Joshua Vanderwall
Stories is the perfect game for a story explorer, but the inherent repetition of levels will be offputting to gamers less keen on replaying games.
I can't imagine a game so fundamentally about number crunching being universally appealing, but the audience it will appeal to will absolutely love it.
Ashes of the Singularity has limited depth in some aspects, but as an RTS experience, and particularly as a first showing for its Oxide Engine foundation, it is absolutely stellar.
You don't even have to really like the match-3 genre to enjoy Tumblestone. Barring some sort of moral or principled objection to the genre, you definitely need to play it. It is a rare breed of game that offers exactly what it promises, and does so flawlessly.
Master of Orion delivers exactly what it promises, but the depth of strategy games in the mid-90s does leave a bit to be desired.
Chime Sharp is an incredibly simple game, just like the original, but the dynamic soundtrack and mesmerizing gameplay makes for an exceptional experience.
If Civ VI doesn't count as a Great Work, I don't know what should. I'd display it in my Hermitage.
Puzzle fanatics will enjoy it, even in solo mode. Players looking for some widely-appealing games to play with non-gamer family and friends will definitely find value here, and may discover they're no longer the best player in the room.
Endless Space 2 doesn't sugarcoat the 4x experience, and it can be daunting when you realize that all 600 icons on the screen have a tooltip you need to read to make just this one decision. Despite all that complexity, none of it seems unnecessary, which means every one of those tooltips has essential information.
If you loved Tekken in the 90s, you'll love Tekken 7. It's a beautiful paint job, rather than a functional redesign, and it is glorious.