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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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The Ship free weekend

No, not a trip to the country.

Those of you who still haven't tried The Ship, Outerlight's peculiar first-person murder mystery, will be able to check it out for free this weekend.

That's because Valve's doing one of its Free Weekends, and they have a commendable interpretation of the "weekend" period too, since The Ship's free-ness will span the period of time between 1pm PST on Thursday and the same time on Sunday.

The Ship, in case you missed it, is a bit of an acquired taste but ultimately surprisingly fulfilling despite some quirks. Players are given a target to track down on one of a range of floating levels, and then wander around stalking their mark - with the other player having to figure it out without the benefit of computerised notification.

It's tactical, funny, quietly addictive and doesn't cost much. Especially when it's free. So why not read our review and give the game a go on Steam this weekend?