Reviews
Reviews of the games we play, aiming to quickly encapsulate the game’s essence and quirks. Most games have an audience; our goal is for the review to make it clear to you whether you are part of a game’s audience - even if we aren’t.
A top-down 2D action adventure game in the Legend of Zelda mold, set in New Zealand and revolving around an invented legend based on actual Māori mythology. Play as vacationing boy Tai exploring the fictional Toromi Island, gaining new items and abilities as you explore dungeons, solve puzzles, and defeat bosses.
A 3D platformer that takes clear inspiration from classics in the genre. Its core is solid and satisfying but it’s held back by underdeveloped elements like tedious combat and a bolted-on open world area.
The visual design may be the game’s best feature. It’s consistently strong, with a warm and inviting aesthetic.
A level-based isometric twin-stick shooter. Each level is an alien planet on which you must defeat alien attackers while completing a series of objectives that are mostly variations on defending an area for a set amount of time. These objectives generally last a couple of minutes in total; each mission also has two optional objectives for extra rewards.
A casual puzzle game in which you string together word fragments in the right order to spell words related to an image. There’s not a lot of depth and once you’ve seen a few puzzles you’ve basically seen it all, but it works well as a way to relax for a few minutes here and there.
A brief but charming action adventure that casts you as a tourist vacationing on a series of small islands. Explore peaceful environments, perform odd jobs, and investigate an ancient mystery. The relaxed atmosphere and varied gameplay are enjoyable but a few difficulty spikes damage this effect.
Gameplay consists mostly of walking around islands talking to people and seeing what there is to do.
A simple and cartoony 3D collectathon platformer. Play as Lucky Swiftail, anthropomorphic fox seeking the missing pages of the Book of Ages to reunite with his family after an attack from the evil sorcerer Jinx. These pages are the game’s main collectible gating progress through the game and are earned by exploring colorful and inviting levels and completing a variety of challenges.
A cute and simple action RPG set in a world populated by anthropomorphic cats and dogs. Wander around a 2D Zelda-like overworld getting into quick fights with randomly-spawning enemies, descending into mini-dungeons and clearing them of enemies, and doing quests for NPCs (that usually involve killing particular enemies).
Like the previous game, the story is more about setting a light and gentle tone and atmosphere than creating narrative depth (and there’s no need to be familiar with the first game’s story to enjoy this one).
A collaboration between Bubsy franchise publisher Accolade and Giana Sisters developer Black Forest Games and the first Bubsy game in twenty-one years. As Bubsy, explore a series of 2D platforming levels while avoiding hazards, defeating enemies, and collecting yarn.
Bubsy can run, jump, climb certain walls, double-jump into a glide, and “pounce.
A precision platformer with a pixel-art aesthetic and a story featuring themes of mental health and self-acceptance. Play as Madeline, a young woman attempting to reach the summit of Celeste Mountain to prove to herself that she can - and dealing with her inner demons along the way.
The climb is accomplished via a series of platforming challenges.
A stealth puzzle game in which you play as a goose and wreak mischievous havoc in a charming village. The gentle cel-shaded aesthetic with incredibly expressive animation loads both the goose and the townspeople with personality and attitude with no need for dialog, and the dynamic Debussy-inspired soundtrack perfectly accentuates your antics.