Let the Aperture Desk Job chat commence: the RPS Game Club liveblog returns today

Afternoon, we'll be live from 4pm BST to talk Aperture Desk Job. See you shortly!

I'm sitting at my desk, raring to test toilets.

Welcome welcome everyone, hope you've all brought your Aperture Desk Job opinions! Mine is that it's well good. In a similar way to how it made Alice B wish Valve made more games, it made me wish literally any well-funded games company would make more super short games.

I really do like the idea of video game shorts. I also wish more of them existed.

Just little, hyper-focused but also richly detailed microgames you can do in 30 mins, 45 mins, an hour maybe. ADJ is tiny, and not just by Valve standards, but it's packed with details and even side-plots. I love games like that, where it feels like the confines of the length drives the need to be creative within them.

Godwhacker says: Regarding "video game shorts" - how much gameplay would you expect for a £5 entry fee?

I think I'd probably want 1-2 hours for £5, maybe? ADJ certainly benefits from being completely free. I think £5 would feel a lot for 30 minutes... What do you think, James?

Godwhacker says: Regarding "video game shorts" - how much gameplay would you expect for a £5 entry fee?

Personally, not much. I think Valve made the right call in keeping ADJ free but I'd take an hour or so for a fiver.

Incidentally, ADJ directly led to me binging on other short games just last week. One of them, A Short Hike, took me 55 minutes at a leisurely pace to finish and is £5.79 on Steam. Def a fair deal, if you ask me!

Oh man, A Short Hike is just the best.

A beautifully generous game for a fiver.

Godwhacker says: 55 minutes and still more emotional impact than Starfield will have etc etc

Sick burn (and probably also true, I endorse this take).

Obviously there's loads of good indie shorts, but I would like to see the big ones try their hand at it too, even if they stick to their usual cash cow franchies. What would make for a good AAA short, do we reckon?

Katharine Castle says: Oh man, A Short Hike is just the best.

It's so smart about how it lays out its tiny island map with winding trails, vertical cliffs and biomes to make it feel like a massive mountain. I love when games are clever with space - it's something Valve are good at, too.

Lorenzo Urbano says: Good AAA short: MGS V Ground Zeroes? It can be completed in 30 mins or so, but has many variations/side missions

Good shout!

Godwhacker says: What's your take on the gyro controls, and the microphone, and the track pads? ADJ gets you to use them but have you actually switched them on for any other Steam Deck games?

I have come to terms with the fact that I will never be able to use the trackpads effectively. Never played anything that requires a mic. Have used the gyroscope in a few shooters, though - I was kind of simultaneously sold on gyro controls by Desk Job and this video by TF2 YouTuber SolarLight.

Godwhacker says: What's your take on the gyro controls, and the microphone, and the track pads? ADJ gets you to use them but have you actually switched them on for any other Steam Deck games?

I don't think I've played anything on my Deck that needs them so far - and I think my tiny hands are too small to use the track pads effectively anyway - but I do still regularly use gyro controls on my Switch.

Lorenzo Urbano says: How's the learning curve for gyro controls? I tried them for I think Project Warlock, but found them a bit clunky, and never tried them again

Not gonna lie: steep. But rewarding if you're not into thumbsticks!

I had a good feel for thumbsticks back in 2007 or something, then played nothing but M+K for a decade and lost it all permanently. Sigh.

Godwhacker says: Perhaps it's time for them to move on?

I think people will always enjoy returning to that universe. It's so beloved, and I think ADJ is a great example of building on that world and universe without it feeling like they're flogging a dead horse with a stick.

Godwhacker says: Perhaps it's time for them to move on?

They've done a lot of Aperture-themed tech demos (like this, I guess) but I'd argue they're niche enough to have a degree of burnout resistance. Especially stuff like Aperture Hand Lab, which needs even more specialist gear than Desk Job.

That said: am very up for something new from Valve. Counter-Strike 2 doesn't count.

I, too, would be very interested to see what a 'new Valve game in 2023(+)' looks like.

Speaking of the Portal mythos, and for anyone wandering in who hasn't played the next line will include a spoiler: it was a very pleasant surprise to hear J.K. Simmons as Cave Johnson again.

J.K. Simmons is such a treat. Always pleased when he turns up in anything.

He's so good at the 70s slimeball manager type. Anyone who's played Portal 2 knows he's a villain but you almost want to help his immortal robot head in ADJ just because he talks you into it. Such a delightful jerk.

I'm always fascinated when big Hollywood actors end up in video games. I wonder how they perceive them - whether it's just another project, or whether they're a bit baffled by the whole thing, a la Mads Mikkelsen talking about Death Stranding:

Mads Mikkelsen Breaks Down His Most Iconic Characters | GQ

Watch on YouTube

Dunno what you're talking about Katharine. Mads and Kojima are besties. He'd never undermine his bestie's magnum walking opus.

I think you're mixing Mads with Geoff, James.

Or Norman, now that I think about it.

Godwhacker says: So, can we vote for the next game club entry? I would like to nominate Starfield

That's a call for vid bud Liam, who's next on the Game Club Organisational Wheel of Responsibility.

quasiotter says: i was convinced to play adj because my friend said there's mantises in them. i've had a few mantis daughters myself. they're pretty easy to take care of and they'll just crawl all over you if you want. put a drop of honey on your finger and they'll nibble it. it's cute and kinda ticklish

Ah yes, the real victims of Aperture's mismanagement.

Emperor of the Tuna Fish says: I often find big name actors' likenesses popping up in games a bit jarring. I find it weird when someone's actual recognisable face is used in a game for some reason. I remember Call of Duty Advanced Warfare had Kevin Spacey in it (before the whole *thing*) and it just took me out of the game (what little game there was to be had) whenever he showed up. I had a similar problem with Mads in Death Stranding, just makes it feel less of a game to me, somehow breaks my suspension of disbelief. I'm not sure why it bothers me so much. I don't mind voices, and Cave Johnson was a gem, but people I recognise waltzing about in my vidya game just seem totally out of place.

Having faced several celebrity faces playing Death Stranding, I do agree that it's jarring to see their exact likenesses in a game. Just voice work is much better, I think.

I hope all future Portal, maybe even Half-Life games have some kind of mantis easter egg where you can check up on how they're doing. Partly because they remind me of one of my favourite P2 jokes: "Fighting an army of mantis men"

Emperor of the Tuna Fish says: Oh and Kit Harrington in that other Call of Duty nonsense game, I think he was supposed to be intimidating or something but I just kept wanting to tell him "you know nothing" and shoot him in the face.

Also, and no offence to Kit Harrington, but his face is just too soft for a villain. He's borderline squishable.

SeekerX says: >I really do like the idea of video game shorts. I also wish more of them existed. Discussion of short games always makes me think of Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger, and The Terribly Cursed Emerald: A Whirlwind Heist (I love that game)

I'm taking this as a recommendation, despite Steam telling me I apparently played it in 2015? I don't remember that at all!

Emperor of the Tuna Fish says: I'd like to play To The Moon for the first time again. (that's a short game, right?)

Yeah! Four hours or so, I think?

Emperor of the Tuna Fish says: I suppose my definition of short is quite long.

Well good news, because there's this game called Starfield, right

30 Flights of Loving is another top-notch teenygame, btw.

Emperor of the Tuna Fish says: I don't think it's obnoxious, but I do agree I think the humour is lost the harder it seems to lean in to it.

Interesting! Do you think the effect would be the same if the original Portal was also more of an outright comedy?

I'm afraid I must now leave my desk (and this liveblog), the home time bell has sounded in the toilet testing chamber.

Alright gang, that's all I have time for but the comments should stay open for a while longer in case anyone wants to keep chatting. Cheers to everyone who joined, commented, or lurked. Until next time!

Bye folks!