It’s that time again. That time, every four years, when you sit on your couch, eating chips, watching athletes at the top of their game competing while you shout at the TV that they “didn’t stick the landing.” How else should one watch the Olympic Games?
This year, the Olympics are in Paris, and if you’ve got full-on Olympic fever, make sure to check out this free browser-based RPG, which sees you competing in a slightly different take on the games.
Released in 2021 to celebrate the 2020 Summer Olympics (which were delayed because of COVID-19), the Doodle Champion Island Games Google Doodle casts you as Calico Lucky, who must challenge and beat seven Sports Champions to collect scrolls and become the ultimate Champion of the island.
To beat these Champions, you must compete in seven sports mini-games: Table Tennis, Skateboarding, Archery, Rugby, Artistic Swimming, Climbing, and the Marathon. Each of these mini-games has different gameplay; for example, in Table Tennis, you simply need to be agile and press left-click at the right moments, while Artistic Swimming is more of a rhythm mini-game like DDR.
Each mini-game is lots of fun, and most aren’t too challenging, but Doodle Champion Island Games‘ 8-bit art style and soundtrack are the real winners here. It’s a beautiful game, and collecting those seven scrolls can easily be done during a lunch break (while you watch the real Olympics).
This game may be a few years old, but it’s now my go-to during the Olympics season—and hopefully, it’ll be yours, too.
