A fast-paced 2D retro-styled brawler. While there are a couple of minor platforming puzzles and one hidden path to a secret boss, the focus is squarely on combat. There is a story that does serve as a sequel to the first Noitu Love, but that game is not at all a prerequisite to understanding or enjoying this one. The game’s biggest selling points are its excellent boss design and its unusual pointer-heavy control scheme - on PC, you must play using keyboard and mouse; on 3DS and Wii U, it’s buttons and stylus or Wiimote and nunchuck. The three playable characters use the pointer in different ways, but it’s always core to their combat mechanics and often their traversal abilities as well.

A 2D retro-styled platformer and brawler. Navigate through six large levels over the course of an hour or so, beating up a robot army and using “evomatic” machines to change forms and gain new powers used both for combat and platforming puzzles. There is a story, but it doesn’t matter much.

A jigsaw-like puzzle game with an international theme. Photos and a few drawings from a variety of countries are divided into rectilinear, Tetris-like pieces that the player must arrange to reconstruct the image.

Gameplay is kept uncluttered and manageable on a phone’s screen by focusing only on usable pieces. You start every puzzle with only two pieces; once these are combined several more are added, but only ones that can be used to connect to other pieces you have so far. As you use up this set, more pieces are added, until the full puzzle is present and you can complete the entire image. This is a great system that means that starting a new puzzle is never overwhelming.

A game that has you running a boutique selling clothes and accessories and incidentally helping a few young women become pop idols. With low-stakes gameplay in a safe and friendly world, it’s mostly a warm and relaxing game, but interruptive management sim elements and slow progression make it more tedious and repetitive than it needs to be.

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.