The biggest issue is just the lack of overall assistance. Sands of Salazaar opens the door, pushes you through, and says “have fun!” before running away and leaving you to figure everything out on your own. Gradually realizing how things work is part of the adventure, though when some of those things include basics such as how to use skills, it’s not quite so fun. These are all issues Han-Squirrel can resolve over time, though. Until then, Sands of Salazaar’s layers and intriguing character stories more than make up for the annoyances, especially for the asking price.

All in all, Wolfstride demonstrates how great a game can be when the characters in it are full of personality, and also succeeds in presenting a combat system that’s fun and challenging, without losing simplicity. Its characters are a bunch of lovely, lowly criminals that conduct themselves kind of aimlessly through life, failing upwards more than progressing, and perhaps, under all that rubbish you can find actually nice people with complex minds and even more complicated lives. But of course, Wolfstride is, first and foremost, a game about mechas demolishing each other, and the game never lets you forget it.

Clone Drone in the Danger Zone is both good fun, but also somewhat surprising in the story it tells. There’s a lot more to it than just swinging a sword around, but even if there wasn’t, having a big old flaming sword or a giant hammer and then slashing and smashing enemy bots is more than satisfying enough to hold most people’s attention.

Overall, Heavenly Bodies is a triumphant puzzle game. Its setting and premise are novel and excellently executed. The games succinct 5-7 playtime allows the game to not overstay its welcome and the excellent theming gives sensibility to what would otherwise be wholly nonsensical mechanics. Heavenly Bodies is a welcome addition to an already vibrant indie puzzle scene.

I liked Unpacking very much. It’s complicated, but it’s as simple as a peanut butter sandwich, toasted in the sandwich press that you got three apartments ago.

Ultimately, the only flaw was the sensation of wanting more of The Sundew. While its length can feel underwhelming, it is still an achievement since it’s developed by one person, which is even more admirable after seeing the quality of the final product. The fact that the game left me craving for more adventures like this speaks volumes of the developer’s dedication, as well as a testament to the beautifully presented cyberpunk adventure of The Sundew.

The neatest trick that Midnight Protocol pulled is that even if it probably does not depict hacking in the most realistic or accurate manner, it still encapsulates the fascination that most of us have around hacking.

Freebird games have always been funny in a gentle way that doesn’t clash with the games’ tender yet challenging emotional core. In Impostor Factory, the team has taken a big swing by including full-on horror, as well as a complex meta-story involving the nature of science and time itself. And the humor is both slapstick and risky, letting players release tension as they explore the gore and mind-bending moral conundrums posed by the game’s story. The boxing cat and the sentient rice cooker are a welcome bonus.

At its core, Gloomhaven is a deep tactical experience that’s immensely satisfying once you get to grips with its layers upon layers of systems. It also includes multiple options to vary the difficulty, so newer players don’t feel overly punished by making mistakes, whilst strategy aficionados can dial up the challenge to match their ability.

By the time the final credits roll on The Artful Escape, it’s a challenge to succinctly summarise what you’ve just experienced. It’s a game without a genre, one composed of familiar elements blended in an unfamiliar way, creating something that is uniquely its own. It’s been a long time coming since The Artful Escape was given its initial glimpse of what was in store, but when it’s all said and done, it leaves the audience satisfied but still wanting just a little more. Like any good concert.

It’s a bit disappointing to see that In Sound Mind doesn’t quite transcend outdated horror tropes, even though it has the potential to. But that doesn’t take away from the accomplishments that make it more intriguing than many contemporary titles: its thought-provoking puzzles, and its attempts to tell an engaging story without unnecessarily scaring you to death first.

On the whole, Arboria is a fun spin on the largely established roguelike formula, using its overgrown dark and dank setting to create a series of inventive mechanics, which means that no two runs are ever the same.

Making an interactive facsimile of Moebius’ style is a daunting task. While it isn’t always a slam dunk, Sable provides handsome eye candy, encouraging you to climb mountains for the view alone. The anticipated score from Japanese Breakfast is even more versatile, stringing the wasteland with theremin, accordions, shoegaze and desert psych. It’s a shame that the initial glider sounds like loose change in a dryer, so I encourage players strictly seeking to vibe to trade up for better parts as soon as they can.

In the end, Black Book is one game that feels like a great representation of its genre for the uninitiated. It’s a game that exudes charm, despite the depressing landscape it’s set in. Its premise is a perfect match for novice deck-builders, as it creates a solid foundation of understanding for those looking to break into similar experiences.

Perhaps Eastward’s greatest strength is that it isn’t complicated—gameplay is at once deeply warm and familiar without fading into stale territory, which is surprisingly tricky for a game that presents itself as a spiritual successor to the Zelda legacy. Eastward in motion is an unstoppable force, an exquisitely-animated homage to old-school RPGs that more than compensates for its writing and narrative

It’s all genuinely a lot of fun. I do think there’s probably a little too much challenge for some people, and the short campaign won’t keep everyone’s attention, but for those who like to look cool and seek high scores, Severed Steel is going to be as hard to resist as an arm cannon through a flimsy window.

It’s far from the typical hero’s journey. In this game you’re just a kid who listens to cassette tapes, and now has an old camera to document that adventure with. It reminded me of my summer trips to the Isle of Wight, making my own fun in ways only children can.

SkateBIRD is a beautiful and heartwarming game, and it’s something that will stay with me for years to come.

Twelve Minutes was one of the most interactive and enjoyable games I’ve played in a long while. Even though playing through the same loop again, and again, and again won’t be for everyone, I found the process of changing up my actions each time and moving forward, little by little, to be oddly satisfying, and the sense of accomplishment whenever I made a considerable leap forward was unmatched.

When you perform an inaccurate jump and fall to the void, you won’t be terminated until you reach the bottom, which means you can be free-falling for about ten seconds before the round concludes. However, these problems are secondary to the mixed, complicated emotions I experienced–from the pure joy and satisfaction when finishing a challenging area, to more complex and bitter thoughts about our humanity–and our efforts to be better. Hypervisor provokes conversations not only about our daily dependence on technology, our increasing levels of anxiety around it, or the isolation bubbles created through social media, but how our imminent future could be made even worse. Hopefully, we can change this trajectory before it’s too late–if it isn’t already too late.

Spiritfarer is a fantastic title that runs like a dream and firmly delivers on its warm aura interlaced with emotional weight. Beautifully executed in its approach to complex subjects, players will be thoroughly engrossed and immersed in the nautical spirit world Stella and Daffodil inhabit, and the carefully built (if inevitably fleeting) friendships of unique spiritual companions. Step through the Everdoor and see what’s on the other side.

In the end, however, Golf Club Wasteland didn’t need to sell me on its main character for it to work. It tells more than a story about one person or one moment. Instead, its strength is in the world it creates, the microstories of each level, and the layers of social critique in each part of its radio broadcasts. The rich will watch the world burn and complain about the glare―best make sure that golf course is shady.

Along with having to perform some well-timed maneuvers, this also makes for several terribly clever puzzles, which also makes me feel very clever at times.

Like wafts of familiar scents, moments throughout Psychonauts evoke memories of both Double Fine and LucasArts’ highest highs. Many of Double Fine’s best known collaborators, from visual artists to voice talent, have pooled in. It makes a fine game, one about the atrophy of counter culture, how bonds make finer milestones than accomplishments, and how past failures do not negate future glories. Psychonauts 2 is a rare treasure, one that feels rarer and rarer as years go by, but clearly still possible with the proper gang of weirdos.

For the most part, though, Dodgeball Academia is an unbridled joy with a lovely cast of wholesome characters, even though the narrative isn’t always that fresh. If it was merely fun and silly writing alone, I’d still thoroughly enjoy my time with it because it reminds me fondly of excitedly waking up on a Saturday to watch daft cartoons and play video games—back to simpler times. The fact that the act of playing dodgeball is also fantastic is a warmly welcomed bonus.

Last Stop isn’t perfect. Its limited and tepid interactivity makes it better suited as a TV show, but I can’t deny that the story is entertaining and absorbing enough where, in the grand scheme of things, its shortcomings didn’t matter much. It took me back to the days of charming British sci-fi tv shows like Blake 7, Doctor Who and Torchwood, where these shows shared a love of telling character-driven stories on a backdrop of big themes despite budget constraints. With its intimate cast of characters, eccentric English charm and cosy story-telling, Last Stop replicates these shows’ charisma, creating an enjoyable sci-fi tale that’s gripping and one you’ll want to see through to the end.

Made up of 56 puzzles that make full use of this timeless feature—in which you can fast forward or rewind time to solve its countless riddles—it’s a tough-as-nails, minimalist puzzle game about nudging a cube towards its goal. Cylinders may also be used to help you get to hard-to-reach places, but the crux of the game is about manipulating the very fabric of time so you can get to where you need to be. That said, Induction can be unforgiving in its challenges; if you’re stuck on one level, you won’t be able to move on to the next—which makes for some frustrating moments—but fortunately, a guide to solving the puzzles is readily available online.

Rather than dwell on how Unavowed also cleverly entangles you with unexpected developments at almost every turn—because there’s no question that it absolutely does—the idle banter and jabs traded among its cast of paranormal detectives are heartening and authentic, moving the story forward even in its quietest moments. It’s a point-and-click game destined to be an all-time classic—which is why it is one of the entries in our best point-and-clicks list.