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Magpies and my family have a history. My mum, for some reason known only to her, my Catholic grandmother and, presumably, God, spits whenever she sees one. Apparently something terrible happens if she doesn't. This confusing childhood wound is opened every time my wife sees one, as she has to ritualistically greet them one by one - again, in order for something terrible not to happen. Also, a magpie once laughed at my new jumper when I was 4, but I'm told that was actually a seagull. Mistaken identity or not, the magpies and I now have legitimate beef. After playing the curious flap-'em-up Secrets of Raetikon from Broken Rules (makers of And Yet It Moves), I will actively hate any magpie I see in the real world, as they're such an extraordinarily aggravating group of ornithological oiks in this game that any sense of pity I may have once had for them has gone forever.
In Secrets of Raetikon, you play as a flame-coloured bird in a beautifully drawn, angular 2D world, and are simply asked to discover said secrets of Raetikon. The game encourages players to plug in a controller and then lets them loose on the two-dimensional equivalent of an open world. Press a button to flap, hold another to grab onto things with your beak and tap a third to let out a few tweets (the games journo's favourite).
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