The art is fake, the boss is blind, and the job is yours

Have I mentioned today how much I love indie games? I just came off 007: First Light, which — while a very, very good action adventure romp — is still very much the kind of action-adventure romp the triple-A space is full of at the moment. If you want the kind of creativity that'll re-convince you gaming is an artform, you've got to look at the indie sphere.

Take, for instance, Your Painting, Sir, which might genuinely be the most creative puzzle game idea I've seen in years. I imagine the fact that it's the debut project of a tiny, obscure team in the Netherlands might have something to do with that. The pitch is simple: you're the trusted servant of a Mr. Burns-esque art collector who must frantically assemble forgeries from newspaper clippings to keep from getting fired. Luckily, your boss is getting up there in years, and will barely notice the difference… right?

It's a pitch so out of left field it could only have come from a studio not staking hundreds of millions of dollars on it. While there's no release date beyond a nebulous "Q3 2026" yet, this is a game I'll be watching with great interest.