Gaming
2023
Important note: Although I only post positive reviews, that doesn't mean every game automatically gets one. My biggest layer of quality control is that I only review games I think I'm likely to enjoy. Even then, only around 75% of games reviewed have received my recommendation. Long story short? Just making it to this list is a mark of quality.
Billy BumBum
17 September 2023
Despite its silly theme, Billy BumBum is a solid puzzle game. The concept's simple; move a block from A to B, navigating gaps & traps while also trying to control your facing. It's challenging and fun.
Highrise City
12 September 2023
Highrise City is a good quality modern city builder with some economic juggling required but more emphasis placed on large scale expansion. Looks great, tons of attention to detail.
Byte Lynx
11 September 2023
Byte Lynx is a game unlike any I've played before. Took a while to get my head around the unique gameplay but I really liked it. I recommend easy mode to start then up difficulty for a real challenge.
Lueur and the Dim Settlers
8 September 2023
Lueur is a really cool game. "Survival builder" is an accurate description, and the genre mix makes for some really fun and innovative gameplay. Also features interesting stories that give purpose
Tiny Witch
6 September 2023
Tiny Witch is a fast-paced potion shop game that focuses on the crafting and customer service. The customers get cranky and attack you if you're too slow, so you have to think fast and be efficient.
Edge of War
3 September 2023
Early Access review: Edge of War is an ambitious CRPG featuring lovely locations, great battlefield design, and organic quests. Has a long way to go yet (2 years in EA planned) but super promising.
Woody Chopper
1 September 2023
Woody Chopper's a fun casual game that'd be perfect on tablet/steakdeck/phone. Core gameplay is addictive lacks variety - adding a high score comp & more timed mechanics would make this game amazing.
Pilfer: Story of Light
30 August 2023
Pilfer is a sweet 3d platformer that'd be perfect for kids. The worlds are huge and full of traps and monsters but nothing too nasty and it all looks great. Cute characters and story. Love the bosses.
Paquerette Down the Bunburrows
29 August 2023
Don't let the cuteness scare you off; this is a solid puzzle game. I guess it's probably sokoban-based but it doesn't feel like it. Very creative and original, nice range of mechanics, well-designed.
Local News with Cliff Rockslide
24 August 2023
Local News with Cliff Rockslide is a visual novel with plenty of interactivity as you play the cameraman investigating some manure-related hijinks in a quirky small town. Good for younger players
BloodDome 99
23 August 2023
BloodDome 99's a great minimalist arcade shooter; similar to BloodDome classic but with more enemy variety and some seriously cool weapons (go for synergy!). Addictive gameplay, go for the high score!
Above Snakes
21 August 2023
Above Snakes is a kid-friendly survival game; no real danger or pressure so resource gathering and crafting is a relaxing experience. A bit linear but fun. Really love the world-building mechanic.
BloodDome Classic
20 August 2023
BloodDome Classic's an excellent arcade shooter with randomised upgrades and a difficulty curve that starts gentle but gets frantic. Would have been a classic if released in 90s and holds up well.”
Sushi for Robots
17 August 2023
A lovable puzzle game that focuses on colour matching, symbolic tiles, and coordinated movement. Love the turn limitation as an extra challenge. Lacks aesthetic variety but plenty of puzzle mechanics!”
Orbit Zero
15 August 2023
Orbit Zero's an interesting hybrid - part management sim, part idler, part shooter. There's always something to do and your focus changes as your empire grows so it stays fresh for a long time.
Planet Barren Objective
14 August 2023
Planet Barren Objective has a steep learning curve (could benefit from improved UI or tute) but it's worth it. It's a real gem, much bigger than it looks at first glance, and gets better as you play.
Great Houses of Calderia
13 August 2023
Great Houses is a grand strategy sim you definitely need to check out. Features both intra-kingdom and foreign affairs management and stretches across generations for a full experience
Fishjong 2
12 August 2023
Fishjong 2 is a very relaxing solitaire mahjong experience. Not much challenge, just tile matching although lock/key tiles are present. Lovely music, set art, and ocean-theme patterns feature
Project Planet
11 August 2023
Project Planet's an exceptional dvd/boardgame-type experience, featuring 5 vs 1 cooperative gameplay. My family have been playing this one together in the evenings and having a great time with it.
Tide of Thieves
08 August 2023
Tide of Thieves is heavily inspired by Overboard! (1997). Very similar gameplay & weapons. Lacks multiplayer but features updated graphics & QoL features, secret areas, & campaign. Nostalgic & fun.
SokoSolitaire
02 August 2023
SokoSolitaire is one of Daisy's most challenging titles, with a heavier focus on core Sokoban mechanics and movement than usual (but still tons of unusual mechanics). Super tight level design.
Thronefall
02 August 2023
There's no idling in Thronefall! After building/upgrading, you control the character during combat and can fight directly or lead troops into battle. Plenty of variety & decision making. Addictive!
The Life of a Magical Circle
02 August 2023
While the presentation may be lacking, Life of a Magical Circle is actually fun to play. It's challenging as a scrolling evade/collect game but there's a much wider game here if you experiment.
Mega City Police
31 July 2023
Mega City Police is fast-paced and a lot of fun to play. Best mechanic is the ammo and weapon drops which encourage weapon cycling and more variety in play. Love the themed level aesthetics.
Midnight Protocol
26 July 2023
One of the best hacking sims I've played. Challenging hacking puzzles, full of atmosphere and loaded with extra features and details, a comprehensive experience. And a story to pull you through it!
Stasis: Bone Totem
23 July 2023
Bone Totem's another great Bischoff horror point and click; great visuals and voice acting as always, compelling character and stories, logical but challenging puzzles. Enjoyed the underwater setting.
Fruitalistic!
22 July 2023
Fruitalistic's a surprisingly fun fruit-themed Angry BIrds clone. By comparison maps are much larger and challenging to 100%, sometimes multiple catapults, decent ammo variety. Nice little casual game.
Stack Stones
21 July 2023
Stack Stones is a heck of a lot of fun. Really cool & unique concept - stacking the stones is challenging enough but while dodging floods & earthquakes & being shot at is gnarly. Cool powerups too!
Roto Force
19 July 2023
Roto Force is a brilliant arcade shooter. Aside from the fresh rotating level design, it's bursting with creativity - uses the environment surprisingly well & tons of weapon, enemy, and boss variety.
Testament
15 July 2023
Testament's an ambitious dark fantasy ARPG with great graphics, engaging arena-style combat & puzzles for variety. Story's a little cliche and doesn't break any new ground but a fun experience overall
Alterium Shift
12 July 2023
Alterium Shift doesn't break any new ground but it's well-made with branching dialogue & interesting characters. Light-hearted and has a good sense of humour, great to introduce young players to JRPGs
Huntdown
8 July 2023
Huntdown's a very nice modern-retro arcade run-and-gun with a gnarly 80s gang theme. Smooth controls and very polished overall. Mechanics and enemies somewhat limited/repetitive but great boss fights
Square Word: Summer Edition
5 July 2023
Square Word is a nifty little find-a-word game; I've enjoyed solving a puzzle or two each day. A little short but there's also a daily puzzle. Art's lovely and UI is very clean. Easy to pick up & play
A Long Journey to an Uncertain End
29 June 2023
A Long Journey to an Uncertain End is a visual novel with RPG & management elements. I love the addition of time pressure and while light-hearted and fun, the game explores interesting themes.
Razerwire Nanowars
27 June 2023
Exceptional arcade-style shooter. Nanowire mechanic's refreshing and innovative and the focus on powerups lends a touch of strategy. Also contains roguelike upgrades. Super replayable and addictive!
Revenge of Noxi
26 June 2023
Revenge of Noxi's a faithful retro Mega Drive beat'em'up in the style of Ninja Gaiden or Altered Beast but weird. Short (~8 levels, 5 bosses, 30-60 mins gameplay) but enjoyable, would have liked more!
Heavenly Bodies
25 June 2023
Heavenly Bodies is the co-op challenge you didn't know you needed! Puzzles are challenging and solving them is rewarding, and a great team-building experience. Fun to play with the kids.
Oblivion Override
24 June 2023
Oblivion Override's one of the better 3d action platformers out there. The graphics and effects mesh nicely, and the ability to level skip after beating bosses prevent repetitive boredom. V. Polished.
Reaper of Immortals
23 June 2023
Reaper of Immortals is a decent action platformer with switchable characters. While it lacks polish, its core gameplay and concept is solid and there's plenty of lore to dig into.
Mars First Logistics
22 June 2023
Mars First Logistics is a superb physics game with lego-style vehicle building, lots of challenges, and some great terrain that's really fun to just zip around and try your creations on. Love it!
Kingsblood
19June 2023
Kingsblood does what it says on the box - story & character progression, endless quests, auto combat, crafting. I might have preferred more combat interactivity but it's fun as a curiosity.
Myriads: Renaissance
16June 2023
Myriads features citybuilding &4X elements but is ultimately a turn-based strategy game. The bigger you become the more powerful but also harder to defend and enemy attacks are constant. It's tough!
Breakwaters
15 June 2023
EA Review: Breakwaters is a promising survival sim that focuses on water mechanics and includes the unusual presence of huge titans. Intriguing and should be impressive with full content in place.
Trinity FUsion
07 June 2023
EA Review: Trinity Fusion is a very decent 3d roguelike action platformer. Nice 3d graphics, awesome cutscene, proc-gen levels for replayability and even a story to pull you through.
Tiny Thor
06 June 2023
High quality platformer, challenging & fun, great for kids & adults. Very polished pixel art & level design, plenty of hidden collectibles to grab, and the unlockable challenge levels are fantastic.
Driftwood
03 June 2023
Super chill downhill longboarding game. Can compete for fastest times or highest scores or just chill and enjoy the music and scenery. Could use more unlockables but fun as-is. Very kid friendly.
Innkeeper's Basement
02 June 2023
EA Review: Still needs a bit more balancing and polish (but it's still got 6 months of EA development to go yet) but it's an interesting and promising concept for a card-based dungeon crawler.
Chronicles of 2 Heroes
01 June 2023
Chronicles of 2 Heroes is a fun platformer that will appeal to most Metroidvania fans. Features some challenging traps and boss fights. Could use a touch more polish but a very fun experience overall
Return
31 May 2023
Return's a short (3hr) but fun hack and slash that features a stack of enemy variety, some really cool boss fights, visual story-telling, and some of the most amazing pixel art I've ever seen.
Run: The World In-Between
30 May 2023
RUN is a challenging precision platformer with some gnarly visceral aesthetics and procedurally generated levels that ramp up, adding new mechanics and traps as you progress. Prepare to die, a lot!
Bat Boy
29 May 2023
Bat Boy is a fantastic retro platformer. Love the pixel art, and the levels are well-thought out with some tricky traps, cool boss fights, and a stack of special moves to beat them with. Very fun
End of Lines
28 May 2023
End of Lines is a top tier interactive graphic novel. Features surprising amount of agency with choice & consequence more akin to an RPG, exquisite hand-painted art, and deeply engaging story. Love it.
The Last Human is a Biker
26 May 2023
EA Review: Sick shooter with dynamic gameplay; aiming shots while controlling your bike as enemies both scroll into play and drop from above. Gets intense, can't wait for the full release!
Rift Rangers
25 May 2023
Rift Rangers is a Survivors-like with an unusual focus on turrets and mines, leading to slower but more interactive gameplay. UI, cutscenes, special effects and sound effects are all super flashy!
Skeleton Punchers
22 May 2023
Skeleton Punchers is a fun brawler that plays like a side-scrolling version of a "bullet heaven" that follows the rule of cool. Bigger than it looks - tons of upgrades, characters, levels. Addictive!
Firmament
18 May 2023
Firmament is a fine new addition to the Myst franchise. Huge world ripe for exploration, gorgeous scenery, diverse and complex puzzles, no hand holding.
Super Virus Defender
17 May 2023
Super Virus Defence is a superb shooter that's suitable for all ages. It's huge, with 100 replayable levels, tons of upgrades and special abilities, minigame play modes, great graphics, a real winner.
Remnants of the Rift
16 May 2023
Remnants of the RIft is an interesting turn/time-based tactical hybrid with roguelike elements and a quirky style that i found refreshing. Weapon cycling can get hectic at times, worth the look.
V-Hunter Puzzler DX
15 May 2023
V-Hunter is a short but sweet fantasy-themed puzzle game. Features 60 bite-size levels with a constant stream of new enemies and mechanics so it's never boring and there are even boss fights.
Ixion
09 May 2023
Ixion is an exceptional, AAA-quality survival city builder that does a great job of simulating the colony ship experience. Features a lengthy campaign with gripping story and exploration elements.
Death or Treat
07 May 2023
Death or Treat is an exceptionally fun halloween-themed beat'em'up with roguelike elements. Super polished, a real visual treat. Smooth controls, plenty of weapons and enemies for variety. Top notch.
Flightpath
06 May 2023
“Flightpath is a very kid-friendly scrolling shooter. It looks and sounds good with plenty of splashy effects but its best feature is its upgrade system featuring tons of weapons and possible layouts.
Curse of the Sea Rats
1 May 2023
Curse of the Sea Rats is a very fun metroidvania aimed at (and easy enough for) a younger crowd. Excellent graphics & sound and great sense of humour. Some exploration, lots of boss fights.
The Sargosian Abyss
30 April 2023
Sargosian Abyss is a tough "arcade-style" TBT. 10 levels but plenty of potential character and party builds to experiment with & proc-gen levels for loads of replayability. Challenging retro fun.
Dungeon Drafters
28 April 2023
Dungeon Drafters is an impressive turn-based tactical / deck-builder / roguelike hybrid with a massive array of enemies, cards & dungeons. Requires some careful thought and strategising to survive!
River Tails: Stronger Together
27 April 2023
River Tails is a fantastic dedicated co-op game about a cute cat and a fish that need to work together. Nice graphics and smooth controls. Perfect for those family gaming sessions.
Gematombe
26 April 2023
A very modern and flashy paddle & block game that features characters & abilities and even fancy cutscenes. Kid-friendly. Solo mode fun but VS mode is best.
OTXO
24 April 2023
OTXO is a fast-paced twinstick gorefest with a distinct art style, a bangin' mechanical soundtrack, and bullet time! Quick kills are encouraged so get in there and go kick some enemies to death.
Hidden Through Time
21 April 2023
Hidden Through Time's a nifty "Where's Wally"-inspired eye spy game that makes the most of its digitisation with animations and interactivity. Great graphics, plenty of maps, and a map editor!
Beyond the Long Night
20 April 2023
Beyond the Long Night is a challenging but rewarding roguelike with an unusual side-on perspective. Start with a new superpower every run and there are tons of upgrades and enemies for variety.
Exogate Initiative
19 April 2023
Exogate is an interesting citybuilder hybrid that features DK-style building crossed with a management sim as you look after your away teams. Best feature is trickle-fed story through exploration.
Recollection
18 April 2023
Recollection is an excellent "mindfulness" game - full of relaxing minigames that force you to slow down and pay attention to details. And when you finish there's a "fragile mode" to add challenge!
Dino Mercs
17 April 2023
EA Review: Still needs a bit more balancing and polish at the moment but the devs have set a year aside for that. Interesting card battler based on unusual mechanics. Takes getting used to but fun.
Axon TD: Uprising
16 April 2023
EA: Axon TD is very well polished, even in EA. Features plenty of towers, traps, enemies, and map manipulation for tons of variety. Full release will have a huge campaign. Survival mode is the best!
Steel Empire
15 April 2023
Steel Empire's an exception 90s arcade game brought back to life on Steam. It's aged super well; the graphics still look amazing and it plays super smooth. Attacked from both sides! Great boss fights.
Vampire Survivors DLC:
Tides of the Foscari
Tides of the Foscari
14 April 2023
Tides of the Foscari is another worthy addition to the Vampire Survivors franchise. This one comes with another large and interesting fantasy-themed map that features a maze, amongst other interests. There's also three new characters, some new (and flashy!) magic-based weapons, and a cool new mechanic in the Academy Badge. If you (like me) still can't get enough of Vampire Survivors, this one's an easy purchase!
Furious Farm
13 April 2023
Furious Farm's another excellent short title by PUNKCAKE. As always, fast, chaotic gameplay and terrific pixel art and music. Upgrades aren't random so I found the different playable characters somewhat same-ish after a level or two. This one's a little easier and less replayable than most of their other titles but still a great casual game.
Hunt the Night
12 April 2023
Hunt the Night looks and sounds beautiful. It's top-down but plays more like a metroidvania than a shooter (not a bad thing) and has tons of weapons and upgrades. A little slow but challenging and fun
Dogfight: A Sausage Bomber Story
9 April 2023
Dogfight is a cartoony side-scrolling shooter that doesn't take itself too seriously. Short - only 9 levels but lots of unlockable weapons for replayability. Features co-op, perfect for family play
Gusanito Joe
7 April 2023
Inject some nostalgia directly into your veins with these gorgeous limited palette screens, arcade tunes, and the coolest little green dude out there. If you've had your arse kicked by Skull's games before, this one's entry level by comparison - great opportunity to introduce your kids to retro!
Soulvester vs Lil' Beezey
6 April 2023
Soulvester is an exceptionally fun scrolling shooter. Fast-paced action, great sense of humour, tons of polish. Lots to love, just be aware it is very short!
Astra Protocol 2
4 April 2023
An exceptionally thorough 80s-style ship simulator. Control is managed through several screens and text commands. Interesting gameplay, heavily layered. Very steep learning curve, read the manual!
Final Profit
3 April 2023
An exceptional retro-styled but modern metroidvania with a gnarly post-apocalyptic cyberpunk theme. Classic metroidvania gameplay with some innovative abilities and multiple levels. Highly polished.
GunSuit Guardians
1 April 2023
EA Review: GunSuit Guardians is an exceptional Surivors-like. Features special abilities, manual shooting, tons of cool suits and weapons. The full version (all content) will be incredible.
HAAK
31 March 2023
An exceptional retro-styled but modern metroidvania with a gnarly post-apocalyptic cyberpunk theme. Classic metroidvania gameplay with some innovative abilities and multiple levels. Highly polished.
Super Greedy Cat
30 March 2023
Super Greedy Cat is a short (~20 level) but superb 2d platformer. Levels vary between dungeons, islands, desert, all the usual. Love the art, super cute. Each level has time, coin & secret. Fun!
Zapling Bygone
30 March 2023
Zapling Bygone is a little easier and shorter than most Metroidvanias, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Zapling's all about the exploration; weird world full of secrets. Love the main character.
Ultimate Chicken Horse
29 March 2023
Ultimate Chicken Horse is the ultimate party game. Tons of levels to choose from, and setting up the traps is every bit as much fun as trying to survive them! Super active online community, great MP.
