An Animal Crossing spin-off that plays like a standalone expansion - it’s an entire game based around a greatly improved version of the mainline games’ interior decoration mechanics. Villagers request homes in particular styles or moods, and occasionally you’re tasked with designing a public facility (such as a school) as well. It’s fun to play with the much more powerful design interface, even if content and mechanics are doled out slowly - you have to design several interiors before you gain the ability to design exteriors, for example. The game is also laced with the standard Animal Crossing warmth and charm, but it doesn’t lead up to anything - the Polygon review called it “shaping a world in which [the player is] never invited to live.” As such, I found it hard to want to stay with the game for long. I can’t help but feel I would have liked it so much more were it not standalone - if it tied in to Animal Crossing: New Leaf such that I could design homes for my neighbors and facilities for my town and then inhabit that larger, deeper world in all the small ways you do in mainline Animal Crossing.

Animal Crossing is a strange series. The sequels seem to be less about advancing the original formula and more about simply bringing the experience to a new system (hence there being exactly one mainline entry each on GameCube, Wii, DS, and 3DS). There are surface improvements along the way and New Leaf is certainly the best installment yet (it helps that handhelds are a natural home for this sort of play) but the core is unchanged. That’s fine from a comfort-food-gaming perspective - if you’ve played any previous Animal Crossing you’ll recognize the characters and know how to interact with the world. Your nostalgia will be fed and you won’t have to stretch your brain to learn radical new concepts or skills.

A life sim set in a small town with humanoid animals of various species (though for some reason, the player character is apparently human). In many ways it feels like an offline MMORPG with no combat. There’s even some asynchronous multiplayer as multiple players can move into the town and see each others’ houses and send each other mail. There’s no single overarching goal or win state; rather, the player can engage in various activities such as fishing or collecting insects, doing fetch-quest favors for villagers, donating to the local museum, saving up to buy house expansions, collecting furniture and outfits, and participating in various holiday events. There are also real-time day/night and seasonal cycles that affect what activities, townspeople, and fauna are available - which is actually pretty inconvenient, since shops are only open during certain hours and neighbors go to bed, meaning that a lot of the game is simply unavailable at night.

An action-RPG with dating sim elements and extensive customization options set in modern Akihabara. The premise is that a group of evil vampires who feed off of life force rather than blood have infiltrated the area, and you must fight to expose them - literally, by stripping their clothes off to inflict direct sunlight upon them. The combat is clunky, which is unfortunate since you’ll be doing a lot of it and the novelty of defeating the enemy by tearing off their outfits can only carry it so far. But the faithfulness of the game’s recreation of Akiba, along with the extensive variety in equippable weapons and clothing and the likable cast who are broadly painted but feature surprising emotional depth carry things much farther. If you like the idea of playing dress-up with your friends and stripping down your enemies in the otaku mecca, you’ll have a good time here.

A life sim set in a crossover Disney universe. Your Mii-based character moves into a town populated by Disney characters (and other Mii-like townsfolk) and explores connected worlds themed after particular Disney properties, undertaking quests and doing favors for beloved Disney characters. There’s a real-time day/night cycle, but it’s just cosmetic and doesn’t block off any of the game’s content. There’s a seasonal cycle too, with special holiday-themed events throughout the year.

A life sim set in a crossover Disney universe. Your Mii-based character moves into a town populated by Disney characters (and other Mii-like townsfolk) and explores connected worlds themed after particular Disney properties, undertaking quests and doing favors for beloved Disney characters. There’s a real-time day/night cycle, but it’s just cosmetic and doesn’t block off any of the game’s content. There’s a seasonal cycle too, with special holiday-themed events throughout the year.

A comedic and kid-friendly old-school point-and-click adventure. Puzzles are based around a potion system - to advance past most roadblocks, you need to follow a recipe from your spellbook to make a specific potion. There are often red herrings in the form of some-but-not-all of the ingredients for a potion you don’t yet need to make (though your inventory is emptied between chapters to prevent you from hoarding these). There is also narrative use of this mechanical structure - including a potion you can never make but which environmental clues suggest someone else did.

A game with alternating visual novel segments (where the plot is advanced as you interact with the other characters and sometimes make dialog choices) and escape-the-room puzzle segments.

Unlike the first two games, you play as a few different members of a group of nine people who’ve been imprisoned and forced to play “the decision game” - sometimes there’s a way out without killing anyone and sometimes there isn’t. Your goal is usually to escape with your life as well as solve the mystery of who abducted you and why - and which of your fellow abductees can be trusted.

A game with alternating visual novel segments (where the plot is advanced as you interact with the other characters and sometimes make dialog choices) and escape-the-room puzzle segments.

You’re an ordinary college student who gets abducted and wakes up imprisoned with eight other abductees, and together you are forced to play “the nonary game” - you must work together to solve puzzles in order to progress through your prison to an ultimate promised escape. However, if you break any of the nonary game’s rules, you will be killed, and the nonary game is structured such that its players can screw each other over and get them killed - leading some to try to defend themselves pre-emptively. Your goal is to escape with your life as well as solve the mystery of who abducted you and why - and which of your fellow abductees can be trusted.

A game with alternating visual novel segments (where the plot is advanced as you interact with the other characters and sometimes make dialog choices) and escape-the-room puzzle segments.

You’re an ordinary college student who gets abducted and wakes up imprisoned with eight other abductees, and together you are forced to play “the nonary game” - you must work together to solve puzzles in order to progress through your prison to an ultimate promised escape. However, if you break any of the nonary game’s rules, you will be killed, and the nonary game is structured such that its players can screw each other over and get them killed - leading some to try to defend themselves pre-emptively. Your goal is to escape with your life as well as solve the mystery of who abducted you and why - and which of your fellow abductees can be trusted.