Psychochild has a post up about Knytt Stories (PC), the sucessor of the wonderful Knytt (PC). The latter is an exploration game where you’re required to travel a maze of caves and hills finding pieces for a broken spaceship — but wait, wait, that’s not the point. The music is beautiful, the gameplay is simple and fun, and the whole design is very interesing. The former is a whole game engine including a level editor and friendly installation procedure — anyone can design their own stories and share them online. Very cool stuff.
I love games with a strong exploration side. Myst (PC), Shadow of the Colossus (PS2) and even Freelancer (PC) were great in that aspect — one could dally as much as one wanted, travelling about, seeing sights and listening to the birds and the wind (well, not in Freelancer, of course — in space no one can hear you… never mind). I remember playing Starcraft II (Amiga) in the old days and marvelling at the number of planets and things I could find. Oblivion (PC) shows that nowadays we can still have exploration gameplay as when we played Drakken (Amiga).
What is it about exploration games? The “it’s a big world out there” feeling? I think it reminds us of that intrisic fascination we have with everything when we’re newborns, toddlers learning that fire is hot and stone floors are cold, curiously pressing buttons to see what happens. It’s a big reason why we play games, after all.
I think it’s time to pop SotC back in. Damn, that game is crazy good.