In Stacking, you’re too small to do what you need to do. You can often be two or three people too small. To solve the game’s puzzles, you’re forced to assume the identities of some bigger people by donning their wooden skin. It sounds a little like a Castor Troy wet dream, but it’s much sweeter than anything that fella thinks of when he goes to bed.

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Children, life s great copy-paste. Adorable, drooling idiots with no self-control and a habit of yelling embarrassing facts to the entire supermarket. In our everyday lives, human children are a snotty emblem of hope, vulnerability, and aspiration. In videogames, they are a cursed harbinger of escort missions, narrative roadblocks, cutesy voice acting, and precocious dialogue. They are annoying. But hold on, that s the point. Many of them are meant to be that way. So here is a list of the 10 most annoying children in PC games. And perhaps, the best annoying?

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The biggest names in platforming used to live only on console, but it’s on PC now that the genre is thriving. Indies have taken the simple ingredients and spun them off in umpteen directions (but still normally from left to right). Below you’ll find a collection of the very best platform games on PC – including puzzle platformers, physics platformers, platformers with roguelike elements, and platformers about absolutely nothing but pixel-perfect jumping.

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Double Fine Productions, the studio behind cheery games including Psychonauts and Brutal Legend, have been bought up by Microsoft. They say they’ll continue to make those Double Fine games in that Double Fine way, which I suppose is what everyone says after their business is acquired.

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Memory is a funny old thing. Our brains are like faulty cameras, letting us unconsciously suppress moments of our lives and swap them out for brighter, more palatable realities. When we re reminded of these small time capsules, the serene environments we were in and the people we were with, we often feel an endorphin rush and a lurid longing for something that isn t there anymore. Plenty of games toy with the fascinating concept of memory, but it s often very black and white. An amnesiac character to serve a twist, for example, usually employed in the final act to give a narrative some shocking gusto. The trope gets a bit stale once you ve seen enough of it.

Double Fine s 2005 debut Psychonauts doesn t settle for that. The platforming adventure follows protagonist Razputin Aquato as he ventures into the troubled minds of his peers. He explores the unique landscapes of their grey matter and remedies their mental health issues in order to unravel a complex conspiracy. It s wonderfully strange but ultimately thoughtful, as per Tim Schafer s usual MO. Hidden it its eight levels are unique collectables called Memory Vaults, sentient safes that run in circles to avoid you. Once subdued, they give up a stereoscope Viewmaster reel with a beautiful hand-drawn story from the memories of the person whose mind you re exploring. (more…)

Sure, you’ve jacked into someone’s mind to wander through their memories, but have you jacked into someone’s mind while jacked into cyberspace? You can now do just that in Psychonauts In The Rhombus Of Ruin. Double Fine’s VR spin-off from peachy physic platformer Psychonauts arrived on PC last night, supporting Rift and Vive cybergoggles, following its debut on PlayStation VR in February 2017. It’s set right after Psychonauts, bridging the gap to the upcoming full sequel Psychonauts 2, and looks a little something like this: (more…)

As one of the last hoorah’s of Humble’s End of Summer Sale, the store is currently offering Tim Schafer’s classic mind-entering platform game Psychonauts absolutely free. (more…)

An odd feeling – this thing we prayed for for years, and which seemed such an impossibility, is now happening. And not just happening: it felt like a foregone conclusion from the second it was announced. With $3.35 million pledged by crowdfunders and investors, it looks like Psychonauts 2, Double Fine’s sequel to their acclaimed 2005 adventure-platformer, will become a reality at last.

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Remember back in 2012 when Notch was like, “I could fund a Psychonauts 2!” and Double Fine were all, “Cool! $18m please!” and Notch was all, “Shiiiit, I was thinking more 25p, and – wow, look, an octopus on a tricycle!”? Well, that’s all history now.

Double Fine are looking to make Psychonauts 2. They’re after $3.3m from backers, alongside their own investment, plus external funding from a mysterious, possibly legal party. More Psychonauts! There’s a trailer too, of sorts.

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Headlander is the next game from Double Fine, and with news that the project lead from the wonderful Stacking is in charge I’m definitely paying attention. Borrowing the body-swapping concept from that Russian Doll-themed game, Headlander applies it more of a Metroidvania structure, with some lovely 70s sci-fi trappings and the option to graft your head onto anything from dogs to dancers. Take a look below.

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