Games of the week
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Outward: The Adventurer Life Sim
Platform: PC, Xbox One, PS4
Genre: RPG
Price: £34.99
Pack your bags for one hell of an adventure
Plenty of you will hate Outward. You'll recoil at the unreliable visuals, which swing from atmospheric snowstorms to dull, grubby dungeons. Long-winded spell invocations will have seasoned gamers wishing for Oblivion's convenient fireballs, clunky combat will frustrate anyone looking for dramatic sword fights, and the lack of pointers, markers or easy-to-read maps will leave some wondering why they even bothered to attempt this hardcore survivalist quest. And yet, some players will discover that Outward's flaws pale in comparison to its strengths – the palpable sense of danger, the immersive exploration, the innovative split-screen two player. Brave and imperfect, Outward's punishing adventure is like nothing you've experienced before.
Skip to the end: A unique, love-it-or-hate-it journey into the unknown.
Score: 8/10
The Walking Dead – The Final Season Episode 4
Platform: PC, Xbox One, PS4, Switch
Genre: Adventure
Price: £18.99 (Season pass)
This is the end
Time for the final episode of the final season of The Walking Dead's finely crafted interactive story. After the explosive Episode 3, your first moments are an immediate test of grit, although the action hardly lets up from there – a misstep in an otherwise solid conclusion to an epic tale, as the quantity of action unbalances the more considered narrative development. Plus, there's only so many quick-time events you can take before it starts to feel like an outlandish edition of Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing. Yet Episode 4's strict focus on Clem and AJ at least provides a suitably intimate end to their long-running exploits.
Skip to the end: A fitting, if overly fan-friendly, finish to the series.
Score: 7/10
She Remembered Caterpillars
Platform: Switch
Genre: Puzzle
Price: £8.99
That creeping feeling
She Remembered Caterpillars is a wilfully enigmatic puzzle game that paints an odd mythology over a colourful world of writhing bridges and organic brain-teasers. The real draw for potential fans will be the visual flair that lends a living quality to each level, from the differently hued caterpillars that span gaps in the level and only allow creatures (or 'gammies') of corresponding colours to cross over, to the wonderfully detailed backdrops that add depth and mystery to the overall atmosphere. The task is simple enough – move each gammie to a lily pad-like exit – but the compounding challenges (for example, only green gammies can cross blue and yellow bridges) accumulate over time to form intricate, yet wholly calming, bouts of dynamic puzzling.
Skip to the end: A brilliant and fully formed puzzle classic.
Score: 8/10
Door Kickers: Action Squad
Platform: PC
Genre: Action
Price: £10.99
Take 'em down
Think Rainbow Six Siege in 2D miniature and you'll understand Door Kickers: Action Squad. It's the meathead cousin of 2013's Gunpoint, substituting brash bravado for that game's stealthy strategy, and while there's a faint nod to tactics in your choice of 'door kicker', from duck-and-rolling FBI agents to explosive-wielding demo specialists, it all boils down to kicking in doors and killing off criminals. There are hostages to rescue and a couple of missions require bomb defusal or an actual arrest, but gameplay is as unabashedly old school simple as the visuals. Two player, however, opens up interesting options and is really the best way to play.
Skip to the end: Dumb, crude and unsophisticated but fun with friends.
Score: 6/10
