Honestly I’m not entirely sure if I’m a kitten, and I’m solving these puzzles for food? Or if I’m a scientist who’s motivated myself to solve these challenges else my pet cats will starve? I don’t want to think about it too hard. I just want to sit back, solve little puzzles, and be pleased that there are kitties to watch.

It’s free! It’s a bit like Hexcells! It needs the ridiculous decision to have left-click move the puzzle fixed immediately! But it’s definitely worth bringing to your attention.

I really hope this becomes one of those reviews on Buried Treasure that’s looked back on as redundant, after the rest of the industry notices this and reviews it. I kept hearing the word “masterpiece” go through my brain as I was playing it. Not a word I like to use, but still, it kept whispering itself to me.

It’s also worth noting the excellent underground spooky sound-effects, and some lovely music. This all adds up to a very fun little game, with just enough Lemmings to remind me of happy times, but not so much that I can feel it triggering my anxiety. Oh, and good gracious, it only costs a pound. Which is silly. Put that price up!

When we look at History, and we learn about Wars, we see arrows on maps, armies defeating armies, flags replacing flags. But it’s so easy to forget about the minutiae within that. The farmer in the mountains whose life was bounced between fascist regimes, before being completely destroyed in their wake. A Painter’s Tale offers this perspective with such an extraordinary lightness of touch, almost a nonchalance, and is so much more powerful for it.

I really love this! I cannot justify this well. I guess sometimes it’s just fun to be rubbish at something. But it’s really nicely presented, the music is fun, and it’s no slapdash effort – the controls and timings are incredibly precise. And if you happened to be good at it, well I cannot imagine how thrilling that would be.

This is a ton of fun, bright, silly, fast and tough. I think there’s definitely potential to build it out into a larger game, especially with the building mechanic. However, it works just as it is, a morsel, and you’ve nothing to lose in giving it a go.

Created by one person, this is an excellent use of pre-made assets to build an Unreal Engine horror game. I love that there are tools that allow someone to piece something like this together, without the need for being able to build complex 3D models or record swathes of sound effects. It’s about the smarts in how they’re put together, and Alexandr Reshetnikov shows a lot of those here. The jump-cuts, the constant rearranging of locations behind you, the application of so many horror tropes at once – it all comes together so nicely for a very scary hour.

It’s a worthwhile couple of hours. It’s always spooky, sometimes scary, and as I’ve said over and again, the creatures are incredible.

There’s something utterly charming about this kitchen table FMV gaming. It’s am-dram, with sound levels all over the place, friends-and-family casting, incredibly terrible CGI, and the sort of story that barely holds together in the most fun way.

No, it’s no great science fiction classic, but it’s a bright, silly tale with what were once one of the best ever Whovian enemies, managing to be scary once more. (I shall never forgive Moffatt for the Statue Of Liberty. Ever.) And at just a fiver on PC, or three quid on phones, it’s a good two or three hours of distracting fun.

So yes, clearly this is a hefty tribute to Lovecraft’s world, and in that sense it’s why this game needed to be set in his creations. Although their writing chops are strong enough that they could have developed something creepy and funny from their own imaginations. Whether you care about this or not is up to you. I find that I can think Lovecraft a ghastly and pathetic man, and still enjoy a very well made game set in his stories. This is such a game, and I’m glad I played it. And replayed it.

This is by far one of the more interesting escape games around, if you’re looking for something silly and strange and relatively simple. It’s not trying to be the lofty intricacy of The Room, nor the Lynchian faux-narrative of Rusty Lake. It’s just goofing around, and that’s important too. And at this, it does very well.

Oh my goodness, get this, and indeed every other game they’ve made. Play them all, and you’ll only probably maybe go completely loopy. I adore them, and this one lives up to their reputation completely.

This would be great for kids comfortable with using a mouse (and indeed would work far better on a tablet, but sadly seems only to be on PC). It’s never difficult, but often grin-inducing. The cats are lovely, and giving them hats makes them happy! So much so that every single hatted cat gains you an achievement almost all with the exact same words: “The cat is happy!” I made the cats happy!

For a weeny $5, this is well worth your time. It’s intelligent, peculiar, and replayable. I do wish more items in the shop could be interacted with, even if it’s just to pick them up and put them down again. But there’s enough detail hidden around to keep me happy.

I really like the shooting! It’s a very satisfying FPS game, with a great collection of enemy types, and weapons that are very definitely becoming favourites. There really is a lot of great balance already in place as I switch between rapid-fire blasters and one-shot rocket launchers, responding on the fly to the mix of enemies in any given area. [Early Access Score = 78]

But do check this out, because it’s an original approach to a familiar genre, and one people with cleverer brains than mine are certain to enjoy. Also, it has a super-chilled jazzy soundtrack that I love.

This is a simple, original idea, done really well. I don’t know that I’ll ever unlock those blue levels, but it’s a great time trying. And for less than £3, it’s a pretty low-risk choice. This is an easy one to recommend.

Gosh there are too many “explore an abandoned space station” games, but I keep finding myself drawn to them, and it’s for exactly the reason that I hope they’ll offer what Spirits Of Xanadu includes. I mean, it’s not amazing, and I’ve still yet to find the Solaris of videogames that I’m desperately hoping for, but it’s nice to have something that delivers it all in a satisfying way.

If you fancy being completely weirded out by a deeply sinister and absolutely mystifying three-hour creep-em-up, jump on this one. I am super-intrigued to find out what Faceless is going to be.

This is just tremendous. It’s extremely silly, but so well executed. I love the relationships between the aliens, and the superbly lackadaisical supervisor makes me laugh every time he appears. This is a piece of jubilant daftness, and that’s why I adore it. It’s short, perhaps an hour to go through the first time, but at its super-low price it’s still a bargain. SPACE COURT!

Should you buy this now? Well look, it’s £1.35, so you’re not exactly going to be taking out a second mortgage. But understand this is, at the most generous, a demo at this point. I’m just so taken with the ridiculous idea, and the lovely presentation, that I couldn’t help myself. [Early Access Score = 75]

I love this. It’s just so splendid, and I’m absolutely bloody determined to keep getting better at it. It’s a slow process for me, but I’m definitely improving! And in the game.

I can’t over-emphasise how pretty it all is. The backgrounds are wonderful, the meticulously detailed character animations on par with the best I’ve seen. That the vast majority of this game, including not just the art and writing but also its fabulous music, is all by one guy, is astounding.

Honestly, I don’t find The Highway to be quite as compelling as his other games. Certainly not for its art and design, which is pixel-perfect, with brilliant lighting, surprises and incredible timing. I just find the loosey-goosey super-ambiguous Twilight Zone thing a bit too distancing, and I think the final moment in this is a bit flat. However, it seems everyone else who’s ever written about it strongly disagrees with me, so you may well too.

I just adore the art, which is what caught my eye first of all. Monochrome, 2.5D, with a sort of pop art aesthetic. And there are some lovely details within that, especially the intricate reloading animations on the pistol.

This is a short game in the Metroid-like sense, but it’ll offer you a fair few hours for a very reasonable price. There are imperfections that will lead to frustrations, but there’s plenty more here that makes this a pretty interesting play.