Mina Smith
Overall, Home Domes just wasn’t very fun, wasn’t intuitive, and it feels like it needs a UI overhaul. I think there are some interesting ideas there, but none of them were done particularly well. I don’t think I can recommend Home Domes, even to someone who loves the sim genre.
Overall, Debut Project, Cooking Cafe, was fine. It’s a cute game with a great aesthetic. The sound design is okay, the gameplay is fine, but things move along very slowly. There isn’t much to do outside of cooking, and the cooking mini-games are all kind of mid. It’s pretty cute and fun, but I think it’s a little boring. A little vanilla, if you will. It’s fun, it’s cute, and it’s a great idea for a game. I just wish there was a little more. I would have been much happier if there had been a designer element to Debut Project: Cooking Cafe, like hanging up pictures, choosing paint colors, or picking out the decor. I think this would have elevated this title a lot. But my overall opinion of it is that it’s just fine.
Bits at Work is a simple concept with simple art that is just done very, very well. I love it, and it’s one of the more fun little games I’ve gotten to play lately. If you adore fun little idle clicker-type games or decorating a little pixel office, I can’t recommend Bits at Work enough. For what it is, you can’t get another better than this!
The Protagonish is so cute, fun, and funny and is really well put together. I love everything about it, but it is so very short that I feel like I don’t really get to settle into the story before it is over. This could be such a gorgeous visual novel with one of the most unique and interesting premises, but it falls short of being perfect by feeling cut off.
Gridlink is a fun, relaxing puzzle game that is free-to-play and a ton of fun. There’s literally no reason not to play it. It’s a perfect way to wind down. I think the only thing I really want from Gridlink is a mobile version. I didn’t see one, so I don’t think one exists, but that would be a super fun way to play it. I really like how intuitive and easy it is to get started. Even the hardest of the puzzles don’t feel impossible; they are just challenging. My biggest complaint is how long it took me to notice there actually was a Dark Mode in the menu, which is not the dev’s fault at all, trust me. I can’t recommend this simple puzzle game enough; if you like puzzles, go and download Gridlink right now.
Overall, Hidden Cats Invade Venice is a simple, fun, and very well-made addition to the hidden animal genre of games I have seen a ton of over the last few years. It’s pleasant, cute, and challenging, but it has a great hint system to get you out of trouble if you can’t finish a level. In other words, it’s everything I want from this type of game. Hidden Cats Invade Venice is basically perfect, and I had trouble coming up with even one thing I didn’t like about it. If you enjoy hidden-cat games, it’s the perfect addition to your collection
Even for a single dollar, I don’t think 100 Hidden Cats: Pirates is worth it. It’s just kind of boring; if you do have some little ones at home that like pirates and cats, they might be horrified by the fact that every single cat is obviously in danger. I can’t really recommend this to anyone.
Fruitbus is a lot of fun. It has fun characters, great animations, funny moments, and an overall heartwarming tale. The first two islands, which I have traipsed from one end to the other, are filled with characters, interesting things, and weird new fruit salad combinations. If you like simulation titles with heart, I cannot recommend Fruitbus enough. It’s got a few bugs, but it seems like the developers are really on point with trying to make the game as good as it can be. It’s fun; the gameplay does get a little repetitive after a while, but overall, Fruitbus is the most I’ve ever had with a blender and a bunch of veggies.
Alchemist: The Potion Monger is a big game with an innovative potion-making system that is very challenging to figure out. It’s colorful, has decent sound design, has a lot of NPCs, and has a whole bunch of quests. The world is huge, and you have to fight stuff out in the wild with a combat system that doesn’t feel great. Overall, Alchemist: The Potion Monger is pretty fun. The world is huge but kind of empty. There is a lot that is good about it, but some things I think will not sit well with some people. However, I do think that Alchemist: The Potion Monger is worth the price. It’s cute, it’s colorful, it’s fun, it’s cozy, but it is a little bit of a pain to figure out. If you like sprawling games with a lot to do and fun little quests that are pretty chill, there are far worse games you could pick up than Alchemist: The Potion Monger.
The one downside I noticed while playing One S’more was not enough to keep me from falling in love with this weird little title. I love the little marshmallow man, I love the puzzles, the music, the look of the maps, the little train you get to ride back and forth between map sections, and the sound design. This game is so spot on for what it is trying to do, that I couldn’t give it anything but two thumbs up. If you enjoy these kinds of puzzle games and you like cute things, you have to get One S‘more. If the pun in the title doesn’t sell you after this review, I don’t know what will! Developers, you did an excellent job on this bug-free experience. I hope to see a lot more from you in the future!
I couldn’t get very far in Lunara: Planet IX. I have several hours in the game, and I haven’t really gotten anywhere. I was pretty disappointed with everything but the way it looks. It was so hard to get anywhere or do anything, and I couldn’t seem to get very far.
Overall, I liked my time with The Crimson Diamond. I think it feels like a complete game with no bugs that I ran across. The story is interesting, and the puzzles are fun. However, some of the music and visual choices were not to my taste. If you like old-school text adventures, The Crimson Diamond may be just the thing for you. However, if you don’t like all the eccentricities of text adventures, I would avoid this one.
It’s hard for me to formulate a real opinion on this game. It was okay; I didn’t find the gameplay interesting or different from a million similar games. The love story felt tacked on instead of integrated; I didn’t really get to know the characters or care about what they had to say. I did like some of the art and that I got to decorate the store, but the actual gameplay of the Solitaire stuff in Solitaire Quest: Love Blossoms wasn’t the best. With repetitive music and a lack of coins, I’m not even sure this is a good Solitaire-like game. Overall, I just don’t know how to rate it.
As I mentioned in my review of the demo, this is not my kind of puzzle game. I don’t normally play things like SwayBods, but I found this particular game appealing. It’s really well done, so if you like these kinds of games, I can recommend it wholeheartedly. I think this is the most well-polished, colorful, and fun game in the genre.
really like this game. I think with a couple of tweaks, it could be one of my favorite new restaurant simulation games. And this is coming from a woman who put more than 300 hours into Plate Up! last year! I would like to see some additions made to it, like the addition of a multiplayer mode, more conversations and decorations, and more ways to customize your tavern. Tavern Manager Simulator is a lot of fun, and I’m looking forward to seeing if the developers plan to make any changes in the future.
I have a lot of mixed feelings about Elemental Exiles. There are a lot of cool things that the developers added to the Rogue-like deckbuilder that were fun and interesting, but there were just too many downsides. I love the way this game looks, and I like a lot about it, but there were just so many issues that made it less than fun to play. I’m pretty torn about Elemental Exiles because I love so many parts of it. However, the durability system and the card RNG are hard to overlook. I’m just not sure what to think about it.
Loco-Sort is a very fun, train-themed puzzle game with a lot of heart. It had no bugs that I found, it’s eye-pleasing, and it’s just a lot of good, clean fun. It’s wholesome, nostalgic, and adorable. I can’t tell you how much I love this game. It has a few small issues that make it a little less than perfect, but they are nothing in comparison to how fun the game is to play. The levels are challenging, the music and looks are thematic and aesthetic, and the little scenes are really beautiful. I enjoyed my time with Loco-Sort, and I look forward to completing the final few levels in the very near future. I can’t recommend this one enough; even if you don’t like toy trains, you will probably still dig this sweet and lovingly crafted puzzle game!
Back To Home is okay. You can really tell that this game was created by a very small team with little to no quality checking. It's cute, it's wholesome, and it features a very cute cat, but it's just very hard to play. I really love the music and the look of the game, but the movements and geometry could use a little bit of work.
I still don't understand how to play TV Show Tycoon, which means I can't really review it. I would love to see some reviews from people who really dig these kinds of games. I have a feeling it could be really fun and interesting if you had a better tutorial that would really dig into the weeds of how to play this game. If it explained it step by step and walked you through your first show, I could see myself falling into the rabbit hole of making my own TV shows.
Between the awkward controls and the too-challenging gameplay, I wasn’t a big fan of Rise of Jericho. I think the play is just not a whole lot of fun. It’s a gorgeous game with some great ideas in it, but it’s just not very much fun to play. I didn’t get very far in Rise of Jericho, and I doubt I will be coming back to it.