Out of Hands

In the Hand of Dante review: Oscar Isaac leads a languid drama as both Italian poet Dante and New York author Nick Tosches.

In a time where AI is insidiously seeping into almost everything around us, even our video games, completely 100% handmade art made with heart is becoming almost novel. That’s why I was drawn to Out of Words–it’s an ambitious, gorgeous stop-motion co-op 2D platformer where everything, down to each blade of grass and piece of moss, is meticulously handmade in the real world with physical mediums. Out of Words’ story is even inspired by a poem.

In an age where single-player first-person shooters are slowly going extinct because they only make money for their publisher once while multiplayer live-service shooters vie for our time and attention on a daily basis (and often contain lots of bullsh*t, like microtransactions and/or drawn-out gameplay loops), Metro 2039’s single-player-only craftsmanship and attention to detail after my first few hours with it have me already prepared to call it my favorite first-person shooter in a long time.

Game of Thrones: War of Westeros is shaping up to be an impressive RTS, especially for folks that are looking to scratch that base-building fantasy itch. Still, from the other three launch factions, to the campaign mode, to even how larger matches will play out, all remain as much of a mystery as the release date for Winds of Winter. But for fans that have been hungry for some base-building, PlaySide looks poised to deliver quite the feast.

Polygon demo'd the Pokémon Smart Play sets from Lego, which come out on August 1.