After Us is an atmospheric platforming adventure that leaves you thinking about the beauty in extinction rather than the horrors. With slick controls, appealing environments to explore and a tranquil nonintrusive soundtrack, fans of titles like Journey will likely enjoy the exploration of a surreal and desolate world of post-human life.
Ravenlok is an action adventure that’s heavily inspired by the whimsical world of Alice In Wonderland. Although simple in combat, adventure and quest, it offers a creative and visually appealing art style and environment that will satisfy those looking for a short adventure.
Whilst having well paced gameplay, cute cottagecore aesthetic and whimsical environments. Mail Time has been delivered with the video game version of annoying spam; significant screen tear, unfixable features in game impacting the story and texture popping. A lovely game which can only be recommended once the spam is returned to sender.
Plantera 2: Golden Acorn is worth the visit to the garden if you like the idle sim/clicker genre. More of an interactive screensaver than a videogame, it’s still a delightful, adorable visual garden. It runs on the same natural formula of the genre, remaining accessible and easy to play. Cute, adorable, albeit a bit basic, but enjoyable in the short term.
Chef Life: A Restaurant Simulator captures both the stress, gratification, and realism of the heat in the kitchen. With the opportunity to juggle many different knives at once, such as prepping, managing staff, and cooking, there’s a lot to this game. Players can show individual creativity through plate and restaurant design, or focus simply on the meal. It’s a solid addition to the many different cooking games within the simulation genre.
Children of Silentown has a thought-provoking story, with an art style that is impossible not to enjoy. A point and click adventure spanning over five chapters to enjoy – if you can get past the infuriating mini games – there’s much to be fond of. Unfortunately, the story ends abruptly, but your journey up till then will be full of mystery and intrigue.
The hugely anticipated Hogwarts Legacy does not disappoint. An early GOTY contender offers interesting storytelling parallels with the Harry Potter franchise, beautiful and glorious fan favourite locations, and an array of exciting combat and collectibles for hours of entertainment.
SEASON: A letter to the future is a soothing and immersive world of exploration and atmosphere. It’s an easy recommendation for indie lovers with an appetite for adventure and discovery. The game revels in beautiful fidelity and a wonderful art style, containing a journey of memory, storytelling and community.
A solid sequel to compliment a wonderful franchise, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake offers a much more coherent adventure platformer than its predecessor. With each world feeling like it’s own TV episode, and a fun story throughout, there is a lot of fun to be had within this entry.
Potion Craft is yet another addition to the simulation genre but manages to set itself out from the crowd by blending relaxing vibes with engaging strategy. It’s visually appealing and has the potential to steal an evening without you noticing, but it can get repetitive and frustrating at times.
Youropa is a puzzle platformer with a unique, gravity defying twist – but it’s not quite enough. You could easily find yourself getting lost in the pleasant atmosphere, but you’re just as likely to enter a void of chasing your own tail.
A delightful refreshing new story for a cosy sim blends with an extremely creative puzzler in Lonesome Village, which features a cute art style and relaxing vibes throughout. With a few patches to address crashing, it could be among the best in the genre. Even with these issues though, the game gets my recommendation with a caveat to save often so you don’t lose your progress.
A Little to the Left has quaint, cosy design married with a multitude of gratifying puzzles and a mischievous cat. If you have an eye for organisation and live for the order of the everyday things in life, this’ll tick your boxes.
Set in a picturesque village inspired by real world French Brittany, Broken Pieces is an adventure thriller game with a great foundation. The premise, visuals and soundtrack are all interesting and make a great first impression. The execution of everything else however is a bit rough around the edges. With questionable combat elements, convoluted puzzle mechanics and a story that feels incomplete, Broken Pieces feels a little too much like its title.
Aquarist is a fine addition to the career simulator genre, although there are some optimisation issues on the Switch with some ill-fitted control problems and and fiddly mechanics. Behind these flaws though there is a casual, fun game that has a lot to offer.
Lemon Cake is a wonderfully charming career simulation suitable for anyone with a sweet tooth. This game has plenty to offer and plenty of play time to fatten you up with gaming goodness. It has a great pace, soothing music and nothing ever becomes overcomplicated. It’s an easy recommendation to the fan of the casual sim genre.
Unusual Findings is bursting with pop culture references, visuals and sounds from the 80’s. The adventures of Vinnie, Nick and Tony has obviously been inspired by Stranger Things and that works for it. While it’s enjoyable overall, it lacks direction and logical signposting in some areas which can make it tedious.
Let’s Build A Zoo is just as wonderful on console as it was on its initial release on PC. As with any building management simulator, some controls will never feel completely intuitive moving from mouse to controller, and Let’s Build A Zoo is no different, but only in minor areas. The Dinosaur Island DLC takes all the highlights from the base game and amplifies them in a fantastic addition to an already extremely enjoyable game.
Hokko Life fits the bill for a simple, yet charming experience. For seasoned players, be mindful there is a slow burn to start and may be more suited to those who are newer to the genre. Whilst some mechanics are not intuitive for console play, Hokko Life on console still captures the creativity and calmness of the farming sim genre.
This is an easy recommendation to anyone who loves a unique and interesting story and yearns for a casual platforming experience. An adventure to be discovered by many. Little Orpheus has creativity, beautiful visuals and smart witty characterisation. With a run time of three hours split into nine small episodes, it certainly will not disrespect your time.