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Games
The 5 best new games for under £20
Play classic games without spending a fortune.
The last few months have been incredibly busy for people who like to play all the latest blockbusters, with the Nintendo Switch coming out, and Zelda, Horizon Zero Dawn, and Nier Automata all raking in high scores. But if you fancy playing something that won’t cost a lot of money and won’t take up hundreds of hours, you should definitely check out these five brilliant games, all of which cost under £20.
1. Night In The Woods
Perhaps you can’t quite relate to being a ennui-ridden cat who’s just dropped out of university and has to move back to her depressing small-town American home where spooky, creepy stuff is going on behind the scenes, but there are elements of Night In The Woods that anyone who knows what it's like to be a teenager will identify with.
Maybe it’s getting back together with your old band and settling back into the same old routines, or perhaps it’s reconnecting with an ex who broke your heart years ago. Mae the cat can leap around rooftops in Possum Springs, but its the interactions with the town's residents that makes Night In The Woods such a brilliantly unsettling and uniquely written adventure. Its youths seem youthful, real, and appealing at the same time as being just awful, broken people. Just like real people are.
Price: £18.99 (PS4, Xbox One) or £14.99 (Steam)
2. Tumbleseed
If you don’t fancy heavy narrative and awkward teen fumblings, Tumbleseed might be more up your alley: a sweet, candy-coloured 'rolly roguelike' that’s sort of like a platformer that had a bit too much brandy at the party.
You have to guide a wee seed through dangerous landscapes, avoiding holes and spikes and things that want to kill you by tilting the little platform it’s on and rolling it left and right, ever so gently. Later on in the game you unlock more powerful seeds, capable of standing up for themselves and taking on all the bad guys. It’s especially brilliant on the Nintendo Switch.
Price: £11.99 (Nintendo Switch), £11.49 (PS4), £10.99 (PC)
3. GNOG
If you love the sound of a game that combines puzzle mechanics with sugary visuals and toybox-like playfulness, then GNOG is the game for you. Finding your way around big, dollhouse-esque monster faces, each one filled with surprises and sweetness, is what GNOG is all about. It’s not so much a game about finding the solution as it is having fun with exploration and curiosity – poking and prodding and wondering if that eye is secretly a button, or if that ear is secretly a drawer. It’s a lovely, childlike bit of fun with a surprising amount of depth for those who love puzzles.
Price: £11.99 (PS4)
4. Loot Rascals
If you love Civilisation but wish it was maybe 200 per cent more irreverent and daft and Scottish, then… you have very specific needs, but Loot Rascals might scratch that itch. It’s a turn-based roguelike game that requires you to build up a deck of cards to beat monsters, and just like GNOG and Tumbleseed, a lot of its charm is to be found in its gorgeously alien art. It’s also excellently voiced, with a chirpy Scottish robot teapot – sorry, genie’s lamp – serving as your generous and slightly sassy guide.
Price: £11.99 (PS4), £10.99 (Steam)
5. Flinthook
Paying tribute to both retro, one-screen platformers and, uh, Spider-Man, Flinthook has this wonderfully fluid feel to it that makes you feel powerful as you catapult yourself around each level with the use of your hookshot. It might take a while to learn the ropes (the literal ropes) but once you’ve got the hang of it, you’ll be swinging around, firing missiles and dodging enemies like a cross between a very nimble monkey and Metroid's Samus Aran. If you miss the pixel graphics of the best retro platformers, Flinthook will be a pleasant addition to your collection, taking a familiar style and updating it with fantastically dynamic animations and gorgeous colours.
Price: £10.99 (PS4, Steam), £11.99 (Xbox One)
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