Waking the Glares - Chapters I & II feels like a good first try, but the soft, soothing music and pleasant voice acting weren't enough. The series could grow, as Wisefool Studios gains more experience and support from the community; sadly, though, these are steep requirements for players that already have a score of immersive, truly fascinating walking simulators from which to choose, not to mention puzzle games that actually require deep contemplation.

A humorous and beautifully drawn point-and-click adventure, Angelo and Deemon: One Hell of a Quest is fun to play, but unfortunately falls flat story-wise.

No70: Eye of Basir is an ambitious title; while the visuals and audio are noteworthy, in the critical areas of story and gameplay, Basir is passable, not exceptional. The brief plot explores, then seems to abandon, what appeared to have been a key plot point, and, at times, it’s a bit unclear who your character even is. Issues with performance and geometry clipping, combined with some sloppy foliage and prop placement, occasionally break immersion: No70: Eye of Basir is a flawed gem with some good facets.

With so many strategy games to choose from, Realpolitiks ultimately fails to stand out. While its variety in features and missions is welcomed, it also forces errands few will enjoy; they make it difficult to stay in control, these arbitrary tasks impeding if not outright discarding a player's grand approach.

OVERKILL’s The Walking Dead does a decent job of immersing players into a universe of the undead, but lacks innovation and is ultimately brought to its knees by the overwhelming amount of bugs and lack of player-friendly systems.

At the end of it all, yes. There were quite a few things in this installment that could have driven me batty — had I allowed them to do so. Will I play it again? Maybe not, but know knows? I might change my mind once I have played the first and second installments. The beautiful reality of Syberia 3 is that I didn’t need to know what happened beforehand in the franchise. If you play for release, for freedom that you don’t have in a normal, boring life — and if you can look past some rough handling -- Syberia 3 is for you.

For die-hard ONE PIECE fans and players interested in creatively swinging around some nice-looking cities, this is the ideal title, but too many elements feel unfinished or underdeveloped to truly say its potential was fulfilled.

A resource management game that’s easy to pick up and doesn’t take a lot of thought to play, but unfortunately lacks depth and becomes stale after a minimal amount of time spent with it.

Headspun makes up for its lack of gameplay with an emphasis on visual style and storytelling. While not for everyone, fans of narrative adventure games will find something to enjoy here.

An interesting take on the post-apocalyptic genre, full of beautiful vistas and a streamlined interface, but moments of awe are punctuated with run-ins with the buggy and inconsistent AI.

Yume Nikki: Dream Diary is a visually faithful recreation of the original Yume Nikki, but beyond that, it falls short. A slew of game-breaking bugs and unintuitive gameplay creates a disappointing experience not worth the asking price.

Gorgeous scenery and interesting story are outweighed by tedious combat, stilted gameplay, and a lack of variety in combat.

Snow Moto Racing Freedom disappoints visually and physically. The snow effects are lackluster, appearing more like blurry fog, and you can see the triangular 3D mesh used to make the ground as you drive by it. With the minimal features and low scale graphics, Snow Moto Racing Freedom plays more like an early-2000s arcade racer that you would expect to find at the mall or the back room of your local pizzeria. I am sure Unity has its limitations both regarding graphic quality and gameplay physics, but the consistent lack of standard features bring this title down into the bargain bin.

Although Pylon: Rogue provides fun, the lack of upgrades that carry over, aside from unlocking more items, may deter players. Enjoyment might diminish after so many runs, depending on what you’re looking for in a title, but that’s simply the nature of the genre. However, if you like rogue-likes, such as The Binding of Isaac, and enjoy difficult titles, you’ll likely enjoy this.

We Are Chicago raises real issues that still plague parts of America, and encourages young people to stay away from gang violence, and this goal is praiseworthy – but between the flat graphics, the uninspired characters, and the nausea-inducing camera movement, We Are Chicago isn't an enjoyable gaming experience.

Though the narrative and moral questions presented are interesting, this horror game is marred by frustratingly tedious gameplay and lacking mechanics.

A fun RPG with strong tabletop theming held back by poor AI, repetition, and lack of clear signposting.

Yes, there is a definite cash-grab feeling in Defiance 2050, but there is also plenty of game to explore, and it won’t require the player to drop hundreds just to get there. The large open world, vast number of quests, and skill trees with a decent set of options gives players plenty to do. The co-operative nature of Defiance 2050 encourages teamwork, and while some parts feel repetitive in terms of quest content, overall it makes a pretty good entry as a free-to-play title.

Agony is a survival horror title that serves as a bold interpretation of biblical hell, crushed by a monolith of technical problems and unpolished design.

Inmates grabs you right off the bat and starts yelling in your face: you are screaming and afraid, but at the end of it all, you’ll probably tell your friends that they need to come over and get yelled at, too. Besides the game world being well designed, and the sounds making you check over your shoulder every few minutes, the creativity, the puzzles, and the story offer an experience that is to die for.

Reservoir Dogs: Bloody Days by Big Star Games is a third-person top-down shooter with few connections to Quentin Tarantino’s film other than it being about gangsters with color-coded names; and yet Bloody Days partially succeeds in its aspiration to revive a classic for crime and gangster films, while offering a time-rewind mechanics that helps the game distinct itself from the pool of titles in the top-down shooter category.

With Sonic and Mario in the spotlight again, Bubsy takes another swipe at being a lovable mascot, but doesn’t succeed in capturing the same sentiment. Ultimately, Bubsy: The Woolies Strike Back (Bubsy), the platforming game, arrives as the two-decades-too-late 5th entry in the series. Despite excellent controls, the title does not overcome some of its more pressing shortcomings, such as level design, resulting in a sub-par gaming experience.

Fixed camera angles, boring gameplay, wooden animations, and poor localization all mar Eternity: The Last Unicorn beyond the point of being anything approaching enjoyable.

Rather than try and make a quick buck out of cheap thrills, Dynamic Pixels and tinyBuild took the popular trope of hide-and-seek horror and twisted it into something new and creative. There is a great game buried here, as long as the development studio fixes the problems currently plaguing it... And if they can manage to really polish it, then the horror genre has much innovation to offer.

Underworld Ascendant is surprisingly unpolished and actively difficult to play. Without patches addressing the myriad bugs present in the current product, this one is a hard pass.

If your goal is to never have an interaction beyond your basement, this game delivers. Otherwise, its only function is to give players a few laughs and severe second-hand embarrassment. Alternatively, it could be turned into a drinking game with your buddies: Take a shot every time the camera goes out of focus, the acronym “PUA” is said, or there’s an opportunity to whip Big Richie out.

Troll and I is unplayable. By all accounts, the game is full of glitches, even on the latest generation of consoles -- let alone all of the victims who bought the game to play on a PC more than a year old. It may work on certain systems to some degree, but the advertised minimum specifications are certainly false, and therefore merit a hefty downgrade. If you manage to get past the game-breaking bugs, the gameplay itself is frustrating and unoriginal, and the story seems to have nothing to offer. Save your money and your sanity, and skip this one.

A video game should always be fun to play, but too many oddities plague the game's progression while inhibiting the strategic aspects turned-based RPGs depend on to be considered good games.

A hard pass.

Your Star isn’t intended to be a relaxing, casual game to be enjoyed between other, bigger things. It is ideal for gamers that love a challenge and who thrive under pressure.

Elena is a promising idea cut off too soon. The music is soothing, the gameplay is entertaining, and the mystery is compelling. If the story had a second chapter to look forward to, I would be excited to play it, but as it is, Elena feels too incomplete to live up to its promise.

The story builds and builds as you progress, and increasingly becomes more intricate and scary. The puzzles integrated within the story are excellent and cover the whole spectrum of puzzles from hidden objects to codes to jigsaw puzzles. Blue Tear combines all the great puzzles classics and is a true delight for any puzzle seeker.

Heroine Anthem Zero’s strength lies in its story and depth of world. If you expect to play a masterpiece ARPG with innovative and intuitive mechanics, character level progression, and/or a high skill cap that requires regular practice, look elsewhere. But if you want an interesting, albeit sometimes by the book, story played out through captivating visuals and don’t mind the occasional moment of "ecchi," then HAZ may be the ARPG for you.

King Lucas is a straight-forward, fun platformer that brings a lot of old-school fun with it. The options between single and multiplayer is a great boon, and I love that the individually-designed castle rooms are always in different combinations – something that lends well to replay value.

Not so much a game as it is an anime-moe graphics benchmarking tool, Time Leap Paradise SUPER LIVE is sure to kill some time through cute songs and dances. Unless you shell out for the extra DLC, SUPER LIVE by itself is not unlike a barebones freemium app.

Indie Game Sim is worth getting, especially for fans of platformer and/or simulation style titles, but a couple of things could be tweaked to allow for a more realistic experience.

Overall, 3D Chess has some cool ideas and nice visuals, but the lack of audio, online compatibility, and difficulty settings prevent it from standing out and making it a chess game to return to, over and over again.

The story is a great idea, but as such a common theme in the sci-fi genre, I feel a little more could have been done to set Icarus.1 apart and really provide the player with a more unique experience. However, the mechanics, sound and graphics of the Icarus.1 really tie it all in to make it an experience worth purchasing.

The puzzles are both challenging and fun. The different environments keep the game interesting as the main character travels from book to book. There is depth in both the storyline and puzzles that mean this isn’t one of those games that can be finished in a single session and leaves the player wondering what they paid for.

Ghostlords is a highly polished game with simple yet addictive gameplay, an original premise, and great replayability. Its art and sound design also do wonderfully in supporting the atmosphere, which helps it stand out amongst others.

Yomawari: Night Alone is a great depiction of the most frightening of frights, Japanese horror stories. NIS vividly combined a vast multitude of Japanese horror stories and characters to create a game that either keeps your hands over your eyes, tightly gripping your controller, or covering your mouth to prevent a scream.

While the main character may have justification for his anger, his response is excessive, bordering on insane. It’s difficult to relate to him, and it makes participating in his revenge quest uncomfortable rather than satisfying.

After the finale, I was left wanting more, but unfortunately not in a good way. I wasn’t eager for a sequel; instead, I felt like I got an incomplete glimpse into Sarah’s narrative, and just a tiny piece of what could be a huge, intriguing plot.

Pictopix is a fun and relaxing game that anyone can play. It lets you relax while working your brain in an entertaining way. If you're the creative type but can’t draw to save your life, if you have $6 to spare, then consider buying this game. Chances are, you won't regret it.

Although it does have areas of improvement and potentially unintended setbacks, Super Dungeon Bros brings together bro-tastic characters with many difficulties and modes to form a fun game that is everlasting and enjoyable for days.

King Machine had a new and interesting idea, but it failed to execute it properly. The developers attempted to create a title that would innovate upon multiple styles of games, but did not make it intuitive to its users.

Overall, this title is both relaxing and fun and provides a casual experience.

I wanted to like Meadow, mostly because it sounded unique, interesting, and potentially captivating. It isn’t though, at least not for me.

I fell in love with The Beard in the Mirror. As an homage to a much-loved genre, it succeeds stupendously.

Robot Squad Simulator offers a unique gaming experience that bridges the gap between simulation and arcade in a relatively unexplored genre. Between its good looks and innovative gameplay, there's a lot to like. A worthwhile purchase, if you’ve ever wanted a solid tactical robot game.

Kyurinaga’s Revenge is decent for its platform genre and provides interesting challenges and levels but is lacking in story and battling functions.

Jackbox Games is doing a great job creating unique card games that have massive streaming potential, but they must make fundamental changes to the way the streaming works. Until then stick with playing locally - if YOU can!

The artwork in Negligee is stunning...Unfortunately, despite quality personification, the plot and dialogue fall flat.

The only people who should be planning on buying Infinite Air are those who are snowboarders, those who want to snowboard, and/or those interested in a life-like representation of snowboarding in a game. You know who you are, and here is the title you’ve been waiting for.

There is a stinging lack of purpose to it all, more so than what you would naturally expect going into a game about knocking down and putting-up walls.

The idea is sound, but the execution is still a bit lacking.

The experience is an interesting playthrough, though unlike the time travelling protagonists, you likely won’t travel back and spend the time to replay the story.

Don't Chat With Strangers is another retro, point-and-click adventure with much novelty and a great premise to begin with, yet it ultimately fails as a puzzle horror game.

Super Death Arena does a good job at delivering the gameplay which makes the genre great: death arenas, hordes of opponents, fancy weapons, and lots of bloodshed. Unfortunately, it’s also much too thin in terms of content. That’s an encouraging thought for the developers, as its mediocrity isn’t caused by a lack of quality but instead, quantity.

The retro, 2-D graphics, waves of different enemies, and variety of fun weaponry are a throwback to a time when blowing things up and racking up points were all you needed to have a good time on a Saturday afternoon.

Whether you want to manage every aspect of your team, or you just want to sit back, build a team for play style, and auto-play games straight-through to the offseason, Pro Basketball Manager 2017 delivers. Developers Umix Studios and Cyanide have successfully created an experience that is as intense, or as moderate, as any that a sports sim nut could hope for.

Hellenica fits neatly into a spot somewhere between the classic tactical RPG’s that have been around seemingly forever, and the new wave of casual story-driven RPG’s that are so popular today.

Unhappy Ever After is the result of a wicked mind’s imagination, and it’s a charming and enchanted, yet morbidly terrifying world that will suck you in. Deep.

Despite its promising premise, Ashbourne severely lacks substance and feels much more like a Beta than it does a full release. Pressingly needed is a bulky patch, if Endemic interactive wants it to be a compelling, memorable addition to the competitive genre that is Action-RPG.

Nyheim is a strikingly illustrated dice-rolling game which emphasizes the challenging survival element inherent in any post-apocalyptic title. While the difficulty seems challenging at first, once you have established certain strategies, Nyheim risks feeling repetitive.

A House of Many Doors is a terrifying trek through the unknown, a disjointed story with startling descriptions of lost memories and slow declines into madness. It is beautiful, haunting, gripping… and boring. It is simply hard to identify with it, and complicated to understand, which prevents it from truly capitalizing on its amazing elements which would otherwise stand alone so well.

One of the best virtual introductions to a new language. Thanks to Learn Japanese To Survive! Katakana War, one could be well on their way to learning Japanese while immersing themselves in a genuinely fun game.

Xenon Valkyrie is enjoyable, given you have a knack for the brutally challenging and are willing to invest time and tolerance to unravel what this rogue-like has to offer.

While the price point is a little steep for what seems like a simple old-school puzzler, depth and mechanics make Warlock's Tower worth it for those who can appreciate good design.

The Frostrune stands out among Point-and-Click and puzzles games, masterfully connecting gameplay, art design, sound, and story to craft a beautiful and satisfying experience.

While it's commendable that a two-man team set out to create an adventure of relatively broad scope, Hero is difficult to recommend. Its music and sound effects are good, but the lackluster graphics, lack of polish, and uninspired gameplay are too glaring to ignore.

Sovereignty delivers a grand-strategy conquest game with that nice, old-school feel. The audio and visuals are unadorned, and some navigation can feel clunky and cumbersome, but the gameplay is satisfying and polished, with challenging AI and a rich narrative backdrop.

Wacky Spores: The Chase is a strong showing from the one-man show Lorenzo Bellincampi. This endless runner ditches substance and opts for style: you won’t find plot or character development, but the popping visuals and sharp audio promise hours of fungal fun.

Semispheres runs very smoothly. The controls are simple and intuitive, the design is beautiful, and the music only adds to the overall meditative aesthetic. Sadly, it's over just as it begins, providing a pleasant but fleeting challenge to the player.

Entangle is a great game. It costs ten bucks to go watch a two-hour-long movie in the theater. Entangle costs less than that for the same amount of entertainment (or potentially more). And you don’t have to put on pants for it. Seems like a deal to me.

When a game isn't visually appealing, nor long, and when its puzzles are as simple as clunky controls make them painful, then it better be good in terms of story. Bucket Detective is not. And the frustration from the lack of a good narrative is made all so much more frustrating by the fact that there is potential here in pockets, including some good humor, silly art, and cute music.

Copoka very much is a visually gratifying, and while you could complete the story in about an hour or so, it’s still worth checking out. After a busy and stressful day, I welcome the chance to spread my wings and relax, flying through the streets of Copoka On a final note, Copoka very much is a visually pleasing experience.

A beautiful, mysterious adventure and an artistic take on the rural scenery of South Africa, Among the Innocent: A Stricken Tale is a thriller for lovers of the point-and-click genre. Its good story and the great twist that ends it, coupled with immersive visual design, soundtrack, and sound effects, make its lack of a challenge its only weakness, but not one damaging enough to take away from the overall experience.

Atelier Firis is a great addition and continuation to the Atelier series at large. The series may not appeal to players who prefer nearly non-stop action and combat, though if you enjoyed previous Atelier titles, there is a high chance you will come to relish Atelier Firis. The drive for pushing through the story builds slowly, but, once you reach this point, it's unlikely you'll be able to put this game down.

Kronos uses uninspired or recycled art style, storyline, and dialogue, but that's just that start of what's wrong with this title. Beyond the aesthetic issues, the bugs in Kronos are too much to ignore. Maybe with more work on bugs and glitches, it could be playable enough to enjoy; for now, it doesn’t come close to standing out in an already competitive genre.

Given the current state of the stat system, there is a definite need for some tweaking; and this is desperately needed in light of Chaos Drift’s description on Steam, which specifically mentions this customizable stat system. This feature drew me in, but high expectation quickly gave way to disappointment as my head began to spin, trying to make sense of what was going on with the incorrigible stat system. Until this is fixed, especially given the fact that it is such an integral part of a typical RPG, I cannot recommend this game with good faith.

Be mindful that if you pick this title up, which I think you should, you’ll be doing all the legwork in your brain while still keeping your heart rate down. Though simple and straightforward, and thoroughly enjoyable, this style of gameplay is not for everyone. That said, take some time away from the crazy stuff and chill out with Lifeline. Hats off to the dev for putting together a great story in an elegant, minimal package that still brings it home.

Although the concept of a procedurally-generated skill tree is unique and broadly appealing, Asura's roguelike genre, where nothing carries over from one run to the next, does not enjoy widespread favorability. But, though the potential audience is limited, the title flawlessly executes what it sets out to accomplish: the variability from one run to the next keeps us playing, along with the collector-perfectionist appeal of trying to unlock everything this title has to offer.

Final Specimen: Arrival does not take any risks with plot. It is, mechanically, a platformer, reminiscent of the 90s, but nothing new or special is presented. The protagonist, for his part, promises to repeatedly die in every funny way imaginable, and that is exactly what you will get from this game - a lightly filling experience.

Open Sorcery present fresh ideas and a great premise. The gameplay is fleshed out, and each character adds to the enjoyment of the story. There are even thought-provoking concepts and themes in the game, however, the amount of time and effort it takes to get through the title on following playthroughs and, the effort required to save your progress, diminishes its otherwise high replayability.

River City Ransom: Underground is fantastic in how it truly captures the feel of retro games, and it’s clear from the experience that Conatus Creative provides the desire and requisite talent. On top of the original beat-em-up feel, additional features round out the title quite nicely, such as RPG leveling aspects and a fighting engine that packs a punch. The art style, sound, and humor capture the look, feel, and nostalgia of the franchise. Though River City may not have enough to warrant many hours on the game, it’s worth a playthrough, and all but guarantees enjoyment to newcomers and fond memories to franchise veterans.

Flexible in its appeal to those new to the bullet hell subgenre of shoot-em-ups and to those hardened master grazers, Danmaku Unlimited 3 is a solid entry in Doragon Entertainment’s Danmaku Unlimited series. Despite its lack of plot, its polished audio-visual quality, simplified mechanics, and high replayability makes this title a great addition to anyone’s library.

Although it succeeds in both maintaining familiarity for fans of the genre and introducing novelty, Operation Abyss: New Tokyo Legacy fails to deliver engaging combat or efficiently introduce players to its unique mechanics. It boasts a solid and engaging story that starts with strong momentum, but suffers from distractions which ultimately hold Operation Abyss back from capitalizing on its strengths, resulting in a title that is simply good, despite clear potential to be great.

Bomb Squad Academy is more fun than it is challenging. Negative feedback to the player, other than the bomb blowing up (of course), is thin, but this results in an approachable, replayable atmosphere. This is a fantastic puzzler with complex and unique mechanics that are presented to the player in an easily digestible way.

While Algotica - Iteration 1 isn’t likely to blow your mind with excitement from its gameplay, and it’s not going to make you a master programmer, it's an excellent first step into the world of coding done up inside an adorable, engaging and fun indie package. If learning something about coding but also playing a decent puzzler sounds fun to you, pick it up; you’ll learn a thing or two, and I can guarantee you’ll have a "one cute darn time" doing it.

The models are fantastic, and the focus on construction and train design are impressive. Despite the fact that its driving environment leaves something to be desired, Train Mechanic Simulator 2017 succeeds in the mechanic simulator space and separates itself amongst its peers.

With Mandate of Heaven, Paradox Interactive has proven once more that they consistently deliver expansions which incorporate suggestions from players and satisfy their gamership's desire for new, immersive content -- once a newcomer overcomes the steep learning curve. Additionally, the downloadable content offers improved features for the game interface and new concepts in gameplay, contributing to a deep, involving, and rewarding experience.

The attention to detail in the game mechanics, the developers’ efforts to maintain relevance and historical accuracy, and the rewards of mastering its intricacies set Afghanistan '11 apart as an exceptional title. However, an unusually steep learning curve, which might be hard to accept for someone who wants to casually try a turn-based strategy game, keep this release from broader appeal. Afghanistan '11 requires a sustained interest in either the historical subject matter or turn-based strategy games, promising little to those who aren't history buffs or part of the wargamer scene.

A Rose in The Twilight is a visually stunning yet straightforward puzzle-platformer with a macabre atmosphere and an adorable main character. The storyline and the dialogue tend to fall short, but with unique game mechanics and beautiful design, lovers of the genre can enjoy the delightful characters while testing their mettle on the challenging puzzles of this title.

Visual novel veterans will enjoy The Falconers: Moonlight, as will gamers, of any breed, who seek well-crafted stories. Its aesthetic suits its themes, and its sound plays a key role in the player's process of working out its mystery. Dialogue choices remain meaningful despite their limited impact on the plot. This title delivers an experience that, while short, is more than satisfactory.

Manipulated creates a unique experience with a simple structure by implementing multiple different types of puzzles and challenges throughout the various levels. The art style is cartoonish and elementary, and the humor and voice-acting can be overdone, but it fits with the overall silly feel of the game. If you are looking for a whimsical side-scroller that will test your brain power, Manipulated is the game to buy. If slapstick comedy is not your cup of tea, the narration might come off as excessive, but the puzzles are sure to rope you back in.

Saucer-Like is a short-form art piece in its genre. Beautiful art is the main focus in the narrative, with over forty hand-drawn backgrounds, each featuring rich contrasts. Saucer-Like is a solid recommendation to classic point-and-click adventure devotees, and to gamers who seek stories that stick in their heads, the sole caveat being the length of the title, which leaves much to be desired.

Roots of Insanity is a survival-horror FPS with plenty of creep-factor. The scary noises and the macabre visuals make for a terrifying campaign, and the lack of buffers provides a challenging atmosphere. If you want a good time killer, look no further. While there are obvious flaws, such as difficulty in combat, and balance in elements of gameplay, Roots of Insanity is replayable fun.