Cosmic Express

Update: The year is finished, which means you can now read the final list of our favourite games of 2017. 2017 has already been an extraordinary year for PC games, from both big-name AAA successes to no-name surprise indie smashes. Keeping up with so much that's worth playing is a tough job, but we've got your back. Here is a collection of the games that…

Tagged with Bestest Bests, feature, rainworld, A House of Many Doors, A Normal Lost Phone, Alwa's Awakening, Astroneer, Bayonetta, BRUTE, Card Quest, Caveblazers, Cosmic Express, CrossCells, Dead Cells, Deadly Premonition, Detention, Endless Space 2, Everything, Flinthook, For Honor, Future Unfolding, Hidden Folks, Little Nightmares, Loot Rascals, Mysterium, NieR: Automata, Night in the Woods, Northgard, OrbLands, Pictopix, Planescape: Torment: Enhanced Edition, Playerunknown's Battlegrounds, Prey, Rakuen, Resident Evil 7 Biohazard, She Remembered Caterpillars, Sky, Snake Pass, Sniper Elite 4, Stories Untold, Torment: Tides of Numenera, Unexplored, v r 3, What Remains of Edith Finch, Yooka-Laylee.

This is The Mechanic, where Alex Wiltshire invites developers to discuss the inner workings of their games. This time, Cosmic Express [official site]. There are many reasons why puzzle games designed by Alan “Draknek” Hazelden sit on top of the form. There’s the puzzles, for one thing. They’re pretty good. They explore seemingly simple rulesets and find in them huge and satisfying challenge, dragging you…

Tagged with Alan Hazelden, design, feature, puzzle game, secrets, The Mechanic, Cosmic Express.

While out at GDC I spent a bit of time chatting to Alan Hazelden about Cosmic Express [official site], his train-themed logic puzzler. I was playing the preview build of the game at the time and was curious to know a bit more about how you go about sorting the levels for a difficulty curve and how you interpret good and bad kinds of frustration…

Tagged with Alan Hazelden, feature, GDC 2017, Cosmic Express.