THREE TO PLAY
PSN games you might have missed
Every month, loads of games come to the PS Store. You’d be hard-pressed to play them all, so we’re looking at some that didn’t quite make the cut. This month we’re putting our hands to work on the page, getting lost in the rhythm, and throwing down in virtual reality.
First in line is Border Bots
You are one of a lucky few humans with a job – no, this isn’t a biting commentary on the absolute state of triple-A videogame development or studio mismanagement. Instead this simulation puzzler is more like Papers, Please with the darkly satirical edges sanded off by comedic farce, seeing you carefully inspecting the tickets and baggage of jet-setting robots, checking their credentials and weeding out dodgy characters. We can’t help but feel this title doesn’t quite wring every drop out of its ‘sole human surrounded by artificial intelligence’ premise, but the British voice talent proves a particular treat throughout.
Dipping our quill back into the pot, next up is which caught our eyes the very first time we saw a trailer. For some people, seeing a rude doodle in the margins of an illuminated manuscript is all the encouragement they need to embark on a fruitful academic career as a medievalist. Others – like developer Yaza Games – may instead turn their passion to crafting a turn-based strategy game starring all their favourite bizarre medieval creatures. Here, as a master of the Living Ink, you scribble up a bestiary of wide-eyed creatures to wage war with in strategic action that offers quite a bit of tactical depth. Playful, silly – and, yes, even a little bit rude – the action leaps off the page… though we acknowledge that attacking rivals with incendiary farts probably isn’t going to do it for absolutely everyone. Finally, it’s time to throw hands in
If you love Beat Saber but want something a little less focussed on finesse and a little more about smashing high scores (often literally), this pulls few punches. Keeping time with the soundtrack by throwing up a forearm to guard, ducking out of the way, or pummelling the musical prompts coming atcha, you’re pretty much guaranteed to end up with one soggy PSVR2 headset. Clearly this one’s probably best avoided for anyone like Team PLAY who has to share their hardware… You’d better purchase some wipes along with this one.