Oct 23, 2019
Letters, developed by 5am Games, a team of 3 members based in Zurich, Switzerland, is a puzzle-adventure game about friendship and using your words to make a difference. Solve riddles by literally moving around words through your character’s pen pal letters all while enjoying the cute graphics, the short but sweet gameplay, and an uplifting soundtrack! The game is currently in mid-production with the goal of releasing Letters in the first half of 2021. For now, Letters will be releasing on PC and Mac, with a later possibility of mobile and Nintendo Switch versions.
As of today, October 23rd, 2019, the developers have launched their Kickstarter campaign which you can find here. Their rewards not only include a digital copy of the game but also, digital wallpapers, the digital soundtrack, physical sticker sheets, postcards, enamel pins and t-shirts, and more!
About Letters
Follow the life of Sarah by moving through pen pal letters and chat messages she sends to her friends. In a world made from paper and computers, words matter. So use their power to change drawings that block your way and interact with images of Sarah’s friends and family. Pick up words from the text and throw it at a drawing or image to change it.
Like in real life, finding the right words is hard. That’s why in Letters you can create new words by breaking apart the existing ones. Think out of the box and play with words in a new and fun way.
Follow Sarah’s life from childhood until she’s a young woman and make decisions for her along the way. Choose your words wisely cause you never know how they will affect Sarah’s life.
Key Features
- innovative word-based riddle mechanic, you’ve never seen before
- relatable coming of age story, inspired by real-life
- branching storyline where you can discover new possibilities with every playthrough
- beautifully hand-drawn visuals & pixel art evolving with Sarah’s age
- comfy, playful & casual game that focuses on narration and having fun with words
- good for practicing English skills in a fun way
Letters is inspired by the branching storyline of Life is Strange, the personal feel of A Normal Lost Phone, the nostalgia of Emily is Away Too and the creators’ own experiences growing up. Furthermore, the game also has elements from traditional word-games like Scrabble. If that piques you’re interest, try out the free demo either on Steam or itch.io now! You can also view my demo playthrough below.
- Oct 22, 2019
Catadel, developed by Bad Optics Games, is a cute town-building game in early development with cats, for cats, by cats. Wait. In-game, not in real-life. Manage your cat citizens’ wants, needs, and quirky personalities as you help them build a settlement in the wilderness. For more information about the basics of the game, check out my previous article here. Catadel is still set to release sometime in 2020 for PC and Mac, and giving us regular updates such as the new traits and moods feature!
Cat Traits
The developers are almost done working on 35 personality traits for your kitty characters that will affect a variety of things from mood and interaction, to preferences in sleeping location. Here are some examples:
- Optimistic cats have a permanent mood boost.
- Sleepy cats will get sleepy more often.
- Tree cats don’t like sleeping on the first floor of houses.
You’ll be able to select your own traits in the cat customizer for personalized cats.
Cat Moods
Cat moods affect whether they will listen to you or not. You’ll now see their mood on their info bar. Moods are affected through buffs and debuffs, so you can look at a cat’s buff bar to see what’s causing their mood changes. Cats will work faster when in a good mood and will work slower (and even become uncontrollable!) when in lower moods.
Another newly implement contributor to cat moods is their level of dirtiness! Cats will get dirty as they perform work. There’s now an action for each cat to groom itself clean. But beware of hairballs! How adorably cat-aware is this!
For the full update on version V0.8 for the closed Alpha, you can check out the official website blog here.
- Oct 22, 2019
Older Harvest Moon games in a time before Story of Seasons were the apex of gardening and life simulation games. Since the remake of Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town which was released under the new name – Story of Seasons, fans were wondering if we can expect more remakes in the future.
No other than Hikaru Nakano the director of the Story of Seasons:: Reunion of Mineral Town remake has recently revealed some more information about upcoming remakes in an interview with Nintendo Dream.
According to the interview Nakano and said that Story of Seasons: Reunion of Mineral Town was the first remake of many and that fans should enjoy the time in the game before others may follow.
It will be interesting to see what other original Harvest Moon games will get a remake. It wasn’t the first time Marvelous teased more remakes – take a look at the rumor history below!
Story of Seasons Reunion of Mineral Town More remakes in the future?
ChinaJoy is a Chinese gaming convention that you could think of as their equivalent of E3. Some Chinese journalists interviewed Mr. Nakano, of the development team. They spoke of the upcoming Bokujou Monogatari game, that released in Japan on October 11th. Some big news was revealed in this interview, including the fact that Marvelous will consider remaking more Bokumono games if this remake is successful.
New Story of Seasons still in development!
It was also revealed that a NEW Story of Seasons game for Nintendo Switch is still in the works. Those of us who have been pining for a brand new farming adventure can rest easy! The brand new Story of Seasons game we’ve been hoping for is indeed already in development.
If you are huge fan of the Story of Seasons and Harvest Moon games, then you might enjoy this quiz to find your perfect marriage candidate.
- Oct 22, 2019
Ebay is offering a discount on the Nintendo Switch Pro Controller.
The Joy-Con is certainly a welcomed addition to the Nintendo family, but sometimes it just doesn’t cut the mustard. Having one solid controller built like a classic can have many benefits. I can say for sure that some people even prefer an original style controller. The size increase alone is enough to make one consider an upgrade.
Many have complained about the fact that the Joy-Con is not capable of connecting a headset. Well, having a Nintendo Switch Pro controller can fix that. Not to mention, with the Joy-Con still costing around $80, having a discount on a Pro controller comes in handy in more ways than one. Ebay is currently offering the Pro controller for only $58.99. With the holidays coming up, might be something to consider.
If you need any other accessories, I got you covered!
- Oct 22, 2019
Planet of Lana, created by Wishfully, a game studio in Gothenburg, Sweden, caught my eye right away with the art style. With that, the rich story and the odd creatures, I find myself thinking about Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind! Moreover, Planet of Lana is a cinematic puzzle-adventure where you play a young child, determined to out-think an entire planet.
This game is the new debut game for this studio and is a joint venture between moving art studio Makers Only and technology company Fully Studios. It’s in early development and currently has a release window of 2022. See below for what we know so far about Planet of Lana. I’m already quite found of the adorable animal-thingy Mui!
About Planet of Lana
Welcome to a beautiful planet where humans, animals, and machines live side by side, in an upside-down food chain. Planet of Lana is a cinematic puzzle-adventure where you play a young child, determined to out-think an entire planet.
Besides the obvious terrors of cold-hearted machines and giant monsters, the planet itself is full of enigmatic and vast ecosystems. Lana will need to navigate deserts, taigas, mountains, and seas with no one except her tiny, canine-like friend Mui by her side.
In Mui, Lana finds an intelligent, unwavering companion. And thanks to their teamwork, the journey has promise.
For another Studio Ghibli-esque game, check out this article here: Onsen Master Updates: Consoles and Multiplayer Announced. If you like narrative games with robots, check out this article here: ENCODYA – A Futuristic Dystopian Adventure Now on Kickstarter.
- Oct 22, 2019
YouTubers Life OMG! has been available for quite some time now. Today developer U-Play Online announced that more than 1 million copies of the game have been sold. In YouTubers Life OMG! you aim to become the most popular streamer and be more successful than you could have ever have dreamt of!
Streamers on YouTube and Twitch are widely popular phenomenon that people from all over the world enjoy watching. If you ever dreamt about becoming a successful YouTuber streaming your daily life, or getting all the gaming consoles and become the ultimate game streamer, then this is the game where you can live your dreams.
YouTubers Life OMG! is about becoming successful at streaming your most desired hobbies. If you are a gamer you can stream games, if you enjoy music then you can stream your music skills. Whatever it is that fuels your heart is what you should share with millions over the internet. Next to Gaming and Music, you can even start your own cooking channel. Each one of these professions feature mini games, the better you are at them the more views you will get!
You will also need to make connections and form relationships with other people to boost your own popularity or even help others become more successful as well. Collaborate with the most successful streamers and snatch up some of their views to make your channel pop!
YouTubers Life OMG! is currently available on PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One and Steam!
- Oct 22, 2019
Introducing a new Steam feature that lets you play your couch co-op games with friends over the internet, together.
Since October 21st, 2019, you can join Steam’s Beta of their new feature Remote Play Together. This feature allows you to invite your Steam Friends to play local co-op, local multiplayer, and shared/split screen games online! This means two things: that you don’t need friends to be physically present in your home, and that every player will have access to their own computer screen and mouse/keyboard/controllers!
This feature gets even better because only the host of Steam’s Remote Play Together needs a copy of the game! No more having to buy your friends the same Steam game just to be able to play together! Furthermore, don’t worry if you have a Mac, Linux or PC because this streaming service is cross-platform.
The process for setting up this feature is very simple with the details laid out here. Moreover, Valve has specifically pointed out that players will have access to the host’s controller inputs, voice chat volume and game screen but not the host’s desktop. To join the Beta now you can go here.
Valve is currently working on improving network stability, compatibility across a variety of hardware, and adding more games to their growing list of supported titles. You can check out the thousands of games here. If you want to know if a specific game is supported, look for this new tag above!
To help get you started, I recommend the following wholesome, potato-approved games:
- Overcooked 2
- Unrailed
- Cat Quest II
- Farm Together
- Monster Prom
- Heave Ho
- Knights and Bikes
- Wuppo
- Infinite Mini Golf
- Summer Catchers
- Mowin’ & Throwin’
I’m now a Steam Curator so you can find all of my recommended Steam games here! Let’s be Steam Friends! Also, if you have any recommendations, I’d like to hear them!
- Oct 21, 2019
Thystle is real time strategy game that is currently in the works by solo developer William “daoklyn” Beaujon.
Pixel art is by far one of my favorite styles! The simplicity really helps to boost the imagination, without distracting from the story. The color schemes also tend to be soothing and easily palatable. Games like Stardew Valley and Little Witch in the Woods have helped to prove that you don’t need insane graphics to make a beautiful game, and it looks Thystle wishes to prove this once again.
This title will be a game steeped in lore, as the developer has taken inspiration from some of his favorite RTS games, like Warcraft 2 and Starcraft. William describes Thystle as ” a massive world tree that holds multiple realms on its many branches.” It will be your job to explore these realms and mingle with the different inhabitants, which are said to include Humans, Demons, Dragons, Giants and more!
Thystle is still in early development, so all details are subject to change. For more information about the game, you can visit the official website. For up-to-date information on Thystle, be sure to follow the developer on Twitter.
