Broaden your horizons on a galaxy quest: PETER HOSKIN reviews Slipways and Ynglet
Slipways (PC, £13.99)
Verdict: Star quality
Ynglet (PC, £5.79)
Rating: 
Verdict: Small but mighty
In just a few weeks, the squillionaire founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, will rocket into space with his brother. If you’re on more of a budget, might I recommend Slipways instead?
For little more than a tenner, this game will take you to the stars then give you something that even Bezos’s bucks can’t afford: a galactic empire.
Starting with a single planet, you spread your influence until you’ve colonised an entire sector.
In truth, many fine games have offered this before now, including Stellaris and the Galactic Civilizations series. But those games are so full of things to do, from micromanaging workforces to dating space royals, that you’ll need a few spare Earth years to complete them.
Thanks to its evocative graphics and music, as well as the inclusion of little missions along the way, Slipways feels as rich and strategic as any of the bigger games
The joy of Slipways is that it makes the universe simple. Your map has a scattering of planets on it, and you join them up —click by click — according to which resources are needed where. A single game takes less than an hour.
In many respects, it feels like a traditional puzzle, drawing lines between different-coloured dots.
But thanks to its evocative graphics and music, as well as the inclusion of little missions along the way, Slipways feels as rich and strategic as any of the bigger games.
And it might end up making similar demands on your time. With an empire founded at hyperspeed, how about just one more?
From outer space to inner space. Ynglet casts you as a strange protozoaic organism, bouncing around a molecular cosmos.
It’s being sold as a ‘platformer without platforms’ — which is to say, like a Mario game, but also entirely unlike a Mario game. The feeling is more one of free-flow.
When you’re getting it right, the sense of momentum is tremendously satisfying.
And it looks great, too: a microscape of pen-drawn shapes and gratifying colours. I could have stayed there longer than Ynglet’s two hours.
From outer space to inner space. Ynglet casts you as a strange protozoaic organism, bouncing around a molecular cosmos
When you’re getting it right, the sense of momentum is tremendously satisfying. And it looks great, too: a microscape of pen-drawn shapes and gratifying colours
It’s being sold as a ‘platformer without platforms’ — which is to say, like a Mario game, but also entirely unlike a Mario game. The feeling is more one of free-flow