Child of Light
Patrick Plourde mentioned that one of the core values of the Child of Light visual design was fluidity – Aurora’s hair is animated with fluid dynamics rather than regular cloth physics. This gives it a dreamlike quality that goes perfectly with the fairytale setting – Child of Light is a very pretty game. The areas are magical and rich, the watercolor paintwork is gorgeous and the myriad of effects blend seamlessly into the painterly world and make it lively.
Flying around this world is mostly a gentle experience inviting the player to explore rather than providing lots of interaction – in a way, it is not dissimilar to Aquaria. It’s really interesting to see Ubisoft use the UbiArt framework for something different than Rayman games and Child of Light shows off the flexibility of the engine remarkably well.
… Also, I’ve been horrible at keeping up but some of the games I’ve played lately…
Escape Goat 2
Something of a puzzle-platformer with a greater focus on platforming, Escape Goat 2 offers a few tricky puzzles and some maddeningly difficult precision challenges – and a few brilliant instances were both brains and reflexes can be used to proceed. It is sensible enough about its difficulty level to only have levels low on frustration be mandatory and not lock anything but achievements behind the toughest ones.
Ratchet & Clank – Into the Nexus
A shorter game than A Crack in Time, Into the Nexus still manages to provide an impressive amount of variety and the series’ signature variety of weapons each bring something interesting to the table. In addition, the story is among the better ones in the series.
Superbrothers – Sword & Sworcery
I’m really late to the party with this since I missed when they stopped being an iPad exclusive, but it is a really nice adventure game tapping into mystery and surreal elements not unlike Kentucky Route Zero. Also, both the art and the music are stunning.
Broken Age act 1
Compared to Double Fine’s previous games, this feels a little less focused on the jokes and a little more focused on the theme of growing into your own identity. Not that there are no jokes, just that the jokes feel more thematically consistent. Or maybe I am just dense and it’s more on-the-nose than their previous works. Either way, I’m really looking forward to act 2.