Reviews

<p class="" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Despite a strong score and fantastic mythological inspirations, Aztec Forgotten Gods is a flawed game with uninteresting combat and flat story.</p>

Never Alone tells an impactful tale of native culture, delivering an experience that is both unique and influential. Though a lack of stark puzzles and technical bugs does hinder the experience as a game, the alluring narrative is well worth the price of admission alone.

Infernax is a love letter to the action-adventure games of old while simultaneously excelling in the modern definition of the genre. Delivering a balanced experience, Berzerk Studio sticks the landing within the sweet spot between challenge and downright fun.

Grapple Dog is an accessible, fun, and charming collectathon platformer with a great sense of challenge - but it’s missing a core driving force with missteps in narrative. As a love letter reminiscent of the beloved Game Boy Advanced library, Grapple Dog is worth sinking your hooks into.

5AM Games delivers a fun, concise game where the written words are the puzzles themselves. Explore the wonder of a burgeoning pen pal friendship in the ‘90s in the ever so charming Letters.

Between the astonishing aesthetic paired with remarkable sound direction, Sifu is a presentational marvel. But unfortunately, punishing gameplay and overly-complex systems make for an inaccessible and overwhelmingly difficult experience.

Summertime Madness is an earnest attempt at making an emotionally appealing puzzle game, but ultimately misses the mark. Beautiful visuals paired with a melodic score unfortunately couldn't elevate the overly bloated puzzles and sterile storytelling.

The Pedestrian is a beautiful, well thought out puzzler that nails that mark between a relaxing and challenging experience. Skookum Arts has crafted an experience worth the time of those looking for a beautiful new brain teaser.

Sundae Month successfully grasps what a simple game made to boost one’s serotonin with lovable dogs should look like. If there was ever a game that achieved its vision to the nth degree, it’s Pupperazzi.

Nobody Saves The World delivers an enthralling experience within a fantastical world of imaginative characters. This is not only Drinkbox Studios’ most ambitious game to date, but is easily the best in their catalog of celebrated titles.

Aspire: Ina’s Tale is a visual showcase of how beautiful games can be, especially on the OLED Switch. However, the occasionally frustrating puzzles resulting in consistent resets or annoying sequences deter from the zen-like experience.

Laying the groundwork for an intelligent puzzle-narrative adventure wrapped within a sci-fi mystery, Ever Forward is quite the heartbreaker. Unfortunately, not in the sense we typically prefer.

With an extremely simple to understand, yet hard to master gameplay approach, Exbleative’s debut proved capable of creating a stunning trance-like experience.

Moncage strikes a delicate balance in its art, puzzles, and narrative, setting an impressive precedent for perspective art and puzzles alike.

Witch Beam delivers a relaxed and creatively open approach to gameplay, with an ordinary but intimate narrative in a unique fashion. With little-to-no hiccups, Unpacking ultimately succeeds as the accessible, zen puzzler it set out to be.

Treasures of The Aegean has a solid vision, but it needs more rounding out to successfully see that vision through. The game's hook almost works, but relies too much on mechanics that are too rough around the edges to be enjoyable.

Among its myths, mystery, and tragedy, Moonglow Bay is filled with an ocean's worth of charm. Stunning art, an encapsulating score, and an engaging gameplay loop makes it one of the most delightful experiences of the year.

The horror genre can be a hard sell for most. But with an outstanding visual language and the avoidance of cliche tropes, Subway Midnight delivers a masterful, accessible horror experience unlike any other.

Echo Generation is a stunning Spielbergian acid trip. The nostalgia-fueled narrative hits are enjoyably bonkers, but the moment-to-moment progression can be a drag due to a lack of objective focus.

There’s something to be said for less expensive games that yield shorter, more honed experiences; a thriving trend within the indie horror scene, particularly in games inspired by retro ‘horror grunge’ titles. Chasing Static takes this direction, and utterly excels.