Commenter John D asked if I had a list of the Android games I’ve linked to in various Friday Ephemera posts. I didn’t, but as he asked nicely, and hit the tip jar, I felt obliged to throw one together. It’s quite possible I’ve missed a few, so the following list may be expanded in the comments.
Osmos. Do try to avoid being digested.
The Sequence. For the logically inclined.
Causality. Meddle with time. What could possibly go wrong?
Ultraflow. It’s easier if you stay calm, I think. Better than its sequel.
Swapperoo. Still in heavy rotation here at Guild of Evil HQ.
No Stick Shooter. Old school arms race, escalates quickly.
Prism. Geometry can be fun.
Monument Valley. Splendidly Escheresque.
Dark Echo. I think there’s something in here with us.
Spaceplan. Warping space-time with potatoes.
Feel free to share any recommendations of your own.
When it finally arrives, Inside, from the makers of Limbo, should be entertaining.
Posted by: David | July 05, 2017 at 15:55
Thanks, David.
Posted by: John D | July 05, 2017 at 16:05
The Room series - one, two and three.
Posted by: David | July 05, 2017 at 16:08
Virtual Cthulhu!
Posted by: Pogonip | July 05, 2017 at 16:41
Beyondium.
Posted by: David | July 05, 2017 at 16:46
I have a game that is sort of like Mah Jong, except you match 3 tiles in a row. Every time you finish 3 or 4 levels you help rebuild a town destroyed in a civil war. Why it couldn't have been destroyed by something more fun, like giant potatoes falling out of the space-time continuum, I don't know. Anyway, at one point you end up building these jokers a giant lucky-cat! The game should be called "Taking Shameless Advantage Of The Foreign Aid." I still play it, the puzzles are mindlessly relaxing, and am amused every time they sucker me into building them another cat.
Posted by: Pogonip | July 05, 2017 at 16:47
I don't play many games but Monument Valley was beautiful.
Posted by: Alice | July 05, 2017 at 20:34
I don’t play many games but Monument Valley was beautiful.
There’s more aesthetic content in that one game, and more pleasure to be had, than in the current offerings of the local contemporary art gallery.
There’s a sequel, by the way, though as yet it’s only available for iOS.
Posted by: David | July 05, 2017 at 21:07
A French social scientist (I think) called World of Warcraft a chronophage. Is that what these are?
Posted by: Randy | July 05, 2017 at 23:48
Thanks to a cold leaving me no energy to do much else, I finally read Master and Commander. I liked the movie better.
Somewhere there's a market for an M & C game wherein the player must navigate treacherously dense jungles of authentic nautical gibberish in order to reach... The End!
Posted by: Pogonip | July 06, 2017 at 00:11
Smash Hit.
Posted by: Franklin | July 06, 2017 at 01:47
Have you noticed the dearth of new material at Everyday Feminism? Do you suppose they took the new sugar daddy's money and ran?
Posted by: Pogonip | July 06, 2017 at 03:06
navigate treacherously dense jungles of authentic nautical gibberish
Wait, what...? Is that anything like authentic frontier gibberish ? o_O
Posted by: Spiny Norman | July 06, 2017 at 04:17
Have you noticed the dearth of new material at Everyday Feminism?
Yes, it has been quiet over there. I’m starting to miss its demented wrongness. Ms Fabello now seems to spend her time trying to get backers for her new “secret blog” about eating disorders, or championing eyelash extensions, or telling everyone how fabulous her selfies are.
Posted by: David | July 06, 2017 at 06:42
Wait, what...? Is that anything like authentic frontier gibberish ? o_O
Quite certainly, great minds think alike, and so do ours.
Posted by: Hal | July 06, 2017 at 08:51
Ms Fabello now seems to spend her time trying to get backers for her new “secret blog” about eating disorders, or championing eyelash extensions, or telling everyone how fabulous her selfies are.
The hazards of reading quickly:
. . . or championing eyelash extensions, or telling everyone how selfish her falsies are.
Posted by: Hal | July 06, 2017 at 08:53
The hazards of reading quickly
She’s an odd creature, even by the standards of feminist editors. She regularly denounces “white supremacist capitalist cisheteropatriarchal standards of feminine beauty,” as something womankind must be freed from, urgently, and yet she spends an extraordinary amount of time tweeting selfies, all of which entail heavy filtering and kilos of make-up, and re-tweeting flattering comments about how pretty she is.
It’s like peeking into the psyche of a neurotic teenage girl.
Posted by: David | July 06, 2017 at 09:02
"It's like peeking into the psyche of a neurotic teenage girl." Modern feminism neatly summed up. A pity, because those countries where little girls have parts of their privates sawed off with razor blades could use a touch of real feminism.
Posted by: Pogonip | July 06, 2017 at 10:14
She regularly denounces “white supremacist capitalist cisheteropatriarchal standards of feminine beauty,”
Oracular cognoscence of certain recondite aspects. I will hypothesize: Disquisitional recapitulation of imperspicuous symptomatology tends to an unequivocal belief. Indubitably.
Posted by: Hal | July 06, 2017 at 10:15
Hal, all moral and right-thinking people champion eyelash extensions. And so does Ma Fabelli.
Posted by: Pogonip | July 06, 2017 at 10:15
Er, that's Ms Fabelli.
Posted by: Pogonip | July 06, 2017 at 10:56
Yeah, you lot going on about your Android games, haven't stopped to consider your spatial structures privilege, have you ?
Muh whut ? You ask in your typical violent, but slackjawed, way so typical of white patriarchal cis power oppression, when the answer is obvious.
Don't get me started on what goes on in rural cities.
Posted by: Farnsworth M Muldoon | July 06, 2017 at 14:36
Or, as Triggly Puff would say, while shaking her tyrannosaur arms "(Bleep) gravity!"
David, what's your policy on words like (bleep) and (bleep) and even (bleep!) in English? How about Spanish?
Posted by: Pogonip | July 06, 2017 at 15:18
David, what’s your policy on words like (bleep) and (bleep) and even (bleep!) in English? How about Spanish?
I don’t have a policy as such, but I think of salty language as something best used sparingly. And as I don’t know any Spanish profanities, or any Spanish to speak of, I’m not sure I’d recognise them.
Posted by: David | July 06, 2017 at 15:25
You wouldn't recognize them? Hmmmm....
Posted by: Pogonip | July 06, 2017 at 15:36
Posted by: Sporkatus | July 06, 2017 at 18:56
How about Spanish?
El Bleep.
Le Bleep when en Francais, following which mon Francais n'existe pas.
Posted by: Hal | July 06, 2017 at 19:09
Das bleep!
IL BLEEPO!
Does Russian have a definite article?
Bleep no heteropatriarchy ga arimasu, as they often say in Japan.
Posted by: Pogonip | July 06, 2017 at 20:14
In related trivia, the Spanish phrase in my previous comment has a near relative in Russian: ёб твою мать.
No definite article, though apparently you can say "one" for emphasis "a". "одного́".Posted by: Sporkatus | July 06, 2017 at 21:43
Bleeps of England, bleeps of Ireland...
Posted by: Pogonip | July 07, 2017 at 00:03
Re. your first comment: 'Inside' is excellent. Not as visually striking as 'Limbo' but a better, more engaging game with some fantastically strange and beautiful imagery. For anyone who goes on to play it, look out for the long-haired, naked water-baby things. They lingered in the mind alright.
Occasional visitor, first-time poster here BTW. Embarrassingly(I'm not embarrassed actually) it's video games that drew me in to make my first comment. Politically speaking...I have qualms(that sometimes strike me as serious, sometimes not), but this site is so well-maintained and the writing so entertainingly disdainful that I keep coming back.
Posted by: The Sprawl | July 07, 2017 at 14:41
Occasional visitor, first-time poster here BTW.
Welcome aboard. Help yourself to nibbles.
[ Adds “entertainingly disdainful” to brochure. ]
Posted by: David | July 07, 2017 at 15:10
I have qualms (that sometimes strike me as serious, sometimes not),
By all means voice them. This is a place where people can disagree in a (fairly) civil way.
Posted by: David | July 07, 2017 at 16:37
Or in an uncivil way, as long as you do it in Spanish so David won't catch you.
Posted by: Pogonip | July 07, 2017 at 17:07
Aren't there any decent SJW games featuring the struggle against cis-patriarchy? I mean, there's got to be a market there. Up the intersectional gender studies ladder, down the un-woke snake? Although "snake" is maybe a little too peno-centric these days.
Work with me, people! Work with me!
Posted by: Custard Cream | July 07, 2017 at 23:21
Aren't there any decent SJW games featuring the struggle against cis-patriarchy?
Of course, However, by definition of any such game, each player is required to be the one sole winner.
Therefore, all such game play inevitably disintegrates during and as part of any such, with no winner and all being frustrated and enraged players.
Posted by: Hal | July 08, 2017 at 00:36
Hi CustardCream, there was an enormous Internet kerfuffle, a veritable brouhaha, a donnybrook even, called Gamergate that started with SJWs wishing to put their, um, unique viewpoint into video games, so if you look that up, you can probably find what you're looking for. I know nothing else about Gamergate--I read one article (Washington Post, I think), couldn't see any reason I should care about it, and ignored it thereafter.
Nobody, SJW or otherwise, better touch my computer Monopoly game! Harrumph!
Posted by: Pogonip | July 08, 2017 at 06:12
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DONKEY.BAS
Cheers
Posted by: J.M. Heinrichs | July 09, 2017 at 01:01
Since I am occasionally to reading your blog (at times very interesting), I will throw one into your list of games.
Glass is great, 9 stages, each with 9 levels, based on optics and lasers, no ads, some very challenging.
If I want to play arcade-style, I still prefer a dedicated device. Never played one on the phone.
Ultraflow is good (not as good as Glass, I think you will find the latter to your tastes), a bit like pool, carrom, or snooker.
Monument Valley looks beautiful, but not downloadable for my device. Version problem, I suppose.
Thanks for the list.
Also, I could not find Prism, I think you may have contracted the title.
Check Glass, it is great!
Posted by: Che Guava | July 12, 2017 at 13:19
One more, Rotal, it presents 3D shapes made of blocks, rotated differently you have to identify the pairs.
Has a time limit, fiendishly hard at the top level.
That whole room escape genre originates in Japan, from brick and clamshell devices. Wish my brick still worked as a phone, but the USB port is broken repairs cost too much, Before my provider was taken over by Softbank and Y!Japan, they were always giving free room escape games and some other types, and demos.
Anyway, it has a good physical macro lens switch, so still using it.
Posted by: Che Guava | July 12, 2017 at 14:32