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Sokpop Collective

this-visual-novel-takes-you-on-a-lovely-little-cycling-tour Rock,Paper,Shotgun

This visual novel takes you on a lovely little cycling tour

August 1, 2022RockPaperShotgun

While the Tour De France Femmes ended on Sunday and the Tour Hommes the week before, I’ll not be rushed on my own Tour De Jeux. I can’t keep pace with professionals so it’s fine if I run long, and today I want to take my time and enjoy the journey. I’m playing Aran’s Bike Trip, a visual novel/interactive diary/thingamy where Dutch indie dev Aran Koning (the designer of Stacklands) documents a two-day bike tour with 360° photos. It’s a lovely little adventure, taking in sights including an art deco radio station and the tallest waterfall in the Netherlands. The…

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tour-de-jeux:-a-weird-ride-with-a-walking-simulator-on-wheels Rock,Paper,Shotgun

Tour De Jeux: A weird ride with a walking simulator on wheels

July 13, 2022RockPaperShotgun

While the Tour De France is currently zooming about the Alps, the next stage of my own cycling journey through video games leads somewhere far flatter—and weirder. Bird Snapper is a nice little free game that’s just you, an endless grey desert, a bicycle, a howling night, and innumerable antennae and electricity pylons. A walking simulator on two wheels, with a bell. Read more

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stacklands-is-a-gentle-village-building-game-played-with-cards Rock,Paper,Shotgun

Stacklands is a gentle village-building game played with cards

April 20, 2022RockPaperShotgun

I’ve enjoyed building a house of card in Stacklands, and farms of cards, and lumberyards of cards, and… it’s a new manage-o-strategy game where every building, resource, and unit is a card on a table. It’s a cute conceit and fun, especially because it treats the virtual tabletop as a physical space. Your own farm animal cards will unhelpfully jostle your setup as they roam, for example, and invading monster cards will chase your villager cards across the tabletop. It’s all very pleasant, a little adventure to figure out how it all works then reach the end. Read more

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sokpop-collective-are-streaming-all-77-of-their-games-tomorrow Rock,Paper,Shotgun

Sokpop Collective are streaming all 77 of their games tomorrow

January 16, 2021RockPaperShotgun

Sokpop Collective are a band of game development pals who release a new game every two weeks via their Patreon. The games are all cute, frequently physicsy, but otherwise cover a broad range of genres. Genres like space golf, skeleton brawler, and rock paper scissors MMO. To celebrate the Patreon’s third birthday, they’re taking to Twitch tomorrow to stream all 77 of their games. Even if you’re a subscriber to the Patreon, it’s doubtful you’ve played them all, so watching the developers play and talk about making them sounds like a good time. (more…)

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king-pins-is-sokpop’s-teeny-tiny-take-on-age-of-empires Rock,Paper,Shotgun

King Pins is Sokpop’s teeny tiny take on Age Of Empires

October 31, 2020RockPaperShotgun

I do love a good RTS from time to time. It’s just that, well, I start to lose focus as soon as I’m juggling a dozen units or more, my perfect opening collapsing into a panic of select-all death balls. Fortunately, that’s not a problem I ever see myself having in Sokpop’s King Pins, with the Dutch indie rascals stripping the genre down into an adorably simple single-screen strategy puzzle for you and up to three pals. (more…)

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