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Long read: The beauty and drama of video games and their clouds

"It's a little bit hard to work out without knowing the altitude of that dragon..."

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Double Fine's whimsical adventure Headlander due this month on PS4 and PC

An out of body experience.

Double Fine's sci-fi action platformer Headlander will launch on 26th July for PS4 and PC, publisher Adult Swim has announced.

Set in a future where mankind has collectively uploaded its consciousness into the cloud, there is only one human still tethered to their corporeal form - with the caveat that they're just a head.

But they're a floating head, thankfully. One equipped with a tractor beam of sorts that lets them rip the noggins off other citizens' shoulders before "headlanding" into them and taking over their bodies. It sounds cruel, but these are people with their minds literally in the cloud, so yanking their heads off is more akin to stealing a car in GTA. Still a jerk move, but you've got humanity to save from an overbearing AI.

Having seen a brief demo of Headlander at PAX Prime last year I suggested that it could be Double Fine's most whimsical game since Psychonauts.

Here's a new trailer:

Watch on YouTube