Well, it has been all go this week has it not? Monday, Abdul spoke about the Ghost of Tsushima release date being revealed, while Taylor spoke of the number of companies suddenly allowing people to work from home. Tuesday, Taylor was back with the sales reports of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Rescue Team DX, as I spoke about Australia’s obsession with locking kids behind glass walls for good and bad reasons. Early Wednesday morning, there was no official announcement of E3’s cancelation, though a few hours later that announcement came. Then Thursday, Dari covered Black Mesa‘s release, the Half-Life 1 fan remake that’s on Steam.

To the Epic Games Store games, this time it was three revealed for the week’s pick; all indie darlings to engorge yourself on as you stay at home hoarding toilet paper and Purell. The first game that I’ll touch upon, since I didn’t have much free time yesterday, was Anodyne 2: Return to Dust; a 3D retrofitted game aiming to bring “cinematic storytelling” to indie exploration with 2D Zelda-like gameplay throughout. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I’m not a fan of Zelda-likes or “cinematic storytelling;” unless you are breathing new life into the style, I can’t see why you’d even try to topple what already stands atop.

It isn’t remotely a bad game, though I know for sure I am not the target audience. In my opinion, there is too much set up for something that should be simple, text constantly adding bits of flavor to the soup to the point that there are lots and lots of flavors for you to process, yet don’t care about. That’s how I feel about Anodyne 2, a game much like any other in its desired genre, with the same problem Hideo Kojima has of no one stepping in to cut down on flavor text. If you want a fan’s opinion, check out Dari’s comments for their Game of the Year nomination of Anodyne 2.

Next up is Mutazione, which is another game that is quite slow and ponderous, something I was already expecting given my comparison last week. I compared it as a very indie, quaint version of Oxenfree, a game about hipsters and the supernatural. While that holds up, it just doesn’t hold me the same way Oxenfree did. This might be the case of not having the time to fully play it through in the hours I had free, but its central focus on threading plotlines might make it interesting if you see it through to the end in just a few hours.

Gameplay, in the typical sense, is almost non-existent as all you do is move the character Kai from one section of the plot to the other. A plot that is working out in the “typical” soap opera fashion, with nuance detailed within each thread building towards a larger and connected story. I’d like to say I’d enjoy it given more time, but with each line of conversations animating onto the screen, I wanted it to end. It is beautifully animated and cared for, but it is another one I’m not the target audience of.

Following that, we have A Short Hike; an exploration game that doesn’t mess about with all that set up nonsense the other two do. Ok, it does a little, there is a short bit in the opening where you are driving to this sea-side resort-thing, a couple of lines later you are in the world. Sure there are a few lines of your mother telling you where to go and what to do, but within 2-3 minutes you are in the game and really get a feel for the gameplay. At the beginning that is mostly jumping and gliding, but soon after that you are exploring, learning the world, climbing, and doing all the grunt work of NPCs.

This is where I’ve learned I was a magpie in a former life, collecting money like Tom Nook’s henchmen. Though unlike the other two the focus is just that, to collect money, items, and do little jobs for people, in order to further unlock more of the game. I said it the other day in the editorial on how not to make turn-based tactics games, but it is evident here as well, you need loops in gameplay to make the game feel larger. Example: Collect money to buy items, the items give you abilities and upgrade stamina, with those you can explore and get more money. It is a simple core loop that defines any game mechanic.

Anodyne 2, A short Hike, and Mutazione are all free this week on the Epic Games Store, all the way through until the morning of the 19th for our American readers. Though unknowingly last week, if you are in select places like the UK, the release time of the free games this week was a little earlier than expected, as the US changed its clocks before some others. The same will happen again for next week’s games (yes, it’s another double bill), though we return to normal for either the last Sunday in March or the first Sunday in April (Mexico) for some other countries.

So, what am I not going to play next week because I’ll go out and lick handrails before playing as that character again? 2014’s Watch_Dogs. I’d rather take a long walk off a short cliff than be around a psychopath that goes full Liam Neeson (Taken reference, not the racism) at the murder of his niece. The other, and much more enjoyable game, is The Stanley Parable; a game about doing a million and one things, yet still having a million and three other things left to do.

Phenixx Gaming is everywhere you are. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.