A COLLECTION ASIDE Like everyone, MEGHANN O’NEILL has been at home a lot recently, avoiding pandemics.
It’s all stories and systems for MEGHANN O’NEILL this month, but in one game or the other, not both at the same time. Except, of course, that systems can often inspire the stories you will tell in your imagination, as you play, and that stories can be structured in systemic ways, too. Video games; we love them because they combine things, like a town made from many colours, or a collection of murderous food. Just decide which special drink you’d like to order after you die now. It won’t be your last. Until it is.
TOWNSCAPER
DEVELOPER Oskar Stålberg PRICE $8.50 AVAILABILITY Early Access
WEBSITE https://store.steampowered.com/app/1291340/Townscaper/
Townscaper opened suddenly and spectacularly, like accidentally falling in love. The initial lack of familiarity meant that each investigation had a surprising outcome. I chose a colour, placed a piece and always ended up with something that was unexpectedly delightful; wonky dwellings on stilts, charming manor houses, rainbow coloured extensions, impossible bridges and complex structures I couldn’t even name for you. I made a temple, by accident. There was no no expectation, up front, beyond the clumsy creation of something beautiful.
I stopped playing and started looking at the castles of other players on Reddit. They were impressive.
As with all great infatuations, the risk of alienation exists, but remains invisible, for a time. I became tempted to see if I could create a more ordered town; houses in a row, districts based on some imagined idea of
