So Many Games
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Personally, Minishoot’ Adventures is going to stick with me because it reminded me of just how joyous it can feel to simply play and progress through a high-quality video game. That might sound obvious, but it’s a rare treat to play something that feels as satisfying and polished as this. It’s a good reminder that, no matter how old you are or where you end up in life, sometimes the best weekends are the ones spent completely forgetting what fresh air feels like and absolutely devouring an expertly crafted bullet hell shooter structured like an overhead Legend of Zelda entry.
I was utterly charmed, delighted and enraptured by Key Fairy’s gorgeous hand-drawn visuals, achingly beautiful writing and dynamic movement mechanics. It gave me butterflies, or perhaps they were fairies, in my tummy. Such is its beauty. It’s a game full of love and compassion that I hope brings as much joy and comfort to others as it has to me. We need more games like Key Fairy in this troubled world of ours.
Even though I feel everyone could benefit from some therapy, I have to concede that not everyone is up for it. In a similar vein, Vampire Therapist will also not be everyone’s cup of tea, but if the concept of the game interests you even the littlest bit, I urge you to give it a go. The warmth and humanity it has to offer feels like a warm blanket in increasingly colder times, and with Sam we have a protagonist worth rooting for, even if his past has been a bit shady. Yes, we can debate some of the logic used during the therapy sessions, especially when it comes to labelling ourselves (some lines just can’t be crossed and then ignored), but all of it is interesting food for thought, and ultimately that’s all this game and therapy in general can do: make you consider things from a different perspective.
The 2026 release of Poker Night At The Inventory is as impressive as it is unusual – gameplay overhauls are a massive improvement, while graphical upgrades are largely positive in spite of some questionable creative decisions. All of this sadly doesn’t make up for the fact that the game as a whole simply hasn’t aged well – 16 years on, the dialogue and characters only hold a place in the hearts of the most nostalgic, but thankfully a low price point means those wanting to relive the original won’t need to break the bank.
Pieced Together is a delightful exploration of friendship, the beauty a relationship like that can bring into life, and the sadness you can experience once that seemingly unbreakable bond seems to drift apart. It has clearly been created by people who have learned important lessons from life and are able to look back at their younger selves with a level of reflection that evades so many people. This is an experience for gamers of a certain age, with millennials set to be hit straight in the nostalgia while also relating to Connie’s life as a 30-something. Maybe I should get back in touch with some long-lost friends after all…
As I played, it became clear that I was chasing a ghost. There’s a lot of brilliance in the game design and general moment-to-moment puzzling. Without its defining crank characteristic from its debut on the Playdate, some of its flaws rose to the surface and overrode the joys in its classic, dungeon-solving gameplay. Enthusiasts for the genre or players strapped for time will likely enjoy the quick pace and short dungeons in Ratcheteer DX, but others will fuss over its sticky controls and obtuse tutorialisation.
As someone who usually steers clear of horror, Reanimal is one of the few games have been actively excited for – as a fan of the first two Little Nightmares games, I expected nothing but the best from Tarsier Studios and they delivered spectacularly. An unsettling, well-paced horror that serves up both a stunningly designed world as well as enough subtext to keep video game essayists in work for a decade, Reanimal is a must-play.
Overall, Relooted is a unique hybrid of puzzle-platforming, infiltration strategy, and momentum runner with a historically informed geopolitical narrative. That sounds like a lot. because it is a lot. This game is incredibly ambitious, both thematically and mechanically, so even though it is not a triumph on all occasions, it really does punch above its weight for a small South African studio. Shallow in some parts more than others, yet incredibly provocative throughout, this game increased my respect for global cultures and broadened my western lens on African archaeology and anthropology.
If you are looking for a comically gory, esoteric escape into a world of time-space nonsense through the lens of a hack ‘n’ slash game, Romeo Is A Dead Man has you covered. It certainly doesn’t manage to hold its pace with the story exposition, minigames and QTEs creating an obstruction instead of an engaging tale, but the action, the characters and the simultaneously hilarious and jarring dialogue make the game worth trying out.
The game asks you once again: who do you trust? And who are you willing to fight for? Are you ready to face the consequences of the choices you’ve made? Do you even realise how serious those consequences can get? Just like Sybil, Kaneeka’s mother, Scarlet Hollow seems to be answering questions by raising even more questions. But answers are coming, and you might not like what you’ll get.
Love Eternal is a remarkably tight precision platformer with exhilaratingly joyful movement mechanics. It also has a fascinating and disturbing story to tell about loneliness and our desperate need for love. The unconventional telling of this tale – the subverting of genre expectations and the liberal use of surreal symbolism – is surprising and original and helps to create meaning amidst the apparent chaos of complicated lives. The platforming is tough, and the experimental narrative requires a little patience, but this is an astonishing piece of work that fully rewards the effort.
Under the Island is a wonderful trip down memory lane, both for millennials and Gen Xers who rode the highs of the 90s and for the games we played. It’s a love letter to top-down Zelda games, and the love is deeply felt in the creative mechanics and wonderful art style. The story may struggle to find footing, but the gameplay is the hero here. Armed with a hockey stick and a sense of urgency, Under the Island is a worthy play for folks looking for a nostalgia-laden adventure.
It’s easy to see that The Perfect Pencil was made with a deep love for the genre, impressing its own unique spin on each element of the gameplay for better or worse. A well-written and deeply meaningful story ties all of these elements together spectacularly – don’t let the whimsical appearance fool you; this game doesn’t pull its punches. Sadly the game also loses half a star due to a lack of accessibility options.
Hermit and Pig goes to unexpected lengths, and it’s a better and more timely game for it. The narrative is sharp, the battles immersive, and the characters rich. It’s a tightly packaged game that balances playfulness, wit, and bite across a rural community scratching out a way of life threatened by corporate greed. Hermit and Pig are unlikely but extremely likeable heroes that will endear any fans of offbeat, satirical RPGs.
The lack of any connectivity makes Anthem#9 feel more like an arcade game, which hurts, as this world is ripe for exploration. The deep and robust battle mechanics and bright visuals help to feed your attention, but even those are not enough to maintain long-form interest. Passionate roguelite players will find a game that will sing through its unconventional ways of handling the genre, but the rest of us might need to look elsewhere.
Successfully building upon the first game in every way, Planet of Lana 2 delivers a fascinating and sometimes emotional experience heightened by stunning visual and sound design. The time taken to explore Mui’s backstory and the machine's connection to the world in general is such a welcome addition and only aids in making this feel like more than just a platform game. Fans of the original and newcomers alike will have one heck of a ride, and I can’t wait to see where the series goes from here.
Kami, the mountain that Aava sets out to summit in Cairn, is a harsh, unrelenting cacophony of jagged edges, pushing the player back at every turn. But through the smallest movements, there is a building sense of triumph as you make the ascent to the peak, which The Game Bakers masterfully designed into the cliff surfaces and tense gameplay. The occasional slip, left without feedback, stings and can disjoint the game’s pacing, but ultimately in Cairn there is a new perspective on games that centre their design on difficulty and force you to reconcile how and why you’ll endure their friction.
This is an inventive and ambitious platformer built around a striking movement system that turns shooting into traversal, rewarding precision, experimentation, and patience once it clicks. Its colourful presentation, varied encounters, and flexible upgrade systems show clear confidence and creativity, but the demanding movement and uneven difficulty curve can make the experience feel more punishing than inviting at times. While Assist options help smooth some of those edges, Baseless remains a game that asks a lot of its players and will resonate most with those willing to fully commit to mastering its systems.
TR-49 is a challenge to the modern gamer’s attention span. It asks us to slow down and listen to the whispers of the past, to become readers before we become players. It is a work of restraint, a puzzle box that, once opened, cannot be easily closed. It lingers in the mind like a half-remembered melody, the kind of game that stays with you long after the screen has gone dark.
For Berangin Creative’s debut game, Keejora is good first attempt. Even with the game’s problems, there’s still just enough here to make for a worthwhile playthrough, but the game’s unutilised potential brings down what could have been something quite special.