Screenshot Saturday Sundays: Precarious camping, naked gymnasts and a kickflip cult
Nudists, trams, and some vertigo-inducing camping spots.
Screenshot Saturday Sundays! The sun is shining, the breeze is light, and we're all locked indoors, so why not kick back and flip through some lovely videogame shots with me? This week: Vertigo-inducing campsites, architectural fantasies, the cult of kickflips and some pants-free gymnastics.
Alright, let's get something outta the way before we start. Yes, this lad's got nae clothes on. But more importantly, look at that upper body strength, holding on one-handed even while slapped.
Aussie developer Sam Ferguson's selling some delightful pastel absurdity here, in what seems to be a first-person follow-up to the incredibly-named Ascent Of Grob's Domain. From what he's shown so far, we've got a gunky intestinal exploration game where you slap mucus outta a giant's intestines, chat up worms, and, yes, shoot the breeze with nudist tree-swingers. Love it.
Did you bring your camping gear? Actually, did you bring a rope? Because Unexplored 2: The Wayfarer's Legacy's chosen a rather, uh, precarious spot to set up for the night.
This shot reminds me, of all things, of our first multiplayer session in No Man's Sky following the Next update. Six or seven of us congregating around a lonely spire on a poisoned planet, turning the lofty mesa into a communal camping spot. Unexplored 2's camping spot might be a little lonelier and flaunt zero spaceships, but it still evokes that cosy sense of a home far from home.
Set to release later this year, Unexplored 2 brings the dungeon-delving roguelike above ground with a very sharp new 3D look.
Joost might have the broadest range of aesthetics I've seen amongst the #screenshotsaturday regulars. From previously-featured crooked windmills to this minimalist "dress-up driving game", there's a staggering breadth of styles on show. The above tram-ride is from Iokov, a currently in-development exploration game that, as his site describes, is based on the "architectural fantasies" of Russian designer Iokov Chernikhov.
Remaining in the realm of the abstract, we simply must return to Skate Story. But, terrifyingly, we're not quite alone in this week's session.
It's been hard not to post about Skate Story every week, honestly. I've already gushed at length over Sam Eng's otherworldly grind - and each Saturday, that realm expands with another brief shot of spectral skaters and impossible spaces.
But this week's opened something more. Something darker. The monoliths are gone, obscuring tree canopies taking their place. Figures congregate to observe the silver skater's lines, but daren't touch. Something is happening to Skate Story, and I'm screaming to find out what.