An RPG with retro aesthetics and an intricately strategic turn-based combat system. Recruit a diverse cast of teammates, explore sci-fi environments, and battle your way through uncovering and thwarting a sinister plot. The Sega Saturn-like visuals and music by HyperDuck SoundWorks are both appealing and put to good use, and the UI is carefully crafted to give you all the information you need to navigate battle without being overwhelming.

An exploration and survival game with building and space sim elements. Explore procedurally-generated alien worlds, scan the wildlife, and collect resources and artifacts. Craft technology and upgrades, build a base, and trade with aliens. Fight space pirates, command fleets of ships, and investigate the galaxy’s mysteries.

It’s a very ambitious game that constantly gets in its own way. Most of the gameplay is not particularly refined or compelling, but the real problems are the places where the design actively damages what would be enjoyable about the game. The spacious and often beautiful landscapes are made for relaxed exploration, but that’s rendered impossible by a tiny inventory and the constant need to refuel the equipment that enables your exploration. Your space suit’s two types of life support, your multi-tool’s two types of mining beam, and your ship’s three types of engines all take different fuels and are always running out.

A short exploration game set on a procedurally-generated island with minimal interactivity. Walk around and look at pixelated landscapes, plants, and animals, the latter of which usually flee from your approach. Passing near certain stones will cause them to emit white lights and during the night phase of the day/night cycle you can find a circle of these lights which allows you to advance to the next season. Once you’ve seen all four seasons, the game ends.

A cooperative puzzle game about defusing time bombs. One player (the “defuser”) can see and manipulate the bomb, while another (the “expert”) can read the manual that indicates how to defuse it. The players must communicate clearly and efficiently to correctly defuse the bomb before time runs out. The simple controls (and fact that the expert isn’t using a game system at all) make it approachable for inexperienced gamers and the asymmetric multiplayer means more players are likely to enjoy at least one of the available roles.

An Old West-themed comedic RPG with monochrome stick-figure art and surprisingly good music and sound effects. Pick your class (Cow Puncher, Beanslinger, or Snake Oiler), get a horse and a “pardner” (a combat teammate who is also tied to a major sidequest), and head out west to seek your fortune. Along the way, run into various random encounters and episodic sidequests featuring combat, puzzles, and a lot of humor. The game is warm and safe, with no game overs or permanent fail states and always warning you clearly before you do anything irrevocable, and whatever you do will probably be funny.

A sprawlingly-large open-world action RPG with a ton of things to do, all of which are loaded with backstory and world-building. The game’s aesthetic, fascinating world, deep lore, and mechanical variety combine to create a feeling I haven’t experienced since quitting World of Warcraft.

Set in a universe created and fleshed out by fantasy writer R.A. Salvatore, Amalur casts the player as the first person to become free of the threads of fate that bind the world and everyone in it. As such, you are uniquely positioned to thwart destiny and avert disasters - providing an excellent reason why you are the only one who can accomplish tasks ranging from small-scale side quests like saving individuals from preordained deaths all the way up to reversing the tide of the main story’s war.

A game featuring a modified three-dimensional variant of Picross. Instead of a grid made of squares to selectively fill in to reveal an image, the player is presented with a rectangular prism made of cubes to selectively chip away to reveal an object. The clues work differently as well - not every row or column has clues, and each clue is a single number indicating how many cubes should be left in that row or column. The number is presented alone if the cubes are contiguous, circled if they are in exactly two contiguous groups, or in a square if they are in three or more contiguous groups.

A simple puzzle game in which you place dots in hex cells so that each line of hexes adds to the specified total. For example, a row of two hexes may be marked with a total of four which may mean each hex needs two dots or one needs three dots while the other needs one dot. Ambiguous situations are resolved by finding the solution that satisfies all marked totals simultaneously - once all hexes are correctly filled, the puzzle is solved.

The Switch installment of a long-running series of tennis games starring Super Mario characters. While the core tennis gameplay is quite solid, as one would expect from a Nintendo title that’s been iterating for several console generations, what little there is on top is a mixed bag and probably not enough to satisfy those who play alone.

A game about surviving and escaping a collapsing city on an artificial island. Gameplay includes elements of 3D platformers, adventure games, survival games, and even dating sims.

Gameplay is split into a series of areas you must navigate and survive. Debris, damaged buildings, and uneven terrain present obstacles to get around, while earthquake aftershocks and newly-falling debris present threats to avoid. Usually you’re just trying to get through to the next area, but occasionally the story will lead you to other goals such as helping survivors or finding a missing dog. Reaching your objective is sometimes just a matter of sufficient exploration, but it can also involve basic platforming challenges or inventory-based puzzles such as getting a fire extinguisher to put out a fire blocking your path.

A game modeled after classic JRPGs, but using them as a jumping off point rather than something to slavishly recreate. The mechanics start with Chrono Trigger as a base and the story premise is reminiscent of Final Fantasy X, but I Am Setsuna goes in its own direction and has its own strong identity. The result is a game that - while flawed and small in scale - feels like it comes from an alternate world where Squaresoft never stopped making these kinds of games.

A deceptively simple wingsuit game. Glide through procedurally-generated mountainscapes and score points by passing near surfaces and through narrow gaps. Each run continues until you crash against a surface, but you can immediately restart. While it only takes a few minutes to get a sense for everything the game has to offer, it’s a game you can keep playing for a very long time.

A short (though duration will vary considerably with skill) masocore 2D platformer with Atari 2600-inspired pixel art. Progress through five areas and overcome deadly obstacles in your search for the Troof. Whatever that is.

Some obstacles are deadly due to their unpredictable nature and are clearly intended to take you by surprise, though if you have fast enough reflexes and proceed with caution you can survive many of these even the first time you encounter them. Other obstacles are more straightforward but require precision timing and positioning. Death generally doesn’t put you too far back unless you run out of the limited number of lives you have per area, in which case you must restart the area.