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Lunarium almost works to introduce Souls-inspired isometric ARPG to interested players. Combat satisfies while the story underserves its themes with a rocky narrative structure. Some will find Ave and Lune’s relationship the core of their experience, while others will enjoy the smaller, easily navigable levels. Lunarium shoots for the moon and lands among the Starfarers.
Database Detective: Minor Crime Division is a Schrödinger’s Cat of educational content – on one hand it teaches concepts easily and practically, on the other hand it puts fun front and centre – it’s only when you open the box that you’ll find out if it’s useful for you. Either way, an entertaining, comical story wrapped in the interest of learning something new cannot be ignored – sadly, the game does lose half a star due to a current lack of accessibility options.
With tenuous character motivations, messy dialogue, underdeveloped narrative structure, sloppy combat, haphazard checkpointing, flat skill progression, and unreliable controls, Akatori is an exploraformer to avoid. The game’s excellent visual presentation does not compensate for its many unpolished and half-finished ideas.
Tukoni: Forest Keepers is a picture book turned point-and-click adventure. Kids are apt to be drawn to its cute characters and simple story but will need adult assistance due to a lack of a tutorial and clunky controls, while adventure game fans are likely to be disappointed by the depth of the gameplay. Aside from the gorgeous hand-drawn visuals, there is little else to maintain adult engagement.
There’s no doubting that Duskfade was made with a love for action-adventure games, but the combination of simple, enjoyable combat and platforming that challenges the way you engage with the movement abilities makes it stand out as a shining example of the genre, even if it does adopt some of its flaws along the way.
Agent 64: Spies Never Die wears its influences on its immaculately dressed sleeve, and it works wonderfully well. Its action is punchy, playing with the challenges we faced due to the limits of the Nintendo 64 in a fun way. Whether you have nostalgia for that specific time in videogame history will probably influence your enjoyment of this game in a big way, but even if you’re new to this era of shooters, there’s plenty to enjoy here. The story mode is a fun romp, and the game’s multiplayer could be one that keeps people entertained for years to come.
While I enjoyed the cartoony corporate satire at the heart of this game, I just couldn’t connect with its complex platforming mechanics and over-elaborate level design. However, fans of Jump King-style precision platformers should perhaps give this a go (at time of writing, the demo is still live). Alas, I won’t be making any more zero-hour contract deliveries in Hell.
As far as narrative puzzle games go, The Mermaid Mask definitely doesn’t disappoint: the world, the people inhabiting it, and the dialogue in between will always be a treat, though it is let down by some pacing issues in its grand finale, as well as a few puzzles that are needlessly obtuse. Regardless, it proves itself a worthy addition to the Detective Grimoire series and hopefully not the last we will see. Sadly, a lack of meaningful accessibility options also means the game loses half a star.
Now comes the big question: do I recommend Montabi? While it offers plenty of interesting strategies and synergies, it doesn’t do all that much to bring anything new to the genre of roguelike deckbuilders. But what’s there is so solidly made that it’s hard to ignore and hard to put down once you’ve spent some time with it. My suggestion would be to stick with it until you do find yourself breaking the game. And then you come back here and tell me how to do it. Deal? Deal.
Big Walk is a game about walking and talking with your friends through a gorgeous visual and sonic environment modeled on the Australian bush. Escape-room-style puzzles offer just the right amount of challenge. It’s a game that encourages trust, bonding, and communication. Walking the island, our momentum picks up as the vistas, free public transportation, and smartly designed puzzles inspire us to focus on enjoying our time together. The game principally cultivates affinity, and it shines bright in the epiphanies sown throughout the friendscape, shared warmly and excitedly between players.
Now for the difficult part. How do you give a score to a game that is more of an experience than an actual video game? How do you give a numerical value to people’s lives being shared and them being vulnerable with you? I’ll give my score, but it’s with a huge caveat: this game is a must-play, but only if you’re able to, and if you’re willing to forgive its flaws. In my personal opinion, those flaws accentuate the humanity behind this game beautifully, but I get that not everyone will share that feeling. But if you are queer or a person of colour, or if you want to know what it’s like to be either or both of those, then don’t skip on Plum Road Tea Dream.
If you adore Sokoban puzzles, I think you really owe it to yourself to give Club Soko a try. It takes everything fun about the genre, puts it in a really cool setting, and makes it really accessible to play. So even if you weren’t a fan of the genre before, you could still give it a go. It’s an excellent introduction to a genre that holds a lot of interesting takes, and it’s one you’ll find yourself going back to to uncover more of its secrets time and time again.
For Recurring Dream, Desktop Explorer is their debut game, and with its incredible detail, intricate and clever puzzles, strong script and narrative, it’s one they should be proud of and hold their heads up high for. With some adjustments to its accessibility, this would be an easy recommendation, but as it stands, I’d suggest bringing a guide and a notepad if you want to fully experience this tale for yourself.
Helix: Descent N Ascent is an elegant and striking puzzle game set in a world of black n white sketches of passageways and ruins with a postgame that’s brought down by bugs. The hand-drawn art and animation are immediately captivating, and the soundscape is equal parts disquieting and sensorially satisfying. The toolset builds ingeniously. In those intervening moments between the bottleneck and the breakthrough, no matter how long it takes, I am purely mindful and at peace: studying, probing, imagining, experimenting. I know the answer is in front of me, waiting there, ready for the spark.
I want to keep this review short and sweet, just like the game. This isn’t the deepest game of all time. There’s nothing groundbreaking here. But it ran smoothly even on my potato laptop, and I was grinning from ear to ear the entire time, which doesn’t happen much. If you like platformers and a good, silly time, you’ll love this one for sure. The only thing holding me back from a perfect score is that it does play oh so very safely within the boundaries of the genre, so it’s hard to call it a “must play.” That said, this is a very, very fun game, and you are guaranteed a fun time!
What fun this game is. At times it can feel almost overwhelming, especially when shops run out of ingredients while a bunch of garbirds are roaming the streets, you’re puking rainbows and all of your storage is full. But it never becomes frustrating, and you always find a way out of trouble. Or you can thrive in the chaos, if you’d prefer. Go-Go Town! leaves it up to you. It’s a full-on toybox where you get to decide just how you want to play, and you’ll have a blast no matter
Despite the handful of technical issues and my grievances with the camera angles, I thoroughly enjoyed this game. It’s a brilliantly fresh idea that is executed fully with nothing held back. The visuals are cohesive and interesting and beautifully done, and the music is incredibly delightful. As long as you enter with an open mind, you will not be disappointed in this game!
Moonlight Peaks doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it certainly does well to replace the worn tyres. Featuring a satisfying gameplay loop supplemented by interesting elements of magic, the game manages to be incredibly engaging; sadly, this is let down at times by uneven pacing, rough loading times and characters who seem to lose their sense of self when they leave the cutscenes – even so, the game remains a great time for fans of cosy farming simulators.
A perfect mix of colour, sound and satisfying gameplay makes Denshattack! a must-buy, both for completionists and score-chasers, but don’t let the simple controls fool you; this can be a difficult game, especially for those chasing those exclusive high scores!
D-topia won’t tax your brain muscles as much as some would like, so if you’re expecting some real brain twisters, you’ll be disappointed. But for others this will be a breath of fresh air with its cosy, friendly approach to logic puzzles, alongside its intriguing narrative and fun friendship mechanic.