Attentat 1942
Attentat 1942 falls firmly in the camp of the type of game I’m always holding out hope for more of — those with an educational aspect. It presents a story of family secrets under Nazi occupation In Czechoslovakia, drawn from a carefully collected set of real, historical experiences which were then ‘smushed together’ to form a representative narrative whole.
The portrayal is dramatic. Recorded interviews and authentic media combine with stark, motion-comic scenes and atmospheric sound effects to immerse you in the story. The questions you choose to ask may help you uncover the truth of the horrendous past.
It was great to see such a well-polished piece of narrative surrounding important historical events — and greater still to know that the developers are planning a follow-up. As for Attentat 1942, you can experience that right away on PC or Mac via Steam.
Röki
A point-and-click adventure that we’ve covered before, Röki is an incredibly executed concept — one of those titles whose gameplay is no more complicated than it needs to be. It follows the story of a brother and sister — you play the sister — escaping from the threat of an unknown monster. Their dialogue and personal circumstances reveal through the course of your interactions with the environment, weaving a lot of who they are into a short sequence of events.
The controls are simple and the puzzle solutions intuitive, with interesting results to your actions, all surrounded by great art and sounds. From the pre-alpha gameplay, it already seems excellent, so look out for it on PC and Mac, with the possibility of some console versions.
Over the Alps
On to thrilling tales of espionage and it’s time to head to the Swiss Alps — or over them, precisely. Over the Alps eschews more traditional storytelling formats to present your journey in the form of postcards, sent to your contact Vera. You can pick dialogue options for each scenario by choosing the postage stamp to go with it, which indicates the mood and action of the option you select, bringing some freshness to an otherwise common mechanic.
This was another enjoyably simple title, with one-click gameplay, clean artwork and eye-catching design choices. In particular, Over the Alps presents your course of travel with a series of luggage labels laid end to end, plotting your journey along them in pencil. And the journey’s a thrilling one, evading spies through 1930s Switzerland. Fancy becoming a spy? To follow development for PC and iOS, sign up for updates on Over the Alps’ website.
