In a previous post I talked about using automation to update a page on my site with the games I'm currently playing on iOS.

I've been keeping up with the practice, but figured I'd also post some commentary from time to time, so here goes:

• OPUS: Echo of Starsong I'm playing pre-release and so far it seems neat but I'm very early in it. The art direction seems top notch though and I remember liking all the other OPUS games so expecting good things.
• DYSMANTLE isn't even new, and I remember kinda hating it when I first tried it around release. I got a code for the DLC so gave it another crack and everything clicked. It has all of the neat ideas I like from survival games and none of the garbage ones. It's not terribly big in scope, but it does have a ton of little things to discover in it and gives you like... no heads up about any of it (which I actually kinda like!). In that way it kind of reminds me of Dead Rising. Well, that and the zombies. But it's even better because there's no bullshit weapon durability.
• I don't really understand Sigma Theory... like at all. It's got some really neat global espionage trappings but they're laid on top of something that feels like a board game but the rules aren't really explained. You just send people places and tell them to do things and sometimes they do it well and sometimes they don't but none of it directly affects your score? I could sink some more time in to figure it out but I'm always so baffled about what I'm doing every time I boot it up that it's probably on its way to being shelved.
• If it wasn't for DYSMANTLE, I'd still be obsessing over Monster Train. It's still quite good and I want to play more of it, but I need to make time for that. The iOS version is great and the iPad version got updated to be a little better about the aspect ratio thing I mentioned in my review. Still not perfect, but more than playable. The thing I like about it so much is it's a deck-builder where you can really break everything in it both for and against you. I've had runs get saved by some hilariously synergistic combos and had promising ones derailed by a single decision. Such a wide range of highs and lows as well as ways to reach them. Very neat stuff.
• I loved the first SIMULACRA game but I'm not really finding much to dig into early on in SIMULACRA 3. Honestly just need to sit and have more time with it. If you're still have some lingering spooky season itches to scratch that first game is probably the best horror game I've played on mobile.
• Genshin Impact is eternal for me. An easy ritual combined with a pretty fascinating world and super satisfying combat. It's a predatory gacha but I pull myself from its orbit. I'm not spending money or anything. You shouldn't either.

Quick update to the "I don't know if I have a writing gig anymore" post: My email has been restored and it's back to business as usual. I've spent the last few days back-filling with thoughts on games I had spent time with during the downtime (more to come, too).

You can read them at 148apps.com, a site I think is pretty good and responsible about how it covers the mobile end of gaming.

Note: I'm breaking my old style habits from 148apps here because... well, I don't know if I really write over there anymore. I'll probably settle into a format of some kind but for now it'll be somewhat freeform thoughts on what I'm playing. Papers, Please is a good one to start with, too, since who wants a review of that in 2022?

I had never played Papers, Please until a couple weeks ago when it came out with an updated interface for phones. I had certainly heard of it, though. It is spoken and written about reverently in almost every game-oriented space I can think of. I have always wanted to play it, too, but my life only really accommodates playing games if they are available on mobile platforms, specifically iOS. So, like with Gone Home, FTL, Journey, and many other widely celebrated non-mobile games that get on the App Store eventually, I arrive late to the party.

But whereas some cultural touchstones are easy to find cracks in to do this kind of thing, I'm not sure that's the case with Papers, Please, at least not yet. It's certainly not a "perfect" game (whatever that means), but it has a vision as stark and rigid as the duties you perform as a border officer in the game, and the themes it examines through that lens have only come more and more into focus since its release. The list of games that can make similar claims is minuscule.

It's also pretty fun(?)! As a former newspaper editor, it's satisfying to cross every t and dot every i using a specific set of rules. Papers, Please doesn't exactly make you feel good about doing this--in fact the work in context is draining and stressful--but it is core to the game's identity to make you feel the violence and hurt from performing even the most mundane of tasks within an oppressive system. So, maybe "fun" isn't the right word, but what I'm getting at is the mechanics have a sound logic that both creates agency and a sense of satisfaction for how you perform your duties, no matter how you choose to carry them out.

On phones, Papers, Please does feel slightly cramped, but definitely more than playable. I had a few instances where I got citations because pictures didn't match up with people's faces even though they looked right to me, but that didn't stop me from reaching the logical conclusion of my playthrough. I also didn't feel quite as efficient in processing folks as I might on a bigger screen, but I can't tell for sure because I haven't tried the game elsewhere. I would play it on my iPad but that locks to vertical orientation and I'm not a fan of playing games on a tablet that way.

So yea, unsurprisingly, a game people have lauded for years is actually pretty good. Turns out, playing it on a phone is good, too. If you haven't played it, Papers, Please holds up extremely well. I had a hard time sitting down and playing it for more than one shift day at a time, but that's just a testament to how well it still delivers its message.

So, uh, I don't want to jump to any conclusions, but my 148apps email has been deactivated. Folks on the team are "looking into it" but it's been almost a week and I can't communicate with any contacts or anything about upcoming releases. Just in case you're out there with a mobile game you want me to take a look at: campbell [at] smallscreen.info is the place to send things for now.