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This had something like 700 different things in it, and that’s a mix of videogames, tabletop games and books. Rather than trying to log everything and work through it systematically, I’m going to pick out things that interest me and note details as I try them.
MidBoss (PC, Roguelike) – An isometric turn-based roguelike with the gimmick that you possess enemies after you defeat them, and in those new forms, gain new abilities to power-up your primary Imp form. I love the fact that there’s an “exploration” mode and a “quick game” setting right off the bat, because even lighter roguelikes are typically too much for me, and that’s doubly true right now.
Devtheism (PC, RPGMaker) – A ~15 minute story game about a video game character going on a journey to determine if his faith in Developers is valid. Very much a “concept piece” with no combat or development and basically a flash-fiction piece’s worth of story.
Cuckoo Castle (PC, Metroidvania) – A Game Boy style short Metroidvania game with three characters, two bosses and a bunch of area to explore. (Maybe half an hour of material, total.) There are some issues with wonky hitboxes and there are at least 12/10 villagers to find, but overall it’s a lovely example of what it is.
StopHat (PC, Casual) – Maneuver the top hat onto the rich guy in the elevator. Over and over. Every 25 points, the elevator speeds up. That seems to be all there is. Goofy and briefly amusing.
Just Another Day at the Office (PC, Action) – A rather terribly-made game about an office worker who goes nuts and throws Molotov cocktails at random bankers. It’s clipart sprites with bad hitboxes sliding around nonsensical architecture, and the plot is stolen from the last part of Fight Club.
Switch N Shoot (PC, Shooter) – A classic arcade shooter, except there’s only one button: Shooting also makes you change direction. It’s a clever gimmick and it’s REALLY HARD!
Spell Casting (PC, Casual) – You’re a cat who wants to be a wizard, so you’re doing the mail-away course to spellcasting. Cute setup, but the gameplay is just tracing shapes and trying not to make mistakes. (I think there’s an Android/touchscreen version and that would be more fun.) I guess, if you like tracing and are okay with there not being much else?
I See You (PC, Exploration Horror) – A low-res game about exploring a creepy hospital; supposedly it has jumpscares but I couldn’t find anything to manipulate and couldn’t get out of the initial area.
ARGH-P-G (PC, Roguelike) – A very simple, casual roguelike; you use the number keys to navigate through very simple dungeon levels, fight monsters and collect treasure. I found the rogue character actually playable, as opposed to the paladin who just died a lot. That said…there isn’t much here. The levels are very repetitive and the randomness of your ability to progress is on full display.
Inkanians (PC, Puzzle) – A sliding-block puzzle collection with lots of quirks—death blocks, secondary blocks that also move, portals, etc. 60 levels of heavily variable difficulty. Vaguely Incan theme. No frills.
Destiny Fails Us: A New Life (PC, Visual Novel) – A high school slice-of-life visual novel about picking and pursuing a cute boy, and managing your friends’ social lives too. Apparently with some skill systems that don’t do much but can be carried over into the next game in the series. Nothing about it really grabbed me.
Reproduction Man (PC, Puzzle) – Maneuver blocks, balls and other peculiar obstacles to allow sperm to travel to an egg. This barely has a tutorial (the first level introduces a bunch of stuff with only a few failure conditions) and skips the idea of a “difficulty curve” in favor of jumping straight into the nasty stuff.
Micro Mages (NES, Action - Platformer) – A retro game that they actually released in a NES-compatible rom format. You can tell it’s a modern game—the sprites are too small, the controls are too good, the art style is trying a little too hard, there’s some mini-gore—but I appreciate the effort. It’s also actually pleasant to play! You’re a tiny mage climbing a tower, and you can cling to walls and shoot tiny beams at the various monsters. You’re a classic one-hit-point wonder, but there are powerups that give you a second hit and that includes against falling off the bottom of the screen. I’ll likely pop this onto my emulator handhelds.
Fusion SHIFT (PC, Action/Puzzle) – This is a puzzle game disguised as a 2D shooter; you play a little floating blue ball who needs to kill the people running around, and you do so by possessing them and either shooting their compatriots (and getting them shot) or dropping their bodies into pits. The controls take a little finagling, but overall it’s a clever little game.
Legend of the Lost Dragons (PC, Zelda-like) – You play a dragon in a randomized world styled after the original NES Zelda. Hidden through this world are various medallions that allow you to attack, jump and break barriers. It’s got permadeath, and the hitboxes are a little iffy, so don’t expect an easy time of things. I’m recommending this to my friend who speedruns Legend of Zelda, though.
Dungeons and Lesbians (PC, Visual Novel) – A story about playing D&D with a group of affable gay weirdos. And it is ADORABLE. Each playthrough is short, maybe half an hour, and there are three girls in the gaming group. Just entertaining enough that it doesn’t overstay its welcome, this is what I generally want in a visual novel.
a new life. (PC, Visual Novel) – And speaking of short lesbian visual novels: This one focuses on a single relationship, and appears to always end sadly. It’s pretty, but heartbreaking.
Super Hexagon (PC, Casual) – A test-your-reflexes game of moving around a hexagon and avoiding the obstacles that come from around you. The base difficulty is Hard and it just goes up from there. I am bad at it.
Haque (PC, Roguelike) – A relatively simple turn-based roguelike done with simple 8-bit graphics and easy controls. I wasn’t strongly interested, but I can see the appeal.
Myth Bearer (PC, adventure rpg/puzzle) – Nominally an rpg, but it’s really a puzzle game, because enemies don’t move and the amount of damage you can do and they can do it plain to see. So really, gaining levels by finding the enemies you can defeat opens up new enemies you can defeat and unlock areas. (It’s the purest distillation of beef gates I’ve ever seen.) The puzzle style is similar to Half-Minute Hero, just larger and without the time limit. I ended up spending a few hours on it and reaching the proper “ending”; I suspect it’s possible to win without dying at all but I’m not entirely sure how.
Shipwreck (PC, Zelda-like) – Inspired more closely by Link’s Awakening, your hero is shipwrecked on a mysterious island and tasked by the local villagers to gather four seals from various dungeons and defeat a ghost terrorizing the island. There are a couple of irritating design choices (you need to beat a 50 GP per try “sword training course” to get the crossbow that you seem to need to proceed; the heart containers are optional finds within the dungeons; there are several “blank spaces” in the inventory) but they had some fun with this. And so did I; it’s about two hours’ worth of game.
Overall: Cuckoo Castle, Dungeons and Lesbians, Myth Bearer, and Shipwreck were the standouts that I particularly enjoyed playing.
MidBoss (PC, Roguelike) – An isometric turn-based roguelike with the gimmick that you possess enemies after you defeat them, and in those new forms, gain new abilities to power-up your primary Imp form. I love the fact that there’s an “exploration” mode and a “quick game” setting right off the bat, because even lighter roguelikes are typically too much for me, and that’s doubly true right now.
Devtheism (PC, RPGMaker) – A ~15 minute story game about a video game character going on a journey to determine if his faith in Developers is valid. Very much a “concept piece” with no combat or development and basically a flash-fiction piece’s worth of story.
Cuckoo Castle (PC, Metroidvania) – A Game Boy style short Metroidvania game with three characters, two bosses and a bunch of area to explore. (Maybe half an hour of material, total.) There are some issues with wonky hitboxes and there are at least 12/10 villagers to find, but overall it’s a lovely example of what it is.
StopHat (PC, Casual) – Maneuver the top hat onto the rich guy in the elevator. Over and over. Every 25 points, the elevator speeds up. That seems to be all there is. Goofy and briefly amusing.
Just Another Day at the Office (PC, Action) – A rather terribly-made game about an office worker who goes nuts and throws Molotov cocktails at random bankers. It’s clipart sprites with bad hitboxes sliding around nonsensical architecture, and the plot is stolen from the last part of Fight Club.
Switch N Shoot (PC, Shooter) – A classic arcade shooter, except there’s only one button: Shooting also makes you change direction. It’s a clever gimmick and it’s REALLY HARD!
Spell Casting (PC, Casual) – You’re a cat who wants to be a wizard, so you’re doing the mail-away course to spellcasting. Cute setup, but the gameplay is just tracing shapes and trying not to make mistakes. (I think there’s an Android/touchscreen version and that would be more fun.) I guess, if you like tracing and are okay with there not being much else?
I See You (PC, Exploration Horror) – A low-res game about exploring a creepy hospital; supposedly it has jumpscares but I couldn’t find anything to manipulate and couldn’t get out of the initial area.
ARGH-P-G (PC, Roguelike) – A very simple, casual roguelike; you use the number keys to navigate through very simple dungeon levels, fight monsters and collect treasure. I found the rogue character actually playable, as opposed to the paladin who just died a lot. That said…there isn’t much here. The levels are very repetitive and the randomness of your ability to progress is on full display.
Inkanians (PC, Puzzle) – A sliding-block puzzle collection with lots of quirks—death blocks, secondary blocks that also move, portals, etc. 60 levels of heavily variable difficulty. Vaguely Incan theme. No frills.
Destiny Fails Us: A New Life (PC, Visual Novel) – A high school slice-of-life visual novel about picking and pursuing a cute boy, and managing your friends’ social lives too. Apparently with some skill systems that don’t do much but can be carried over into the next game in the series. Nothing about it really grabbed me.
Reproduction Man (PC, Puzzle) – Maneuver blocks, balls and other peculiar obstacles to allow sperm to travel to an egg. This barely has a tutorial (the first level introduces a bunch of stuff with only a few failure conditions) and skips the idea of a “difficulty curve” in favor of jumping straight into the nasty stuff.
Micro Mages (NES, Action - Platformer) – A retro game that they actually released in a NES-compatible rom format. You can tell it’s a modern game—the sprites are too small, the controls are too good, the art style is trying a little too hard, there’s some mini-gore—but I appreciate the effort. It’s also actually pleasant to play! You’re a tiny mage climbing a tower, and you can cling to walls and shoot tiny beams at the various monsters. You’re a classic one-hit-point wonder, but there are powerups that give you a second hit and that includes against falling off the bottom of the screen. I’ll likely pop this onto my emulator handhelds.
Fusion SHIFT (PC, Action/Puzzle) – This is a puzzle game disguised as a 2D shooter; you play a little floating blue ball who needs to kill the people running around, and you do so by possessing them and either shooting their compatriots (and getting them shot) or dropping their bodies into pits. The controls take a little finagling, but overall it’s a clever little game.
Legend of the Lost Dragons (PC, Zelda-like) – You play a dragon in a randomized world styled after the original NES Zelda. Hidden through this world are various medallions that allow you to attack, jump and break barriers. It’s got permadeath, and the hitboxes are a little iffy, so don’t expect an easy time of things. I’m recommending this to my friend who speedruns Legend of Zelda, though.
Dungeons and Lesbians (PC, Visual Novel) – A story about playing D&D with a group of affable gay weirdos. And it is ADORABLE. Each playthrough is short, maybe half an hour, and there are three girls in the gaming group. Just entertaining enough that it doesn’t overstay its welcome, this is what I generally want in a visual novel.
a new life. (PC, Visual Novel) – And speaking of short lesbian visual novels: This one focuses on a single relationship, and appears to always end sadly. It’s pretty, but heartbreaking.
Super Hexagon (PC, Casual) – A test-your-reflexes game of moving around a hexagon and avoiding the obstacles that come from around you. The base difficulty is Hard and it just goes up from there. I am bad at it.
Haque (PC, Roguelike) – A relatively simple turn-based roguelike done with simple 8-bit graphics and easy controls. I wasn’t strongly interested, but I can see the appeal.
Myth Bearer (PC, adventure rpg/puzzle) – Nominally an rpg, but it’s really a puzzle game, because enemies don’t move and the amount of damage you can do and they can do it plain to see. So really, gaining levels by finding the enemies you can defeat opens up new enemies you can defeat and unlock areas. (It’s the purest distillation of beef gates I’ve ever seen.) The puzzle style is similar to Half-Minute Hero, just larger and without the time limit. I ended up spending a few hours on it and reaching the proper “ending”; I suspect it’s possible to win without dying at all but I’m not entirely sure how.
Shipwreck (PC, Zelda-like) – Inspired more closely by Link’s Awakening, your hero is shipwrecked on a mysterious island and tasked by the local villagers to gather four seals from various dungeons and defeat a ghost terrorizing the island. There are a couple of irritating design choices (you need to beat a 50 GP per try “sword training course” to get the crossbow that you seem to need to proceed; the heart containers are optional finds within the dungeons; there are several “blank spaces” in the inventory) but they had some fun with this. And so did I; it’s about two hours’ worth of game.
Overall: Cuckoo Castle, Dungeons and Lesbians, Myth Bearer, and Shipwreck were the standouts that I particularly enjoyed playing.
