Hands-on with 4 'Lucy-ass' games at gamescom

Hello folks, welcome to the weekend!

I'm at PAX West in Seattle until Monday, where I'll be enjoying some excellent coffee between being on the hunt for games. If you see me, please say hi! I'll be milling around playing games on the show floor, hitting The MIX, as well as moderating The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Songs of the Past panel on Sunday! But before I write up the games I'm seeing here at PAX, I thought I'd do a quick shout out of some demos I really enjoyed playing while I was at gamescom last week.

Make sure to read to the end to access a special exclusive demo for Planted!, a chaotic 1-4 player game where gardens are now battlefields.

I naturally spent most of my time at gamescom at the Indie Arena Booth, where I could have happily spent the entire weekend. If you've never been to gamescom, this booth is enormous and packed to the brim with dozens of indies to play. The vibes of it are absolutely immaculate and I happily spent a whole day ping-ponging my way from one game to the next.

Here are four Lucy-ass* games that I played on the show floor that I really dug.

*If you're unfamiliar, it's something that sprung up from the comments of Friends Per Second, the podcast I do with SkillUp and Jake Baldino. It's an all-encompassing term for games that I like. It sounds big-headed (I didn't come up with it!), but now I'm even getting devs pitching their games to LFG using the term, so hey, I'm going to roll with it.

A Lucy-ass game isn't restricted to one genre, but it usually involves some puzzles, a strong narrative, and more often than not, something creepy as hell going on. I'll be petitioning Steam to make it an official tag shortly.

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Deep Fog Signals

In an early LFG issue (perhaps even the first one!), I wrote about Burn-9, the Metal Gear Solid-esque spy thriller which has you play the guy in the chair, controlling your operatives through dicey encounters as they scramble to survive after a mission goes horribly wrong. Deep Fog Signals from Symmetry Break is of a similar flavor, although this time, you're stranded at an outpost surrounded by toxic fog, and need to use the instruments at your disposal to coordinate with your crew. Will you escape with them before your oxygen runs out? Or will you risk it all for the scientific breakthrough you're absolutely sure you're on the cusp of making?

I played about thirty minutes, and even early on, felt the tension rise. Something crucial to the mission was stolen, but downloading the camera footage to find the culprit is taking forever. Meanwhile, the crew is scattered, scared, and the fog is becoming more and more oppressive. Each action takes time, and time is running out. I'm eager to play more.

There Are No Ghosts at the Grand

I spoke a little about this one in Wednesday's round up of trailers I enjoyed from across gamescom, but I also got to go hands-on with it: clearing up a rather shabby garden and rebuilding a band stand in its center.

Instead of picking up and placing broken tiles or upended posts one by one, you're given a talking uh, gun? Vacuum? An all-in-one machine that can suck up tiles, blow away leaves, and then, with a flick of the switch, put them back where they ought to be. This demo felt familiar in a way to PowerWash Simulator, where you're given a number of small chores that all come together to make for a huge makeover, that makes you want to stand back, put your hands on your hips and say "Yeah. I did that." A job well done, even if all I was doing was holding a controller.

I'm really keen to see more of There Are No Ghosts at the Grand, from its trailers and what I got to play, it's hinting at a much bigger story than I initially thought it would have, and the demo ended in a lovely interactive musical moment.

Wilderings: The Lost Spring

Don't be fooled by its colorful and cozy art style: Wilderings: The Lost Spring is tougher than you'd expect. A Metroidvania with roguelite elements and creatures named Hântu to collect and use in battle, there's a lot going on, and the enemies won't go easy on you as you try to restore life and color to the world.

There's a lot to like here, yes the Hântu are adorable, but their abilities really are make or break against enemies, and the upgrades you unlock are meaningful. While tough, I found everything synergizing nicely as I ran from place to place, taking out enemies and restoring life to the area. Movement around the world felt good too, with a hang glider to cross great gaps, wall running, and even a Sekiro-style grappling hook to help you hop up cliffs (or in my case, a last-ditch attempt rescue attempt after a misjudged jump).

All the chaos of battle is met with a relaxing break in the skies: with a floating airship where you can grow seeds to earn permanent upgrades across your runs. I liked my time with it, even if it was a little punishing.

Cages: Hidden Worlds

Cages: Hidden Worlds is a tactile puzzle escape game: you're locked in a mansion with the remains of a freak show carnival. There are various mechanisms to tinker with, levers to pull, objects to put together, and devices to fix, and I had a great time in doing so.

Playing Cages: Hidden Worlds reminded me of playing The Room (the game, not the 2003 Tommy Wiseau cinematic wonder): all the pieces are there in front of you, it's up to you to recognize how they all work together so you can progress. The difficulty felt good and fair, with puzzles starting simple, but quickly adding layers that feel satisfying to peel back.

The vibes are also suitably creepy, with an element of magic and horror bubbling under the surface. A Lucy-ass game, indeed.

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One more thing before I head into the halls of PAX!

I caught up with the Curveball Games team at Gamescom who are publishing Planted!, which they're calling a "horticultural combat party game." It's a little more intense than your neighbors side-eyeing your overgrown lawn, it's a game where you grow crops, claim territory, and lob veggies at others. While I don't condone lobbing vegetables at people in real life, it is rather fun to do in-game.

They said they'd love for LFG readers to be among the first to give the game's demo a whirl before the full thing launches on October 29, so have at it!

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Thanks so much for reading, I'll see you next week!