The sliding block puzzle does not mess around. It's a no-nonsense, stick-to-the-formula kind of genre that is rarely seen gallivanting with other game types. Unlike the permanent identity crisis of match-3 games, sliding puzzles know who they are and what they want: move the blocks, get the highlighted block to the goal, home in time for dinner. Prime's Quest is here to change that, and cause worlds to collide. Sliding block puzzle, meet adventure game.
The Silent Age begins with a normal guy. Joe, the epitome of the "average Joe," works as a janitor at a national security agency in present-day 1972. Joe enjoys watching Dragnet, cares little about modern art, and occasionally dreams of an Easy Rider lifestyle. Joe is an everyman and a nobody, and then suddenly: he's a time traveler and the last hope for Earth.
Uh oh, a murder! And an explosion soon afterwards! Add to that a cheating husband, a jealous wife, and a scheming mistress and you've got the makings of a good old fashioned crime investigation. Grim Facade: Cost of Jealousy follows the same basic layout and style as the previous Grim Facade games, only now it sets its sights on the green-eyed monster that is jealousy.
Adventure gamers, rejoice! Your favorite spirit medium and her ghostly sidekick are coming back in the fifth game in Wadjet Eye's popular Blackwell series, the just-announced Blackwell Epiphany.
The new Golden Age of exploration-focused adventures may very well be upon us. Journey snagged multiple Game of the Year awards in 2012, The Witness was a highlight of the PlayStation 4 reveal, and even Horn, ripe with sword-slashing and monster-slaying, is revered for its beautiful landscapes and immersive world. Into this atmosphere of placing environment over evisceration, puzzles over pugilism, steps XING: The Land Beyond.
Cthulhu Uber Alles is horrific, alright, but probably not in the way the developers intended. Billed as a "casual adventure," it's really more of a Choose Your Own Adventure book, written by the Lovecraft nerd who sat beside you in grade eight English, with a bunch of pages missing. It's actually a pretty good idea, but it's sure not a good game.
Year Walk is a first person adventure game from Simogo where you must traverse through dimensions and solve puzzles along the way. Gamezebo's quick start strategy guide will provide you with detailed images, tips, information, and hints on how to play your best game.
The crunch. Days after finishing Year Walk, it's the persistent, echoing crunch of snow that has stuck with me. It doesn't help that I live in perpetually blustery Ottawa, Ontario, where a boot print full of powder is never more than a couple steps outside your door during February. Now, however, I half expect the world to drop away between one stride and the next, the pedestrian-packed streets replaced with a harrowing wood filled with mystical creatures. A minute detail that has - much like the game it came from - wormed its way inside my brain and left a small, indelible mark. Like a footprint in the snow.