An independent look at games for Mac
Some things should never be spoken. Some things should never be transcribed. But myself and Russell did speak and we did transcribe, and so here’s our bastard child: a talk on skill in EVE Online, which really isn’t much about EVE as it uses EVE as a starting point. It’s a monster in terms of length and a beast in terms of focus, but if you’re a patient soul who can wade through self-glorifying pontification then there’s bound to be something of interest within.
Serious games are a tricky business. It’s easy to fall short of the emotional impact needed to engage the player. It’s easy to be pompous or arrogant or boring. Even more difficult is then to entertain.
Penumbra: Overture is a first person horror puzzler from Frictional Games, developed on the back of their tech demo Penumbra. Following the story of Philip, you venture forth into the wilderness after receiving a letter from your long forgotten father:
Like all good nightmares, Philip’s begins with something all too real - his mother’s death. The days following the funeral are characterized by nothing, save for an incessant feeling of abandonment. Until, that is, he receives a letter from a dead man.
Philip’s father left before he was born, taking his reasons with him. Now, here he is, opening up the door from beyond the grave. That door leads to more questions, and those questions lead to Greenland. Philip follows the clues - they’re all he has left.
On leaving the final signs of human civilization behind him, in search of the location mentioned in his father’s ambiguous notes, Philip wonders if he’s left some part of his humanity behind as well. Soon, that will be the least of his fears.
Now, Philip needs your help. He’s found an inexplicable metal hatch, in the middle of a frozen wasteland. Inside, is something yet more unfathomable.
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