Nerves have been sufficiently jangled as of late, not least thanks to the slew of action packed games that have landed in recent months. I crave an altogether more sedate beginning to next year, and so my mind turns to games in which violence, reflex or any other kind of unblinking attentiveness takes a back seat.
]]>It has happened. The day spoken of in legend. After two years, I am finally to be set free of the Curse Of Steam Charts. All its taken is entirely leaving my job in four days time to end this purgatory. The only decision left is to whom I shall pass this vexation. That, and how to avoid mentioning the actual games for one more week. And this time I've come up with a self-indulgent doozy.
]]>A ten-sided device appears in your hands. Each side features a carving of a wild animal, but three of the sides depict the face of an RPS writer instead. Look, there’s Matt. And yes, this one is John. The side with Brendan is a bit grubby, but it’s unmistakeably him. Smells a bit weird. What could this mean? Of course! It’s the RPS podcast, the Electronic Wireless Show. Perhaps if you press down on these three journo mugs at the same time… aha! A telling click, and the sound of a delicate MP3. You’ve discovered the latest episode. They seem to be talking about puzzle games.
]]>Today is a day of great rejoicing in the village (and by "village" I mean "amongst John and me and any other right-minded puzzle-loving individual") because Matthew Brown of Hexcells fame has another game on the way. This one is called CrossCells [Steam page] and offers up a new variant of Brown's trademark minimalist logic.
]]>We're coming to the end of the Summer Steam Sale so chances are you've picked up the things you'd already got your eye on, but there are always games that sneak under the radar or come from genres you might usually ignore. That's why we've put together our final recommendation list. Here's a whole list of things we love and why we think they're worth your time! (Don't forget to check out our earlier picks and the comments, though - I picked up a bunch of games that had escaped my own notice through reader enthusiasm...)
]]>Have You Played? is an endless stream of game retrospectives. One a day, every day of the year, perhaps for all time.
Okay, it's fair to say I went on about Hexcells rather a lot in 2014. The reason? It remains the best puzzle game I've ever played. And I play puzzle games.
]]>There really wasn't any competition for this one. As a straight, purest puzzle game, Hexcells Infinite stands heads and shoulders above anything else. As the closing entry of a trilogy, it's the finest, most refined of the three, and a puzzle lover's joy.
]]>Hexcells, the best new puzzle in forever, may now be truly infinite. The third and final game in the puzzling series, Hexcells Infinite, was released with a puzzle generator, that allows the creation of 10,000,000 challenges. Which, while certainly more than anyone could complete in a lifetime, falls short of the title's claim. SHOCKING. However, a canny group of modders have since built a level editor for the game, and gained creator Matthew Brown's blessing. In fact, the game already allows you to load in levels built with it.
]]>I wasn’t subtle about how much I enjoyed Hexcells last year. The original Hexcells appeared from nowhere in my inbox in September, and I fell instantly in love. The second game, Hexcells Plus, arrived in December, after we’d already decided the original deserved a spot in our top games of 2013. I’ve replayed both games multiple times, because it’s a puzzle game of exquisite pleasure, delivered with calm poise and utter beauty. I was primed to think I might quite like Hexcells Infinite. Here’s wot I think:
]]>Oh Hexcells. How I love thee. As a man obsessed with puzzle games, it is with no small amount of consideration that I say Hexcells is the best new puzzle in the last few years. I've jabbered my delight over both Hexcells and sequel Hexcells Plus previously, and I'm giddy-thrilled to see that there's to be a third and final game in the series, out next month, called Hexcells Infinite. And it's out on Monday.
...
...final?!
]]>If for some reason you were wanting to play Hexcells, because it's the best new puzzle game this decade, but you couldn't bring yourself to do it without its being on Steam, all is now resolved. Matthew Brown's sublime puzzlers are on the big grey store for £2 each, or the pair for £3.50.
]]>Yes, Audiosurf. But Hexcells creator Matthew Brown Games says his next game approaches a similar idea in a different way. Where Audiosurf was about the music, Brown intends Sound Shift to be about the racing. That your tracks come from the music you're playing is a bonus.
]]>The Indie Royale bundles are certainly amongst the more hit and miss out there. But their latest is a definite hit, simply by containing Hexcells. Have I mentioned Hexcells before? One might argue it's also worth purchasing for some of the other games in there, like PixelJunk Shooter, Gun Monkeys, Megabyte Punch, Ride 'Em Low and Stronghold HD.
]]>The IGF finalists have been announced, and it's a fantastic list. Very deserving games. But there are others, ones that didn't make the grade, and I want to stand up and salute them in public. As a first round judge on the awards, I played a whole bunch of the 650 entries, and there are some real gems in there that are no longer in the running. (Obviously I didn't play all the entries, so there will be many more great games that still go unrecognised, and that's sad.) So, as we did last year, here are the Second Annual Horace Awards For Forgotten IGF Entrants.
]]>My favourite puzzle game of the year just doubled in size. Another collection of 36 puzzles, this time far harder than the last. Here's wot I think:
My cat, Dexter, has been missing for nine days now. Which is horrible. While kitten Lucy is certainly more famous in RPS parts, Dex has long appeared on the site, and indeed in PC Gamer, and best of all, The Cat Magazine. I've been pretty much miserable for eight days straight, so it's with this context that I tell you how bloody delighted I am that there's a new version of Hexcells released: Hexcells Plus.
]]>Well this is me consumed. I adore gentle puzzle games, and they gobble up vast amounts of my time. A day doesn't go by without at least a couple of Killer Sudoku completed, and currently Kakuros help me slide off to sleep each night. I've spent literally hundreds and hundreds of hours playing Slitherlinks and Picrosses on my various Nintendo handhelds, and can't walk past a Nurikabe without shading. But goodness me, the PC is starved of quality offerings in this field. So thank goodness for Matthew Brown Games' Hexcells. Because it's absolutely stunning. Here's wot I think:
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