Coming in 10th place in our Top Ten of 2010 is the gorgeous and completely memorable Enslaved: Odyssey to the West. To us, this underrated hidden gem was well worth knowing hardly anything about until it was released, because otherwise we would have been far too eager to play it for a long, long time.
Matt:
I was gutted when Enslaved came to an end. I wasn’t ready to leave its beautiful, desolate yet vibrant post-apocalyptic world. Monkey and Trip proved to be one of my favourite gaming duo’s, and their story was both engaging and entertainingly told. A superb performance from Andy Serkis who donned his motion-capture suit once again and provided the voice for Monkey meant the game’s character animation and voice acting were among the best of the year’s offerings.
Sandwiched between the game’s explosive opening level and the climatic final battle is a really memorable journey, and it deserves its place as one of the best games of the year. It’s plummeted in price since it came out, so go download the demo, be blown away, then buy it. Yes.
Monkey and Trip - One of the most likeable and visually stunning video game duos ever
Paul:
This was one stunning game, specifically in terms of visuals and concept, and I had a total blast playing from start to finish. Many people have commented on it being quite a samey experience from start to finish, and I’m inclined to agree with it, if only partially… The combat in Enslaved was very engaging, but it definitely had an air of repetition about it. There wasn’t a great deal of variety in the kinds of enemies you had to fight – robots, robots, and more robots – but there was certainly a good enough variety in the kinds of fighting you had to do to take them all down. Also, if you actually take the decision to upgrade Monkey’s combat techniques, you will find yourself using a wider range of attack moves and take-downs against your enemies. I can see why people could find it repetitive, but it all comes down to the perception and attitude of the individuals playing the game.
There really is a lot of fun to be had with Enslaved, and if you can appreciate just how much effort has been put into the 12 chapters of design, story, characters, visuals, and animation, then you should find yourself having a great time with a game that isn’t too difficult, but offers a great deal of entertainment, and hopefully keeps you coming back for more.
Dome Keeper is an excellent little spin on the tower defense game, in which you play the role of a jetpacking miner defending his base from swarms of aliens, whilst searching for a hidden relic buried somewhere beneath him. And now, with this huge free update, you can play it with friends.
I want to talk about Cloudpunk, a game where you get to be a flying-car delivery driver in a futuristic cyberpunk city. Its world is an incredible achievement of environmental design, and while the gameplay itself may be basic, the city of Nivalis is a thing of beauty to behold. Nivalis is built out of hundreds of hand-modelled cuboid buildings; there’s nothing procedural about it. Apparently it took 3 years for the devs to design the city, and it really shows.
I do love me some quality pixel art, and it doesn’t get much better than this. Cast n Chill is a cozy side-scrolling fishing game by small indie dev team Wombat Brawler, with absolutely gorgeous visuals. It’s simple to play, and you you can dip in and out of it at your leisure, making it a fine addition to our collection of coffee break games.
I’ve been pretty absent from PC gaming for some time, since moving to Canada in early 2017, because I haven’t had a proper computer to play games on. That has recently changed, since I got myself set up with a new gaming rig that can handle pretty much anything that’s out at the moment. I […]
Hades is a great example of a coffee break game. You can play through a single run within 30 minutes, but if something comes up and you have to stop mid-run you can save and quit in whatever room you’re in and continue later. As the father of a toddler, I find this particularly appealing these days. I like to squeeze in a quick game during my baby girl’s nap time, and since I never know exactly how long she’s going to sleep for, I need games that can be played in short bursts. I’m starting this new mini-feature series with Hades, because you’re almost always guaranteed to have a good time, no matter how long you play for.
Format: PC
Release date: 2013
Well, fuck. A FPS horror game, set in a mental asylum where all the patients are violent hyper crazed lunatics, and you are a guy armed only with a night vision video camera and can’t fight back? Better get Clarkie to play that shit.
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