Those who lumber Proteus with the argument that it isn't really a game are missing out. Ed Key and David Kanaga's rich, colourful world is like a video game designed by Mark Rothko: the landscape you direct your character around in the first person is recognisable as an island, but everything is rendered in vivid blocks of colour, minus any realistic details. Whilst most games have an objective, and ways of completing said objective usually by solving puzzles and/or killing everything in sight Proteus...doesn't. There's no narrative, no built-in force driving you to play it. You wash up on randomly generated island, with wildlife and day/night cycles. You walk around. It's more of a meditative experience, which is where the Rothko comparison comes in again. The artist's paintings simply blocks of colour on a canvas are supposed to be surveyed for a long time, discovering patterns in the way the paint has been set down, or simply letting the piece wash over you. Proteus is a game that washes over you, in the best way.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
