you’re meant to try and change her mind with a quick sentence. Changing one’s political opinion is rarely ever that easy, especially with strangers, but it also completely means that there’s no element of ethics here. You’re meant to debate on whether immigrants are people who deserve rights, protection, safety and resources like all human beings in the hopes that it will get you laid! And it’s made all the more absurd by the fact that the actress you engage in this debate with is very clearly an immigrant with a thick Eastern European accent!

Later on, we’re treated to another scene with the same actress where they go on their first date. A friend and I made our way through the last half of the game and were desperate to finally finish it. Once we finally completed the last date, we’re treated to a cutscene of La Ruina congratulating us for “beating” it and giving us some trivia. He tells us that one actress appears in a few different scenes with a wig on for those less observant players. He informs us that the close friend scenario actually stars a close friend of his and is in some ways based on real life. And then, he tells us that the woman my friend and I said had absolutely no chemistry with him, who he awkwardly debated on immigration, is actually his wife. We literally screamed, confused, shocked, shaken and hysterical. In some ways, the torture of playing this game was almost all worth it in that moment.

I’ve seen plenty of reviews on Steam and elsewhere that emphasize that the game is actually quite funny. I can’t disagree with that but I can say that it’s not because it always intends to be comical. While this game may make you laugh, it’s oftentimes in the way that you awkwardly laugh because you can’t believe what you just saw or that people actually think this way. La Ruina claims to be a master of seduction but if this was a chance to show off his skills, it’s a chance that he missed terribly. He comes off as stiff and strange, not usually charming or engaging except for perhaps one scene where the actress working with him is so sassy and funny herself that she’s able to carry the scenario. Still, when you’re playing as somebody who has actually been sexually harassed or had to deal with the unwanted advances of pushy men in any way, you’re left feeling more angry than amused.

Overall, Super Seducer represents a poorly conceived, poorly executed and deeply problematic dumpster fire of a videogame. It presents no real challenge, as surely men must know that most of the options are completely ridiculous and unlikely to be effective, leaving fairly obvious choices. It doesn’t teach that much and that which it purports to teach is built on a faulty and problematic understanding of gender and sexuality. The scenes never feel sexy or interesting but mostly just painfully awkward. For those of us who have or do struggle to connect with people romantically or have social anxiety, a guide on how to do it seems like a wonderful idea. But if the guide treats the object of your desire as less of a person and more like an object, it’s not a good one. If it mobilizes overly simplistic understandings of what an entire gender category wants, it’s unrealistic. And if you think that listening to another man like La Ruina tell you what women want rather than asking an individual woman that herself, you may be part of the problem. Perhaps one day we’ll get a visual novel dating guide that can effectively help us in our romantic endeavors. For now, know that Super Seducer simply ain’t it.

This review is based on a retail copy of the game provided by the publisher.

Al Valentín is a PhD student in Women’s and Gender Studies living, loving and nerding in Brooklyn, NY. Their research brings game studies and gender studies together to think through questions of subjectivity, affect, emotions, difference and social justice. While they grew up on games like Sonic, Streets of Rage and ToeJam and Earl in Panic on Funkotron, Al’s gaming love now mostly revolves around shooters, role playing games and dating sims. In addition to gaming, they enjoy baking, selfies and designing their next tattoos. You can read more about their work by visiting their website or following them on Twitter.

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Tiny Bull Studios and Surprise Attack Games have cooked up something really unique. It’s a horror game for VR headsets called Blind, and it seems like it’s going to seriously break some ground.

Blind is already a spooky concept on a flat screen. A woman wakes up in a strange room with no memory of how or why she got there, and more importantly, she’s blind. Now she must navigate this unfamiliar house using her newfound power of echolocation. She’s not alone, either. A being called the Warden guides her through the puzzles that stand between her and the truth.

Now imagine this scenario — you’ve taken the role of this blind woman, and all you can see is blackness. This is because you’ve got a VR headset on and you’re going to have to navigate this house without the solace of briefly looking away from your monitor.

You wanna see how spooky this actually is? The announcement trailer is extraordinarily creepy.

Atelier Lydie & Suelle: The Alchemists and the Mysterious Paintings is the 19th installment in the main Atelier series of RPGs developed by Gust. Atelier Lydie & Suelle celebrates 20 years of the franchise, and my return to the series since the last Atelier game I played: Atelier Iris 3: Grand Phantasm, ninth in the main series overall.

It gets WAY more complicated

Before I kick this off, there’s something I need to confess: OCTAHEDRON made me feel old. It made me feel like Snapchat does, like even though I understand the basic functions, I’m still missing some integral part of it. Now, I’m only 27. I know that will cause a few of you to roll your eyes, but while I can appreciate Snapchat and even enjoy using it, I feel like the deeper merits of it are completely lost on me. There’s something going on under the surface that I do not have the ability to comprehend, and the same can be said for OCTAHEDRON.

The result of a lot of hard work and ingenuous dedication by developer Demimonde Games, and published by the illustrious Square Enix Collective, OCTAHEDRON has arrived on PC, PS4 and Xbox One with an explosion of neon and a pumping beat. Boasting a hook in the form of never before seen mechanics and seamless, 60fps platforming action, it promises to bring something new and fresh to a genre that has existed since the beginning of time (or at least 1981). And though I might need to take breaks between every heart palpitating, palm sweat inducing, “am I having fun or a stroke?” world of subterranean Veetragoul, OCTAHEDRON succeeds in its goal so brilliantly that an uncultured troglodyte like myself can still appreciate its merits, even if I don’t fully understand them.

The thing I tend to harp on the most in games (and indie games in particular) is how the developer integrates the player into the world they’ve created, how they teach you to interact with it, and this is not without reason. Whether by tutorial box, exposition dump or the timeless “sink or swim” method, a game lives or dies by its learning curve and it is, in essence, where the developers tell the player what they are expecting of them.

For example, a game that has no mechanical tutorial but is heavy in exposition tells the player that the practical functions of the game will not be as important as the mental acrobatics it will demand of you. Likewise, a game that hands you a button map before kicking you to the wolves is immediately telling you that the mechanics are nothing you haven’t seen before, and it is something else, be it the characters, plot or concept, that deserves your undivided attention. And of course, there is the enduring wildcard that is the “no tutorial” tutorial, which can convey anything from “hey, I trust you, and my game is so simple a child could figure it out,” to “your enjoyment is secondary to how awesome I already know my game is, so if you can’t figure it out, its your fault not mine.”

Clearly, there is no one size fits all method, and depending on the genre and what the developers want the players to gain from their endeavor, different means of teaching will suit different games. The one constant however is that players must be able to access your game from the beginning, otherwise you are putting up roadblocks to something they might otherwise enjoy. Whether it is meant to be difficult or not, there must be a learning curve that is challenging yet fair, and I have never encountered a game that accomplishes this feat as seamlessly as OCTAHEDRON.

Endearing attempts to integrate a plot aside, you start the first level as a dude with an octahedron for a head, faced with a wall he can’t jump high enough to climb over. With nothing to do but press buttons, eventually you learn you can spawn platforms in mid air. These stick around for a short period of time, granting you the ability to clamber over the wall and continue your ascent through the dynamic, vertical level.

Later on you learn by necessity that you can create two platforms, due to a different obstacle you must summit which is exactly two magical floating platforms high. Upon seeing an enemy that jumps up to hit you when you walk the static platform above him, you then make the connection that your platforms could probably stop him from hurting you, and through this process of observation, connection and implementation, discover that you can move your platforms while standing on them, whizzing through the neon sky like Marty McFly on his oft coveted hoverboard.

It’s a seamless method of instruction, one that doesn’t beat players over the head with information they are likely to forget in seconds or leaves them feeling like they’re up the creek without a paddle. It relies on a level of trust between the developers and their audience, that players will try and fail, and try again without putting them in any real peril. Whenever faced with a new challenge or mechanic, or even a new way to use an old mechanic (something OCTAHEDRON also excels at), players can always take their time. There was never a moment during my playthrough where I couldn’t take a breather on a safe ledge or pause to examine my surroundings, allowing me to determine what went wrong before I tried again.

This is beautifully insightful, an example of how this game straddles that precarious line between challenging and difficult. It’s tough, no doubt about it, but not punishing, and there will never be a moment in which you are unable to take a break if you get stuck. Not putting players in a position where they feel they are repeatedly smashing their heads against a wall, but still managing to challenge them, OCTAHEDRON ensures players will have a positive experience and will be able to advance far enough to appreciate the unique mechanics that make up the core of this decidedly innovative game.

As mentioned above, OCTAHEDRON has a plot. It’s told through slow as molasses cutscenes and abstract artwork (think Laurie Lipton meets Victorian-era silhouette paintings), and in which lies the crux of my Snapchat-esque debacle: I don’t get it.

To me, it appears as though the plot has been shoehorned on in an attempt to give context or depth to a game that doesn’t need it. To me, it goes as far as to detract from what makes the game enjoyable, book-ending with these jarring, low energy interludes in a fast paced, heart pumping, techno wonderland that isn’t welcome to it. And I understand that, in the era of indie games like Undertale and Thomas was Alone, developers might feel like their game won’t be accepted on the merits of its mechanics alone, and that they need some kind of underlying story to keep players invested or to elevate it to the level of the rest of the pack.

But Mario Bros was a game about two men in jumpsuits beating up crabs and turtles in a sewer without any explanation as to why, and it still went on to spawn a franchise that has lasted over three decades. It didn’t need a plot, it was just fun. I’m out of the loop on the whole Snapchat thing, the merits of brunch, and avocado toast, so maybe I’m just not “woke” enough to understand the meaning behind this dude’s journey through the terra firma as walking stick man with a d8 head.

I don’t know, and I refuse to say for certain that the plot is inconsequential because of it. That being said, I do stand by my original assertion that the way it’s presented detracts from the flow of the game. The levels are fast paced, the music is pounding and the pop-colored, flashing backdrops culminate in a Kandi kids fever dream, so to go from that to low energy, slide show cut scenes is unsettling at best.

Music in OCTAHEDRON is not tangential, but fundamental. Each level has its own soundtrack, setting not only the tone but the pacing, guiding you through the platforming challenges almost subliminally with a catchy beat. Composed by Chipzel and Monomirror, everything from enemies to elements of the level itself follow the beat of the music, encouraging you to do the same in order to succeed. This integration of sound and gameplay is absolutely fascinating, culminating in a rhythm-action/platformer hybrid that is just a joy to play. Each tune seamlessly worms its way into your brain, and before you know it, you’d nodding along with the beat and completing a level that would have otherwise eluded you. By virtue of design though, you absolutely cannot play this game muted. I mean, you could…you’d just be doing it (and yourself) a disservice.

The level design is top notch, each a sprawling arena of roiling colors and flashing lights, and it seems that every level teaches you a new mechanic or introduces you to a new application of an old one. You are constantly learning and adapting, which keeps OCTAHEDRON feeling fresh and not repetitive, which is what all platformers should aspire to be. With upwards of 50 levels and collectables littered throughout, it’s hard to see how anyone would lose interest, and you definitely get a bang for your buck. Button mapping is simple (I played on the PS4, so I can only speak for that), but intuitive and you are able to change it in the options menu should you wish to.

While OCTAHEDRON does leave me feeling a little out of the loop, transporting me back to a time where Sonja Jadhir told me the fingerless gloves I’d just purchased were “so 2001,” it is still an incredibly fun game, and promises a good time to platforming fans looking for a twist. Pick it up on PS4, Xbox One or Steam for $12 ($15 for you, yah hoser), and be sure to let me know your take on this platform spawning, hover jumping, techno pumping extravaganza should you do so!

This review is based on a retail copy of the game provided by the publisher.

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If I asked a lot of gamers for a list of things they’d rather stick hot needles in their eyes than have to deal with in a game, I can almost promise that water levels would be on it. Virtually anything involving wet stuff (yes ice mechanics can screw off, too) is generally despised by any right minded player. So what happens when you set the entire game under water? Well, let’s be honest, it’s only going to go one of two ways. You do something different and interesting that isn’t rage inducing or you find yourself on the personal hit list of a lot of people you’ve never met before. Let’s sincerely hope that iLLOGIKA’s new offering Subaeria is going to be the former of the two for the sakes of a very talented, well meaning team of people.