Technological World for December 22, games: Inscryption is a must-play, last-minute gifts for gamers, World Juniors and female teams come to NHL 22, learn about Aloy and Horizon with the Gaia Cast

Published
Comments None
Categories Video games |

The wonderful Inscryption is not the game you think it is, last-minute gift ideas for gamers, get your hockey fix with NHL 22, learn about the world of Horizon with a new podcast.

Inscryption is a marvelous mashup of card mechanics, creepy setting, and horror narrative

If ever there was a game that was greater than the sum of its parts, it’s Inscryption.

On the surface, this game, for Windows computers from indie developer Daniel Mullins (it’s published by Devolver Digital), is a card battler where the cards in your deck, based on a forest wilderness, go up against the cards your opponent plays. The objective, as with all similar games, is to take out your opponent before they take you out.

Your opponent here is strange and ominous, represented by a pair of eyes and dialogue that we’ve come to expect from those who would wish to do us harm. You can move about the cabin where you find yourself, and you can interact with the objects in the room, but you can’t leave.

The trailer, posted below, will give you a sense of the tone here. It’s kind of like being in a horror movie.

You’ll “die” plenty while learning how to play the card game, and each time you come back as a different victim, but with all the knowledge and experience of the victims you’ve played previously.

Even though your character might die, you get to keep playing, uncovering more of the dastardly situation every time. As Mullins himself said in his message to reviewers: “It doesn’t end when you think it might.”

There’s a demo available on Steam if you want to give Inscryption a try. I highly recommend exploring this wonderful experience.

Last-minute gaming gift ideas

You might think that gamers are the most difficult to buy gifts for, but these days, when technological products are backordered because of chip shortages and other consumer products are tied up in the supply chain, gamers are actually the easiest.

The simplest way to give the gamer on your list access to a wealth of game experiences is with a subscription, the best of which are Xbox Game Pass and Apple Arcade.

And serious gamers can never have too many game controllers.

Nintendo Switch owners have a range of Joy-Con controllers, and while the set based on the Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword are sold out, there are multiple colourful combinations that are available.

For Xbox players there’s a beautiful Halo-themed Xbox Elite and a translucent 20th anniversary special edition.

PS5 players have a new Galaxy Collection of DualSense controllers to choose from, and Playstation has just released a line of matching console covers to slip over the white PS5 hardware so your system is all matching.

There’s also the opportunity to get a gamer the game they really want without needing to visit a store, because every game published these days is available digitally.

Digital storefronts exist for each of the console manufacturers:

Players who use a Windows box have more options:

There are Winter Sales going on at both Steam and GOG is on right now which offers deals up to 90% off some top games. Steam has Deathloop for C$40 and GOG has Horizon Zero Dawn for C$30.

And, finally, if you don’t know what they want to play, but you know what they are playing, you can always get gift cards for free-to-play favourites, like Apex Legends, Call of Duty: Warzone, Fortnite, and Halo Infinite.

Get your hockey over the holiday with NHL 22

The NHL is in a short hiatus so if you need a fix you should turn to NHL 22 from EA Sports. Also because when the annual World Juniors tournament begins on Boxing Day you can play as your favourite national team.

This update to the hockey sim also includes playable women’s national teams, just in time for the Ice Hockey Women’s World Championships tournaments that begin early in the new year.

Guerrilla Games podcast about the Horizon world

Horizon Forbidden West is my most anticipated game of 2022 so I was happy to learn that the developers at Guerrilla Games had started a podcast talking about the world they created and the incredible star of the story, Aloy.

The podcast, called Gaia Cast, gets into the larger narrative of the franchise as well as the world building that anchors the games.

You can watch the conversations on YouTube but they are also syndicating through the PlayStation Podcast (Apple Podcasts, Spotify).

Comments

Commenting is closed for this article.

← Older Newer →