BUBBLING UNDER Alternative picks
We mine the library for gold. This month: hit Kickstarter games
SHENMUE III WAS DIRECTLY BACKED BY FANS OF THE ORIGINAL GAMES.
PICK #1
TOKYO DARK: REMEMBRANCE
Jess Kinghorn could murder a mystery
I’m all about impactful choices, and this visualnovel-meets-point-and-click-mystery makes an admirable effort to make your choices stick. Detective Ayami Ito is searching for her missing partner and you won’t be able to save scum until a New Game Plus if you bungle the investigation. Visually and mechanically, this one’s rough around the edges – but then aren’t all your favourite videogame detectives?
PICK #2
SHENMUE III
Oscar Taylor-Kent loves a stonemason Some games find their audience via a Kickstarter, but is there another that so concretely only exists because of a crowdfunding campaign?
And because Shenmue III was directly backed by fans of the original turn-of-the-millennium games, Suzuki was able to make it look prettier while retaining the very traditional gameplay. But the story’s still not over. Could Shenmue IV be another Kickstarter success?
PICK #3
TOEJAM & EARL: BACK IN THE GROOVE
Ian Dean rewinds to the ’90s
Neon shellsuits, Will Smith before scientology, and Toejam & Earl… the ’90s were all right. With original creator Greg Johnson on board, Back In The Groove is a time-capsule game that thinks it’s still 1991 and doesn’t care if the world has moved on. There’s a freshness to this OG roguelike’s simplicity that becomes addictive. It helps that the soundtrack is still bangin’.