This week’s roundup includes a look at the intriguing triple-I (sorry!) titles Outer Wilds & Void Bastards, as well as the role of the city in gam
[Video Game Deep Cuts is a weekly newsletter from video game industry ‘watcher’ Simon Carless (GDC, Gamasutra co-runner), rounding up the best longread & standout articles & videos about games, every weekend.
This week’s roundup includes a look at the intriguing triple-I (sorry!) titles Outer Wilds & Void Bastards, as well as the role of the city in games, bringing back Bubsy, insane auto-playing Mario Maker levels, & oodles of extra material. Hope you enjoy!
Until next time…
– Simon, curator.]
——————Void Bastards review: a shock to the system (Russ Frushtick / Polygon – ARTICLE)
“Former BioShock team members made Void Bastards, and it shows. Both games are about using the environment to your advantage, hacking turrets, crafting weapons, and employing stealth to overcome impossible odds. But beyond the similarities, Void Bastards evolves the format in unexpected ways. [SIMON’S NOTE: an excellent critical response to this roguelite FPS with a great team pedigree!]”How Localizing Return of the Obra Dinn Nearly Sunk the Game (Ars Technica / YouTube – VIDEO)
“Lucas Pope, creator of Return of the Obra Dinn, explains how the localization of the game’s logbook put the game in some seriously dangerous waters.”Here’s what you’ll actually be doing in Death Stranding (Andrew Webster / The Verge – ARTICLE)
“The goal of the game is to “reunite a broken nation” while carrying a huge amount of cargo, which apparently requires a variety of activities. Challenges include things like protecting your precious supplies from bandits, avoiding strange monsters called Beached Things, and finding ways to navigate the world by building bridges or searching out new routes. [SIMON’S NOTE: a surprise to see Death Stranding coming out in 2019 – as I noted on Twitter, maybe using the Horizon Zero Dawn engine really helped the game get up to speed quickly? Or maybe it’s mega-abstract cutscene first, game later? We’ll find out!]”Easy Like Sunday Morning (TheCatamites / My Friend Pokey – ARTICLE)
“I know it sounds funny but I just can’t stand the pain.. Given the volume of critical writing on difficult games in recent years isn’t it time to talk about some easy ones? [SIMON’S NOTE: I’m a big fan of indie game creator TheCatamites, who just released his latest outsider-art game compendium 10 Beautiful Postcards, btw – this is more offkilter but fascinating writing.]”How the Video Game Industry Treats its Testers (Superbunnyhop / YouTube – VIDEO)
“Hear some horror stories and some silver linings behind the childhood dream job of being a game tester. Also, get some tips on how to spot the good employers versus the bad ones. [SIMON’S NOTE: and now many indie PC games are crowdsourcing QA from its community, creating additional friction here.]”Games that ask: what are cities? (Christian Donlan / Eurogamer – ARTICLE)
“I’ve written about some of these games already, but I can’t let them go. I love city builders. I love the idea of them anyway.
