Welcome back, Game Club! It's a brand new year, and we should make sure to start it on the right foot, right? There's no better way to do that, I think, then to play a game we know is going to be great. Since we just gave Portal 2 our Game of the Year Award, I'm pretty sure it's a good choice.
I know we normally try to play new games that we haven't tried before, but we've never played Portal 2 together, and there are so many things to so see, do and experience that we'll find another play-through rewarding, especially when we get to see it from so many perspectives.
In case you've never participated in a Game Club before, here's the deal: Our goal is to play games together so that we can share our experiences and discover the game as a community. We meet each week to discuss our experiences with the chosen game, including its narrative and mechanical themes and our own responses to them.
Our meetings start at 4pm Eastern every Thursday, and last an hour or so after the post is published. (Not that you can't keep it going.) The goal of the Game Club to get everybody talking, so don't be shy about putting out your ideas - That's what we're here for.
Since many of us may have already finished the game, I think we should take a different approach to our meetings this week. Instead of discussing the game chronologically, we'll be tackling a different aspect the game: Story, Mechanics, Puzzle Design, and Co-Op. That doesn't mean you shouldn't all play the game again, but this will hopefully will allow everyone to speak freely without worrying about spoilers. There will still be a suggested pace for our play-through, but every discussion will be about the whole game, rather than where we've played to.
Here's our schedule:
January 12th: Puzzle Design (Chapters 1-3)
January 19th: Mechanics (Chapters 4-6)
January 26th: Story (7-9)
February 2nd: Co-Op (Co-Op Campaign)
As usual, we will remind of each meeting with a blip on Kotaku the day before, and we will also post to alert you of any scheduling changes or other complications should they arise. See you next week!