General gaming discussion

Burnout Paradise is great but in this post Forza Horizon age it’s hilarious how ruthless the game is in forcing you to make your own routes on the fly. The game goes so fast it’s extremely easy to miss a turn and then it’s pure stress as you fight against the odds to get back with the group or find an alternate route.

This isn’t a complaint though - I think it makes for pretty exciting, dynamic gameplay. Just bastard hard at times 😅

Strange Horticulture turned out to my Christmas game this year, and it quickly shot up my list of 2022 favourites.

It’s a game where you’re tasked with running an occult plant shop. Customers call with specific requests and you’re tasked with identifying the specific plant they want using clues from an ever-growing tome. You get some kind of illustrated hint and some sort of anecdotal description of the plant itself or its effects. Then you go exploring (using one of gaming’s greatest maps) and uncover new plants, often using vague or mysterious clues delivered by post or by dreams.

The gameplay is kinda Papers, Please like in that you have a desk that quickly fills up with items you need to use just to get by. But there’s also a very strong detective/information game element, where you have to interpret what’s often a lot of information in order to find the right plant or place to explore. It’s delightfully tactile - as the game progresses you start using weird navigation devices, occult contraptions etc… to solve the game’s fantastic puzzles. And by default you have to label plants yourself, which is a delightful touch - especially as you’ll have collected many dozens of plants by game end.

Anyway, I can’t recommend it enough - up there with Norco, Neon White, Citizen Sleeper, Case of the Golden Idol etc… in what really was a banner year for cool little indie games. And I’ve only just stated Signalis, which is already another potential favourite due to its spectacular presentation alone.

Just the map, but you get a lot of little visual novel type colour when you find the right spots on the map. One of my favourite parts of the game was scanning the map with various clues and trying to find the right place to go :)