I’ve been meaning to write about A Sword Game since laaaaaaast yeaaaaaar>. Or rather, the tail-end of last year, which was like a couple weeks ago. But then the holidays happened, my hands temporarily fell off (as they do every year), and well, here we are. Anyway, ASG is a brilliant little Ludum Dare entry from Starseed Pilgrim dev Droqen. It’s about swords, as many games are, but there’s a twist: you’re laughably incompetent. Good luck keeping ahold of your sword, much less skewering the armies of darkness like so many evil sausages. Baddies, walls, grates – everything can and will send your precious implement clanging away end-over-end. ASG is occasionally frustrating, but mostly it’s just hilarious.

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I didn’t know a great deal about Starseed Pilgrim until its Steam release a couple of days ago. I thought it was a puzzle game. I knew it had bemused John. I was vaguely aware that clever people were urging others to play it and to talk about it. For the last seventy two hours it has dominated my waking thoughts and infiltrated my dreams. It’s a challenging, perplexing game set in a strange space that is illuminated by frequent sparks of genius.>

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