The Sunday Papers

Sundays are for trying to identify beige biscuit crumbs on an oat-coloured carpet. Before you squint, let's read this week's best writing about games (and game related things).

For The Guardian, Dominik Diamond wrote about PGA Tour 2K23 being the best video game ever. Diamond just needs to figure out... why.

I hate playing real life golf. I don’t have the patience. There are too many things that can go wrong. Too many things to calculate before you even take a shot. Distance, wind, bounce, green speed, correct clothes. Golf video games do all that for you and OH MY GOD I HAVE JUST WORKED OUT WHY THIS IS THE BEST GAME EVER!

Christian Donlan spoke to George Fan, the creator of Plants vs Zombies for Eurogamer. On his career as an artist before game design, and his new game about the greatest fact in the world.

Yeah, what was Andy thinking at this time? I think I learned this fact maybe just a year before. I listened to this podcast all about it. And then, wait, can can we make a wombat our main character? And then because the poops are cubes, you could stack up poops and make your buildings that way. I had no idea if that would work. It was this outlandish thing to try. But we tried it. And it did work! Yeah, it was glorious. It totally fit. It gave the game a more unique spin. And then there's my goal, my goal with this game, which is to just make the world more aware of this awesome fact.

Matt Purslow wrote about Assassin's Creed Mirage looking backwards when it should leap forward, in another one from IGN. Purslow argues that Mirage is too streamlined as a stealth game and AC's stealth formula hasn't evolved to keep up with the competition.

But while Mirage patches up and smooths out the original game’s stealth imperfections, it never feels like it actually achieves that original promise. It’s still not really a social stealth game. You may occasionally sit on a bench to eavesdrop, or hide amongst a crowd to evade a chasing guard, but this is for the most part a relatively traditional stealth game. This is never more clear than during the two missions in which Basim can don disguises. They come closer to true social stealth than Assassin’s Creed has ever come before, but this closeness highlights the gulf between its ambition and its reality. Unlike in the Hitman games, there are no interesting mechanics in its costume gameplay. There’s not a hierarchy of enemies who can either be fooled or see through your disguise, and thus no risk/reward challenge. Costumes simply act as a key to a locked door.

Kaile Hultner wrote about Cyberpunk 2077's critical re-evaluation being rushed. A contemplation of how criticism should navigate a game that morphs over time into something potentially unrecognisable.

Every layer of discourse about a given game simply stacks on top of what came before, like sedimentary layers in the side of a hill. Is three years enough time to look at a game and go, “actually, our read on it was incorrect?” I’m inclined to say no. But Cyberpunk 2077 2.0/Phantom Liberty has the benefit of launching alongside games like Redfall, Starfield and Baldur’s Gate 3 – three games that have shaped the discourse this year around how game development “should” be carried out. So maybe we feel compelled to look at this game that almost launched with actual cognitohazards built into it, see that it no longer actively wants to kill its players, and go, “oh yeah it’s actually way better than we said it was.”

Justin McCurry wrote a quick post about Manhole covers becoming collector's items in Japan. I became slightly obsessed with nabbing photos of nice manhole covers when I zipped around Japan earlier this year (a supporters only link, sorry), so it's heartening to see plenty others share a similar enthusiasm.

Enthusiasts, nicknamed “manholers,” indulge their love of the items at an annual manhole summit. Last year’s event was held in Tokorozawa, appropriately enough on the former site of the city’s sewage treatment facility.

Music this week is Pickup Don't Pickup by HONEYMOAN. Here's the Spotify link and YouTube link. Punchy.

I watched Past Lives a few weeks ago (here's the YouTube trailer, but be aware of the trailer thing where it can spoil loads) and forgot to mention how much I loved it. It's gone down as one of my favourite films, I think. Without sounding too cliché, it felt like such a human story that encompassed love and identity and the messiness of life in general. The OST, the way it was beautifully shot, the way it embraced silence and then each word spoken buzzed with... something. All from a directorial debut, too? Sheesh.

I'm hoping to see Killers Of The Flower Moon (here's the YouTube trailer) when that comes out, too. I'm excited.

That's it for this week folks, take care of yourselves and see you next week!