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.