Summer is all about gathering with family and friends. As Dusk Falls and Wavelength are two games to play with them. And PlayVital is a new company providing cases and skins for game consoles.

As Dusk Falls a different type of game experience

As Dusk Falls is intended to be a collective experience, in the same way as seeing a film in a theatre. You can play the game by yourself, but to truly appreciate what the developers at Interior/Night intended, you need to play with others.

And you can play with up to seven other people, both locally and online. To support this, Interior/Night developed a mobile app (Android, iOS) that turns your smartphone or tablet into a controller.

This works because the interaction in As Dusk Falls is simple. You can look around the environment and select things to investigate, you can choose dialogue options, and there are occasional Quicktime events.

Available on Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S, and as part of Xbox Game Pass, this “interactive drama” is akin to choose your own adventure books. You can even replay chapters to see what happens if you make different choices.

Here, though, the decisions are made by the group.

When there’s a choice to be made, everyone gets to select the option they prefer, and the majority decides. If there’s a tie, the system randomly selects.

And if you feel strongly that you want your choice to be selected, you have a limited number of overrides available to you.

In terms of script and acting, this is Hollywood quality work. The drama is involved and complex and deals with mature themes; it’s not for kids.

Playing As Dusk Falls really feels like you’re playing a movie, and the production aims to capitalize on the fact that these days games are being watched as much as they are being played. There’s even a “broadcast mode” for streamers that enables viewers to vote on the decisions to be made.

The limited interactivity won’t please gamers looking for something they can influence more completely, but as an experiment in shared entertainment, As Dusk Falls intrigues.

Wavelength a great group game for the campsite or cottage

Another great game to play with a group is Wavelength, designed by CMYK (formerly known as Palm Court) and distributed in Canada by Asmodee.

With Wavelength, you throw all participants into two groups. On your turn, a person from your team becomes the “psychic,” randomly sets a target on a continuum, and then provides your team with a hint that is intended to help the rest of the team determine where the target is.

Each attempt comes with a clue with opposing concepts. Hot or cold, for example. Wet or dry. Awesome or not awesome.

The trick for the psychic is to provide a hint that will help their team to zero in on the target.

The fun comes in the conversations that happen while the teammates try to figure out what the psychic was thinking when providing the hint.

Pick up Wavelength at your favourite local board game store:

• Drexoll, Games on the Drive, and Rain City Games in metro Vancouver
• All Aboard Games in Kamloops
• Mission in Edmonton
• Games People Play and Sentry Box in Calgary
• Game Knight and A Muse N Games in Winnipeg
• 401 Games and Game Shack in Toronto
• Board Games Central and Black Knight Games in Hamilton
• Game Chamber and L.A. Mood in London
• Dice Owl in Montreal

Wavelength also exists as a free-to-play app for Android and iOS.

New skins and covers for all your gaming consoles

PlayVital is a new provider of covers and skins for you to personalize your game console.

With products also available at Amazon, the company is providing everything from hard and soft cases, to vinyl sticker skins, to trigger extenders, controller grips, and joystick caps.

And these all come in a range of colour schemes and designs for Nintendo Switch (regular, lite, and OLED models), PS4 and PS5, Valve’s Steam Deck, and Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.

Prices range from about $15 to about $40, depending on what you’re keen on.