17th January
Hello and welcome back to our regular feature where we write a little bit about some of the games we’ve been playing this week. This time, we can barely get past the bloody Sims character creator again, let alone the house decoration part; we search around for another puzzle game to bake our noodles; and we unexpectedly find the end of Animal Crossing.
What have you been playing?
Catch up with the older editions of this column in our What We’ve Been Playing archive.
Escape Academy, Xbox Series X
After finishing with my puzzling adventure calendar – which was essentially an escape room with chocolate rewards – I found myself missing the kick of having a daily puzzle to solve. Thanks to Eurogamer reader themightyant, however, I have managed to find a fix in the form of Escape Academy.
As the name suggests, Escape Academy plops players into a school dedicated to the study of escape, and escape I have. So far, I’ve managed to liberate myself from the head teacher’s rather plush office, as it steadily filled with gas, climbed my way out of a flooding maintenance area, and done a spot of courtyard graffiti (at the request of my teacher – don’t worry, no needless vandalism here), to name three.
The puzzles – for now at least – have all been well balanced. They aren’t ‘walk in the park easy’ by any means, but also aren’t so rock hard that they’ve left me wanting to launch my controller at the TV. There’s also been a good variety of them, so each new area has felt fresh and original, and never overwhelming. I’ve still had to make pages and pages of notes, though – got to keep track of what goes where and why!
Meanwhile, the Escape Academy team has added an allusion of urgency via time limits for each of the game’s, um, let’s call them missions. While these can be a touch stressful, I largely haven’t minded them. They add to the thrill, and these timers are really just there to act as a sort of a placebo; there isn’t actually any real consequence if you don’t ‘make it out’ in time (although, as someone who can be a wee bit competitive, it is always nice to).
All in all, if you are looking to get yourself an escape room-like experience for the comfort of your own home, Escape Academy absolutely ticks that box. It is clear the game has been crafted with a great deal of love by fellow puzzle enthusiasts, and while it may not measure up exactly to a real-life escape room, for obvious reasons, it comes a very close second. If you also like puzzle games, you really should give this one a go.
-Victoria
Animal Crossing, Switch
The worst has happened – I’ve finished the art gallery. This was the thread that was keeping me coming back each day since the game started, and now – with the acquisition of a Bruegel – I’m done. I certainly saved one of the best for last – the Hunters in the Snow or whatever it’s called is a picture I’ve loved for years, probably since I first read Michael Frayn’s Headlong – but now it’s done?
I don’t know how to answer this. But I think it’s interesting. Back when I first encountered Animal Crossing on the GameCube it seemed like a game you’d never come to the end of because it wasn’t really asking you to do much except experience things. I’d check in every day because that’s what you did – it was life going on in there not a game. But the collection bug, which was always secretly present, I think, came more to the fore with each new instalment, and by the time we got to the Switch I was all about that art gallery. Even though I knew that completing it would mean finishing the game.
Anyway, I have to run for a bus, so I’ll wrap this up. Just to say, thank you Animal Crossing. I’m sorry our time together is over, but I’m sure I’ll check in now and then to see Spike. And to take another look at that Bruegel, which is really something special.
-Donlan
The Sims 4, PC
It has been years since I played The Sims 4 and, quite honestly, I’ve missed it. It took a while to remember all the neat shortcuts and tricks you can do alongside using multiple cheats, (it’s a shame Motherlode doesn’t work in real life), but once I got back into the swing of it there was no stopping me.
Now, I don’t know about you, but when I start a new save in The Sims I spend a questionable amount of time creating my Sim. I even find myself giving them a backstory while they’re being made. For example, the one I’m playing currently is an artist living in a studio apartment with her adopted cat Salem Socks. Very nice. But I also might have spent two hours decorating her studio kitchen and bedroom as well, to get the right vibe for her – what exactly would an artist’s apartment look like? Would she be organised or go with the flow? You see my dilemma!
I eventually finished the apartment but it wasn’t long before another dilemma appeared: should I build her a house? I couldn’t help it after seeing all of the options in the Build/Buy menu, especially the outdoor bits such as barbeque sets and sprinklers. But why spend all that time on the apartment just to move out again? Well – to put it simply – because I can. If I want to change her career and make her an equestrian raising horses out in the countryside, I can. If I want to make her a top surgeon who’s needed in emergencies, I can. There’s no solid plan for what happens next – you’re allowed to do whatever you feel like doing.
I think that’s the joy of it all isn’t it? You can make your time with it anything you want it to be – there’s a freedom of creation that draws you in for more.
-Marie
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