Games of the Month: Boats, Dogs, and Dinosaurs.. Oh my!

What the report says

Games of the Month: Boats, Dogs, and Dinosaurs.. Oh my!Follow itch.ioFollowing itch.ioUnfollow itch.ioFollow itch.ioFollowing itch.ioUnfollow itch.ioWelcome back to the Games of the Month! How was that Summer Sale last week? Did you pick up anything cool? Well get ready to fall in love all over again with a whole new group of games from our recommendations. 
 
 
 
 Overboard
 I have this weird habit of booting up Inkle’s 80 Days whenever I’m on a long plane ride. Obviously I haven’t done that recently, but the Inkle’s games find a way to suck you in and show you a kindness and depth to their writing that can make even the most droll trips interesting.

Now the crew is back with their take on the murder mystery, and hand over my heart it’s one of the most interesting takes on the genre I’ve ever seen. 
 
 At the top of Overboard your character pushes her husband over the edge of their 1930s cruise ship into the depths of the Atlantic. Waking up the next morning you’re told you have a few hours until the ship makes port and you can disappear into the wilds of America scot-free, all you have to do is outsmart the Agatha Christie-style detective who happens to be on board.

Easy, right? What follows is several hours of looping through Inkle’s masterful choose your own adventure goodness. Each time you fail (and you will fail) you get a little more information about how to build your Rube Goldberg machine of escape, spend some time with the captain and you’ll learn about their master key, spend some time rifling through your late husband’s belongings and find what he was hiding. I’m sure winning Overboard is as easy as picking a series of the “right” choices, but discovering your path to freedom is deeply rewarding and feels personal even if it isn’t.
 
 
 
 Chicory: A Colorful Tale
 It feels weird calling Game of the Year contenders from this far out, but Chicory stands a real chance of ending up in a lot of end of the year lists.

Key details

The next game from the principal developer behind the similarly great Wandersong, Chicory is an adventure in coloring, friendship, and kindness. All of the color has drained from the world and it’s up to you to fill in the new blanks with your magical paintbrush. What this means is that you and a colorful cast of animal companions are roaming around a Zelda-inspired overworld where, at any point, you can whip out your paintbrush and start coloring in the world around you. Impressively, you can draw just about anything on anything. You can make the clouds in the sky purple, you can draw hearts all over a macho squirrel’s house, there’s not really a limit to what you can paint here. 
 
 What makes this all the more impressive is the way this drawing mechanic is implemented into the entirety of the game.

On one hand you’re using these doodles and paintings to navigate the overworld, and on the other Chicory tells a story about some of the harder parts of the creative process. What do you do when you don’t feel inspired? Will your work ever measure up to that of your idols’? Is burnout inevitable for creatives? You’d be forgiven for thinking that Chicory’s adorable artstyle means it’s a game for children, and while it’s a game for everyone, there’s a huge depth here for players of all ages. 
 
 Finally, the soundtrack deserves a special shoutout.

Composer Lena Raine is back at it again and crafting masterpieces in a variety of styles and energy levels that are somehow both perfect for their appearances in Chicory and for listening to outside of the game. 
 
 At this point I’m willing to recommend Chicory to anyone and everyone. Check it out if you need something heartfelt that feels like a warm hug transmitted from developers to players. 
 
 
 
 Psycho Taxi Rewind
 If you’re anything like me you spent a good number of hours roaming around Crazy Taxi’s world of KFCs and Tower Records as a child.

More from the announcement

With these fond memories of The Offspring yelling YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH in my head I booted up Psycho Taxi, a game that is….. Well it’s Crazy Taxi in all but name. 
 
 If you’ve played Sega’s legendary arcade driving hit then you know what you’re getting here, but for everyone else: you play as a taxi driver trying to make as much money as they can while a clock stressfully ticks down in the corner.