Image credit: Studio Lifeforms

If I ever go looking for my significant other and find myself inside a planet-sized megamind that's on the verge of gaining consciousness, I will not run around zapping the cerebral fauna with my magic handcannons. I will not jump on or scan anything. Instead, I will heed the lessons of Harlan Ellison and curl regretfully into a ball, awaiting my transformation into a puddle of mournful goo.

It's one of many ways I apparently differ from the protagonist of Etre , a new third-person action adventure from Studio Lifeforms, in which you "explore an interconnected labyrinth of luminous architecture, solve spatial puzzles, and engage in fluid combat as you search for your lost love and decide what this new intelligence will become."

I've been keeping Etre in reserve like a health potion, after reading about it on cheery RPS fanzine PC Gamer . Etre has lovely colours. It's the perfect antidote to, for example, a day's worth of writing about layoffs and generative AI .…