Amanda the Adventurer offers a fun and creepy ride that perfects pacing and characterization, and it’s absolutely worth the price tag and the hours of sleep you’ll lose playing it.
Labyrinth of Galleria hits just the right balance of puzzles, challenging enemies, and secrets to uncover to keep you engaged in the maze. It’s gameplay that should feel repetitive, and yet the satisfaction of completely clearing a floor kept me going through hundreds of them.
Octopath Traveler II has already cemented itself as my comfort game of 2023.
Overall, A Space for the Unbound does everything it seeks to accomplish. It creates a beautiful world full of vibrant characters, and it shares a story of love, friendship, loss, and growth. It does this with delicacy in a world that feels familiar, even if you’ve never walked down a dusty city road in Indonesia. And while its gameplay meandered at moments, it’s still a game worth dedicating 9 to 12 hours of your life to.
Fire Emblem Engage has an exemplary combat system, a story that becomes more engaging as it goes, and a kooky cast that grows on you with each passing chapter. But beyond all of that, it’s a game that’s genuinely fun to play.
But beyond that, Lone Ruin is a beautiful game with a fun combat system. And fun is the highest compliment I can give to any game. There’s something addictive about trying to craft the perfect spell-build and seeing how far into the ruins you can get.
The Devil in Me is easily the best installment of The Dark Pictures Anthology. Its character arcs, tension, momentum, and story are all phenomenal. And as a person who believes that story and characters are the heart and soul of a game, The Devil In Me is my pick for best horror game of 2022.
While this game is unlikely to appeal to people who prefer a fast-paced plot with more interactive elements, those who enjoy a narrative-driven story with a truly tangled mystery at its heart will find so much to love.