Video Game Deep Cuts: The Last Of Us, The First Little Orpheus 2

The Last Of Us Part II (PlayStation 4) is out next week, but spoiler-free reviews just hit, & with a 96% average on Metacritic, reviews seem hyper-enthused. 

Little Orpheus (Apple Arcade, pictured) is the latest game from Dear Esther devs The Chinese Room, & looks like a lush, adventurous 2D side-scroller. 

Also out next week, Desperados 3 (PS4, Xbox, PC) is an anticipated return to the long-dormant Western stealth strategy game franchise. 

Just leaving Epic Store exclusivity, Atomicrops (Switch, PS4, Xbox, PC) is a messed-up ‘bullet hell’ farming game, quite an intriguing combo.

Disintegration (PC, PS4, Xbox) is an FPS/RTS hybrid from one of Halo’s creators which is getting mixed reviews for not quite winning at either of the genres. 

What game devs can learn from controversial Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren about promoting & hyping their game. (I wrote this!) 

A photo-taking game themed around environmental decay & government incompetence from a Maori perspective? That’s Umurangi Generation. 

A history of the (often-weird) attempts by Nintendo to convert their games to TV and movies? Don’t mind if I do. 

Talking to the YouTuber (featured on VGDC a few times!) who recreates iconic game mechanics to teach game development. 

How an eSports (real-life) photographer is using in-game captures to entertain fans instead of snapping at live events. 

This gigantic feature-length ‘history of Killer Instinct’ doc is excellent. 

An overview of Ken’s Labyrinth, an extremely weird Wolfenstein-style PC shareware game with an almost ‘outsider art’ vibe. 

Checking in on Settlers Of Catan as the seminal board game reaches its 25th anniversary. 

Game Boy hacking (for aesthetics & extra light!) is still a big thing in 2020. 

Here’s some fun Vectrex modding - both a ‘buzz off’ kit for speaker hum & a really impressive light pen. 

An inspirational (and, OK, stat-filled) story of a dev who did the ‘single-person route to Steam success’ thing. 

Inside the wars, triumphs and petty thefts (pictured) of hardcore Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord roleplayers. 

How AAA third-party titles are starting to get ported to Nintendo Switch, and the technical ups and downs there-in. 

One disadvantage of cloud streaming: an accidental ‘publish’ button push can make your prototype easily accessible to the whole world. 

How some of the titles in Itch’s anti-racism game bundle gave one writer the chance to look outwards, as opposed to pure escapism.