Hello! Welcome back to our regular feature where we write a little bit about some of the games we’ve found ourselves playing over the last few days. This time: cards, cars and a thrilling demo.
If you fancy catching up on some of the older editions of What we’ve been playing, here’s our archive.
Never Yield is just a demo at present but I’ve been playing it and playing it. It’s so simple – simple in a way that allows a game to become lavish too.
It’s an endless runner, at heart. You automatically race along, and you press d-pad buttons at certain cues in order to avoid killing yourself. Leap that! Roll past that! Slider under that!
It’s gently colour-coded, which affords an idiot like me an extra bit of help, but what really makes the game special is the things you’re leaping and rolling and sliding to avoid. This is where it gets lavish! Drones buzz overhead, vans chase you and then collide, or flip through the air almost taking your head off. There’s a fantastic colourful aesthetic to it, and with its speed and sense of thwarting injustices, I suspect the final game is going to give me Jet Set Radio flashbacks. There’s a gorgeous soundtrack by Detroit artist Danime-Sama, too.
It’s nothing like Jet Set Radio to play, of course. It’s its own thing. And I really like it so far.
iRacing’s races are run on a rotational system you’ll likely be familiar with from the many games have copied its approach since – every Monday a new set of races roll in for the various series that run over the course of a season, giving a fresh set of challenges for sim drivers to tackle. It helps gives the start of the week something of a frisson, and there’s something exciting about scrolling through the various permutations and thinking to yourself, what shall I lose myself to next?