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chuckroA Normal Lost Phone (PC, Puzzle) – I’ve played a bunch of “found phone” games, and this is a decent example of the genre. This is the new phone Sam got in early December and you found it on January 31st, so the details are reasonably contained. Being familiar with LGBTQ stories and teen drama in general, I put together most of the story twists before I actually managed to unlock the various password-protected apps. Takes about an hour to play, and nicely done.
Curse of the Crescent Isle DX (PC, 2D Platformer) – Heavily inspired by Super Mario Brothers 2, this Arabia-flavored game involves a lot of picking up enemies and throwing them at each other. It assumes you’re already very familiar with this mechanic and starts building on it immediately, as different enemies have different effects when thrown. I found the controls clunky (even with a proper controller) and the starting difficult level intimidating.
Vilmonic (PC, Simulation) – Dig up materials, craft lots of pixelated tools, and somehow feed and care for various bizarre pixelated creatures that roam the environment. Apparently they can evolve over time and your choices will drive what the world ends up looking like, but I found it insufficiently addictive to actually interest me for long.
Fossil Hunters (PC, Action/Puzzle) – You need to dig up fossil pieces and connect them into bizarre monsters to sell to wealthy investors. It’s more 3D than the concept requires and the “dragging” mechanism to connect the fossils is a little clunky, but the concept is amusing. I played it single-player to get a feel for it but it supports multiplayer, and I suspect that would be much messier.
The Secret of Tremendous Corporation (PC, Puzzle Adventure) – A very short puzzle adventure game apparently made during a game jam, about a new intern learning the Secret of the company that makes every video game ever. I appreciate that it was short and easy, because as I’ve noted, these games aren’t really my thing.
No Delivery (PC, Horror RPG) – An RPGMaker game with a mash-up of roguelike elements (permadeath, procedurally generated segments), classic rpg elements (turn-based battles with special skills; apparently other party members), and horror game elements (horrifying plot and situations, unbeatable monsters, general mystery). It’s unclear how much ending/endgame there actually is, but there is clearly progress you can make (finding books that advance the various classes, acquiring items that pass on even if you die). Neat concept, but I found the need to constantly blunder into unwinnable paths a less-fun gaming experience.
A Hole New World (PC, Platformer) – A retro-platformer with good play controls but annoyingly cheap enemy movements (black bats on a black background by the dozens, all in a row), and further complicated by the fact that falling in the holes flips you into an upside-down world. (The main attack is throwing arcing potion bottles; you get a charge-attack in the second stage and presumably more later.) It actively advertises the lack of easy mode; if that appeals to you, this might.
Subterrarium (PC, Puzzle) – Clearly based on Dig Dug but with more puzzle aspect to it; you need to dig through blocks and collect coins to buy sodas, which are used to water mushrooms and propel yourself upwards to the stage-ending ladders. It jumps straight from the tutorial to puzzles that I just didn’t grok.
Tiny Dangerous Dungeons (PC, Metroidvania) – This was technically a replay, as I played the Android version a couple of years ago. (The PC controls are much easier.) This is short and cute; though the fact that you don’t unlock a weapon for a while is a little irritating.
Raik (PC, Interactive Fiction) – A text-based bit of exploration fiction that is also available in Scots…by which I mean, it constantly switches into Scots. (Which, for the record, is vaguely parse-able to English-speakers if you read it aloud and are good at context clues, but difficult.) You’re a Scottish warrior on a quest to find a magical artifact by traveling through a cave. Or perhaps a Scotsman sitting at his desk checking his email and trying not to have a panic attack. Because the two languages are NOT a translation, they’re two halves of the story. Short game, appropriate for the concept.
Oxenfree (PC, Puzzle Adventure) – This is somewhere between a puzzle adventure game and a visual novel, as you’ve got a character you can move around and interact with, but most of the interaction is based on dialogue choices and self-contained puzzles. A group of high school friends go to an island to party only to discover it’s haunted by time-looping, dimension-traveling ghosts. It’s a cool plot, but my patience for this style of game isn’t sufficient to actually get through it myself.
Lucid Awakening 2 (PC, Classic RPG) – This is an RPGMaker game by a solo developer. I was vaguely concerned that the first game of this series wasn’t in this bundle; but apparently in lieu of a tutorial, this game opens with a long and detailed synopsis of the first game. (Which I now feel no desire to bother playing.) This is a whole saga of a world that’s split into parallel dimensions that apparently interact in dreams; the mythology was very complicated and suitably jrpg-ish. That said, I played through the opening segments as didn’t find them appealing enough to slog through a 20+ hour game.
Social Interaction Trainer (PC, Puzzle) – Are you familiar with how to move your eyes in social situations? In this puzzle game designed as a simulation game, you can learn the tricks to it! (Or not, really. You need to use the mouse to move your eyes and do things like make eye contact but not too much, and not glance at cleavage.) It’s fun for a few minutes and then just kinda irritating.
Village Monsters (PC, Simulation) – The humans implored the gods to send a champion in their war against the monsters, but the trickster god ensured that champion would never win the war…but none of that matters. You’re a human and a new resident of a monster village, and everyone is friendly and wants you to help catch bugs, farm, fish and dig for treasure. It’s got an Animal Crossing sort of vibe to it (and feels very Mother-ish, likely a combination of the high-end 8-bit graphics and the whimsical monsters). It’s also clearly still in development, as there are clearly lots of features missing and not really much narrative thrust to the game. So not worth playing right now, but worth keeping an eye on in case it does get finished.
Verdant Skies (PC, Simulation) – You’re a space colonist! They were definitely going for “Stardew Valley in space” as it’s a bit more flexible and farming-oriented, just with the sci-fi twist. New characters arrive as time passes and you complete quests, and new areas open up with new things you can farm and new fish to catch. A bit more solid than the above, but still clunky and insufficient competition for playing yet another round of Stardew Valley.
Underhero (PC, Action RPG) – Clearly influenced by the Mario RPG games. A clever minion accidentally manages to murder the legendary hero, but ends up with his magical talking sword and charged with becoming the new hero. Navigation is pure 2D platformer, including floating coins to collect. Battles, on the other hand, are a turn-based, timed-hit affair. This is mildly entertaining and I might return to it.
The Rainsdowne Players (PC, Puzzle/Casual) – A pixel-art game about a local theater troupe, who are trying to put together shows that their audiences will appreciate. While it claims to be an rpg, the action mechanics are dodging bottles and vegetables thrown by the audience; and those are interspersed with talking to audience members and rearranging story cards to create plays. Oh, and there’s a timer that limits what you can do in each “day.” It’s a lighthearted game and I can see how people would enjoy it, but it didn’t grab me.
Star and Light (Flash Player, Puzzle Platformer) – A Flash game (which are becoming increasingly hard to play) in which a woman is guided by the ghosts of her parents to unlock an ancient template’s secrets. In practice, this means stepping on every platform once without touching anything colored red. It’s okay, but nothing special.
Celeste (PC, Puzzle Platformer) – A girl tries to climb the mysterious Celeste Mountain using her skills at jumping, climbing and air-dashing. I give this game a lot of credit for attempting to provide accessibility and options, but at the end of the day, it’s a balls-hard platformer made for people with amazing platforming reflexes. I’m decent, but I’m not that good and I’ll never be that good.
Overall: A Normal Lost Phone was entertaining, but nothing else in this batch really clicked for me. There are a few I might wander back to later if I’m in the particular mood for them.
Curse of the Crescent Isle DX (PC, 2D Platformer) – Heavily inspired by Super Mario Brothers 2, this Arabia-flavored game involves a lot of picking up enemies and throwing them at each other. It assumes you’re already very familiar with this mechanic and starts building on it immediately, as different enemies have different effects when thrown. I found the controls clunky (even with a proper controller) and the starting difficult level intimidating.
Vilmonic (PC, Simulation) – Dig up materials, craft lots of pixelated tools, and somehow feed and care for various bizarre pixelated creatures that roam the environment. Apparently they can evolve over time and your choices will drive what the world ends up looking like, but I found it insufficiently addictive to actually interest me for long.
Fossil Hunters (PC, Action/Puzzle) – You need to dig up fossil pieces and connect them into bizarre monsters to sell to wealthy investors. It’s more 3D than the concept requires and the “dragging” mechanism to connect the fossils is a little clunky, but the concept is amusing. I played it single-player to get a feel for it but it supports multiplayer, and I suspect that would be much messier.
The Secret of Tremendous Corporation (PC, Puzzle Adventure) – A very short puzzle adventure game apparently made during a game jam, about a new intern learning the Secret of the company that makes every video game ever. I appreciate that it was short and easy, because as I’ve noted, these games aren’t really my thing.
No Delivery (PC, Horror RPG) – An RPGMaker game with a mash-up of roguelike elements (permadeath, procedurally generated segments), classic rpg elements (turn-based battles with special skills; apparently other party members), and horror game elements (horrifying plot and situations, unbeatable monsters, general mystery). It’s unclear how much ending/endgame there actually is, but there is clearly progress you can make (finding books that advance the various classes, acquiring items that pass on even if you die). Neat concept, but I found the need to constantly blunder into unwinnable paths a less-fun gaming experience.
A Hole New World (PC, Platformer) – A retro-platformer with good play controls but annoyingly cheap enemy movements (black bats on a black background by the dozens, all in a row), and further complicated by the fact that falling in the holes flips you into an upside-down world. (The main attack is throwing arcing potion bottles; you get a charge-attack in the second stage and presumably more later.) It actively advertises the lack of easy mode; if that appeals to you, this might.
Subterrarium (PC, Puzzle) – Clearly based on Dig Dug but with more puzzle aspect to it; you need to dig through blocks and collect coins to buy sodas, which are used to water mushrooms and propel yourself upwards to the stage-ending ladders. It jumps straight from the tutorial to puzzles that I just didn’t grok.
Tiny Dangerous Dungeons (PC, Metroidvania) – This was technically a replay, as I played the Android version a couple of years ago. (The PC controls are much easier.) This is short and cute; though the fact that you don’t unlock a weapon for a while is a little irritating.
Raik (PC, Interactive Fiction) – A text-based bit of exploration fiction that is also available in Scots…by which I mean, it constantly switches into Scots. (Which, for the record, is vaguely parse-able to English-speakers if you read it aloud and are good at context clues, but difficult.) You’re a Scottish warrior on a quest to find a magical artifact by traveling through a cave. Or perhaps a Scotsman sitting at his desk checking his email and trying not to have a panic attack. Because the two languages are NOT a translation, they’re two halves of the story. Short game, appropriate for the concept.
Oxenfree (PC, Puzzle Adventure) – This is somewhere between a puzzle adventure game and a visual novel, as you’ve got a character you can move around and interact with, but most of the interaction is based on dialogue choices and self-contained puzzles. A group of high school friends go to an island to party only to discover it’s haunted by time-looping, dimension-traveling ghosts. It’s a cool plot, but my patience for this style of game isn’t sufficient to actually get through it myself.
Lucid Awakening 2 (PC, Classic RPG) – This is an RPGMaker game by a solo developer. I was vaguely concerned that the first game of this series wasn’t in this bundle; but apparently in lieu of a tutorial, this game opens with a long and detailed synopsis of the first game. (Which I now feel no desire to bother playing.) This is a whole saga of a world that’s split into parallel dimensions that apparently interact in dreams; the mythology was very complicated and suitably jrpg-ish. That said, I played through the opening segments as didn’t find them appealing enough to slog through a 20+ hour game.
Social Interaction Trainer (PC, Puzzle) – Are you familiar with how to move your eyes in social situations? In this puzzle game designed as a simulation game, you can learn the tricks to it! (Or not, really. You need to use the mouse to move your eyes and do things like make eye contact but not too much, and not glance at cleavage.) It’s fun for a few minutes and then just kinda irritating.
Village Monsters (PC, Simulation) – The humans implored the gods to send a champion in their war against the monsters, but the trickster god ensured that champion would never win the war…but none of that matters. You’re a human and a new resident of a monster village, and everyone is friendly and wants you to help catch bugs, farm, fish and dig for treasure. It’s got an Animal Crossing sort of vibe to it (and feels very Mother-ish, likely a combination of the high-end 8-bit graphics and the whimsical monsters). It’s also clearly still in development, as there are clearly lots of features missing and not really much narrative thrust to the game. So not worth playing right now, but worth keeping an eye on in case it does get finished.
Verdant Skies (PC, Simulation) – You’re a space colonist! They were definitely going for “Stardew Valley in space” as it’s a bit more flexible and farming-oriented, just with the sci-fi twist. New characters arrive as time passes and you complete quests, and new areas open up with new things you can farm and new fish to catch. A bit more solid than the above, but still clunky and insufficient competition for playing yet another round of Stardew Valley.
Underhero (PC, Action RPG) – Clearly influenced by the Mario RPG games. A clever minion accidentally manages to murder the legendary hero, but ends up with his magical talking sword and charged with becoming the new hero. Navigation is pure 2D platformer, including floating coins to collect. Battles, on the other hand, are a turn-based, timed-hit affair. This is mildly entertaining and I might return to it.
The Rainsdowne Players (PC, Puzzle/Casual) – A pixel-art game about a local theater troupe, who are trying to put together shows that their audiences will appreciate. While it claims to be an rpg, the action mechanics are dodging bottles and vegetables thrown by the audience; and those are interspersed with talking to audience members and rearranging story cards to create plays. Oh, and there’s a timer that limits what you can do in each “day.” It’s a lighthearted game and I can see how people would enjoy it, but it didn’t grab me.
Star and Light (Flash Player, Puzzle Platformer) – A Flash game (which are becoming increasingly hard to play) in which a woman is guided by the ghosts of her parents to unlock an ancient template’s secrets. In practice, this means stepping on every platform once without touching anything colored red. It’s okay, but nothing special.
Celeste (PC, Puzzle Platformer) – A girl tries to climb the mysterious Celeste Mountain using her skills at jumping, climbing and air-dashing. I give this game a lot of credit for attempting to provide accessibility and options, but at the end of the day, it’s a balls-hard platformer made for people with amazing platforming reflexes. I’m decent, but I’m not that good and I’ll never be that good.
Overall: A Normal Lost Phone was entertaining, but nothing else in this batch really clicked for me. There are a few I might wander back to later if I’m in the particular mood for them.
