Cats and the Other Lives offers a well-written story with charming visuals and an unusual perspective from the main character. As a game that blends point-and-click adventure with a 2D walking simulator, it’s entertaining, but the plot’s resolution is predetermined, and you have absolutely no influence over it. On your second playthrough, you’ll enjoy all the details you missed before, collect the rest of the achievements, and then you’ll likely have no reason to return to the game. However, a little emotional appeal from the developers might help you make up your mind, as part of their earnings goes toward surgeries for stray cats.
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LEGO Bricktales ultimately left me with mixed feelings. Although the graphics are solid, the puzzles are quite inventive, and the game is entertaining for a few hours, the unpolished technical aspects combined with the rather strictly limited gameplay give the impression of untapped potential. If you like LEGO and want to try a more original puzzle game, feel free to give Bricktales a shot, but you’re better off waiting for a sale. At thirty euros for about fifteen hours of one-time, slightly repetitive fun, the developers have definitely overpriced it.
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APICO is a charming sandbox simulator that also teaches you a thing or two. For fans of laid-back gameplay in a pleasant natural setting, this game is the perfect choice. The price of €16.79 is currently a bit on the high side, but it’s justified either by a discount or the promise of future updates. By purchasing the game, you’ll also be contributing to the #SaveTheBees charity, thereby improving the lives of some real bees.
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Gibbon: Beyond the Trees is an endless runner, but with an unconventional hero and an environmental message. You’ll quickly get the hang of the gameplay, which is based on a surprisingly fun, fluid swinging mechanic, and even after a few hours, you’ll still want to keep improving. That said, the game is otherwise rather light on content, so you might want to consider picking it up on sale.
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We Love Katamari REROLL+ Royal Reverie is a well-crafted remaster of the original 2005 game, which will particularly delight die-hard fans of the Katamari series and offer a bit of a trip down memory lane to the days of the PlayStation 2. If you played the original, you should definitely pick up the remaster without a second thought. However, the gameplay is marred by a few shortcomings, most notably the clunky controls, which will take some getting used to in the PC version. On behalf of us at Gaming Professors, I’m giving We Love Katamari REROLL+ Royal Reverie a solid seven out of ten.
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Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus & Butterfly is an improved sequel to the original game in every respect. So here, too, there’s no point in rushing through it—instead, savor the story bit by bit and enjoy the pleasant atmosphere. If the developers release a third installment and polish up the final details, Coffee Talk could become a truly delightful, relaxing trilogy.
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Whether you’re already into singing or just want to learn a little something in a relaxed way, One Hand Clapping is the perfect choice for you. Simple tasks based on singing specific notes or rhythmically tapping keys are skillfully woven into various puzzles, so they never get repetitive; this also means the game is accessible to anyone who isn’t afraid to experiment a little with the controls.
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Minor hiccups aside, Frostpunk is a great city-building strategy game. The difficulty is set just right—you can always scrape by, but at the same time, you’re already forced to start tackling the next crisis looming on the horizon. Only players who like to play cautiously or have empathy for their workers should steer clear. The game is primarily let down by its underutilized alternate history premise, which could have yielded so much more. Beyond that, certain decisions regarding the DLC offerings also smack a bit of cash-grabbing.
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Although 60 Parsecs! isn’t exactly an original game, it builds on the core gameplay of its predecessor with more polished graphics, another dose of wacky humor, and a wider range of options. As a survival game with lower difficulty but a greater variety of story branches, it offers many hours of fun as you explore all the possible endings. It might just start to feel a bit repetitive later on, though…
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Hadr is a short art piece—don’t expect a conventional gaming experience. Instead, prepare yourself for an interactive take on a gallery visit, where your thoughts will drift and wander, much like a fluttering piece of fabric. The description on Steam might give you a hint: are real things disappearing, or just memories of them? (Probably only the visual representations of strings of numerical data rendered by a few dozen voxels projected onto your computer screen are disappearing, but shh. Ceci n’est pas une pipe.).
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If you love high-quality narrative RPGs, Disco Elysium is practically a must-have for you. Thanks to its compelling story, richly detailed world, numerous interesting characters, and well-written dialogue, it’s the best thing to come along in this genre in recent years—a fact further enhanced by its polished gameplay mechanics and overall production quality. Only fans of complex combat systems or those who don’t like to read will be disappointed here.
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Although SANABI is still in early early access, it already gives reason for cautious optimism. The fluid platforming gameplay encourages you to constantly search for a faster route, and the story and characters will keep you engaged. If the screenshots or videos on the official website catch your eye, don’t hesitate to invest in the game, because with a little polish, it could still pleasantly surprise you in the future. So while the game can’t earn a higher score in its current state, I’m rooting for the developers moving forward.
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Serious Sam: Tormental had the bar set low enough by the other indie spin-offs in the series, and then boldly set out to dance the limbo. The gameplay itself is fairly functional, though unoriginal. So, what you get is an average modern 2D rogue-lite with bullet hell elements and plenty of perks to unlock along the way. The only thing that might elevate this game is the presence of a well-known brand… whose fans will be turned off by the general disregard for the original series and the shoddy execution. If you’re not one of them, you might have some fun for a while—but you can do the same with the better titles that the developers cite as their inspiration. You can start with a Serious Sam game, but make sure it’s the good one, from Croteam.
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If you enjoy puzzle games—and especially if you’re into advanced spatial geometry—you definitely shouldn’t miss Patrick’s Parabox. This game offers excellent gameplay, well-designed levels, and overall high-quality production. Players looking for a challenge will find plenty of fresh and appropriately challenging fun that will keep them entertained for many, many hours.
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Despot's Game: Dystopian Army Builder will delight fans of turn-based battles who are looking for a bit of randomness and some ugly pixels in their lives. As with other tactical rogue-lites, you'll probably feel a bit lost at first, but once you get the hang of it, it starts to get fun. If the game has caught your interest, I recommend buying it as soon as possible, because the developers have made no secret of their plan to raise the price of the full version.
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When it comes to well-designed gameplay mechanics and attention to detail, Rain World far surpasses many other games in the genre. However, if its (well-hidden) story, overall stylization, and brutal difficulty don’t strike a chord with you, even its otherwise high-quality production won’t save it. On the other hand, a sufficiently stubborn, masochistic, or Zen-minded player may find a hidden gem in this game.
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Townscaper is a charming game for more artistically inclined players. Technically, everything works perfectly; the building system is sophisticated, and with a little patience, you can create truly remarkable works of art. However, the fun of the game literally depends entirely on what you can imagine and then bring to life. So if you aren’t particularly creative and need some goals or instructions while playing, Townscaper probably won’t thrill you much.
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This game left me with mixed feelings. While the interesting story and overall atmosphere—enhanced by a great soundtrack and visuals—are very appealing, the developers didn’t quite manage to blend them seamlessly with the gameplay elements. The high-quality presentation alone probably won’t save you from all the repetitive and shallow content in the levels you’ll be grinding through. While I have no doubt I’ll return to Vesper at some point, it certainly won’t be for its thrilling and original gameplay.
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Death and Taxes offers an entertaining look at how bureaucracy works in the afterlife. The combination of simulation and visual novel elements blends well with the game’s attractive graphics, pleasant music, and witty dialogue. It’s just a shame that the mechanical nature of the gameplay carries over into the story, and unless you’re willing to thoroughly explore every detail, the game will likely start to feel repetitive pretty soon. Your first playthrough will be great, the second maybe even better, but any subsequent ones will probably be just for the achievements or alternate endings.
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Pac-Man 256 is a surprisingly good port of the endless runner from Android/iOS. The mechanics, which are easy to understand but harder to master, give the game that classic arcade feel, and the good balance ensures plenty of fun. Most losses will likely be due to the player’s own skill rather than the game setting you up for a fall. This new Pac-Man is therefore a good title for occasional relaxation… though it’s true that aside from endless repetition aimed at unlocking everything or achieving the highest score, there isn’t much else to do here.
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