SealChain: Call of Blood stands out for its unique approach to deckbuilding and its phenomenal art and aesthetic. To some, the game may feel menu-heavy and action-lite, with the poor localization making its mechanics harder to understand. Those who can look past these issues and really engage with the character-building mechanics will likely fall in love with the complexity of the mechanics, the narrative, and the world and characters within.

Horripilant is a flawed gem: its horror theme and atmosphere are great, its art incredible, and its foundational mechanics and loop are strong. However, the game quickly becomes repetitive due to poor pacing and a lack of substance, especially when it comes to enemy variety. While not the worst way to spend $8, I would personally recommend giving the game some time to see what updates may come.

Workers and Resources: Soviet Republic is one of the most in-depth economic simulators on the market, offering an excellent experience for the management-enthused player. However, poor placement tech means that players interested in the game’s building side will surely miss out.

Sanatorium – A Mental Asylum Simulator provides a unique coat of paint over a deckbuilding-style puzzle loop. That coat of paint is about as deep as the theme goes; however, the game unfortunately lacks a lot of immersive features or mechanics beyond color-matching cards. If you know what you’re getting into, it’s not a bad game, but the promise feels like more than what the title actually delivers, which also feels a bit like it should still be in Early Access.

While some survival craft experts may find this title fun, strict, guided progression alongside some frustrating pacing and game design choices keep this from being one of my favorite titles in the genre. This game may best be enjoyed with a friend or two and something to watch to help pass the time while playing.

Demonschool is an interesting title with a unique, puzzley approach to turn-based combat and phenomenal art direction and aesthetics. The story in this story-driven game, however, is all over the place and fails to feel cohesive or satisfying, while also playing more into laughs than solid characterization. If the game has caught your eye, I still suggest trying it out, but beware that you may also find the writing disjointed, confusing, and whacky in a not-so-intentional-feeling way. But maybe you’ll find more fun in the randomness than I did.

If some clunky mechanics don’t bother you and the more mundane aspects of police work get you excited, The Precinct might be the game for you. Working best when it leans into its ’80s cop movie aesthetics, this title can feel more like a promise of something great at times, but for the right audience is definitely going to feel like a refreshing and exciting entry into a decidedly small genre.

The Posthumous Investigation is an interesting title, one that adapts incredible works of fiction into an interactive experience. While the mechanics aren’t the most inventive or interesting, and certain quality-of-life features would make the game far more enjoyable to play, you’re bound to find yourself wrapped up in the game’s fun writing and characters, fantastic art, and exciting mystery.

Lay of the Land stands out in the voxel-craft genre with the use of actual voxels, allowing for far more creative builds and stunning environments than anything else in the genre. While the experience is pretty short, players are sure to appreciate what’s in that six- to ten-hour timeframe, even if they might not be very compelled to play for longer.

Demon Lord: Just a Block is a fun, small-scale roguelike with some cute art and a clever twist on turn-based strategy gameplay. It makes good use of the roguelike formula, with the gameplay being simple and yet weirdly addicting, albeit lacking in much longevity beyond that inherently provided by the roguelike formula. All in all, it is not a bad way to spend $13.

Project Tower stands out in some places, namely with its gorgeous level design and bullet-hell boss fights, but leaves something to be desired with its core mechanic, which feels underutilized and unnecessarily restrictive. The game is worth checking out if you’re interested, but the short experience may feel a bit railroaded.

Sid Meier’s Civilization VII improves on areas of the franchise that would make any Civ fan excited. However, a feeling of incompleteness makes the game feel rushed and hard to engage with, leading to what may be an example of a game that was launched too soon but may become better with time.

MOUSE: P.I. For Hire has a great, unique rubberhose aesthetic, which does a lot of heavy lifting for the game. The DOOM-like mechanics are solid, albeit they do very little to differentiate the game from others in the series, and the balance is toned down to the point where even a newcomer to the genre should have an easy time progressing on the hardest difficulty. It isn’t a bad game in the slightest, but it relies a little too much on its visual uniqueness and doesn’t impress me much mechanically.

I Hate This Place has an incredible setting and fun enough, if not all that impressive, survival and combat mechanics, but could do a better job of introducing players to its world and story. I think the game will certainly find an audience, and those players will likely find themselves drawn to the comic-book franchise the game is inspired by.

Everybody’s Golf Hot Shots is a surprisingly enjoyable golf game with solid mechanics and a chill vibe, even if it doesn’t do much to win over people who aren’t already fans of the sport. It’s built for fans of the game looking for a nice digital way to enjoy the sport, but Steam Deck players may struggle with performance.

Neon Blood stands out for its art, featuring incredible environments, great pixel art, and incredible hand-drawn cutscenes. However, the rest of the gameplay and narrative features a disappointing lack of depth, preventing the game from reaching its full potential.

Lacking in great mechanical depth and with a disappointingly linear design, Yet Another Fantasy Title nevertheless kept me invested with its story and occasional bouts of good humor. If you’re in the mood for something simple and funny, Yet Another Fantasy Title just might be the game for you.

Stuffed is an interesting take on the “Zombies” wave-defense style game. However, despite its great presentation and potential, the state of the game itself could use some work. With the state of weapon balance, performance optimization, and map design, I’d say Stuffed feels more like an Early Access title than a full release.

Though it could use more guidance overall and its inclusion of a mascot-like monster feels out of place, Subliminal is an overall good horror title, with clever puzzles, a fun theme and setting, and an interesting inferred story. I look forward to seeing what comes in chapter two, with hopes that further context improves upon some issues in the first chapter.

Disciples: Domination can feel slow, tedious, and grindy at times, but fun can still be had in its unique party recruitment mechanic and highly customizable player character. However, it doesn’t change enough from the game that came before to justify its existence as a sequel, and may even feel like a disappointing departure for returning fans.

ARC Raiders seems to be a good contender for the extraction shooter genre, offering solid, if familiar genre gameplay and a unique aesthetic. However, overpriced monetization plagues this already pay-to-play title, and as something of a tourist to the extraction shooter genre, I can’t personally say that ARC Raiders does anything too different or exciting, proving to be an inoffensive experience, albeit one that failed to win me over.

Captain Blood is a reminder of a lost era of gaming, one that is sure to make you feel nostalgic and may even win you over with its unique world and characters. However, nostalgia alone does not make a game great, and the game feels dated even for the era it meant to release in. Some may enjoy this title, but for others, it’s going to be a hard pass.

Dreams of Another is a beautiful experience, albeit one that is sure to be polarizing. If you’re looking for a relaxing, thought-provoking, linear experience that feels like a virtual art exhibit, you’ll likely enjoy this game. For those looking for more of a traditional “game,” however, Dreams of Another can feel slow, repetitive, and is probably something you’d want to skip.

Though mostly faithful to the original, FATE: Reawakened remains a game hard to recommend to newcomers to the franchise or die-hard fans of the series, as it feels far too dated to keep the long-term attention of new players, and makes unnecessary changes that the fans don’t enjoy. Regardless, if you’re nostalgic for the series, it may still be worth giving it a try.

Gecko Gods doesn’t provide much challenge, with repetitive puzzles and trivialized platforming thanks to its generous movement mechanics. That won’t be a problem, however, if you’re just looking for a cute, relaxed experience. Chances are, if you were drawn to this game because of the cute gecko you can play as, the title has everything you’d want, if not much more.

*Nova Antarctica* is a charming, if at times challenging, combination of survival-crafting mechanics and platforming. While it’s got its great and charming moments, a lot of little issues can hold the game back, making it slow or outright frustrating to play and leaving the player with a feeling that the game itself just isn’t totally finished.

What could have been an excellent entry in the creature-collection genre is spoiled by a bizarre focus on story padding and content that feels like filler. While the fun of collecting, battling, and evolving the Digimon cast is there, it’s executed in a way that demands players really dig to get to it, with odd design choices that undercut the progression system and the overall fun that could have been.

Clue: Murder by Death seems perfect for a niche audience, as it offers a mystery that requires player commitment and meaningful deduction skills to solve, with very few tools to make it easier. For a general audience, however, the game is likely to feel slow, awkward to play, and full of distracting load times, which come together to make a game that’s hard to engage with.

Outcast – A New Beginning features dated storytelling, poor writing, and an overliance on tropes we’ve all seen a thousand times by now. If none of that matters to you, however, you’re in for a pretty ok gameplay experience, with some unique mechanics and freedom that thankfully allows you to bypass a lot of the game’s storytelling, no matter how confidently it seems to throw it in your face.

Unknown Soul With Me is cute and full of heart but requires some real work before it can be the best game it can be. However, I still think the game deserves to be given a chance if you’ve read through these issues, and they aren’t total dealbreakers.

IDUN – Frontline Survival has some interesting mechanics and fun gameplay, hidden behind a veil of insufferable writing and hard-to-look-at and listen-to AI-generated content. If you can see past the game’s AI veneer, and mute the dialogue, you are still in for a pretty fun tower defense game.

Bye Sweet Carole is an incredible work of art and animation, one worth experiencing on its artistic merits alone. As a game, however, it leaves much to be desired, failing to innovate with its shallowest of mechanics. It is a game that plays slow when it plays at all and likely would have done better as a film.

FBC: Firebreak is bursting with personality and fascinating concepts, but collapses under the weight of underwhelming gunplay and shallow progression. Though the game’s setting shines through and the later stages of the game are full of incredible concepts, until major gameplay improvements are made, the game feels more like a concept pitch than a polished product.

Echoes of the End is a game with undeniable potential buried under frustrating technical problems and uneven combat. Its rich world and strong narrative deserve praise, but until its mechanics and performance are polished, it’s hard to fully recommend.

For the first creation of a solo developer, Pneumata is a well-put-together, albeit flawed game with some nice visuals, something any amateur should be proud of. However, it may not be the magnum opus of horror that it claims itself to be, and buyers should consider their expectations accordingly.

Awaken: Astral Blade failed to wow me with passable combat, an underwhelming story, and art that simply didn’t impress. While not a game for me, other fans of the Metroidvania genre may find something worth playing in this seemingly generic title.

Omega Crafter is full of creativity and potential, but unfortunately falls short on delivering many of the mechanics players have come to expect from the genre, making the game feel rather dated and unfinished in many areas, which overall outshines its interesting player-programming gimmick.

Ayasa: Shadows of Silence is an artistic game with a dreamlike story that grows on you with its weirdness. However, the game lacks a certain level of polish expected in a launch title and needs more time.

Cooking Simulator 2: Better Together has intricate cooking and recipe creation mechanics, and its campaign mode will likely appeal to those who want a nice, involved restaurant simulation from the perspective of the chef. However, it differs drastically from the first game and is full of bugs, odd design choices, and an overall unfinished feel that might keep returning fans away and make it harder for new fans to immerse themselves.

Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree is gorgeous and creative, but ultimately held back by its core mechanics. Fun characters, great art, and a unique minigame fail to elevate this title beyond its stiff and below-average-for-the-genre gameplay.

With some minor adjustments and more time in development, MISTERY could have been a great game. However, as it exists now, the title feels unfinished, somewhat buggy, and hard to access for an English-speaking audience, which may explain why the game doesn’t have many players on its North American servers.

Tides of Tomorrow features an incredibly interesting mechanic and a unique setting, but both are undercut by poorly paced storytelling and a lack of deeper, engaging gameplay. While I would still recommend the game for its unique, indirect multiplayer mechanic, you might find yourself in the same position I was: burnt out on the gimmick early into the game.

Bus Bound delivers some decent driving mechanics with excellent traffic AI, although the game struggles with the nuanced mechanics that make other simulator titles from Saber stand out. There is no career mode, and immersive mechanics are limited, but if you want to drive a bus along a route, you can certainly find a good, albeit short, time here.

Classified: France ’44 is a fairly average experience. While it has some unique takes on classic mechanics, the game is overall pretty cookie-cutter of the genre. On top of this, it fails to really excite with its presentation, with ugly models and poor audio design. Fans of WWII history and die-hard turn-based strategy players should still have fun with this title, but it won’t blow anyone away.

The 9th Charnel has its problems, but for an indie game made by a solo developer, I was overall pretty impressed by what it had to offer. Its story was interesting, and its visuals were nice; however, the game’s flawed animations, poor sound design in areas, and coin-flip performance may dissuade you from playing. It is, however, deserving of much more attention than it currently has.

Starship Troopers: Extermination feels bare bones, buggy (pun intended), and frankly unfinished. While the game has nostalgic visuals for the fans of the Starship Troopers franchise, this reviewer feels like it doesn’t have much else to offer.

Death Relives quickly lost the interest of this horror fan. Though it’s built upon a strong concept, the concept alone is not strong enough to carry other aspects of the game that fail to fit into its genre or generally excite. While I wouldn’t call Death Relives a winner, I eagerly look towards what comes next from this studio and to see if they learn from the mistakes of their first title.

Kaiserpunk has a lot of great ideas but feels as though it could have used more time in development before being released. Big changes to the game’s grand strategy mechanic and small changes to its city building could have made Kaiserpunk one of my new favorite titles.

A.I.L.A features an incredible first act filled with psychological horror and clever puzzles, making for one of the better horror games I’ve played. Everything after, however, is just a fine, bordering on boring and clanky action horror game that simply fails to be as good as what came before. Still worth a try if the game caught your interest, you just might find yourself disappointed after the first hour.

Devil Jam has a great premise, fantastic art, and a fun mechanical twist on the survivors-like genre. However, it feels unfinished, providing not a whole lot of content and making players grind pretty hard to get what is there. Mechanically and narratively light, the game would be in a great spot for an Early Access release, but short of a full launch.

Double Dragon Revive is no revival of its franchise. If anything, it feels like mindless filler. The graphics are nice (though it seems that’s a rare opinion), the combat is solid, if incredibly simple, and the levels don’t do enough to really excite or tear away from what quickly becomes a repetitive tedium. The game feels terrified to try anything new and therefore settles for mediocrity, providing just enough to briefly entertain a player before failing to offer anything more.

Planet Miners could have been unique and fun. By ignoring the RPG and building mechanics of Starbound, it could have doubled down on mining. Instead, it feels like a tech demo—a shallow game that, frankly, I don’t recommend. I’d like to see it pulled from Steam and given more development time.

I wasn’t able to get far in Monster’s Domain, gatekept either by overtuned enemies, frustrating mechanics or bugs that kept me from proceeding or wanting to try. In the end, Monster’s Domain feels like a promising game that is nearly ready to go into early access. Unfortunately, however, this beta test for a strong premise has already hit its full release.

Perhaps not an improvement in every way, Castle of Heart: Retold presents a newer take on the original, fixing some clunky controls and difficulty problems at the cost of a bit of its charm. While a unique take on the platforming genre, this reviewer simply didn’t find himself all too impressed by what Castle of Heart: Retold had to offer, with its unique mechanics feeling more like a briefly interesting gimmick that isn’t upheld by the rest of the experience.

Becastled is a game that plays slow, punishes those who want to speed things up a bit, and is far too forgiving with its management mechanics. It also has a surprising lack of depth considering how long it was in development, leading to a title that feels designed for children or players who have never played the genre. Most of the experience is waiting around for something to happen, only to realize that you’re usually vastly overprepared for what does, and it only provides a fair and engaging challenge if you’re willing to wait around for it for a good long while.

Siege the Day has a promising concept, but bugs and underwhelming mechanics hold it back from its full potential. I’d like to see this game improved with time, love, and care, and I hope to return to a much better game someday.

Undead INC takes an amazing concept and fails to fully realize it. Be it a lack of time or vision, the game feels incomplete, coasting off a great idea and doing very little to execute on its own potential. You might find something to enjoy in Undead INC, but I personally don’t recommend it.

As a game, Ancient Warriors is a fine, if underwhelming and overpriced, wave defense title with some great pixel art. However, some seemingly questionable practices on behalf of the developers mean players should exercise caution when checking out this title, as not all that is promised is delivered.

Though incredibly faithful to the original, severe performance issues plague this remake of Snake Eater. While the game could and likely will be made playable down the line, it is hard to recommend the title at the time of writing, where severe framerate issues and engine-level crashes plague the PC version of the game.

The Sacred 2 Remaster is a half hearted attempt to update a game that felt kind of dated in its heyday. Beyond updated graphics and a new, buggy HUD, nothing has been done to actually remaster the title and improve upon its original flaws, with constant bugs, crashes, and problems persisting throughout. Simply put, it’s not worth your time, as a new player or a nostalgic returner.

While there is some nostalgia there for fans to enjoy, MY HERO ACADEMIA: All’s Justice is overwhelmingly disappointing, providing sub-par gameplay, stiff animation, and a lack of iconic playable stages from the anime. For all but the most diehard My Hero fans, this title is nothing more than an underwhelming and easily forgettable one.

While the game captures a certain sense of wonder, Of Ash and Steel is unreasonably unpolished and miserable to play. If the game were still in testing, I would call it ambitious, but changes still need to be made to the core experience and a lot of QA still needs to be done on what is being called a finished game.

Welcome to Doll Town is short, awkward to play, full of translation errors, and, most importantly, features a strange cognitive dissonance between its heavy subject matter and its awkward, forced use of cringeworthy humor. While the game might find its audience, it failed to charm me and left me disappointed and outright confused by what it had to offer.