On the other hand, it’s only 26 pages per issue. Tons of space for a deep dive if covering just one game, but only a fraction of a normal magazine, so the value proposition is different.

That said, I do agree - it’s a bold choice. Normally the appeal of a magazine like Retro Gamer is that they cover so many topics per issue that you’re bound to find at least one or two interesting articles. By focusing on just one game, it’s much more likely that you’re alienating a majority of potential readers each time and failing to build a consistent audience.

Yep, from what I’ve seen the base model is actually great value, especially for an Apple product. But that value disappears very quickly if you want to boost any of the specs, because they still massively overcharge for upgrades.

Because it has a library of interesting and innovative exclusives, making use of an unusual control input. Whether that makes it worth it or not is personal preference, but you can’t disagree that it offers something unique.

Because improving visuals is an easily quantifiable task, but improving gameplay requires creativity and risk-taking, neither of which are compatible with the AAA business model.

Yep, this is the app I use on my work MacBook and it does the job. Just a shame it’s necessary at all - such a stupid design decision!!

This was lovely! Are there any other communities that share interesting posts from small blogs like this?

Bad summary - the full list of games now supporting analogue controls is:

• Worms Armageddon (Worms Collection 1)
• Speedball 2100 (The Bitmap Brothers Collection 1)
• 40 Winks (Piko Interactive Collection 3)
• Duke Nukem: Land of the Babes (Duke Nukem Collection 2)
• Duke Nukem: Time to Kill (Duke Nukem Collection 2)
• Glover (Piko Interactive Collection 4)
• Tomb Raider III: Adventures of Lara Croft (Tomb Raider Collection 1)
• Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver (Legacy of Kain Collection)

Love TheC64 from the same company, so this will be a day one purchase for me

Such a shame NOLF is so deeply mired in rights disputes that we’ll probably never even get a digital rerelease, let alone a sequel.

It’s called a branching narrative. Most common related Steam tag for finding similar games would probably be ‘choices matter’.

You can manually restart in OW - it’s an ability you can learn from one of the characters you meet.

In my experience, if people are going to bounce off the game it’ll come down to one (or more) of three reasons:

• They hate the flight controls
• They hate the feeling of being on a constant timer
• They hate the lack of explicit direction in what to do next

It’s one of my favourite games of all time, and it has good reasons for all of the above, but it’s definitely not for everyone!

And for anyone wondering, my counterpoints to the above would be:

• Learn to use the autopilot but don’t trust it; learning to manoeuvre precisely will come over time
• Don’t overthink the timer element; pick just one thing to investigate and focus on that, anything else is a bonus
• Use the ship’s computer and follow the unknowns; avoid walkthroughs unless you’re absolutely 100% stumped on what to do next

The DC had upscaled art so the old game looked good enough on 1080p screens, plus a few new bits like character portraits.

This is a complete repainting & reanimating of the assets to 4K quality. Very different! Just compare screenshots and you’ll see.

Not to mention native console ports with crossplay multiplayer

Except this new release doesn’t erase the existing game, and doesn’t prevent people from continuing to make mods however they want.

It’s a new version with new features and content, and they’re even giving it to existing owners for free, but people still find a way to complain.

There are prebuilt solutions in some common engines, and companies like Multiplay that will help with development and hosting, but ultimately it depends on the specific needs of each game.

What works well for one project might be overkill for another, so studios have to spend a lot of time figuring out their needs and building something bespoke for it.

Turn-based all the way for me. I need time to think about my moves!

I want to love RTS games, but I just don’t have the executive function skills needed to prioritise tasks and make decisions fast enough to do well. Single player against CPU is sometimes doable if there’s an easy mode or cheats, but online multiplayer is just impossible.

I wonder if they’ll try restoring some of the cut content from SR1?

I know Starfield is one of the newest on the list, but a flagship open world shooter getting beaten on player numbers by Flight Simulator sounds rough

Newer, cheaper competitors like the FPGBC are finally muscling in on the Analogue Pocket’s market, so I guess they’ve decided to double down on being the ‘premium option’.