17th May
Hello and welcome back to our regular feature where we write a little bit about some of the games we’ve been playing. This week, Bertie returns to Oblivion after nearly 20 years; Marie plucks up the courage to wipe an Animal Crossing save 300 hours in the making; and Donlan – who’s back with us for a week – finds an ingenious little game about mazes.
What have you been playing?
Catch up with the older editions of this column in our What We’ve Been Playing archive.
The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered, PS5
What is it about remaking games from our past that is so appealing? I question this a lot when another remake whirls around, Oblivion being the latest of them. I loved that game; is love the right word? I played it a lot. It means a lot to me. But I don’t believe it was devoid of problems. There’s only so many caves one can explore. Regardless, back around Oblivion has come, and I’ve been questioning why.
But at the same time I’ve been excited about it. I thought a lot about returning to Oblivion in the past. Perhaps it was something to do with having already spent the effort to learn the game and get competent with it, or because I wanted to be back in that sunny fantasy world. Whatever the reason, I’ve been putting it off because Oblivion looked old. Now, though, it isn’t. Oblivion is new again.
So far, I’m really impressed. I’ve only played the opening part (check out my amazingly cool character in the headline image above) in the prison and sewers and up to the iconic ‘Oblivion moment’, as you emerge into the wider world, and technologically speaking it’s great. It’s smooth and handsome – it takes me back to the first time I explored the game and wowed by how nice it looked. It’s like playing the Oblivion of my memory.
I hope it lasts; I’ve been told it doesn’t. Digital Foundry’s Tom Morgan was telling me the performance is abysmal as you get out into the world proper. But for now, it’s fine and I get it – I get the desire to return to places we’ve been.
-Bertie
Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Switch
I deleted my almost 300-hundred hour Island that I’d curated during Lockdown. Instant regret washed over me as I looked at my (new) basic Island with nothing on it except a few villagers and Tom Nook explaining another money-making scheme to take my Bells again.
But all those hours experimenting with different Island formations and spending a copious amount of time in the Island Designer app creating interwoven rivers, ponds, waterfalls, cliffs had not been wasted, as I’d first feared. My last Island had been the perfect test run for creating my vision this time around; and that’s when it occurred to me that starting again was the best idea I’d had yet. Sure, I do miss having all of the services and places unlocked (like Harv’s Island) whenever I want to use them, but being able to start fresh has allowed me to think more about where I want to place everything.
Currently, Nook’s Cranny has just upgraded again and the Able Sisters have finally opened their shop, so now I’m considering where to permanently move them.. Not only that but I’m thinking more strategically about how I use my Bells based on my previous experience. I won’t waste so many Bells repeatedly moving the villager houses into different formations until I find one I like. I’ll take my time to consider each move carefully first.
Starting again has also given me more opportunities to think about how I want the rest of the island to look. Do I want to create a lush forest-themed Island filled with plants? Do I want to create a town reminiscent of a seaside paradise?Perhaps I could even make both by splitting the Island in two! Oh and for the record, my last island became a disorganised mess that r didn’t have any character or l feel to it.t felt like what it was: a test run for ideas which didn’t work out.
What I initially worried was a terrible judgement call, then, became the best in-game choice I’d made in a long time. It’s made me fall in love with Animal Crossing all over again.
-Marie
20 Small Mazes, PC
20 Small Mazes is one of those games that feels like a gift. It is a gift, of course, because it’s literally free, but it’s also a gift because it’s wildly generous. A bunch of mazes arranged like papers on a desk for you to sift through and enjoy, and an approach to mazes that even extends to the start menu.
Every now and then I remember 20 Small Mazes exists and I head back in. Today I spent two minutes playing an ingenious maze in which I moved between three overlapping mazes of different colours, all with slightly different arrangements of paths. The idea is to go as far as you can in one colour, switch, and then keep going.
There’s probably a whole game in this – it feels like the kind of thing WayForward was cranking on in games like Mighty Flip Champs! But here it is, and it’s free, and it’s a perfect little thing that contains so much ingenuity.
-Donlan
