Buckshot Roulette is easily one of the year's most pleasant surprises, even if everything about its presentation is the opposite of "pleasant," ironically. It's a unique gem that puts a further twist on an already twisted bit of gambling, with gameplay that requires a sharp memory, a strategic mind and the occasional prayer towards Lady Luck. Throw in a warped industrial style that gives everything an eerie look and feel, and you have a delightfully deranged game more than worth taking a gamble on.
Botany Manor is a genuine delight, a charming little adventure game with a nice story, a lot of creativity in its plant designs and unique botanical work, and amazing puzzles that feel like a throwback to the classics of yore while having their own beautiful twists based around thorough exploration. It's an absolute gem, so make sure you don't overlook it just because Victoran-era botany doesn't seem all that intriguing at first. As it turns out, it can make for one amazing game.
While Gorogoa is one of this year's shortest experiences, it's still one that's worth checking out, as it turns a relatively simple idea into one of the year's most compelling and innovative puzzle games.
Tacoma doesn't match the excellence of Gone Home in the story department, but nonetheless manages to provide a quick yet engaging adventure.
Minor issues aside, The Deadly Tower of Monsters is a pleasant surprise indeed and a particularly impressive budget action game showcasing a lot of creativity.
Planet Coaster clearly has aspirations of expanding itself through a larger base of players, embracing user-created content to the fullest and allowing players to show off their various parks to each other.
In the end, those who are more familiar with works of Nitroplus will get the most out of Nitroplus Blasterz (shockingly enough), but even those with no prior knowledge of the included franchises should easily be able to enjoy it.
Despite the complete curveball the plot gradually throws at you as it moves along, Kathy Rain is a great adventure game with a story that easily gets you hooked and a mystery filled with a grade-A level of challenge to tackle.
What originally comes off as something completely mindless ends up turning out to be an incredibly exhilarating action games that truly tests your skills…and also happens to have a lot of fun moments that are completely mindless. OmniBus is a crude blast of old-school action that conceals some incredibly addictive gameplay and its bus-crashing glory is worth checking out. Heck, at the very least, it understands stylistic suck better than 12 Oz. Mouse.
While it ends up feeling a bit like the weakest game in the series so far, even a weak Zero Escape game is still an absolute delight, and Zero Time Dilemma is no exception.
You will die in Wasted. You will die a lot, it is a given. But thanks to its easy-to-learn, enjoyable gameplay, great use of roguelike elements and perfectly implemented Thunderdome-esque 1980s atmosphere, you will easily find yourself coming back again and again, ready to cough up more extra lives like the the arcade games of its era.
Despite a mind-boggling choice to switch things up drastically midway, Quadrilateral Cowboy is an innovative puzzler that plays with both the angles of hacking and heist films in a terrific way, making for something that those who enjoy brain-teasers with a bit of spice will enjoy.
Even with some moments where the game feels a bit too frantic, damned if Okhlos isn't a ton of fun.
Pan-Pan may provide a short journey in the end, but it’s definitely worth setting out on.
Diaries of a Spaceport Janitor is described as an “anti-adventure” game, and almost defies any sort of judgement as such, since it feels like it deviates from the norm in more than a few ways.
The difficulty in the later levels may be a turnoff for some, but that aside, Lichtspeer is highly enjoyable, action packed and a perfect blend of old-school action and new-school design.
Developers Teku Studios clearly poured a lot of love and effort into Candle and it shows.
A lot of what I’ve just written may sound like I didn’t enjoy Let It Die that much, but no, I did enjoy it quite a lot indeed.
Wild Guns Reloaded may be a splash of cold water in the face reminding you of just how hard games from the 8-bit and 16-bit eras could be, but it’s also a reminder of how damn fun and enjoyable they can be as well, proving that some titles are indeed timeless.
Despite some issues in blending its story together with the rest of the experience, She Remembered Caterpillars is still a highly enjoyable puzzle game, one that clearly had a lot of hard work put into every area possible in order to create something so simple yet elegant and challenging.