MOOD SWINGS - Nanuka proves the power of tiny teams, Microsoft marketing continues to underwhelm, and GamerBros need to re-evaluate their takes on character design
Testing the temperature.
By Jonathan Garrett
12/04/24
MOOD SWINGS? Besides being the obvious side effect to a hormonal outburst, ‘Mood Swings’ is an editorial that’s like a series of extended tweets, ranting or raving about something terrible / great that has happened in the world of gaming. It’s a collection of random musings designed to provide a snapshot of what we’re doing, things you should be excited for, and stuff to avoid as you navigate the choppy waters of this wonderfully unpredictable hobby. Anything, from reactions to a new game announcement, surprising breaking news, to “our cat just nibbled our thumb sticks”, can be found here. We try to be as honest as possible, sharing our gut reactions to stuff going on in the industry.
NANUKA PROVES THE POWER OF TINY TEAMS
You can’t help but be impressed when independent developers demonstrate a clear path of progression with their output. Take OutOfTheBit, who have just revealed their next title, Nanuka: Secret of the Shattering Moon. The hand drawn animation, pacing of movement, and retro stylings all play to their existing strengths. Plus, the reveal trailer features some lovely cutscenes without spoiling too much story content, which is jolly given the amount of leaks and NDA breaches doing the rounds. It’s clearly shooting for a very specific experience.
MICROSOFT MARKETING CONTINUES TO UNDERWHELM
Given the recent round of previews, Xbox likely have an absolute banger on their hands with Hellblade 2. It’s narratively ambitious, with boundary pushing implementation of Unreal Engine 5 and the pedigree of a great development studio behind the wheel. Whatever side of the redundant console war you arbitrarily find yourself on, Ninja Theory are objectively creating something memorable here, but the silence is deafening from Microsoft at this point. One brief appearance at a Developer Direct presentation isn’t enough of a push for a game like this.
GAMERBROS NEED TO RE-EVALUATE THEIR TAKES ON CHARACTER
There have been repeated painful examples in recent weeks of basement dwelling loners who’ve failed to grasp the concept of what makes a vaguely realistic looking human woman. These folks are persistently critical of female character design, which is skewed of course by their likely porn addiction and belief that Lara Croft on the PS1 is somehow an attainable look for normal people. It reeks of immaturity, and we’ll certainly be making potent use of the block button moving forward. Blarg blarg blarg.
“Dur, if I can’t whack my meat off to a game chick, den why did I buy an Xbot?!”