It’s good when it works, and if your machine can handle it.
Have squirrel, have gun, will travel
Cryptmaster is just about vibes, specifically, the vibe of cruising around a dungeon typing words while a sardonic, Vincent Price-style narrator complains about what an idiot you are (you are) and you try to fight monsters while instantly forgetting every word you ever knew, all in glorious black and white.
A decent-to-good WW2 RTS with a puzzling always online requirement
If you read all that…first of all, thank you, but if you went “I understood none of that, that is the most boring thing I’ve ever read,” then this probably isn’t your kind of game. If you said, “That sounds like the most amazing thing I have ever heard,” then you can do all that and more in Warno.
So if that kind of management and absurdity sounds appealing–and I did enjoy frowning at my goblin roster and trying to min-max stats in my goblin eugenics program–then hiding beneath the cutesy storybook exterior is the fiendish heart of a pretty good roguelike.
Finally, a good action RPG.
Crawl through the ditches and hide in the bushes and stab a Nazi in his throat-u-la!
Come on ride the depressing train (WOO WOO!)
STAR TREKKING ACROSS THE UNIVERSE! FINALLY A STAR TREK GAME THAT DOESN’T MAKE ME CURSE!
So if you don’t mind the fact that it’s not Darkest Dungeon But More and it’s Darkest Dungeon But Different…it’s worth caveating that the first 10 hours are so are basically just punching you in the face over and over again and normally I don’t put up with that at all before going “okay yeah but then it gets good” but I am an unemployed goth degenerate, so what else am I gonna do?
Frogwares really really likes doing Sherlock Holmes games and there is a deep affection for the characters woven throughout.
Surprisingly Deep And Very Silly
Build a pyramid to my greatness. Then figure out how to not die of malaria.
See the swamp and join the cult!
Sitting around making weed smoke. Not the fun kind.
There’s really nothing like Blacktail as long as you don’t mind the video game stuff stumbling over the weird story stuff. Or play in story mode, I suppose.
I think they’ve done it. This is the classic Dwarf Fortress experience but with nice graphics, some quality of life improvements, and more robust mouse support. Strike the earth! Don’t slip on the puke!
I think the real appeal of Victoria 3 and the series overall is it’s very self-directed. Picking one game can result in a completely different experience. Managing the diplomacy and economy of the British Empire at its peak is absolutely insane, then during the next run, you are trying to do things like “figure out how to even have diplomatic relations” and “wtf how do i economy???” in some backwater nation you are gracing with your benevolent rulership.
If you like roguelike deckbuilders, 80s action movies, and synthwave, Nitro Kid is a banger.