Now and again, a simple yet genius game will appear online and take the world by storm. We've seen it happen with amusing time-wasters like 2048, Wordle, and The Password Game. More recently, Gandalf finds itself in the spotlight thanks to its fun yet educational gameplay.

Created by Swiss security company Lakera AI, Gandalf tasks you with guessing a secret password. There are seven levels, and things start easy before the difficulty ramps up sharply. If you manage to complete the seventh level, you unlock a bonus level that is tough as nails.

The game once had an analytics dashboard that revealed the impressive numbers that it has achieved, including 18 million user-generated prompts and 4 million password guess attempts. The dashboard was taken down after concerns were raised regarding, ironically, user data security. According to Lakera AI CEO David Haber, "the data contains no PII and no user information" but the dashboard has been taken down to avoid confusion.

Can you guess Gandalf's password?

Gandalf makes use of ChatGPT, and to help you guess the password, you are allowed to ask Gandalf the wizard some questions. At first, you'll squeeze the answer out of the wizard relatively easily, but he gets wise to your ways very quickly.

He'll eventually stop discussing the password at all, forcing you to use clever ways to get to the information without asking for it directly. The solution lies in crafting an airtight prompt, but you can't copy someone else's work because, in the bonus level, the wizard learns from his past failures.

According to Haber, the game has since been used in public webinars and other educational events to demonstrate the vulnerabilities of large language models (LLMs). Some users haven't learned their lesson because Jamieson O'Reilly, who initially raised concern concerning Gandalf's security, points out that "some players had fed information into the game specifically about themselves, such as their email addresses" and this was accessible via the dashboard.

The game's still up, and it's a great way to kill a few minutes, though it has low replayability because the password for each level doesn't change. Just remember not to submit any personal information.

The post Players have tried to crack security company’s password game over 4 million times appeared first on Destructoid.

We'll likely never see a third entry in Valve's puzzle magnum opus. But that's okay, because Portal 2 is a magnificent beast that maybe doesn't need improving on. However, one way it can be improved a little bit is with virtual reality.

As spotted by DSO Gaming, modder Gistix has released an early version of their Portal 2 mod that makes the game compatible with VR headsets. You can download it right now from GitHub, with version 0.1.5 having released just a few hours ago.

It's still a work in progress, but it at least gives you a chance to take on the test chambers of Aperture Science in a more immersive environment.

GLaDOS would approve

If you don't have a VR headset, the embedded video above gives you an idea of what it would be like to play the game using one. Perhaps it's not the same as actually playing it, but it offers a glimpse into Gistix's mod.

It doesn't specify which headset in particular it's compatible with. Presumably it will work with any device you plug into your PC, so long as it meets certain requirements.

The question of whether there'll ever be a Portal 3 has been on people's minds for years now. We know that Valve has a tough time breaking out those third installments, so seeing Portal 2 in VR may be the closest thing we'll find for now.

The post You can now play Portal 2 in VR thanks to a mod appeared first on Destructoid.

A decade after Pikmin 3, the franchise finally received a follow-up this year in the form of Pikmin 4. Serving as a soft reboot for the series, Pikmin 4 brings back the franchise's classic gameplay with a few new twists, such as the inclusion of Oatchi the pup.

You'd be forgiven if you've forgotten about this game already, as 2023 has been filled with massive games demanding your attention. Nevertheless, the game did have a successful launch where it managed to knock Tears of the Kingdom from its number one spot on the Famitsu charts which track physical sales in Japan.

It launched on July 24, and it has been at the top spot almost every week since. It was briefly nudged from the top spot by Armored Core 6, which launched on August 25, though it quickly bounced back the following week. Pikmin 4 is currently sitting with 817,846 total physical sales, which means it has taken just two months for the game to beat Pikmin 3 Deluxe's lifetime sales of over 513,000 physical units.

The Famitsu top 10 chart for September 4 to September 10 looks like this, with total sales in brackets:

1. Pikmin 4 (Switch) - 31,013 (817,846)
2. The Quintessential Quintuplets: Five Promises Made with Her (Switch) – 10,720 (New)
3. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Switch) – 10,447 (5,475,776)
4. Virche Evermore: -EpiC:lycoris- (Switch) – 8,633 (New)
5. Ring Fit Adventure (Switch) – 7,658 (3,458,561)
6. Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon (PS5) – 7,311 (141,505)
7. Pokemon Scarlet/Violet (Switch) – 6,934 (5,118,914)
8. Minecraft (Switch) – 6,846 (3,257,489)
9. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Switch) – 6,838 (1,854,786)
10. Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon (PS4) – 5,350 (64,202)

Pikmin 4's amazing performance bodes well for the franchise's future. For players who enjoyed the game, they hopefully won't be waiting another decade for the next entry.

The post Pikmin 4 has been quietly dominating Japan’s sales charts appeared first on Destructoid.

I've been waiting for this

In mid-2022, I got a message from Destructoid legend Jordan Devore telling me to drop everything I was doing and play Escape Academy. Mere hours later, my wife and I bought the season pass. That's a good sign! The second DLC of that pass (Escape from the Past) is due out on June 19, according to Coin Crew Games. It's priced at $9.99 piecemeal or as part of the aforementioned $14.99 pass.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqPHLGlUzHM&t=1s

Here's a quick blurb on the conceit of the DLC:

"Step into the past for Escape Academy’s second Expansion Pack, joining old friends and Academy students Sandra Solange and Eel Barnes on a mission to unmask a villain who wants their Headmaster dead. After an 'accident' at an Academy sport event, Sandra and Eel are tasked with investigating each of the suspected faculty members to deduce who the killer is and save the school."

There's an announcement trailer you can check out above, but we don't recommend watching it! It's better to go in blind, especially if you enjoyed the core game.

[caption id="attachment_383304" align="alignnone" width="640"] Image via iam8bit[/caption]

The first DLC (Escape From Anti-Escape Island) came out in November 2022

So far, this seems to be it for Escape Academy once June 19 hits. The first DLC, Escape From Anti-Escape Island, came out at the end of November, and went with a "deserted island" theme. While it wasn't nearly as strong as the base game; even with a lowered bar and short length, it was more fun than many other similar escape room/modern puzzle games.

Hopefully the second DLC will bring it!

The post The wonderful co-op puzzler Escape Academy is getting its second DLC in June appeared first on Destructoid.

It deserves the comeback

Back in 2014 I covered a game from Grumpyface Studios called Castle Doombad. I'm already a sucker for projects featuring traps as the core mechanic, but Doombad was sleek, cute, and a blast to play in short bursts or long sessions. Sadly, like many mobile games of that era (particularly under the Adult Swim banner), it was eventually put out to pasture. Given that it's miraculously coming back this year on Steam (self-published by Grumpyface no less), it'll likely have a longer shelf life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ix66i9eYX4M

In what is still a fun twist, you're playing the role of the bad guy (Dr. Lord Evilstein). Much like a tower defense game or an action trapper like Deception or Orcs Must Die, your job is to use all sorts of gadgets (mounted on walls, the floor, or the ceiling) and minions to defend your castle. It has a really striking cartoony aesthetic to back it all up, and seeing Dr. Lord Evilstein cradle his fingers as he operates within the confines of his private office will never get old for me.

Here's what the 2023 version has that the original mobile release didn't:

• Remastered/remade visuals
• 35 traps/minions to use
• Gamepad/mouse and keyboard support
• New content

Live now on Steam in wishlist form, it's set to debut later in 2023. There's also a website with links to the team's Discord channel and Twitter accounts. Even if the new content isn't substantial, I hope a ton of people get to play this clever creation for the first time.

The post Underrated trap-based puzzler Castle Doombad is coming back this year appeared first on Destructoid.

What's the time? Witch time

After Bayonetta 2 hit in 2014, the series became so much more than just a one and done successor to Devil May Cry. It was a fully-fledged universe that many fans started to grab on to; as evidenced by the discussion behind the recently-released Bayonetta 3 story beats. Now it even has its own spinoff! Thankfully, it still keeps the same witchy style intact, but with a considerably different genre shift.

[caption id="attachment_368425" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon (Switch)
Developer: Platinum Games
Publisher: Nintendo
Released: March 17, 2023
MSRP: $59.99

Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon is an action puzzle game with a major emphasis on the puzzle aspect.

Initially you'll control Bayonetta herself (Cereza) as part of a wonder years, witch-in-training prologue before picking up Cheshire; a demon companion that does most of the fighting, and a bit of puzzle-solving. The duo will work in tandem (independently through left analog stick control for Cereza, and right analog stick control for Cheshire), with Cereza using her magic powers to lock down enemies and create exploration-based opportunities, while Cheshire can more directly swipe at and damage foes. You'll need to dodge enemies with both halves, adding a neat wrinkle to the urgency of the action.

Slowly, you'll get acquainted with all of the game's mechanics, eventually gaining access to a skill tree for each character (which opens up advance moves like projectile countering and combos). In addition to moving the duo from each story-progressing sequence to the next, you'll wander around a forest playground of sorts connected by save points and challenge rooms: some of which require future abilities to fully complete.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DF0TfX02Mw4

I was surprised at how easy it was to acclimate to the idea of Cereza and Cheshire working both together and separately. Controlling them both is easy as the locales aren't too sprawling (albeit sometimes of a cramped variety), and it's rewarding to pull of even simple combos and clear simple puzzles. An example includes putting Cheshire on a lift raised by Cereza to unlock a seal on a chest; and having Cereza then ride the platform (raised by Cheshire) to grab the loot. These sorts of puzzles raise a bit in complexity over time, but it's nearly always fun to see a theoretical point A (the edge of a cliff) and point B (where the treasure is) and figure out how to connect the dots between the two.

Whoever thought of "hug mode" needs a raise. Using the L button, Cereza can grab and hug Cheshire's smaller stuffed animal form, which lets you move around the world as a single unit. It's a nice respite from controlling both characters, and is even directly woven into some of the game's puzzles. You can use it basically at any time, though you understandably may need to split them off for combat or puzzle-solving (like tossing Cheshire up a ledge in hug form to open up a path or avoid a substance that keeps Cheshire at bay).

As you progress and earn more tools of the trade, both combat and exploration get more interesting. Cheshire can sport multiple forms, which can be used to solve puzzles; and creates more open-ended situations where the solution to a particular collectible drop or a critical path puzzle is less obvious. After the hour-ish long first tutorial-like area Bayonetta Origins opens up more, but without feeling overwhelming or like there's tons of padding. You'll come across a reasonable amount of collectibles during your journey, and the paths don't become too labyrinthine and boring, even later on.

[caption id="attachment_368435" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

All along the way you'll get constant tidbits on Cereza's backstory, which in turn inform future Bayonetta timeline events. While you don't need to be a pure Bayonetta fan to really enjoy the mostly self-encapsulated story, it does help: especially during some of the game's more eventful series references. As someone who loves this world, it's interesting to see first-hand how Cereza grew up and the circumstances surrounding that, as well as what led to the imprisonment of her mother (and how she personally dealt with it).

Bayonetta Origins isn't a prestige drama by any means, but the entire vibe is extremely amenable to fans. There's always the risk of over-explaining things (which some fans took umbrage with in the third game), but the way Bayonetta Origins operates is relatively melancholy and muted, and doesn't quite sink to the depths of "just say the line!" depravity.

The bit that should appeal to pretty much everyone is the storybook aesthetic. It's so much better looking in motion, as the backgrounds really pop and feel alive in incredibly nuanced ways. The animation on Cheshire in particular (especially when changing forms) is mesmerizing, which is fun to look at during some of the game's slower moments, and during the higher octane battles. I love how Cheshire clambers up walls and has exaggerated slashing motions: it feels true to Platinum's sense of "functional style."

[caption id="attachment_368439" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

At $60, the low key nature of Bayonetta Origins and the fact that some of it is going to appeal to Bayonetta fans isn't going to do it any favors. But when I was playing through it, I was reminded of a few '90s classics like The Lost Vikings and the quirkiness of the Gobliiins series. It's a really breezy game to play if you're enamored by the storybook look and feel, which does some of the heavy lifting.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

The post Review: Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon appeared first on Destructoid.

PlayStation and Xbox editions to follow

Here's some fun news to kick off the week, (well, for me at least), as Forever Entertainment has announced a release date for the returning franchise Magical Drop — The sixth installment in the fast-paced puzzle series will launch on PC and Nintendo Switch on April 25.

As we have previously reported, Magical Drop is a long-running series of tile-based puzzlers that was birthed in the arcade market way back in 1995. One or two players fight it out as one of a number of cute anime avatars, all based on the Tarot, in a breathless battle to group together colored orbs and dispatch them onto your opponent's playfield.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndKF-bUxFv4&ab_channel=ForeverEntertainment

The goal of this simple-to-learn, hard-to-master gameplay is to set up your own playfield several moves ahead of time, so that the cascading globes will trigger a chain reaction of color groupings, inundating your opponent with extra orbs. (In fact, in Japan, the series is actually titled Chain Reaction.)

While there have been several Magical Drop sequels, the series has been on hiatus since 2012, when a Steam-released Magical Drop V proved to be a disaster — packed with bugs, threadbare on content, and ultimately pulled from sale. Forever Entertainment is clearly hoping to resurrect the franchise with this new release, which will feature six different single-player modes (including Story, Survival, and the mini-game filled "Path of Destiny"), as well as support for online and offline vs. battles.

Magical Drop VI launches on PC and Nintendo Switch April 25. PlayStation and Xbox editions will follow at a later date.

The post Magical Drop VI hits PC and Nintendo Switch April 25 appeared first on Destructoid.

Don't panic, but the floor *is* lava

It's a great feeling to be the good-news bearer when one of your favorite co-op games gets new content and you get to excitedly tell your partner all about it. For those of us who like the puzzle-platformer antics of Human: Fall Flat, there's a new level, Tower, out now on Steam. Including the original and post-launch stages, it's the 21st level.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkzAQCA4r1o

The name speaks for itself. With such a precarious layout, I'm afraid of my pudgy boy plummeting to his doom, but at least Human: Fall Flat is generous with checkpoints.

"Dreamed up by creative mastermind Fennecai and brought to life by the fiendishly talented David," Tower is the winner of the game's 5th Anniversary level design competition. And right on cue, Curve Games says there is "still more to come."

As usual, console players have to wait

Unfortunately, the console versions aren't in sync with the Steam edition, so PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch players will have to wait to play the Tower level in Human: Fall Flat. That said, if it's been a while, you might have new-to-you levels ready to go.

I recently checked back in and found a couple of levels — Red Rock and Lumber — in our backlog. We blasted through them. Even with overlapping ideas, I'm still having fun.

With 30 million copies sold and more content updates lined up, I'm wondering when, if ever, we'll see a sequel. I'm pretty happy with the split-screen performance on a PS5, but it would be nice to see an overhauled sequel that feels more refined. Just a bit.

For now, they're squeezing every last drop — and I'm okay with it.

The post Human: Fall Flat has a new Tower level to fumble through with friends appeared first on Destructoid.

Shoring up the game before the DLC drops

As soon as I heard that the escape-room puzzle adventure game Escape Academy had split-screen co-op, I was in. And even as someone who's not exactly "into" real-world escape rooms, it ended up being a fun, not-too-frustrating time with memorable scenarios like a room with rising water, or a scramble to find an antidote after being poisoned. I'd recommend Escape Academy — particularly after today's update, which includes FOV options and a much-needed change to avoid accidental hints.

If you're just here for the field-of-view slider, you can now crank the FOV from 60 all the way up to 120. That also goes for the console versions of Escape Academy — I tested it out on my PlayStation 5 copy this morning. I'll probably settle somewhere in the middle. You can access this slider from the Graphics menu, and you can change it while you're in an escape room, so you can quickly figure out what FOV works best for you.

Coin Crew Games also included a split-screen toggle in online multiplayer, a "hint confirmation," and info about your best grade for each level on the replay board (though it is not retroactive). Considering Escape Academy is getting 10 new levels spread across two DLC drops (with the first, "Escape from Anti-Escape Island," coming this fall), this is great.

[caption id="attachment_340187" align="alignnone" width="1920"] _{This game comes alive with a second player.}[/caption]

No more accidental hints

I'll admit, I did accidentally request a hint when I didn't mean to — it was just a button press away! — which was frustrating. Solving everything on your own will lead to a better grade. Now, post-patch, in order to get a hint you'll have to press the button twice.

Apart from bug fixes (which you can see on this Steam page), Escape Academy also has some gameplay- and scoring-related changes to note:

• Increased maximum mouse sensitivity (25%).
• Online partner's mouse cursor is now hidden.
• Changed the grading system to be a bit more harsh — we're not grading on a curve anymore!
• Changed key difficulties ratings for some rooms, to better match their actual difficulty.

It's flying under the radar, and a few of the later levels left me wanting, but Escape Academy is absolutely worth playing if you have a puzzle-solving partner.

The post Escape Academy quality-of-life update adds FOV slider and hint confirmation appeared first on Destructoid.

The old indie darling is back in 3D

Desktop Dungeons, the beloved turn-based roguelike, is coming back with a new style. And while it can be tricky going from a quaint pixel art presentation to a more general modern 3D style (albeit with nice new illustrated character art), the main draw was — and should still be — the puzzle-solving gameplay. Developer QCF Design announced the 3D remake Desktop Dungeons: Rewind for Steam with an estimated Q4 2022 release.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smrfXYhnKCc

According to the team, "the goal with Desktop Dungeons: Rewind is to bring a game we love to modern devices and modern audiences. For a long time we’ve felt that we’ve under-served players with the resolution choices we made for Desktop Dungeons back in 2011 (!!) and have had to stick with since. This is the perfect opportunity for us to address that, while adding new features to the game to make it smoother and more rewarding to play."

You can, in fact, rewind

One of the main new features in Desktop Dungeons: Rewind is the ability to rewind your turns when you die, in order to take better steps in the run-up to the boss.

Success comes down to knowing when to poke around the darkness, when to pick fights, and when to double down — you'll regain health and mana by exploring shrouded dungeon tiles, so it pays to move deliberately. If you play it right, your hero will accumulate lots of XP on lowly creeps and become powerful enough to outlast the boss.

Of course, with different classes, gods, status effects, and other "oh huh...interesting" mechanics in the mix, it's never quite that straightforward. Over time, you pick up a play style and learn to factor in all of the little considerations that add up to a successful run.

[caption id="attachment_338360" align="alignnone" width="1920"] _{Scoping out a dungeon as a human thief.}[/caption]

Nowadays, roguelikes and roguelites mean a lot of things to a lot of different people, and plenty of folks are tired of all but the best of 'em. I still have a soft spot for Desktop Dungeons. In my mind, it's a puzzle game at its heart, especially now with rewinds.

The original game lives on to this day (out of curiosity, I checked to see the last time I played it; 2015), so Rewind isn't replacing anything. It's still up on Steam.

Interestingly, old game saves will be "fully compatible" with Desktop Dungeons: Rewind.

QCF Design says to expect "hundreds of hours of content, daily online challenges, the amazing soundtrack by Danny Baranowsky and Grant Kirkhope, all the DLC, and more."

The post Desktop Dungeons: Rewind is a remake of a classic roguelike puzzle game appeared first on Destructoid.

Homeward bound

Stray isn't just a good time for cat lovers, it's a good video game, period. A great one, even.

The unassuming protagonist — a normal cat in a not-so-normal sci-fi world in which humans are long gone — is the star of the show. But the game's surprisingly endearing robot companions, and strange, decaying yet vibrant city they inhabit, are also high points. I didn't expect the setting to draw me in and capture my imagination this much.

If you like the sound of a puzzle-adventure game that rewards curiosity and stays fresh the whole way through with a wonderfully fleshed-out world, you've gotta play Stray.

[caption id="attachment_335077" align="alignnone" width="1920"] _{The lighting and color deserve a shout-out.}[/caption]

Stray (PC, PS4, PS5 [reviewed])
Developer: BlueTwelve Studio
Publisher: Annapurna Interactive
Released: July 19, 2022
MSRP: $29.99

Just as a general concept, I was afraid Stray would end up feeling too one-note — anyone else? Coming into this review, I feel like that's one of the main questions to answer.

It's something we've seen before with games that capture the wider internet's attention with a flashy idea. And as a fan of more simulation-minded games that try to nail a specific animal's vibe while still being fun to play, I've been burned before, definitely.

Stray pulls off the balancing act, though — it's inherently engaging to explore as a cat, and the ruined city is a perfect playground. There's so much space to explore vertically as a nimble cat, yet the "way forward" is never overwhelming or obtuse. In less capable hands, this game wouldn't have nearly as much flow, and I think that's the crucial ingredient.

In Stray, if it looks like the cat can leap onto a surface, chances are, it can. And to keep things moving along, instead of manually jumping and landing like in a 3D platformer, you'll just tap "jump" when you see a visual "land here" prompt. The result is a game about mentally charting a path ahead, rather than one where you need to make meticulous precision jumps. You'll never worry about falling off, and it all feels believable enough.

[caption id="attachment_335080" align="alignnone" width="1920"] _{With your helper B-12, you can chat with the locals.}
[/caption]

Look up (and every which way)

Early on, in the first of two major hub-like chunks of the city, I spent so much time leaping on pipes, air conditioners, walls, roofs, you name it — all sorts of stuff that would just be a background detail in any other game. I was determined to find energy drinks to trade with a merchant, sheet music to give to a musician, and collectible "memories" for my little drone companion, B-12, who is the guiding force for this great-escape story.

I didn't *need* to comb over the Slums to the point of memorization, but I was so absorbed in finding every tucked-away nook and cranny, I didn't mind — I was having a blast, and the effort wasn't wasted. The same can be said for a hustling, bustling later area, Midtown, with a couple of tricky critical-path puzzles to think through. The challenge felt right to me. When in doubt, ask around, and let the neon lights draw your gaze.

With your drone's help, you can communicate with the city's robots, and easily store puzzle-solving items, presenting them to characters mid-conversation when the situation calls for it. It's a really streamlined system — you're never juggling too many items or worrying about inventory space — and the NPC chatter is concise, yet personable.

The screen-headed bots all have names, and you'll likely remember them, too; they leave a lasting impression. Grandma, a knitting fiend, is a personal favorite. (Detail-wise, it feels like there's a reason everything is the way that it is, including the robots' clothing.)

[caption id="attachment_335076" align="alignnone" width="1920"] _{You can actually die in Stray — and these are why!}[/caption]

Unexpected Half-Life vibes

In between the larger zones, you'll push forward in linear sequences, some of which are hectic chases. The main threat? A ravenous horde of leaping Zurks that even the robots fear — one of a few elements in Stray that reminds me of the all-time-great Half-Life 2.

At first, you don't have any real recourse other than to run — or mash a button to shake off the Zurks if they leap on you. Later though, you'll get a weaponized light to zap 'em.

Thankfully, in both cases, the developers don't overdo it with this creepy crawly horde. The Zurks raise the early stakes, for sure, and the action sits nicely alongside the stress-free exploration. But Stray has more up its sleeve in the later chapters. I wouldn't say there's "combat," and even if I did, it's very limited. So if that was a concern (same!), don't worry.

Further in, you'll need to be sneaky, and I appreciated all the room for stealth slip-ups. If you're spotted, there's a chance to leap in a cardboard box. You know, cat stuff.

[caption id="attachment_335079" align="alignnone" width="1920"] _{Stray has stealth sequences, but they aren't too demanding or overdone.}[/caption]

How long is it?

I have to commend the pacing, too. I ended up (happily) finishing Stray in one sitting.

That said, the game is longer than I expected — it took me a good five to six hours. I searched thoroughly in most areas but still came up short on several collectibles.

If you know precisely where to go, you could speedrun this game in a couple of hours (there's a trophy, in fact), but that's not indicative of a first-time playthrough. I'm sure it'll take me a few more hours to find my missing secrets, and thankfully, there's a chapter select option after clearing the game, so you can mop up without needing to start over.

All around, the scope feels spot-on — Stray will likely be more expansive than first impressions suggest, but it doesn't keep tacking on new problems to solve for the sake of it. Toward the end, you'll know when the final moments are near; they arrive right on cue.

[caption id="attachment_335075" align="alignnone" width="1920"] _{This club looks like a scene out of Hitman 3.}[/caption]

The best of both worlds

To really drive it all home, I think Stray would be worth talking about even if you didn't play as a cat. But because you do — and because the cat looks and feels and acts exactly as it should — the game ends up hitting that much harder. At times, it can be emotional without saying a word. The little behavioral details in the animation go so far.

Again, you don't have to be a "cat person" — there's a lot to appreciate about this post-human cybercity setting, which feels appropriately lived-in (and doubles as a fun vertical play space). You can tell the creators know the full picture of this universe, but they leave room for our imaginations to fill in certain gaps. Stray ends up feeling complete.

This ruined yet hopeful sci-fi world is built in an authentic, thought-through way, and throwing in a normal cat — who likes to shred couches, knock over paint buckets, and snuggle up in the most random cozy spots — is such great foil. Playful mischief and other cat tendencies won't get in the way of you, a human player, feeling like you're "in control."

Stray's expressive art direction, curious music, stop-and-snap-a-pic lighting, and thoughtful level design coalesce into one of my favorite gaming experiences of the year.

I'm so happy Stray exists and that BlueTwelve Studio stuck the landing.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

The post Review: Stray appeared first on Destructoid.

Retrovertigo

As part of this morning's Nintendo Direct presentation, it was announced that the iconic, smash-hit puzzle platformers Portal and Portal 2 are hitting the Switch platform in the form of Portal: Companion Collection. Even better news, the irreverent, brain-teasing title will land on the eShop today!

https://youtu.be/wMQASUA_1Do

Portal Companion Collection compiles 2007 hit Portal along with its 2011 follow-up — the two classics are freshly repackaged for their release on Nintendo's hybrid console. Return to the terrifying Aperture Science Enrichment Center and utilize the power of physics, gravity, and portals to guide our hero out of her cell, out of the system, and out of the hazardous clutches of the scarily sentient overseer, GLaDOS.

Combining dark humor, genuine pathos, and some fantastic lateral thinking shenanigans, the Portal games became instant classics upon release and have only welcomed more disciples into their twisted coven in the ensuing 15 years. Already available on practically every platform under the sun, this new compilation of two of gaming's finest and most beloved puzzlers will allow Switch players to set their heads fizzing and spinning whilst in bed, on a commute, or simply out and about. Just watch your step.

Portal: Companion Collection launches on the Nintendo eShop today for $19.99.

The post Break out the cake: Portal Companion Collection hits Switch today appeared first on Destructoid.

It's best if you've got past experience to pull from, but this parody game also holds up on its own

One of Steam's popular new releases this week is a parody of The Witness, and whether you liked that game or ended up bouncing off it, there's fun to be had. The Looker goes to surprisingly great lengths to capture that island-exploring puzzle-solving experience, except it's much more concise — above all, it just wants to make you laugh. Also, it's free!

I think it's something anyone could enjoy, but you'll likely appreciate it more if you've cracked far enough into The Witness to know that it's not just a typical "puzzle game."

[caption id="attachment_331999" align="alignnone" width="1920"] _{The Looker's main game mechanic.}[/caption]

Just like in the source material, you'll walk around an island and look for puzzle panels to solve so that you can expand the game's explorable area, rinse and repeat.

The Looker's puzzle mechanic is the equivalent of a maze on a kid's placemat, and also similar to The Witness, it's a simple premise that goes to some unexpected places. If you've finished The Witness and know how its puzzles progress, you'll know what I mean to a certain extent — but it also goes a step further with some funny games within a game.

It's a parody game through and through, but Subcreation Studio put enough time, energy, and care into The Looker that it also holds up as its own thing. I'm... impressed!

The Looker isn't too long, and it sticks the landing

[caption id="attachment_332000" align="alignnone" width="1920"] _{One of many amusingly long-winded audio logs.}[/caption]

While not every joke or gag hit its mark, I ended up chuckling or outright laughing at a handful of them — an early one being a hint button that just kept giving me friendly non-advice. And there are some good a-ha moments, too. As much as The Looker leans into Big Shitpost Energy when there's an opportunity, it's an honest-to-goodness video game.

If you've got an hour (or less if you're smart!) to burn, The Looker is worth checking out. Or if you've only got five minutes to spare, Dunkey has an abbreviated playthrough.

The post The Looker is a funny, free take on The Witness appeared first on Destructoid.

And we're right there with him

It's been over eleven years since Portal 2 was released, and it looks like the fans aren't the only ones who are clamoring for Valve to start on a follow-up to one of its most beloved games ever. Erik Wolpow, co-writer of both of the Portal games, as well as plenty of other famous Valve titles like Left 4 Dead and Half-Life: Alyx, went on the Kiwi Talkz Podcast this week and urged Valve to start work on Portal 3, as originally reported by VGC.

His exact words were: "I am not getting any younger. We are reaching the point where it’s crazy to think [that we’re] literally going to be too old to work on Portal 3, so we should just do it.”

First off, I think Wolpow is hilarious, and I think from this interview it's really easy to tell that he wrote the Portal games. I also think it's cool that he wants to come back, because it shows how much he really enjoyed working on those games. His comments also show that while he may have been instrumental in creating the game series we know and love, his wish for another sequel alone isn't enough to get the ball rolling at the studio.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzkVD94yAmA

Wolpow goes on to discuss that a lot of fans are wondering what the team over at Valve is actually working on, but assures us it's not all for nothing.

"As much as it seems like Valve often [is] just a bunch of people sitting around sipping gin and tonics by a pool, everybody’s working," he said. "They’re working all the time, it’s just you don’t always see the [result], it doesn’t always end up coming out, or it comes out years later, it gets turned into something else. So everybody is accounted for, I guess is what I’m saying."

This constant shifting and changing of plans is a classic tale of game development, and Valve has enough of that sweet Steam money to keep the lights on while they try to figure out their next move.

I'm with Wolpow — if they ever want to make another Portal game, they need to do it soon, and they need to do it with him and the rest of the original dev team while they still can. I get the feeling that any other attempt won't be as successful.

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The formula is there, now it just needs some content

A few years ago, when the Yo-kai Watch craze still had a pulse, Level-5 launched a puzzle game on mobile that quickly became my go-to app for lunch breaks and train rides. It was called Yo-kai Watch Wibble Wobble and it was brilliant, fun, and full of annoying free-to-play mechanics. But the game was so good, I didn’t care. I just kept playing until the English version of the game was shut down in May 2018. Since then, I’ve been chasing that Wibble Wobble high, looking for other games I could ride the dragon with. Some have come close, but nothing I’ve found so far has quite captured the feeling of fun Wibble Wobble brought to the table. That’s true of Devolver Tumble Time as well, though it manages to make its own unique mark in this crowded mobile space.

From developer Nopopo, Devolver Tumble Time is a simple connect-three puzzler that requires a fast and delicate touch if you want to rack up high scores. The puzzle field is circular and pieces, each of which is designed after a character from a Devolver Digital title, fall from the top in a randomized assortment. To clear these pieces from the field, you simply need to tap a piece that is connected with at least two others of the same type. If 5 pieces can make a connection, all five will clear once you lift your finger. The more pieces you can connect, the more likely it is you’ll score a bomb you can use to clear out a small smattering of pieces. Not only do bombs help you out if you’re unable to make any connections, but they also help quickly build your Fever Time meter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SG4nb-aajLc

In Fever Time, the clock stops and you’re encouraged to clear as many pieces as possible in the short span of time to really build your score up. If you’re having a good run, you’ll probably activate Fever Time about three or four times before the clock hits zero. Depending on the pieces you’re working with, getting into Fever Time that often can turn a good run into an outstanding one.

As you play Tumble Time, you’ll earn coins to unlock characters using gacha pulls. These characters correspond to the pieces in each puzzle run, and if you own a character, you’ll level them up should they appear in a puzzle. Of the characters you’ve unlocked, you’ll choose one to be your lead puzzle piece that’ll appear in each puzzle run you have them selected for. As you clear this character from the puzzle board, you’ll build up a meter that, when filled, will allow you to unleash their special. Each special will clear pieces from the board, but the effectiveness of that clearing depends on which character you’ve selected and the pieces that are currently on the board.

For instance, Red from Heave Ho will turn all the Reds on-screen into socks, a type of currency I’ll touch on momentarily. Richard from Hotline Miami will throw a bloody baseball bat across the screen, clearing any piece it hits. Duck from Minit will clear all the other Ducks from the screen and turn them into seconds on the clock. My personal favorite is Gris from Gris, who will drop a big grey bomb that has the potential to clear the entire puzzle field.

Knowing when and how to best use these specials is key to getting a high score. As an example, Richard’s baseball bat is highly effective at running up your score if you use it in Fever Time. However, if the clock is winding down and you can see Fever Time is just within reach, using it at that moment just might be enough to put you into Fever Time, which again, stops the clock and allows you to really add to your score.

When it comes to making connections, it can be a bit of a crapshoot. A bunch of pieces of the same type bundled together will obviously clear no problem. However, sometimes you’ll see pieces close enough to one another without obstruction that you think would be an easy connection, only the game won’t see it the same way. On the flip side, there are many times I pressed down on a piece and watched as the game quickly connected a spiderweb of pieces I didn’t think would work.

Extensive connections like this may only be available for a split second. As pieces drop down, they might create a connection while falling that’ll disappear once they land on the other pieces below. You really have to be quick to make those connections, but you don’t want to be too quick as connections aren’t instantaneous. Though it takes less than a second, each sprawling connection has to be fully mapped out if you want to clear all the pieces. Lift your finger too quickly and some pieces may be left out.

As I said before, if you build up a large enough connection, you’ll create a bomb on the puzzle field. There are different bombs depending on how many pieces you clear, including bombs that can add a few seconds to the clock. When you use a bomb, some of the pieces you clear are converted into coins, which is Tumble Time’s primary currency. Others may be converted into stuff, such as socks, donuts, diamonds, gears, and apples. These represent the secondary currency of Tumble Time. Both coins and stuff are used to unlock new characters, but coins will only unlock characters with an A, B, or C rarity in what are known as Trash Pulls. Stuff is used with premium gacha pulls that can net you an S, A, or B ranked character. There is another gacha system coming to the game, but it doesn’t specify what you’ll pull with it. I suspect it will net players boosters and modifiers for each puzzle run as each of those menus is currently listed as “coming soon.”

If you’re wondering about monetization, it’s pretty straightforward. The game has a heart system you can eliminate for $3. You can also earn more hearts by watching ads, and as a side note, has anyone else noticed how awful mobile ads have become over the past year or so? Anyway, if you want to buy coins or stuff for gacha pulls, that option is also available with the largest available purchase being $5. I don’t imagine I’d ever put money down to buy coins or stuff, but eliminating the heart meter so I can play as much as I want is a bit enticing. It would be a lot more enticing if there was more to do in the game.

Right now, there are just two modes to experience. The standard mode has you just chasing a high score as you work to clear as many pieces as you can in 60 seconds. Other than that, you can play the daily mode, which either restricts you to a specific character (even if you don’t own them) or challenges you with a boss battle. The boss battle dailies task players with scoring a certain amount of points through four rounds before doing battle with a boss. If you fail to reach the target score in any of the rounds, you have to start the entire process over. With the right character, like Gris, these are a piece of cake. If you’re using somebody from Heave Ho, hitting a score of 80,000 might be a bit difficult.

Having to start from scratch with the boss battles is annoying, but I do wish there were more modes like this in Tumble Time. I’ve been playing for about three weeks now and enjoying it plenty enough. But without some sort of regular challenge, I don’t know how much longer I’ll keep with the game. I like its style, and it’s certainly replayable, but I’m not much of a high-score chaser. It would be nice to see some sort of adventure mode or mission mode added to the final game when it exits Early Access later this year.

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The fun of building without the mess

The LEGO video games will always hold a special place in my heart — some of my fondest gaming memories are of my siblings and I playing through the LEGO Star Wars games at our neighbor's house. Looking back, though, those licensed LEGO games kind of make me scratch my head, because although the branding was on point, only a small portion of the gameplay was allotted to actual building, which is kind of the whole appeal of the brand. Thanks to the newly announced LEGO Bricktales, though, building is about to reenter the company's construction-centric gaming canon in a whole new way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJQjQ-nfJRY

LEGO Bricktales is a physics-based building puzzle game, and by the looks of its announcement trailer from the Future Games Show's Spring Showcase, it looks like a ton of fun. The game is being developed by Clockstone Studio, which is best known for creating the hit indie Bridge Constructor series. The trailer shows a series of scenarios where the player is asked to build an object (out of LEGO, obviously) to help complete a task. The player is then given a set number of pieces to build their object, and when the building is complete, the player can run a simulation to see if the object works as intended.

It's a simple premise, at least from what we can tell so far, but sometimes the simplest of concepts make for the games that players will sink hundreds of hours into. After watching the trailer, some have likened the game's mechanics to that of Kerbel Space Program, and that feels like a pretty apt comparison to me.

LEGO Bricktales will be releasing sometime in 2022, and I personally can't wait to give this colorful, adorable, and likely challenging little puzzle game a try.

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Putting a new spin on classic tales

Ever since it was announced at the Annapurna Interactive Showcase last year, Storyteller has been pretty high on my list of most anticipated games. The trailer also let us know that there was a playable demo up on Steam, and for reasons that would take far too long to explain, I didn't get around to playing it until this week. I may be late to the party when it comes to the demo, but the game still doesn't have a release date yet, so at least I didn't miss out there.

Let me tell you, as someone who loves both narrative design and puzzle games, Storyteller is an absolute delight. I only got about half an hour with it before I exhausted the demo content, but I can already tell you that this is one of my favorite indie games ever. When I first heard that Annapurna was publishing Storyteller, I knew it was going to be great because they never seem to miss, but I was still pleasantly surprised when I sat down to play.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evbrPS8xw8w

Gameplay-wise, it's simple, but so addictingly fun to figure out. You're presented with a prompt you have to complete, a series of empty panels to create your stories in, as well as settings, characters, and plot devices to choose from. From there, you just drag and drop different elements to create a story that fits the prompt that the game gives you. Like I said, simple, but it's a puzzle game format that feels really unique and refreshing. It's a story game, sure, but the stories are so beautifully married with the gameplay and emerge so naturally from how the player chooses to interact, that this is one of the more creative examples of narrative design I've ever seen.

What really puts Storyteller over the top for me, though, is how polished and well-themed it is. The whole game takes place in one giant storybook, with the title page serving as, well, a title page, as well as the credits. The level select pages look like a table of contents, and when you select your level, it flips through a bunch of pages to land on the one that you need. The animations are really smooth and responsive, and although it's a little thing, a menu that feels good to navigate can really add a lot to a game.

Sticking with the theming, the art style is also a lot of fun. It maintains a restraint that makes it feel minimalist, but not overly so. Everything that's on-screen is only what needs to be there, and no more. The characters are drawn so adorable, and each set of levels is themed to a different era of literature, and pays homage to their respective inspiration in really cute ways. Not to spoil anything, but I did get an achievement for recreating the plot of a very famous work of literature, and that made my heart really happy.

I obviously love games, but I often tell people that literature was my first love, so much so that it's actually what my degree is in. Classic lit and games don't often overlap, so when they do it's a magical thing for me. I also think Storyteller is exceptional because my writer friends and I often discuss how trying to make a story work in real life feels like a puzzle, so seeing that recreated so elegantly in game form is pretty amazing to me.

One of the things good art can do is communicate complicated real-world ideas in ways that make sense to someone who hasn't experienced that before, and I think Storyteller does this quite well. I imagine that someone who is unfamiliar with writing stories could play this game and get a sense of what it's like, albeit in a much simpler, cuter, and more entertaining way.

Even so, I am so excited to see a game out there that's showing gamers how much fun literature can be. Storyteller falls under the umbrella of games that were made pretty much entirely by one person, so we might be waiting a bit for its official release, but I'm perfectly fine with that. The developer, Daniel Benmergui, can take as much time as he needs, and until he's ready to put it out, I'll be doing my part to spread the word about how charming this game is.

Story Beat is a weekly column discussing anything and everything to do with storytelling in video games.

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It was only a matter of time

At this point, I would wager to say that Wordle's clones are just as well-known as the game itself. Just about every variation you can think of exists, from guessing swear words to songs to geography — it's all there, but probably not for long. The New York Times' acquisition of Wordle rocked the internet back at the end of January, and fans of the game have been apprehensive at best since then, after bemoaning supposed changes that the New York Times made to the game that have yet to be confirmed. Either way, everyone is kind of on edge, and understandably so. We've been seeing changes slowly rolling in from the journalistic juggernaut, the most recent being that they demanded the shutdown of a popular Wordle offshoot, Wordle Archive, as reported by Ars Technica.

The website was popular among fans of the modern classic of a word game, as it archived previous days' puzzles and allowed players to return to them as much as they wanted. Wordle Archive had been up since the start of January, but it was officially taken down last week. When players logged on to play through some old puzzles, they were instead met with a message that read, "Sadly, the New York Times has requested that the Wordle Archive be taken down."

A representative from the New York Times also put out a statement, as they told Ars Technica, "The usage was unauthorized, and we were in touch with them. We don't plan to comment beyond that."

As much of a bummer as this is, it's entirely within New York Times' rights to do so as the legal owners of Wordle. Copyright law can get a bit fuzzy when it comes down to copycats, but the fact that World Archive used the exact same name as the original game meant that there was no room for ambiguity.

The future of other clones, like any using the "-dle" suffix, is unclear, although part of me has to wonder if the New York Times is looking for a way to take those down, too.
_{[Featured Image Source: PC Gamer]}

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The return of Sexy Skeletons

Grab your sunblock and your stabproof vest, as the lurid, dangerous, and neon-infused world of Paradise Killer is getting set to make a comeback — As revealed today by publisher Fellow Traveler, the murder mystery adventure title is not only set to receive a slew of new content but will also be getting sun-kissed ports on PlayStation and Xbox.

Originally released on PC and Nintendo Switch back in 2020, Paradise Killer blends puzzles, visual novel, and adventure elements as fashionista investigator Lady Love Dies is sent to a disgustingly opulent resort on the trail of a murderer. This is perhaps the simplest explanation of what is an incredibly bizarre tale, packed full of twists and turns, and starring a cast of the oddest, most eccentric and/or sexiest characters in gaming history.

https://youtu.be/oWMwYPecV7M

The PlayStation and Xbox ports of Paradise Killer will be enhanced for modern platforms, boosted by faster load times, dazzling 4K visuals, and running at 60 FPS, bringing the hyperglobal colors of Paradise Island to life like never before. The PS5 and Xbox Series edition will also include support for ray-tracing and will make use of the hardwares' Haptic Feedback, Smart Delivery, and lightbar functions. Don't sweat it, PS4 and Xbox One peeps, as Paradise Killer will run just fine for you too.

In addition to the new ports, brand new content is also en route to the original PC and Nintendo Switch editions. Arriving on March 16, the update will add new characters, quests, rewards, and collectible items, along with some smooth new tunes to massage your ears as you investigate the resort and interrogate its weird clientele. The update will also contain a fresh round of fixes and performance tweaks, and will also add a list of much-requested achievements to the Steam/PC edition.

Last, but by no means least, March 16 will also see the arrival of an enhanced soundtrack, packed out with retakes and remixes of Paradise Killer's slick score. Titled About That... Paradise Killer's B-Sides, the 12-track digital album will feature instrumentals, vocal remixes, and alternative versions of the original release's OST, freshly produced by talented composer Barry "Epoch" Topping.

Paradise Killer (and the bonus content update) will launch March 16 on PlayStation, PC, and Nintendo Switch. The Xbox edition is "coming soon". We'll be sure to give you a heads-up when a date is announced.

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How will the free-to-play gambit fare?

Seeing a ton of classic franchises (I think the DS is a "classic" system at this point) move to free-to-play has been wild, and to say it's had a mixed reception is understating it. Puzzle Quest 3 is out now on mobile and early access PC/Steam, and it's adopted that very same approach with free-to-play.

As a match-three, the monetary shift kind of makes sense, as games have normalized that system in the genre for nearly a decade (RIP fully-fledged premium Popcap games). And things can change during early access, but right now, Puzzle Quest 3 is still going with the free-to-play system, and utilizes the same gameplay loop of battling foes as the older entries.

Paladin, Berzerker, Shaman, Assassin, and Necromancer classes are a go, and multiplayer co-op and PVP are also bold choices for a match-three as a whole. An intricate loot system is meant to sate folks who want to keep playing, which could go horribly right or badly wrong depending on how it's handled long term.

Hopefully developer Infinity Plus 2 and publisher 505 Games use the early access time to shore everything up, so when this thing fully launches, it puts its best foot forward. If you're curious, you can try it now for yourself.

[Update: Alongside of the game's release, the Puzzle Quest team sent us this cute scratch-off that's appropriately match-three oriented. I wonder what the prize is?]

[gallery ids="311159,311161"]

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Valentine's Day is coming up, you know!

Not to discredit any of the other fine games sitting in Steam's ever-shifting "New & Trending" section, but when I hovered over With You and saw a pair of funky one-eyed blobs with lanky legs, I was intrigued. I mean, it's the age-old cyclops appeal. I can't say no! When I noticed the magic words "co-op campaign," I was double in. The fact that it's a free game — which also goes for the Itch.io release, if you prefer — sure doesn't hurt.

The user reviews for With You were a collective thumbs-up, so why not? I played it. 15 minutes later, I think some of you will want to play it with your favorite co-op companion, too. It's a simple, endearing, not-too-fussy "date game," as creator Carol Mertz puts it.

If you've played Snipperclips, that's probably the closest point of comparison — but the vibe here is much more serene with some soft guitar backing, and it's less complex.

Mechanically, you and a partner will play as a different-shaped cyclops, and while the obstacles change from level to level, you're ultimately looking to line up your shape with a matching outline. You can squish yourself down, rotate your head, and boost each other up. All of these controls are basic enough that you can squeeze together on one keyboard.

But more than just slightly silly physics and light puzzle-solving, there's the whole thoughtful mood of With You, which I really dug. The game was made with "romantic couples in mind," although Mertz says it also "aims to encourage healthier collaborative habits within any relationship." Unlike, say, Overcooked, the odds are very low that your well-meaning team dynamics will lead to any bickering in the heat of the moment.

"My goal in creating With You was to expand a sub-genre of cooperative games that I affectionately refer to as 'date games' — nonviolent cooperative games for multiple players, which facilitate communication and collaboration," said Mertz. "These kinds of games have been a way for me to establish and strengthen relationships, trust, and communication among friends, family, and romantic partners."

I'm not sure I've come across that exact categorization before, but thinking back, yeah, I cherish these sorts of co-op games and the long-lasting memories they can foster.

The Steam store summary is upfront about the fact that With You was a "solo student project [at the NYU Game Center], so it's very short, a little wonky, and made with a lot of love." Mertz had more to say on Twitter; the backstory is super endearing and relatable.

"I made With You in a few months as an '19 MFA student juggling work, classes, organizing a game festival, etc. I had hoped, after recovering from MFA burnout, to spend time expanding it and making a full release, but we all know that 2020 was not a year for burnout recovery. It's loomed over me for the last couple of years as this project that feels *sort of* done but also *not at all* done.

I only just decided a month ago to release it exactly as it was when I presented it as my thesis, so I could let go and move on. I didn't have high expectations.

When I hit the release button, I was kicking myself for not adding more polish, a better tutorial, a splash screen, etc. All the stuff I told myself I'd do, but couldn't muster the energy for. I braced for negative reviews pointing out all the ways I'd failed my players.

Now with tears in my eyes as I write this, all this to try to explain how much it means to me that people are enjoying it. All these positive reviews from players around the world are serving as a reminder that it's not a failure, that I did my best, and my best is good enough."

I'm glad I just happened to come across this game. It was a much-needed pick-me-up.

The post With You, a cute 15-minute co-op ‘date game,’ is free on Steam appeared first on Destructoid.

Fantasy puzzle adventurer returns

505 Games has announced that the third iteration of its fantasy-based brainteaser, Puzzle Quest 3, is headed to PC and mobile platforms next month. The free-to-play sequel will land on Steam, Android, and iOS stores on March 1, with pre-registration now live on the game's official website.

Puzzle Quest 3 will guide players through the dungeons of Etheria, picking their way through labyrinths and catacombs on a mission for loot, gear, and glory. Choose from one of five distinct classes — Paladin, Berserker, Shaman, Assassin, or Necromancer — each with their own unique gear and weaponry before laying waste to armies of monsters in classic Puzzle Quest "Match-3" gameplay.

A selection of multiplayer modes will let players battle against each other in lightning-fast one-vs-one gameplay, or team up in teams of four for cooperative adventures. All of this action plays out against a brand new storyline, punctuated with cinematic sequences and animated battles. Like most free-to-play releases, players can expect weekly challenges, limited-time events, daily quests, and probably a catalog of microtransactions.

Chris Carter checked out an early Android version of Puzzle Quest 3 last year and thought it was worth a download. "Instead of operating in a turn-based manner, knocking heads against a CPU, you’ll do your thing, the CPU will attack (off-board) and then you’ll do your thing again. It creates a more hectic, and in some ways, less engaging environment. It’s very cool to frantically try to be like 'OK I need to regenerate mana for this ability, so I need to match this. Then I should do some damage. Then I should create as many combos as possible with the few seconds I have left.' But at the same time, having the CPU not directly battle you makes individual encounters a little less interesting."

The post Puzzle Quest 3 coming to tease brains on PC and mobile appeared first on Destructoid.

A few close calls almost broke the chain

When I first heard about Wordle, the free and pure daily word-guessing game from Josh Wardle, I enjoyed it enough to write an article about it on this site. But I thought that would probably be the end of it. I figured it'd come and go for a lot of us — that our attention would shift to the next collective time-waster as new players stepped up to see what the fuss was about. The self-sustaining cycle would continue... for a while at least.

While I'm sure that's true for plenty of people, I'm not one of them. I'm ~hooked~.

• Friends, family, loved ones? Still obsessed.
• Tweeters? Still tweeting.
• Villains? Still trying to spoil the fun.

A month after discovering Wordle, I am still very much invested in this nifty little browser-based puzzle game. Part of that is on the aforementioned support system, whose members can't help but compare and contrast our different word-deducing habits, and part of that is on the scorecard. Every day, the stakes feel a little higher. It's like how your Report Card in elementary school felt like this mystical, earth-shatteringly serious file.

Who's going to be the last one standing in my Wordle group with a streak? Almost certainly not me. But I'm fighting for it.

I can't keep getting away with this

_{This is what happens when intuition and ill-advised wild-card guesses collide.}

I've had three truly close calls so far with last-ditch, exasperated guesses, including a recent near-botch with "KNOLL." For now, though, I'm somehow hanging in there.

Admittedly, I don't play Wordle on Hard mode — the laxer default rules are fine, thanks — and I also don't try and min-max it to death. Nothing against the folks who have whittled down a shortlist of the most effective first guesses, of course. It's just not me!

In this laid-back approach, I end up guessing whatever feels right at the moment, often put myself into an avoidable jam, then struggle for an embarrassingly long time to work my way back out. It's not everyone's playstyle, but it suits me; it keeps Wordle fresh.

Where are you at? Is your streak stable, or did you miss a day? What word did you in?

If you've held off until now, or you're just hearing about it, give Wordle a try since it's good, it's free, and it's playable directly in your desktop or mobile browser without needing to download an app or create an account or even suffer through ads. I know it's probably getting old to some, but I cherish it. And I hope to keep cherishing it all year long.

The post Is your Wordle streak still going? appeared first on Destructoid.

See you on Europa

Guess who's back! I missed you guys last Friday! This week has been exponentially better, so we're diving back into cool new games tonight. Some of you suggested The Turing Test, a space-themed first-person puzzle game. It looks great and has very positive reviews, estimated at around five hours of storyline, so I picked it up. I know we like puzzle games (I especially love watching you solve them together), so I hope to see you there!

More setup for The Turing Test from Bulkhead Interactive and Square Enix Collective

You are Ava Turing, an engineer for the International Space Agency (ISA) sent to discover the cause behind the disappearance of the ground crew stationed there.

Upon arrival a series of puzzles awaits you – tests which, according to the station’s AI, Tom, can only be solved by a human. These puzzles have apparently been set by the missing ground crew – but why have they created them and what are they hiding from?

In an evolving story based on mankind’s instinctual need to explore, protect and survive, you’ll delve deeper into Europa’s ice crusted-core and discover that the lines between man and machine begin to blur. Armed with the Energy Manipulation Tool (EMT), solve puzzles to open the way forward as you learn the true cost of human morality.

Drop by Destructoid’s Twitch channel every Friday at 9:00 p.m. Eastern. We were out last week, but you can find an archive of the most recent stream, Inscryption, right here.

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Dead app hits 200,000 downloads

Indie developer Steven Cravotta was probably left somewhat confused when his long-abandoned mobile game suddenly started rocketing up the charts. It turns out that Cravotta has also released an app known as "Wordle," which has led to confused users installing his program in droves, mistaking it for the recent viral puzzle title.

"I built an app called Wordle when I was 18 mostly for fun, to sharpen my coding skillz, and maybe make a quick buck," said Cravotta on Twitter. "It didn’t quite take off like my previous app, Grid, did. So after a few months and ~100k total downloads, I stopped updating and promoting the app."

But, in recent weeks, over 200,000 people have installed Cravotta's formative work, assuming it to be the smash hit puzzler by New York-based coder Josh Wardle. The modern Wordle does not have an app nor any monetization, and is instead played in a web browser, a fact that clearly was not realized by those players paying for and then installing Cravotta's program.

"I figured we could turn this very strange, once in a lifetime scenario and make it something amazing!" continues Cravotta, who then reached out to Wardle to explain the confusion. The duo then decided that all of the proceeds earned by Cravotta in the confusion are to be donated to a charity of the pair's choosing. And thus, the strange windfall will be given to Boost! West Oakland — an organization that offers free after-school tutoring for children living in the West Oakland area.

In a week dominated by headlines of capitalism, here is yet another story that, in its own small way, shows the grace of good, talented people choosing to share the wealth rather than race to own it all.

Wordle, the "real" Wordle, is available to play over at the official website. There is no app.

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The game that brings us together

Wordle was one of those things that kind of snuck up on me. I heard whispers of it on social media, but didn't actually give it a try until a few days after we actually covered it on the site. I love word games though, so once I finally decided to jump in, I was hooked. It's such a fun concept to me, having the puzzle reset with everyone doing the same word.

For one thing, I know for a fact that it wouldn't be as fun for me if I had access to a ton of different levels. I've done this with plenty of other word games I love — I would play through a ton of levels, and then never touch it again. Only having access to one a day makes me pace myself in a way that I really appreciate. I always appreciate a new spin on the word game genre, and Wordle manages to feel simple and streamlined while also providing an engaging challenge.

Naturally, after the game found success, there have been a ton of copycats that have cropped up online or on the App Store. Some actually put a fun twist on the Wordle formula, like Absurdle, the version that "fights back" as you play, or Sweardle, which, you guessed it, has you guess a swear word every day instead. There are plenty of other knockoffs, though, that all go for the trappings of terrible mobile games that we're used to: putting ads everywhere, or charging you for other mechanics like lives or hints.

It's obviously pretty cool of the creator of Wordle to not add any cheap ploys for monetization (apparently he created it for him and his partner to play together because she loves word games, awww), and his decision to do so is one of the reasons the game has been successful. However, there's another reason why very few of the Wordle clones will survive, and beautifully laid out by Alex Blechman on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/AlexBlechman/status/1481465631782457344

If you've been on Twitter at all this month, you know that Wordle has become something of a cultural phenomenon, not only because people enjoy playing the game, but because they enjoy sharing how they did that day and discussing strategies. The game has simple rules, so it's easy to relay the strategies one used in surmising the answer. What really made it gain traction, though, was how easy it was to show our results using the colored square emojis.

But these are only small factors as to why the game has become the massive success that it is. I think Blechman is spot on, because it gives us all one common activity that we're engaging in together and can discuss on any given day. That immediacy really makes us feel like we're connected to something bigger than ourselves.

https://twitter.com/CJisbadatlife/status/1478216733223632897

I think Wordle would have always been a hit because it's a fun, well-designed game, but the fact that it hit its stride while we're all still dealing with the pandemic isn't a coincidence. We want to connect with each other, and having something light-hearted to talk about that we all participated in has been harder and harder to come by these days. That couldn't happen if the game was designed differently, and we weren't all playing the same puzzle day in and day out.

Logging on and solving the puzzle du jour while drinking my morning coffee has become one of my favorite parts of the day, and I think many others can say the same. In the midst of continued tragedy, if this one thing can help us all feel a little more together, a little more connected, a little more human, then please, by all means, keep posting those little squares on Twitter.

[Featured Image Source: USA Today]

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After spreading on Twitter, this browser-based game is quickly becoming a daily distraction

I have a 100 percent win rate in Wordle, a popular word-deducing game that's been making the rounds. Granted, I've only played it twice so far — and I really took my sweet time weighing possible answers before committing to any guesses — but my track record is, so far at least, flawless. I'll cherish this streak, because it's sure to fizzle out soon.

The best part of Wordle is its simplicity — and also its spoiler-free "Hey, try this!" factor. You don't need to download a standalone app to play — it's right in your browser.

Fresh off my holiday break, I saw Destructoid's own puzzle master Darren Nakamura tweet out an odd grid of gray, yellow, and green blocks with a score and the name "Wordle" attached. I couldn't resist looking into whatever this was, and after a few timid attempts of trying to suss out the day's mystery word, I had to admit that, yep, I was invested. I imagine that's how things have snowballed for plenty of you, too. There are a lot of mildly annoying yet intriguing Wordle tweets floating around. Resistance is futile.

Why is Wordle so popular?

The game does a fine job of laying out its brainteaser setup the first time you play, so I'll keep this brief: the idea is to guess a specific word, and you've got six tries. If all of your letters are off, they'll turn gray; if they're in the word but you've got their positioning wrong, they'll become yellow; if any letters are spot-on in the right box, they'll go green.

My instinct was to guess jibberish in order to brute-force a fast solution, but that doesn't fly — it has to be a real word. And I feel like, so far anyway (again, I'm a newbie), the difficulty of the words has been well-balanced with the number of chances you get to crack the code. I also like the idea of always making the same first guess each day.

The fact that everyone on the internet is trying to deduce the same word adds an extra bit of excitement, whether you're competing with folks on Twitter or watching your friends or family members try to work through Wordle in the same room with a puzzled look.

As a coward, I refuse to play on Hard Mode, in which "Any revealed hints must be used in subsequent guesses." After hollering at too many well-meaning Game Show Network contestants last week (nice white noise for the holidays), it's time to reap what I sow.

Wordle was graciously created by Josh Wardle, and it's very good.

What to do while waiting for the daily Wordle reset

If you're hooked on Wordle like the rest of us and you'd like to solve more than one puzzle a day (or if you're finding them to be too easy), then check out @chordbug's "remake," hello wordl — it's also playable for free, in your browser. In this version, you aren't limited to just one daily puzzle (which I personally feel is exciting as is, and adds stakes), and you can also crank up the difficulty with much longer words to try and guess. More options!

The wider world of Wordle is heating up

• Wordle creator plans to keep the viral hit ad-free.
• Clones are missing what makes the original Wordle great: its unifying power.
• Developer of an earlier ‘Wordle’ app sees thousands of mistaken downloads.
• My Wordle streak is still going, somehow.

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Shovel Fighter

More Shovel Knight? Sure, why not, they've earned it! After Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon, I'd welcome more spinoffs.

I mean, we're getting them, but I'll welcome them all the same.

Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon (PC [reviewed], PS4, Nintendo Switch)
Developer: Vine
Publisher: Yacht Club Games
Released: December 13, 2021
MSRP: $19.99

Developed by Vine, Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon sends our hero off into sidequest land when they open up a mysterious Pandora's box (chest). Taking the form of an action puzzler, you'll dig up blocks, get loot, and cleave foes with your shovel. An average day for Shovel Knight.

Of course, there's layers to digging everything up, puzzle style. Blocks can be "chained' by running into groups of the same type. Different blocks (and enemies) can be crushed with a different amount of smashes; sand will take one bump, steel will take several, and so on. Chaining is actually essential for enemies, which is where a lot of the strategy comes in. If you bump up against a foe, they'll counter-strike. But if you chain them and/or land the killing blow, they'll all die in succession. Enemies also have a variety of different mechanics, like leaving poison when they die, or alternating reactive abilities when struck.

Add in potions that heal your character when you take damage (and you will take damage) and key items that you can use to unlock chests for bonus effect items, and you got a split-second reaction stew going. At the end of each stage, you'll find a big key for a big door, which leads you to the next level in succession. You repeat the process until the adventure mode is over.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ugw4BFL8wPo

At the start of the quest — and any point after via a menu toggle — you have two major options: single stock (which operates like a roguelite where you return to base and restart if you die), or infinite stock (which lets you keep going if you die). In either mode, a board fill (where pieces overwhelm your screen) will result in a wipe, bringing you back to camp, restarting your progress. Even going infinite isn't an easy ride, as death will prevent you from acting for a few seconds while the screen fills up more. After a real run resets, you can use some cash to buy an upgrade then try to finish the campaign again.

Part of the fun of Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon is how crazy things can get. Sometimes the board state is untenable, but the big key arrives at the right time and you're galloping for the door while enemies overwhelm you. Sometimes a store opens up in the middle of a match and you have an option to dive in, grab an upgrade, and dive back out into the chaos. The "shop" thing fits the thematic framing of Shovel Knight, and feels justified here.

Minibosses add a wrinkle to the mix, as they don't sit idly by: they actively throw attacks your way. New enemies are tossed at you very quickly and it's up to you to learn their nuances. Ghosts hide when attacked until you attack something else, so it's prudent to smash them early, then look for a good chain, and come back. That sort of thing. Adding in hero-specific abilities and multiple playable characters complicates everything.

Along the way you'll get cutscenes that show off new bits of story, which is just good enough to keep you going as you solve the game's puzzles. Characters both old and new will lure in hardcore Shovel Knight followers, as there's some nostalgia at play here. Yes, Shovel Knight is seven years old, which is enough to make a generational leap.

Those scenes aren't as much of the underlying foundation as I'd like, though. Both in terms of its narrative framing and the mechanics, it can sometimes get too chaotic. I definitely would have preferred a more structured setup, at least for the first run, for thematic and story reasons. At first, things are really fun and crazy. But over time, it can feel like you're stuck in the same rut of content until you make a breakthrough, or unlock something new. It's a loop that a lot of recent games have solved, and something Pocket Dungeon sometimes struggles with. But those ruts aren't everlasting.

Plus, there's a distraction. Versus mode is basically Panel de Pon/Puzzle Fighter by way of Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon, and it's a fantastic extra. Thank goodness it has a versus CPU setting for folks without a local partner (with difficulty sliding), on top of a slew of options, as it extends the life of it that much further. You can even change the versus mode to a stock challenge (if you die normally, you respawn at the top of the board), turn off junk (a classic puzzle battle concept), toggle items, change up the speed, and so on. When I need a break from adventure, it's been fun to fire this up.

Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon might turn some people off with its roguelite framework and randomization, but there's a deep puzzle game at work here; one that's worth exploring if you've grown up on the action-puzzle genre. This is something I can see myself playing again in the years to come, especially with versus mode augmenting some of the leaner elements.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

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Break the loop

Happy Friday! Lately on Twitch, we've been enjoying detective games with lots of quick-time events and pressing X to doubt, but this weekend is starting off with an older classic indie puzzle game — Braid!

I love another game by the same dev, The Witness, so I'm sure I'll be able to pick this one up quickly. I actually was listening to the soundtrack yesterday and it's super phenomenal, so I hope to see you there tonight for fun puzzles accompanied by beautiful music, and to explore what Braid is all about.

Drop by Destructoid’s Twitch channel every Friday starting at 9:00 p.m. Eastern.

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This means war

Nintendo's lighthearted yet fiercely competitive "think fast!" puzzle series Big Brain Academy was deemed fit for duty again, and it's back with a new game on Nintendo Switch. It's a trend we've seen a bunch on this system. As someone who missed the DS original and its Wii sequel, I had zero expectations for Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain.

With that said, I'm as surprised as anyone to say that I kind of... love this game?

Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain (Nintendo Switch)
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Released: December 3, 2021
MSRP: $29.99

The main hurdle for most mini-game collections is longevity — whether or not they can keep you coming back regardless of how fun or fleeting they might initially feel in the honeymoon period. While I can't make any bold predictions, after a long weekend with Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain, I'll say this much: I'm already more invested than I ever was in WarioWare: Get It Together, and I thought that game was a pretty good shakeup.

This is particularly surprising as someone who, again, doesn't have prior experience with Big Brain Academy during its prime and has only really messed with the more "serious" Brain Age. So while I can't personally speak to how Brain vs. Brain evolves these kinda-sorta educational challenges, I can at least speak to what it's been like as a new player.

If you're a returning champ, one look at the trailer (or the demo) should conjure up fond memories. You're going to recognize many of these puzzle concepts. Brain vs. Brain is once again dealing with logic, memory, math, and visualization, where the goal is to choose the right answer as quickly as possible until the timer runs out. Then you'll get a score, and some coins (that add up to dole out silly random outfits), and immediately try to do better.

For me, it comes down to the games — are they fun to master? — and the rewards — are they enough of an extra nudge to keep me playing for weeks if not months? The first answer is a clear yes, and while the second remains to be seen, I like the odds so far.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIKi_DUJwPY

One game might show you a heavily pixelated or zoomed-in giraffe — or is it a deer? — and give you four choices to weigh as fast as your mind and fingers can go. Another game could show you a series of numbers for a split second, then ask you to repeat it back.

Others include a frantic whack-a-mole challenge with objects to hit (and avoid), a shuffling memory game with Too Many obscured birds in cages, and shadowy objects made of deceptive bits for you to piece together. There are 20 mini-games, only a couple of which I could do without. As rudimentary as they might seem, the time pressure — and rising difficulty when you get enough correct answers in a row — ratches up the excitement.

To loosely sum them all up, it's a battle of reflexes, knowledge, intuition, and nerves. I couldn't help but laugh at some of my personal peaks and valleys as I learned the tricks only to suddenly start playing worse by inadvertently overthinking things and psyching myself out. There's also the "good night's sleep" factor — don't underestimate it!

Part of the fun of Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain is trying to top your high scores for medals (up to platinum). There's also real-time multiplayer with up to three other local players, and a one-on-one clash with "ghosts." The ghosts can be based on random online players (if you have Nintendo Switch Online) or your actual friends and family. In both cases, the effect is human-ish enough to feel competitive — you'll see very natural-looking imperfect cursor movements, for instance. I also love the customization options.

You can really deck your character out with goofy clothing and even otherworldly skin tones, and there's an extra bit of flair with your chosen "catchphrase" and "occupation." Going down the lineup of random ghosts one by one, watching my global rank climb, and consistently earning coins for more cosmetics has been a powerful draw. It's addicting.

One of the most commendable aspects of Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain that hasn't applied to my situation yet but will absolutely be a game-changer for a lot of people is the ability to customize everyone's initial difficulty level on a player-by-player basis. As in, parents and children can genuinely compete, as can gamers and novices. The end result feels fair and exciting, not watered down. This is above and beyond what I've seen in other competitive multiplayer games. It'll be fantastic for families with a wide age range.

In terms of real-time multiplayer, you can "spin the wheel" to land on anything or choose to focus on your favorite categories with local players; you can use gamepads or the Switch touch screen, though the latter is bound to be preferable for most games due to speed and accuracy. If you're rolling with four players, you'll need Joy-Con and/or Pro Controllers. If you're sticking with touch controls, only two players can go head-to-head.

Worth adding: in the "solo" mode — where you're either taking a test to measure your Big Brain Brawn and earn a grade, you're facing players' ghosts, or you're trying to earn medals for each game in Practice or Super Practice — you have your own hand-made character. So two users on one Switch can earn their own headwear, accessory, and clothing unlocks for their avatars, and also have different completion data, which is ideal.

While I think the price is spot-on, I do wish some of the old game types returned in Brain vs. Brain (I'm skeptical we'll see any DLC), and it's a shame you need a Nintendo Switch Online account to compete against strangers' online ghosts (though you can at least face your "family's ghosts" without one). At this point, I prefer brooding asynchronous skirmishes over loud real-time battles. There's joy in silently one-upping each other.

For as simple as the challenges seem, the stakes sure feel high when you're racing to get the most points and every wrong answer feels like a tragedy. I didn't expect to get this swept up in Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain, but it has become an honest-to-goodness competition in our household. These are the bragging rights to end all bragging rights.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

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