Ten video games to travel during the summer

While the reopening of terraces, restaurants, museums and cinemas gave us a balm in the heart in June, a wave of good humor was also reflected in the video game outings. Among the novelties of the month that has just passed, the Pixels service has selected ten games belonging to very varied registers (puzzle, strategy, action …), often very colorful or full of humor, to occupy your holidays or your evenings. .

• “On the Water!”, An Interactive Novel by Agatha Christie

1935. An ocean liner crosses the Atlantic, a few hours from the American coast. Suddenly a scream in the night. A “splash” sound: a man went overboard. There is no need to look for the, or rather the culprit: it is you! An actress on the way back, determined to ditch her fascist and fickle husband to touch her comfortable life insurance. Problem: The crew and other passengers will soon start looking for the missing person, and suspicions will inevitably turn to you. Will you be able to land in New York as a free (and rich) woman? It’s up to you to cover things up, find a good alibi … or even blame someone else. A clever and fun reverse Cluedo, but unfortunately entirely in English.

• “Chicory”, a tale between adventure and color

What if the colors disappeared? This is what happens in Chicory when the bearer of the brush that gives reality its colors no longer gives any sign of life. A naive dog (our hero) recovers the magic tool and now has the ability to restore its colors to decorations or living beings. You’ll start off gleefully smearing everything before realizing that the brush action allows you to solve puzzles, reach previously inaccessible areas, and then fight battles against dark forces. The intoxication of color then follows the pleasure of an intimate story that is more moving than it seems.

• “Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart” – An adorable adventure with no downtime

The robot Clank and the furry animal Ratchet are back in service after an absence of four years. Insomniac Studies (Marvel Spiderman: Miles Morales) give a boost to their franchise launched almost twenty years ago in one of the first exclusives of the Playstation 5. The formula is unchanged but devilishly effective: an alternation of phases of platforms (quite simple), of shooting moments (quite complete- full-bodied) and periods of exploration (quite entertaining). We are not bored for a second during the ten hours of the main story: despite a sometimes confusing setting, the characters are thick, the universe is great and the fights, fought with funny weapons, are epic from beginning to end.

• “The Videogame Workshop”: to share your creations

We like the English title of this game: “Game Builder Garage”, which clearly announces the impression that we will have to lift the hood of a video game and get our hands dirty. No need to know a single line of code: here, the player assembles pre-programmed blocks, called “Nodons”. But that doesn’t mean the game is simplistic. The subtleties of your toolbox are numerous and hours of tutorials aren’t enough to take them all in at once. This highly educational and exciting game also allows you to share your creations or explore those of your highly creative community of players.

• “Labyrinth City: Pierre The Maze”: a mischievous picture book to get lost in

Each level of Labyrinth City is a magnificent maze filled with hundreds of characters that come to life when the player passes (or clicks). You’ll help energetic detective Pierre get his hands on the infamous Mr. X who wreaks havoc after stealing a magic stone. This adaptation (from the French Darjeeling studies) of a series of children’s books by Japanese director Hiro Kamigaki offers to immerse yourself in a crazy and endearing universe, which will delight young and old. They will especially enjoy digging up lots of hidden objects or trying to complete the levels as quickly as possible.

• « The LEGO Builder’s Journey »: Bragging bricks of realism for a series of puzzles

First released on Apple Arcade in 2019, this little puzzle game adapted from the world of LEGO bricks gets a new release when it transfers to PC and Switch. A version enriched with additional levels and very attractive visual effects. Each level consists of a small scene in which a character made up of a few Lego pieces evolves: the player will manipulate other pieces that litter the ground to pass through adorable and nostalgic squares. Puzzles that owe a lot to the clean aesthetics of Monument valley, ideal for short and relaxing parties.

• “Roguebook”: cards, monsters and strategy

Build a deck of cards little by little, defeat increasingly stronger enemies … Roguebook is the latest in a genre that has the wind in its sails, mixing card game and rogue, in the tradition of the popular Kill the needle. Roguebook Furthermore, it borrows a lot from its predecessor (some of the cards and artifacts are almost copied), but it introduces several game-changing ideas: the ability to customize your cards in different ways, controlling two heroes, which multiplies the strategy possibilities . , and the fact that the map of the world must be revealed little by little with brush strokes, which introduces both more strategy and more poetry. We expected no less from a creative team made up of the elders of the very beautiful Faeries and Richard Garfield, the creator of Magic in person.

• “Ender Lilies”: dark and full-bodied exploration

Lilies of ender It is one of the games that we do not expect much but that we cannot let go after an hour and a half. We direct in side view a little girl confronted with ignoble monsters, who stops fighting instead against the appeased spirits of already defeated enemies. Increasingly tough opponents and ever-difficult bosses add flavor to exploring this tormented universe. Very classic in form (in keeping with antiquity Metroid), the adventure unfolds robustly and we loved its poisonous beauty.

• “Ynglet”: platform without platforms

One of the curiosities of the month: a Danish game that seems to be drawn with a marker and is unlike any other. We incarnate a creature that looks like an amoeba, propelling itself from cell to cell, as in a platform game in which we could only count on its momentum. What matters here is the correct path. The slightest inaccuracy is punishable by a fall to the void. After a difficult start, we found ourselves moving smoothly, and even experiencing great sensations of sliding. The fry It is short (it counts between an hour and an hour and a half) but the levels, types of abstractions of various districts of Copenhagen, are very varied. A total sensory experience, accompanied by the superb electronic soundtrack signed by the creator of the game, Nifflas.

• “Scarlet Nexus”: less bulky than a pile of manga

Scarlet Nexus seedy towards interactive manga, full of scenes. The starting point of the plot will not surprise fans of The attack of the Titans or from Neon Genesis Evangelion : We play a young man or a young woman who enters an elite squad whose goal is to fight invaders, disrupting organic and mechanical hybrids. But if the game takes time to settle down, it offers very dynamic and rich combat phases, powered by superpowers. Japanese RPG novices can be confused by unclear menus and sometimes hollow side quests, but this long adventure (count forty hours to complete the two story arcs) is packed with twists and beautiful action scenes.