On this episode of the fortnightly Waypoint UK Podcast, senior ed sort Mike Diver and regular co-conspirator Kate Gray are joined by Paul Kilduff-Taylor of Oxford’s Mode 7 Games, to discuss the studio’s forthcoming releases: Frozen Synapse 2 and Tokyo 42. The former is the sequel to Mode 7’s breakout hit of 2011, a simultaneous tactics strategy game that’s honestly easier to play than it is to properly explain, which earned massively celebratory reviews from the likes of Edge and Eurogamer. Well done, that game. Frozen Synapse 2 promises to deliver “open-world tactics” when it comes out later in 2017, and looked pretty grand from the whole five minutes of it that I saw at this year’s Rezzed. Probably out before that is (the pictured above) Tokyo 42, made by the two-man team of SMAC Games and the first game to be published by Mode 7. Now this I did play a fair chunk of at Rezzed, and while my keyboard control skills are pitiful—which won’t be an issue on release, as it’s also destined for consoles—I’ve got to say I fell a little bit in love. It looks great, its environments bustling with tiny little people (ready to be gunned down, if that’s your thing), and the perspective-shifting element, whereby you spin the buildings around the player character, essentially, is a massively satisfying mechanic. Ask the makers for references and they’ll give you original Syndicate and Grand Theft Auto as touchstones. Thumbs up, here. But don’t listen to me go on about them—listen to our podcast below to hear one of the people actually working on these things get into detail on where they’re at, what they’re all about, and why the certification process isn’t really a rabbit hole you want to wander down in the course of a casual conversation. There's time for reader questions and a lot more, too.
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