We’re breaking old habits and bending the rules this week – here’s what we’re playing.
Joe – Editor & Lead Writer
Baba Is You
- Playing on PC
With the illegal invasion of Ukraine now in its second week, playing video games can seem trivial. But developer Necrosoft Games have collaborated with over 700 creators on itch.io to fund-raise for charities supporting the Ukrainian people. For a minimum donation of $10, there are literally hundreds of games on offer for you to download and keep, whilst helping a vital cause. You can find more details here.
After making a donation, I went straight for a game that has long been recommended to me: Baba Is You. It’s a colourful, cutesy puzzle game where you can literally change the rules as you play. In each level, the rules themselves are written out in blocks (like simple code or logic) that you can interact with. By moving these blocks around, you can manipulate them and cause some unexpected interactions.
Let’s take the GIF above. By pushing the words ‘Stop’ out of the way, you change the rule so that the wall no longer stops Baba. As a consequence, Baba is now free to hop through the walls towards the flag! It’s an incredibly innovative game that is constantly surprising me. I’d highly recommend downloading the Bundle for Ukraine and checking it out.
Tom – Lead Writer
Cyberpunk 2077
- Playing on PlayStation 5
I’ve nearly completed the main story of Cyberpunk 2077; only one mission lies between me and victory. Over the last week, the game has been teaching me an important lesson: the importance of letting go.
Cyberpunk has many quirky and memorable guns, which stand out from the many more forgettable. There’s the Fenrir submachine gun that sets enemies on fire, or the AI-driven Skippy machine pistol. I grew attached to these weapons when I first earned them, almost on an emotional level. They were my guns. But the game’s enemies only grow stronger, and my beloved guns have been putting less and less of a dent in them.
While you can upgrade your guns in Cyberpunk, you really need to constantly switch to all-new ones to gain any serious upgrade in damage. I resisted this for a long time, as I have in many RPGs, and found myself hitting a brick wall. I was firing hundreds of rounds into enemies, but they just weren’t dying. After being killed by street thugs for the twentieth time, I had to swallow my pride and pick out a new arsenal.
And you know what? Now I have a new submachine gun that sets people on fire. Now I have a new pistol that targets enemies automatically and shoots homing bullets. And I’m using them both to absolutely demolish my foes. Cyberpunk has helped me finally break a longtime bad gaming habit, and for that, I’m grateful.