Moonlighter 2 carves out its own place in gaming, being a mix of a delightful shop-keeping simulator, with its newly added action rogue-like mechanics to differentiate itself from the gameplay of the original. Every change over the original game was welcome to me, with deeper and more varied combat, and more engaging shop and town management. It’s a tale of two games, and Digital Sun Games has given us an improved and more rewarding experience across both.
Gigasword is a mix of an old school art style, Metroidvania progression, Souls-like combat, and the addition of a weighted weapon that changes how you solve puzzles and platform. All together it makes for an interesting and enjoyable gameplay feel that I was happy to engage with for hours. I felt less enthused about the aimless backtracking, which could have been fixed with better signposting or a more nuanced map. While those issues did frustrate me, I still would recommend this to folks looking for a throwback to older titles, with an original twist to keep things fresh for the modern day.
Goodnight Universe stands apart with an engrossing sci-fi story about family drama and our place in the world, while giving us a taste of the super-powered fantasy of a young child. It delivers on both those prompts, giving me a gaming experience I wouldn’t put down until I rolled credits. In a year of grand stories, unforgettable characters, and new personal favorite games, Goodnight Universe cements itself alongside the year’s best titles.
Undusted: Letters from the Past is a satisfying mix of what it presents to the player, a lo-fi cozy cleaning game that leaves me wanting to clean things perfectly over and over, while also presenting a narrative about family that pulls at the heart. I enjoyed myself so much that I played it entirely in one session, about two hours in total, finding myself enraptured in the art, music, story, and gameplay of this fantastic game about cleaning up old things.
Cozy gaming is not my main genre of gaming, but Is This Seat Taken? gives me that good brain feeling as I perfected each scenario. While I found the story not entirely interesting, the gameplay loop kept me more than intrigued as I kept passengers happy across its many levels. If doing a few levels before bed had a poster child, I could see this game contending for that prize.