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Review: GORDY

Sometimes, in the business of critiquing games, there comes a moment where you have to ask yourself if your expectations of the creators behind projects are too high. Are you holding people, and their work, to too great a standard? Would you be strong enough, focused enough, bold enough to make the choices that lead to this game existing in the first place? Can you really say that, in their position, you’d do better than they ever could? I think about all of that, and then games like GORDY fall into my lap to remind me that having standards is important too. Sometimes, games are hollow, ambling, and slapdash in their construction - being able to acknowledge those failings and examine them in detail helps us understand and celebrate how other games prevail where this particular experience fell short. And if there’s one thing to be said in GORDY ’s favour, it’s that it isn't lacking for teachable moments, however much I may wish it did. Developed and published by MyGrandfather Games...
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The Post-E3 Games Showcase Era, Summer 2024 Highlights: Part II


In the ashes of the Electronic Entertainment Expo, amid the bloat and pretense of the games industry, always must there be a presentation... always must there be game trailers... and always must there be those who commentate.

So it is that we find ourselves in the aftermath of this year's collected summer showcases, a cavalcade of announcements and information to parse in its wake. For my part, I set forth to note the games that stood out among the pack.

Today, we go over the high points of the Future Games Show, the Xbox Games Showcase, the PC Gaming Show and, yes, even the Ubisoft Forward. Heaven help us all...

Future Games Show

The High Point: Duck Detective: The Secret Salami

The premise of “riffing on the hardboiled detective story with talking cartoon animals” would be a fine selling point for a game in itself. The choice to also lean into a sticker book aesthetic, complete with characters hobbling around as barely moving objects in a scene? Now that's a fun time in the making.

Honorable Mention: Schim

Apparently, we’re commanding a sentient little shadow, hopping between dark spots and trying to reunite with the shadow’s person. Quite the charming pitch, matched by a striking art style and a splendid use of colour.

Xbox Games Showcase

The High Point: South of Midnight

Compulsion Games came in strong with this one. I adore the stop-motion feel to the animation, the way that the team appears to be using lighting and texture to depict its dark fantasy rendition of the Deep South, and the spectral nature of the heroine’s traversal powers. Plus, there’s a giant talking catfish. Put me down as “sincerely hopeful”.

Honorable Mention: Doom: The Dark Ages

It’s dumb that Doom now has intricate lore and world-building, doubly so given that none of it really makes the broadly drawn characters more interesting and all of it drags down the pace of the really good demon slaying at the series’ core. But the look of this reads as “metal album cover”, I dig the chainsaw shield and the skull-launching gun, and it looks like you get to ride a dragon this time. 

PC Gaming Show

The High Point: Unbeatable

Though the trailer doesn't strictly clarify the moment-to-moment feel of play, I do get the sense the folks behind Unbeatable know what they're aiming for with regards to aesthetic and story. The restrained anime intro, presented with a nice bit of VHS styling, gives way to a more desperate punk-rock feel that befits the apparent focus on resisting an oppressive regime through music-related civil disobedience. I'll be very curious to see how this one lands, especially if what looked like rhythm game segments and some rather absurd action set-pieces weren't just trailer fluff.

Honorable Mentions: All Systems Dance

Fighting an Apple-esque totalitarian regime and its robot hordes with the power of dance? Yeah, okay.

Ubisoft Forward

The High Point: Biomorph

It looks like they’re doing a side-scrolling action-platformer, with an upgrade system and what looked like a settlement customization element. I love the 2D animated style, and I'm intrigued by those transformation abilities.

Honorable Mention: The Rogue Prince of Persia

Some design cues skewing even more towards original flavour Prince of Persia than Lost Crown, an art style with a certain cartoon exaggeration to it - yes, there's promise there.

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