Psygnosis: Games People Play - Tome One - Book Review By Britt – Author - Christophe Boucourt / Publisher - Editions 64K 🔖📖 @editions64K

This is the first book that we’ve covered from French publishing house Editions 64K, and after reading it, I very much hope that it isn’t the last! For those out there with an interest in the early days of computing – and especially the Amiga – Psygnosis: Games People Play – Tome One covers the beloved UK developer / publisher Psygnosis from the days of their original formation right up until the mid-‘90s, leaving you thirsting for more, as Tome 2 promises to take us from 1995 through to the eventual studio closure in 2012.

First off, Editions 64K are a pleasure to work with and take their processes seriously, the book turned up swiftly and was incredibly well-packaged, almost to Bitmap Book levels of safety, with thick polystyrene corners ensuring that even during a bumpy delivery ride, your book will turn up in pristine condition. The cover of the book is mostly black, with a bold and stylish classic Psygnosis logo taking centre stage. ‘Psygnosis Tome One’ in a classic Psygnosis typeface runs down the spine, with the close-up ‘Owlface’ logo on the back, with a couple of blocks of synopsis text below.

Opening up the book, on the very first page is that familiar logo again, and the most recognisably-styled ’Psygnosis’ font below, on the opposite page is a jumble of the myriad game titles that came from this behemoth of a company, illustrating the scope and impact they had at the time. 

A couple of pages in, there’s a few words from author Christophe Boucourt that acts as an ‘in memoriam’ section, it’s surprisingly touching, and I wanted to highlight a section that really struck a chord with me, “To all those who are no longer here to see how far their imagination has taken us” I thought it was a beautiful sentiment, and it put me in the mindset of really drinking the book in as it humanises the incredible talents and efforts that go into the games that we sometimes take for granted and added an extra layer of depth and immersion to my reading.

The book actually begins pre-Psygnosis, covering how the company initially came to be, briefly going over Imagine Software – yes, THAT story crops up! – before going on through a chronological run year-by-year of the games released, it breaks these down alphabetically in each year, meaning that fans of Walker will have to wait a bit during their reading!

The pages aren’t uniform in their design, which works to the book’s advantage as it weaves between genres and developers, for instance, some pages are quite text-heavy, whilst others feature shots of the box art, in-game screenshots, and pictures of the development teams, offices, or company logos etc. it adds a nice layer of visual variety, breaking up things quite nicely as you make your way through the book. 

The style of text is also appreciated here, with facts and information being paramount, and the personal opinions of the author being more of a background flavour, this works as there’s so much information to impart, that personal takes on every item would massively pad out the book – as it is, it feels tightly written and informative, with the editing also being of a high quality, I spotted a couple of typos, but scattered throughout a 400+ page book, these really are negligible.

As well as Christophe Boucourt’s voice, there are also others who have been interviewed for the book that add context to design choices, developmental tales, and crucial decisions, adding further variety to the texts. These are really welcomed as it takes you back to the time that these games were released into the world, and seeing developmental notes, or reading how Roger’s Dean’s seminal artwork impacted Psygnosis is entrancing stuff and draws you into key moments of gaming history. The range of those interviewed – from artists through to level designers, programmers, directors, play testers, and audio specialists mean that you get different takes on how each game came to be.

SUMMARY

Christophe Boucourt has written an incredibly comprehensive book on this chunk of Psygnosis’ existence, and courtesy of Editions 64K, it has been captured in a beautiful hardback format (a digital version is available) with glossy, rich pages full of wonderful moments of gaming history. 

It’s a big thumbs up for us here at GF, this is a book recommended for not just Psygnosis fans, but also those who are interested in the history of the medium, as well as Amiga fans, and those who fondly remember the days of bedroom coders and beyond, a glorious read for all!

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