Lane Martin
The Song of Seven Chapter One delivers a fun, though flawed adventure game.
Ember offers a fun RPG experience from a rising indie developer reminiscent of classical games of the genre. Technical flaws and over-simplified mechanics mar an otherwise quality experience.
Satire and nostalgia are not enough to make a game good. Games should be fun, and Barrow Hill: The Dark Path is not.
Clockwork Empires is broken, buggy, and frustrating, but manages to provide something very fun and satisfying for the right kind of player. There are no easy way to play, but perseverance will be rewarded.
Owlboy is a phenomenal adventure that succeeds in telling a captivating story with interesting characters and enjoyable gameplay. You should give it a try.
Killing Floor 2 has a lot of potential, and what it has is often pretty fun, but not enough to keep players attention for long.
SpiritSphere is a fun game with a few missteps. The unpredictable difficulty and lack of online multiplayer can be extremely frustrating when other aspects are so fun.
She Remembered Caterpillars is a beautiful puzzle beset with gorgeous art and music and a somewhat frustrating difficulty curve.
Beat Cop is a quiet little indie game and punches way above its weight in terms of presentation, theme, and fun.
The Sexy Brutale is a fantastic game that combines style and unique mechanics to amazing effect. I truly hope to see more games like this in the future.
Thimbleweed Park is an excellent experience made by masters of their craft. Every speck of it drips with quality and care.
Hacknet: Labyrinths does everything the base game only better and harder. There are new tools and more story to look forward too, but it ends up just being more Hacknet, not that that's a bad thing.
Forts is a fun 2-D RTS with some interesting new mechanics thrown in. It suffers from a few bugs and an unnecessary story, but is generally an entertaining experience.
Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 is good at sniping, but is hampered by needless open world mechanics and poor design choices.
Expedition: Viking is a fun slightly strategic RPG that utilizes an interesting theme to great effect. Unfortunately, it doesn't take enough chances to really be memorable.
The Long Journey Home is an interesting exploration game that succeeds in a lot of ways, but never really seems to shine.
An unforgettable world, an indefatigable enemy, a somewhat meaningless protagonist, a really good time.
A hit or miss story with a solid battle system, a cute art style, and some interesting ideas.
A moving and earnest independent adventure game. My favorite thing I've played all year.
A fun procedurally generated rpg adventure with a punishing difficulty that will require multiple playthroughs.