Sometimes thick cloud cover plunges you into total darkness, and sometimes you’re treated to mountains and valleys chopped and chiselled by a sun that resembles a huge mural on a temple wall. Having touched the earth, you slide through the lander’s glass walls and head towards one of the terrain features you’ve identified, glancing back now and then towards the light beam rising from your landing site.
EDWIN EVANS-THIRLWELL, Eurogamer
I always have time for people writing about Noctis, it’s an incredible feat of videogame making years ahead of its time, a breathtakingly singular and wonderful thing. A game of pure exploration and community logging, a gem that’s really unlike anything else still.
Nearly a quarter of a century on and it remains an awe inspiring videogame for me, much like Dwarf Fortress it’s one of the finest arguments there is for accessible and affordable routes to making and distributing games.
It’s hyper niche but all in, completely committed to its vibe and just so much the kind of thing that could never land out of a big studio, it’s just too weird, too intensely focused.
Ok, you caught me — I don’t just like Noctis, I’ve spent years admiring the fact that it ever came to exist at all and that it’s so uncompromising and focused on being what it is.
