There are some janky animations and ugly models. No, the end-of-the-world narrative isn’t emotional or complex. Along with those flaws, though, is a game with a pretty world, nice music, and combat with a decent enough core to engage those not wanting to wrestle with weapon switches, parrying, cooldowns, or any other more advanced combat mechanics commonly found in similar games. While I occasionally found myself frustrated with my time in Windscape, I found myself relaxed and entertained more often than I wasn’t, and that’s all a game like this really needs to achieve.

Unyielder is an interesting and somewhat masochistic game. It has a lot of potential, and I experienced a lot of enjoyment and a lot of frustration playing it. I found the difficulty level to be very punishing, just from a reaction time point of view, and frequently got frustrated because the harder bosses seemed almost impossible to counter correctly. When I managed to get some powerful weapons or perks, I could do really well but often couldn't find myself getting through more than six or seven bosses in a row. It feels like with enough tuning and some more development, Unyielder could turn into a really polished gem. Despite that, I did have fun with it, particularly with the movement and feel of weaponry.

The game is a cute little time killer which starts off as an innocent little game for kids but gets more complex pretty fast, demanding a level of tactical thinking I have yet to experience in a simplistic mobile game such as this.

Ashwalkers has it’s issues with pacing during some of its more severely-weathered environments, but, even so, it stands as an immensely moody survival-lite game that tells its story of desperation, loneliness, and even hope surprisingly well.

Akaneiro could stand on its own as a $20 game and, in fact, does if you would prefer to skip region unlocking entirely. Being free, however, makes it a much more compelling option. Without a need to spend cash, the whole game is still open to you, without penalty, and it's worth trying out.

Frantic gameplay keeps you on the edge of your seat though, and the storyline is engaging enough to give you the motivation to start another mission. The true heroes of the game, however, are the comprehensive boss fights which add flavor where it is needed most.

The price won't hurt your wallet and at $7.99, you owe it to yourself to at least try it if you're itching for a point and click adventure.

Dig or Die isn’t going to revolutionize the genre, and I don’t think it’ll turn into an indie darling the way games like Terraria have. That being said, it’s a fun game that’s worth sinking a few lazy nights into. The largely procedurally generated nature of the (surprisingly big) playable map keeps things fresh for multiple playthroughs after death, which is good, because you’ll quickly find Dig or Die living up to the second half of its name.

Despite the fact that some art doesn't mesh well, Lost in Harmony: The Musical Odyssey is a beautiful rhythmic adventure that even a rhythm game amateur like myself can enjoy. Both story modes have a short yet satisfying plot with exciting music that really keeps the pace right where it should be. It's a game that was off of my radar initially, but I'm glad to have had the chance to jam out with Kaito and M.I.R.A.I.

It's clear there is a lot of love and passion put into it. The good, for the most part, outweighs the bad as it is quite charming and fun when you're not fighting against the wonky camera or frustrating glitches. I would recommend Penny's Big Breakaway only to fans who love the genre. If Evening Star can take what they've learned here and iron out the kinks, then I think they could make something truly spectacular.

This is a game that is crying out for either a more sparsely populated map with more deliberate encounters al la Breath of the Wild, or a more fast-paced hack-and-slash combat system.

With over twenty hours of content and a paltry $8 price tag, Unepic is worth experiencing, even if to re-explore a childhood fantasy.

So AR-K: The Great Escape is an interesting one. Despite its lackluster opening and questionable delivery, it manages to grow on you.

I’ll keep playing because the story is engaging and I want to see what happens to Class VII, but the battles and exploration don’t hold the same spark that they did in the first. So if you are considering playing this, without having played the first, don’t. The first is a far better game and includes very similar content. If you play that and find that you are sufficiently interested in the story, then I’d recommend getting this game as well. But this is a game I would only recommend to JRPG fans or to players engaged with the ongoing exploits of Class VII.

Overall, it's a decent co-op experience - I just wish it was harder.

I suppose that a very small child might be scared while playing The Haunting of Jodi Evers, but small children are the least likely to appreciate the game's unusually mature story. The result is a game that seems at odds with itself.

Strange Brigade is a sound party shooter, stylish and good to play with friends. It’s a nice romp, but the actual content feels very facile to me, lacking in terms of any meaningful engagement with the player.

Death is forgiving in Hob in that progress isn’t lost in the way of items collected or enemies defeated. However, respawning in Hob takes a long time and the checkpoints can sometimes be inconveniently far away from where you died. Backtracking is usually easy enough since most enemies don’t respawn and sometimes there are shortcuts that can be opened to quickly reach where you had been before. But running through the parts I had already done felt like a chore, especially if my death was less my fault and more to do with Hob’s wonky platforming mechanics.

Splatter lets you blow up pretty much anything you see. A big part of the fun is that you can just walk into a room and lay waste to everything. It's like Michael Bay: The Game: windows will explode, beds will explode, tables will explode, toilets will explode, cars will explode.

Retrovirus is a functional shooter that suffers from difficulty spikes and a too-small online community. It’s like Tron with its wild conception of what the inside of a computer could be and breathes life into the lifeless. For a setting so well realized, and so much fun to explore, it is worth the cost of admission.

There's a lot of pleasure to be found here, if you can forgive the glowing neon warts.

Just go play this game, because it deserves a look, and it will be interesting to see what Jon Oldblood’s mind gives us in the future.

NBA 2K25 loves the history, and game, of basketball almost as much as it loves money. That much is clear. Just about every mode is dripping in reverence for one or the other, and it serves to enhance the experience. Despite its flaws, the gameplay is the best it has ever been, and the somewhat basic RPG additions to several modes make them feel more alive, even if they're still set in mostly barren buildings and cities. It also looks the part. The players look like themselves, in stills and in motion, and simply watching the game breaks the realism barrier at times. It's a looker, even on a modest PC, and I appreciated the inclusion of a dedicated Steam Deck graphics present too, which would make the grind a little more manageable, I guess. The day NBA 2K loses its microtransactions is the day it loses its identity, but it's also the day we have a chance at a near-perfect basketball sim. Until then, we're stuck with a game filled with increasingly promising modes bogged down by an insistence that you pay or treat it like another job. Depending on your desired way to play, that can break the deal.

Four Last Things is a short, silly, entertaining point-and-click adventure game that pays homage to the genre’s late 80’s roots with a sprinkle of that decade’s funnybone-dust, all wrapped up in a renaissance aesthetic style that makes the experience unique. If you can look past the miniscule production values, and if you’re a big enough Pythonian a heart, you’ll sink right into Four Last Things.

Tron: Catalyst does plenty right. The story of the glitch in the system works well within the Tron environment, and the combat is quite fluid, requiring players to make use of all of Exo’s abilities. However, some of the enjoyable mechanics are underutilised. I only ever used the Glitch loop mechanic when I was specifically asked to do so, and it would have been nice to have donned the Core uniform disguise in more locations to allow a more stealthy game if you wanted. But the game's signature Tron visual styling is breathtaking, making every moment spent in the Arq Grid a feast for the eyes. Fans of the futuristic Disney films will find much to love here, especially if they can overlook some of its missed opportunities..

Overall, I'm impressed with Uurnog Uurnlimited's open approach to puzzle solving and its simple yet effective graphics. Each puzzle's solution is as unique as the player can make it, allowing for some silly and rewarding puzzle solving. I appreciate that the game takes a hard penalty on death, but resetting puzzles has the same penalties as a death, which feels excessive and otherwise limiting on a puzzle game that relies on and is made stronger by its multiplicity of solutions.

Sheltered is a good little game that just becomes bogged down with all the little details.

Although Dusty Revenge is a fun game to play, it is rather short, has an uncompelling storyline and lacks that touch of polish that would make it more memorable.