Readers, you disgust me. How many videogames do you need? I spend all year heaping your plate with digital comestibles, and then you rock up at the arse end of December, clamouring for a “selection box” like a flock of gannets.
You know full well that you have a zillion games in your backlog. I am not going to mention any more until you supply written evidence signed by a judge that you’ve accomplished Wishlist Zero. Don’t look at me like that. It’s for your own betterment. Oh for god’s sake, stop crying. Good grief, I was only kidding. Here’s three more videogame recommendations (plus three nested alternatives), but it’s all you’re getting from me till 2026, you hear?
White Knuckle
Dark Machine’s first-person roguelite combines two of my favourite things: a labyrinthine dungeon, and a dirty great unkillable Something that pursues you toward the surface. It also has terrifying climbing mechanics, whereby you aim the cursor and hold buttons to grab ledges, trying to swing rhythmically and efficiently to the next walkable platform before your floating Rayman hands turn red with exhaustion.
Some climbs will require the use of pitons, hammered in as you go, or poles you can throw into walls to create monkey bars. As if this wasn’t harrowing enough, there are also traps of the ‘inexplicable giant meat hammer’ persuasion, and smaller monsters adapted to each level of the world. It’s a fascinating space, encompassing flowing sewers, residential areas and countless nooks where you’ll find a propped cadaver with some leftover gear, and maybe a story to pass on. If you prefer your roguelites steamy and side-on, why not check out Monster Train 2.
News Tower
I admit, this is a bit of a guilt write-up. I was planning to review News Tower back in November, but it got sat on by other things, not least Battlefield 6. Shame, because this would obviously have been a wonderful opportunity to write an obnoxious covert editorial about the state of journalism, mixing in some fusty anecdotes from my time in the world of print.
It’s a 2D management sim in which you run a weekly newspaper in 1930s New York, having inherited the business (and its debts) from your disreputable uncle. The weekly production loop is simple, to start with: your telegraph desk serves up some story ideas. You assign these to reporters, who deliver the resulting write-ups to your typesetters, who then turn the story over to assembly. On Sunday, you arrange everything on the page, trying to cover a certain variety of topics (indicated by shiny tags) so as to attract the most eyeballs. Time stops on Sunday night, so you can savour the experience of crafting a Pulitzer-worthy layout. Would that magazine deadlines were so forgiving.
Once you’ve cracked the basic routine, it thickens up swiftly. You’ve got to worry about staff morale and travel times inside your expandable office. You’ve got to decide how much to sex up each headline, bearing in mind the malleable politics of your readers. You’ve got to compete with other newspapers in different districts, and you’ve got to handle pressure from powerful groups like the military or the mob. It’s a busy yet digestible sim, with clean cutaway visuals. If you’re more interested in being a movie magnate, the natural pairing for this is Hollywood Animal.
Necromancer’s Tale
Another guilty not-review. I got through 20 hours of Psychic Software’s historical fantasy RPG back in July, but then I had to go cover *checks diary* Microsoft laying a load of people off, probably. Let me piece together my scattered memories as though reassembling a dusty skeleton: this is a very story-driven, D&D-style RPG that benefits from focussing on a single character archetype, rather than offering up the usual spread of classes. You’re a recently orphaned noble in a manor house on the edge of an 18th century town. While investigating your dad’s death, you stumble on a gnarly spellbook and become enmeshed in a secret war between rival practitioners of the dark arts.
Chapters are often themed around performing a particular ritual, for which you will generally need to gather knowledge and, aha, materials, without rousing the suspicions of the normies. The copious writing does an excellent job of conveying the ebb and flow of opinion and trust, with characters who pick up on niceties and react to assumptions you don’t realise you’ve made. The spells are delightful to dredge up and master, conveying a real sense of being an evil wizard on the rise.
It’s not all gravy: there’s a lot of legwork and backtracking involved, with fast travel confined to the city areas. The turn-based party battling is quite formulaic: I’d have preferred some form of choose-your-own adventure or puzzle-based combat. Still, I’d love to play more RPGs as specific and richly written as this. Perhaps a Dracula’s village sim next, Psychic? If you’d rather dabble in the occult without leaving your house, check out The Horror At Highrook.