Oh, don’t get me wrong, I did try ‘amazeing’ and ‘corny’ and ‘crop a look at this’ in the title, but sometimes a game’s own crazed concept is the only smart thing to lead on. Granted, I don’t have the greatest sense of how Maize will play, but concept+trailer is a winner at least: “Maize is the story of what happens when two government scientists misinterpret a memo and create sentient corn.” It’s also really very pretty. Though a mention that it ‘channels Monty Python’ is RED FLAG RED FLAG.



Monty Python’s great and all, but it’s also half a century old and we really should have fresher touchstones by now, but more importantly namechecking it is often lazy shorthand for lazy splapstick absurdity. Better to either a) name-drop something more modern if you’re going to namedrop anything at all or b) be damned sure that you’re actually subversive as well as silly, as subversion is the real reason Python made such an indelible impression on British popular culture.

I digress! Let’s have a look at this lovely trailer for Maize:



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Yes, please, I should like to know more. That is some ace character design. Here’s another one, who is described as a grumpy Russian knock-off Teddy Ruxpin:

Here’s as much synopsis as we’re getting for now:

“Maize is an absurdist, first-person adventure with a cornucopia of highbrow puzzles to solve, talking oddities to meet, and mysteries to be harvested, coming later this fall to PC. “Explore the desolate farm for clues to the past, venture deeper into the underground research facility, and make a few…colorful friends along the way.”

I suspect it’s going to live or die on the humour, and whether or not that can live up the delightful concept. Please, please no dead parrot gags.

Maize is out this Autumn and comes from Toronto outfit Finish Line games, who’ve only made something called Cel Damage HD for PlayStation thus far.