It is because they would be idiots
AI can’t do my job. It’s annoying I even have to say it (for many of you, I probably don’t, but let’s get into it for those at the back). There’s a huge amount of valid worry about AI and the ways it’s replacing human work in our industry. It has hit the voice acting in extraction shooter Arc Raiders, and the textures in whatever the fuck inZOI is. One report showed that1 in 5 new games on Steam use generative AI. A worrying trend whether you’re an artist, actor, or progra…
It is because they would be idiots
AI can’t do my job. It’s annoying I even have to say it (for many of you, I probably don’t, but let’s get into it for those at the back). There’s a huge amount of valid worry about AI and the ways it’s replacing human work in our industry. It has hit the voice acting in extraction shooter Arc Raiders, and the textures in whatever the fuck inZOI is. One report showed that1 in 5 new games on Steam use generative AI. A worrying trend whether you’re an artist, actor, or programmer.
In games media, though, we haven’t seen as much explicit uptake. The tech is wreaking havoc in other ways, but there are few who’ll admit to actually using it to write reviews or news pieces. This might be a case of some writers hiding their use out of shame (it’s proven to make you look incompetent and lazy) but I doubt it. I think a lot of us, having made careers out of analysing an endless flow of games, movies, books, and music, just understand a simple, reassuring truth: humans like human art.
An AI cannot review a game because an AI cannot play a game. And
"I would never do climbing for real"
In Peak, you reach out your hands to grab onto surfaces. Holding left click against a wall or a tree sees you climb, but your stamina bar will drain quickly. Thankfully, players can offer an arm to hoist up a fellow climber in a difficult spot. You’ll need to boost and help each other out a lot to reach the summit. It’s a good thing the three game developers I have roped into this horrendous jaunt seem to be good at working together.
"I think when you talk about climbing, you’re talking about a very strenuous sort of activity," says Holly, plucking fruit from a shrub growing on the side of a cliff and pocketing it for a future snack. "You’re talking about this very physical thing. And giving your player character a physical body that obeys some rules of reality helps the feeling of climbing become more real in a sense, right?"
Missed any of this series? Click here
Over the course of a climb in Peak, your stamina bar will become afflicted with all sorts of clutter that reduces how much energy you have - injuries, burns, sleepiness - all reducing how much
It’s your turn to get over it, Foddy
"So, I assume the task is to climb that giant peak up there."
I look at the mountain and tell Bennett Foddy he is correct. The creator of Getting Over It and co-developer of Baby Steps has agreed to my unusual journalistic request. He must conquer a mountain in co-op climbing game Peak and answer my questions while doing it. And he won’t be ascending alone. With us on the beach at the foot of this mountain are two other hardened developers of climbing games. Holly Jencka, lead developer of urban clambering sim White Knuckle. And Emeric Thoa, creative director of sci-fi alpine sim Cairn. They are currently rummaging through suitcases and collecting coconuts. I don’t say it out loud but I have a strong feeling none of them will survive.
After messing about on the beach for a few minutes, I tell the trio they’re "on their own". I’ll be following, but mostly hanging back and asking questions. I want to see how three developers of climbing games will manage when faced with a mountain not of their own making. Maybe we’ll uncover gems of game design wisdom along the way. Maybe we’ll just plummet to our doom.
Peak
Yes, we know it’s not over yet
A list article is not how I imagined setting Jank up as a unique place to read about PC games. Everybody does lists. But the more we thought about it the more it made sense - we wanted a definitive rundown of our favourite games from recent years. We needed to offer you a taster menu.
This is not simply a list of cool games we reckon you ought to play, it’s a way of telling you exactly who we are at Jank - what kind of sickos we are, and how to distinguish us from the other sickos. It’s also a chance to stare one another down across a spreadsheet, sweating like three spaghetti western outlaws, chewing words in a tense standoff to see whether or not Balatro will make the cut. It does. [spits]
Our process was simple: we made a big raw list of all the games we liked even a little which were released between 2020 and now, and included many games that made an impact, even if we weren’t that hot on them. This "shortlist" came to 172 games. From there, we cast votes. Any game with at least one vote from any of us
If I was a better person, maybe I’d want to play this brilliant shmup more.
Sektori is deeply unfashionable. It isn’t stacked with layer upon layer of meta-progression, unlocks, and permanent upgrades drip-fed to you incrementally over hours. Death does not send you back to a glowing neon house to fill with glowing neon furniture, or an entire neon village inhabited by sexy neon people who tell you about your sad neon backstory.
It is, instead, pure videogame. Sektori is an arcade shmup in the (neon) vein of Robotron in which you are beset upon by (neon) shapes that kill you if they touch you. Death presents you with nothing more than a score and an invitation to try again.
The trailer alone gets my heart rate pumping.
That’s not to say it’s solely a retro throwback. That paragraph above also perfectly describes Geometry Wars, an obvious aesthetic inspiration, but Sektori has broader inspirations and plenty of ideas of its own. The arena changes shape during play. You have a dash move which destroys enemies, and which can be instantly recharged if you use it to collect tokens. There are four different types of token, which advance you along an upgrade track, or give you a temporary increase in fire rate,