I can’t remember the last time I played a game challenging enough that it had me stop, sit back in my chair, and just think for a bit. That’s the rare pleasure the beta version of Gateways offers, as the fantastic puzzles start piling up. How can I, using my various tools such as changing size, portaling, and going back in time, reflect that laser onto that laser receiver, without my brain exploding? We can all find out answers to such questions now, as the beta version of the game is for sale for $10 from Smudged Cat Games. My thoughts on it are below.>

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It took Alan Wake ages to find his way to PC but his second adventure arrived almost immediately after its XBLA release. At this rate, the planned full-blown sequel will arrive in 2007, long before it surfaces on the Microbox 7.20. But if American Nightmare isn’t a sequel, what is it? An arcade, action-orientated spinoff? An experimental short story? A fever dream? Expect spoilers for the first game as I tell you wot I think.>

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For a game whose primary function is to be played, there has been (for obvious reasons) a comparatively small amount of discussion about, you know, playing Diablo III> - especially on Blizzard’s end. The master of click-click-click, however, has finally gotten around to type-type-typing up a roadmap for its hack ‘n’ slash opus’ immediate future. So then, what’s on the diabolical docket, which I imagine the hulking red embodiment of all sorrow and suffering carefully looking over while adjusting a pair of tiny glasses that implausibly sticks to his face thanks to hell magic? Well, among other things, Inferno difficulty’s in for some fairly major changes – though honestly, the more telling information may arise from the “unbalanced” bits Blizzard’s opting to leave largely untouched.

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The saga of 38 Studios continues to be an eternally springing font of sad>. A wrenching 379 layoffs are, of course, the centerpiece of this Shakespearean tragedy, but further fallout has revealed incredibly sketchy mortgage practices for relocated employees, and now, Joystiq‘s reporting that Reckoning 2 was in pre-production before Curt Schilling’s money Titanic collided with an iceberg that was also the apocalypse. And, to make matters – in retrospect – worse, it sounded fairly promising.

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This is quite bad for me personally. Binding of Isaac, you see, unhinged one of its many grotesque orifices and devoured my life last year. The number of hours I sank into Edmund McMillen’s blood-sweat-tear-and-excrement-based roguelike could be described as substantial>. Conversely, activities that failed to receive that designation during a similar timeframe include eating, sleeping, and not being presumed dead by most of my friends and family members. So, while you say hello to Binding of Isaac’s Wrath of the Lamb downloadable expansion, I say goodbye. Probably forever.

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It’s been an absolute joy to watch survival horror find new life (or un-life, I suppose) on PC. The games may be small, but the ideas that drive standouts like Lone Survivor and Amnesia lead to so many more shamefully high-pitched fear squeals than, er, evil Presidents. The Inflicted – A Battle For Sanity, then, takes that ball and flees in abject terror with it by designing an entire game around limitations. The whole production is done up in a simple isometric style that does an absolutely fantastic job of emphasizing how tightly enclosed your surroundings are. And while hallways are so claustrophobic as to sometimes felt like fingers slowly slithering their way around my neck, they’re visually minimal. As a result, I found myself focusing a lot more on sounds – jagged shards of shattered glass crinkling against the soles of my shoes, my character’s haggard breaths, a subtle background drone. I do, however, have a few bones to pick with this particular bone-chiller.

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I mean that, of course, in the best way possible. I suppose the best way I can put it is that I’m excited about a lighting trailer>. I tried to count the number of graphics on display, but I ran out of fingers and toes, and my abacus resigned citing unfair work conditions and vague claims of harassment. Goodness, though, those underwater bits, especially, put other things that prominently feature water – which include other games, lakes, and the human body – to utter shame. Now then, let’s just hope the engine doesn’t crash and burn on day one – like ARMA II’s bug-plagued release, or me piloting any> sort of aircraft in ARMA II.

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I think The Other Brothers, soon to star in their own “family friendly adventure”, may be distant relatives of The Great Giana Sisters. I thought I’d written about the game before because I know for sure that I’ve watched the teaser trailer a few times and hoped that, despite the Mario connections, the game was going to be pointy and clicky rather than runny and jumpy. The footage just released to /The Indie Game Magazine suggests there will be no pointing or clicking at all>, which makes me sad, but perhaps you enjoy having handsome lip furniture, and jumping up and down while being assaulted by giant rats in abandoned warehouses?

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I’m not particularly knowledgeable when it comes to all things Game of Thrones. I’ve only read the first book, I’ve only seen the first two episodes of the TV show and I’ve never even so much as flirted with any of my blood relatives. Even so, I declared Crusader Kings II “the best Game of Thrones game you will probably ever play” and in an effort to ensure that I’m correct, a sturdy team of modders have released a Game of Thrones mod. Someone was always going to make this, the fit is too perfect for it not to happen, but to release something so soon and with so many features is astonishing. Get it here.

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The valiant barbarian warrior Slo’ugh gazed grimly upon the devastation ahead of him. Darkness had claimed this land, and no other soul in it was strong or capable enough to drive the demons away. Salvation fell only upon Slo’ugh’s rippling shoulders, this he well knew. He’d known it since almost the day he was born. A sense of a higher calling, a destiny which he must dedicate his life to meeting… Today, that destiny finally moved into sight. Timeless evil had returned, and only he might defeat it. He had the strength to achieve this mighty feat, of this he had no doubt. He would, Slo’ugh grudgingly admitted to himself, require the assistance of local mystics to unravel the mysteries behind the invading dark legions, but even their lore and magic was but a distant second to his prowess in battle.

Bodies were everywhere. Mutilated, burned, butchered. Stalking among them were the demons that had surely wrought this horror. Slo’ugh curled his lip and reached for his axe. It had been his faithful, dependable tool for literally minutes of his life. He could rely on it, he knew, but this would yet be a true test of his valour. A hulking man-mountain of muscle and sinew he may be, but he also possessed the finest military mind in a generation. These low creatures of Hell could not hope to compete. Slo’ugh appraised the wall of nameless monstrosities ahead of him, and considered his tactics carefully. Then he strode forward. (more…)