Your Chronicle is a pretty great idle/increment game that focuses on unlocking individual actions and storytelling, alongside a bunch of mechanics that become available over time and some good focus on managing resource production/consumption, party composition and planning. I ultimately couldn’t keep playing it after a certain point when I realized that it required a bit more active playing than what I was willing to put into it, which is a damned shame!
XCOM 2 is the fantastic follow-up to the reboot of the franchise of the same name where you play a covert militaristic group trying to save the world from aliens by sending soldiers on missions, managing your resources and attempting to accomplish certain objectives under a time pressure in order to avoid a wide range of dire consequences. I had a great time playing it on the easiest difficulty with a large dose of save scumming, but regardless of if that’s the way XCOM should be played, it’s just a good time.
Dicey Dungeons is an amazing roguelike where you play a Dice adventurer going through a few floors of a dungeon, fighting enemies by throwing dice and using equipment via the numbers you’ve thrown, getting new stuff, improving it, using special character powers and limit breaks in order to overcome a wide array of colorful and sometimes tricky foes. A great game with really good music and mechanics, I had an absolute blast with it, even if I regretfully couldn’t stomach taking the time to do everything in the game.
Wizard and Minion Idle (WAMI) is an idle game inspired by NGU Idle, which I reviewed about six months ago. The basic concept is fairly simple, you cast spells to accumulate “Attack” and “Defense” which you use to go through “stages”, unlocking gameplay mechanics and features that all synergize together to ultimately improve your attack and defense some more. These features were a bit more engaging for me than they were in NGU and I had a good time with WAMI! I wish I could’ve stayed with it until the ‘end’ but at some point progression felt like it was dragging on forever and I didn’t know how to improve it, so I stopped.
Vampire Survivors, on paper, is an incredibly simple game; You have a character that you move around and it automatically attacks enemies on-screen, of which there are a whole lot. You get new weapons and abilities as you kill enemies and collect experience, and at some point you either get overrun or survive for 30 minutes, after which the level ends. There are a lot of things to unlock - new characters, items - and mechanics that get introduced as well, so playing it almost always feels like getting progress towards something new, which is incredibly addicting.
McPixel 3 is the sequel to a puzzle game I really enjoyed back in the day; McPixel 1. Filled with humor and surprising nonsense, you had to solve a bunch of levels where there was some danger or situation that needed to be defused, oftentimes in strange ways. There was a great element of replaying levels in order to find all the gags hidden away. The sequel fares really well, but adds a few systems that I didn’t particularly enjoy and fumbles on a few minor things, which luckily doesn’t make a big hit on my overall appreciation. I did everything there was to do in McPixel 3 and I strongly recommend it!
Tyranny is an amazing RPG in the vein of Baldur’s Gate and other Infinity Engine classics where you play the unusual role of herald for the evil overlord trying to take control of the world. In a world where I would have infinite time and no other obligations, I would’ve burned through this game in its entirety, but sadly I only managed to play through the first chapter. I really enjoyed what I saw, still! With a very interesting world, mechanics and characters, I’d feel really comfortable suggestion Tyranny to RPG fans.
Inscryption (from the creator of Pony Island) is a surprising, amazing and very interesting card game where a lot of things happen and this review will contain light spoilers. Based on the fictional card game ‘Inscryption’ and the adventures of a card enthusiast messing around with it. Going through different styles of gameplay - but with consistent rules thorough - with light puzzle solving you’ll play a nice card game against a wide variety of opponents, each with their own special gimmicks and tricks. I had a great time with it!
Dawncaster is an amazing deckbuilding roguelike where you fight monsters and build your character using a ton of different cards, powers and strategies. It’s the kind of game that really sucked me in and I would still be playing it right now if I didn’t feel like I had to try other games constantly. I had a great time with it and the sheer amount of content to unlock and ideas to test out makes the purchase completely worth it. Being a premium title, there are no ads or annoying microtransactions as well, another great plus in my book!
Minit is a pretty cool adventure/puzzle game inspired by some of the classic Legend of Zelda titles with a very interesting twist; What if your character could only be alive for 60 seconds before automatically dying and respawning at your house? Playing with this core mechanic to create a really interesting puzzle game that does not overextend its welcome, you go around the map, collecting items, figuring mysteries around, fighting some foes and ultimately get rid of the curse that makes you die constantly. I really enjoyed it!
Get In The Car, Loser! Is an amazing lesbian road adventure RPG with great characters, music, story, lore and mechanics that I blazed through and enjoyed thoroughly, both with the story that made me want to know what was going to happen next and the battle mechanics that made every encounter interesting and satisfying to play. It’s free (with paid DLC that I immediately bought to support the game’s creator) so I recommend it without reservation.
Celeste is an amazing platformer that is both very difficult and also very forgiving, boasting an amazing assist mode that allows players to make the game easier for themselves if it is too tough. Set on a mountain comprised of a few different locales, you jump and air-dash around various mechanics, collecting strawberries and finding secrets that unlock much harder levels. I had a great time going through the campaign, and might try to clear up everything else that I missed. If you haven’t played Celeste, I recommend it wholeheartedly.
I didn’t have that great of a time with the original Yooka-Laylee; A somewhat uninspired Banjo-Kazooie spiritual successor that failed to grab me. This sequel ditches 3D platforming for Donkey Kong-adjacent 2D adventures with a few really neat twists. I really had a good time with The Impossible Lair, even if the game has some weird quirks in spots. My time was so good that I beat the game and spent the effort to collect every little hidden thing. That might not sound like much, but I don’t beat all games I play, so I feel this is worth something!
Satisfactory is a first person simulation game where you land on a remote planet and must discover new technologies, build bases and fend off against the wildlife. I would easily describe this as “like factorio, but in 3D”, but it is a bit reductive. Satisfactory has a lot of charm, a really neat style and good ideas, but I feel like being in three dimensions hurts it in a few ways and that most parts of the game have elements that clearly overwhelmed me. It’s still really good! I’m not sure I’ll keep up with its development, but I’ll certainly recommend it!