Three Games That Are Getting Me Through

I’ve been in somewhat of a design slump lately, so I figured I’d discuss some games I’m inspired by at the moment. I expected that as my gaming life evolved, I’d come to enjoy increasingly complex games and find a regular group to play them with, but neither of those things happened. I also moved cities, which completely morphed the games and gamers available to me.

I mention all of this because I think it’s interesting how quickly my gaming habits have evolved to fit my circumstances, and that I chose to find new games instead of new people to play the same games. Whether that has more to do with my introversion or my willingness to try new things, I’m not sure. Probably both.

My new gaming environment also suggests to me that I (and perhaps you) don’t necessarily have tastes in gaming; that is, you will almost always prefer one type of game over another. I see game reviewers across the internet claiming to help consumers make purchase decisions with phrases like: “if you like [game mechanism/level of player interaction/theme], you’ll love [game]”. My experiences with these three games suggests that you probably have a more broad gaming palette than you realize.

Final Girl

I hate horror movies.¹ Life is scary enough without them. I wanted a solo-only game though, and it seemed like the best option at my local game store. The premise is that you’re the “final girl” — a common trope in the horror genre — tasked with saving victims and taking out the killer.

I played the game four times that weekend. I enjoyed its tactical tension and appreciated the fact that it wasn’t actually scary (is there any legitimately scary tabletop game?). The game pushes back against you in an addictive, masochistic sort of way, teasing you into thinking you can do everything you want (you can’t).

Glad I took a chance on this one given its unappealing theme.

The New Campaign Trail

In the week leading up to the election I was looking for somewhere to deposit my nervous optimism, so I fired up this browser-based game. You are a historical US presidential candidates. You choose your running mate, your answers to questions about prescient issues of the cycle, and the states you visit. Once you answer 25 questions, the election results are dramatically revealed state by state.

I question the premise of the game — that it can predict what would happen if a candidate employed an ahistorical rhetorical strategy — but its lack of feedback outside of the final map makes it addicting to figure out the “correct” way to attack a campaign, especially with candidates who lost in real life.

I’m actually writing a paper about this game right now because I think it simulates the “black box” of the effectiveness of political rhetoric so well. It’s been an academically productive way of working through a whole lot of feelings.

Blood on the Clocktower

I played my first games of Blood on the Clocktower — a new, popular mafia-style game — at Origins. I enjoyed my plays of it, but I was too stressed about lying to strangers to realize how much fun I was actually having.

Fast forward a few months. A friend invited me to play with their group, and I hesitantly agreed. A few weeks later, I went again. Now I go every week.

Clocktower melds storytelling, logic, and bluffing to create some of the most memorable gaming experiences I’ve ever had. Being evil is exhilarating and challenging; being good is interesting and collaborative. The game is a refreshing social space where you always have something to talk about and lying is encouraged, neither of which is often true in everyday life.

I never would have guessed that I’d have so much fun with Clocktower. It’s a prime example of how games can let you be someone else for a little while. Though I don’t always appreciate escapism in my games, this one brings me to a world I like to be in.

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Thanks as always for reading. I wouldn’t blanket recommend these games, but The New Campaign Trail is probably worth a try since it’s free. They also have a robust modding community, where users have posted both historical elections not in the original game and all sorts of hypothetical scenarios to try.

Happy gaming,

Matt

1. The only horror movie I’ve ever liked is Get Out, but I think most people would consider it more of a thriller.