Alyssa Rochelle Payne
Once Upon a Jester is a hilarious, heartfelt experience with improvisational gameplay, excellent voice acting, and replayability. Though the shows can feel repetitive, branching dialogue and varied genres keep things interesting.
Bots Are Stupid is a 2D precision platformer with innovative controls and gameplay. Solving its puzzles can be tedious, but overcoming the challenges is highly satisfying. Ultimately, it's great for players interested in coding, level creation, and speedrunning.
An unfinished game that left Early Access too soon. Into The Flame's inconsistent dedication to realism cannot reconcile with fun, smooth gameplay. With frustrating controls, underwhelming visuals, and widespread bugs, it isn't worth your time.
RE:CALL has an excellent, mysterious story and unique time travel mechanics, but it struggles with gameplay consistency at its halfway mark. However, the fun puzzles, text-based choices, and memorable cast of characters definitely make it a title easy to recommend.
Backfirewall_ is a great mix of solid storytelling, clever puzzles, and tech puns. While it offers nothing new to the first-person puzzle genre, it's a well-crafted experience with a unique premise and an interesting cast of characters.
DARQ: Ultimate Edition stands out with great visual and audio design, immersing you within its nightmarish dream world without needing to say a single word. Your time playing as Lloyd, while short, will be a memorable one full of clever puzzles, strange enemies, and physics-bending mechanics.
Anglerfish is a great mix of dark humour, unsettling atmosphere, and death-based gameplay. It's worth the two to three hours it takes to finish your first playthrough, but the predictable ending and questionable in-game marketing, make this title fall short of being a seamless experience.
Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus & Butterfly builds upon the original, bringing players new and easy-to-love characters, a ton of good vibes, and tidbits of lore for anyone interested. It's a sweet return to the nighttime café that fans are sure to enjoy.
Tin Hearts is a perfect little puzzler to dive into if you like clever puzzles, touching narratives, and charming Victorian settings. However, the controls aren't always great, which may frustrate you more often than you'd like.
Amnesia: The Bunker is excellent, offering the dread and terror you'd expect along with engaging new mechanics. Some technical issues occasionally break the immersion, but Frictional's approach to frightening and challenging you still offers its best thrills.
We Are Eva is a great 2D precision platformer with vibrant colour-based gameplay, lighthearted overtones, and a charming penchant for breaking the fourth wall.
Daydream: Forgotten Sorrow is an underwhelming puzzle platformer. The eye-catching, whimsical environments simply aren't enough to salvage the poor storytelling and frustrating controls.
Equal parts relaxing and chaotic, Nova Lands is an easy-to-love automation game with a gameplay loop that will have you hooked for hours on end.
Frank and Drake is a beautiful-looking game that could have been great, but it's ultimately let down by obtuse puzzles and, most importantly, its incoherent story.
Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical is one-of-a-kind in the best way, excelling on all fronts - narrative and musical. It's a must-play for lovers of theatre, Greek mythology, and story-rich experiences.
Crime O'Clock offers a detailed, charming world with innovative hidden object gameplay, but excessive dialogue and repetitive mini-games will interrupt your point-and-click adventure too many times to count.
The best thing about No Son Of Mine is that it's functional and it tries to implement some good ideas. But it's ultimately more frustrating than it is frightening.
Deathbulge: Battle of the Bands is a superb turn-based RPG with an excellent music-themed battle system, a charming cast of characters, and non-stop jokes. Pick this one up if you need a silly escape into a boppin' world.
Limerick: Cadence Mansion offers solid, scary gameplay for fans of the action-horror genre and puzzlers. Full of rhythm and rhyme, you're in for a spooky time.
The Lamplighters League's approach to mixing real-time and turn-based tactical gameplay is enjoyable, and its charming misfits make banter a delight. If it can fix its technical issues, it has a chance to be a hit.