I can’t figure this section out… Or can I?
Weaving Tides sits comfortably in a genre of its own. Unlock a world map woven together through magic threads. You'll ride upon friendly creatures known as carpet dragons and weave new threads to move forward. With brilliant surface swapping mechanics that allow you to traverse impossible terrain, exquisite graphics, and smooth gameplay this is surely a work of art as much as a playable game. The artistic aspects of Weaving Tides are exquisite. You can just feel the silky textures of the world as you traverse, feeling perhaps you are enchanted, or simply on a very fine adventure.
Runo is a cultural indie game and a very unique project based on the Midsommer mythos from traditional Finnish culture. Its intellectual deduction and story track lead you through a complex story that involves the protagonist's grandmother and family tradition. The story takes place in a cabin next to a forested lake. The goal is to use clues from your dad's text messages, your personal journal, and what you observe around you. There is a deep mystical nature to this lake and in a simple quest to find your grandmother's hidden journal, you'll encounter a variety of exciting obstacles.
GeoGuessr... Ahh, I've waited so long to delve into this one. I present to you today a non-traditional game review to showcase a game that is on the fringe of traditional games but so fresh and fun that everybody is finding out about it. GeoGuessr is a browser-based game that uses images from Google Streetview. You are dropped off in a random lat/long on Earth or whichever area/theme you specify and you use clues from your surroundings to find out where you are. Any person could easily bend the rules to win. For purists, on the other hand, it's a wonderful way to use reasoning and deduction to sharpen your geography skills.
Genesis Noir is an experimental detective story that takes place in a cosmogonic setting in different parts of the universe. If that already sounds mind-blowing, it's artistically extravagant in the creative gears that turn its two-dimensional, or even 5-dimensional, gameplay mechanics--metaphorically at least. The game starts wandering the streets of some strange alternative 1950's cityscape and blows open a new case to investigate with a bang, a big bang. Yes, that one. In this review, I'll talk about the game--and also talk to you about a new project I'm working on involving space exploration in games.
RailRoute is a railroad dispatch strategy game for PC. Trains that travel between stations, railyards, and tracks do so at the discretion of railroad dispatchers that use special display maps to direct traffic. This game takes most of the nuances of this real technology and has created a simulation that uses simple mechanics to build a railroad empire. With many options, an informative tutorial, and room to expand, you'll be keeping an eye on your fleet timetables for engaging gameplay.
incess Farmer is essentially a complex row matching game, mixed with some RPG and storytelling elements. With some pixel graphics and a cozy story about bunnies, it's a lot of fun. The stylizing is pink and indie in the best way, and it is fun just to look at. I'm pretty much a sucker for anything with this style. I'm not totally sure what you would call it, but it puts me in a happy place.
HEADS UP: Moderately creepy imagery is in these games, this will be my only warning. I don't generally review horror games, but Lasanga Boy made me laugh, and then, it intrigued me. It merits analysis based on absurdity alone but also design. I also personally understand people like illustrating and drawing creepy monsters because... well, it's fun! Why not throw in a third or fourth eyeball here and there. We've been doing that for ages. Direct link to the games on Itch.IO a the bottom of this article.
Finally, my love of tile board games like Carcassonne has been revived. But it's completely different mind you. Carto is a tile-placement puzzle released to much praise last year. My first impressions were very positive, but I set them aside until today. It's a terrific game! While it's probably the best adjective, I'm not really fond of describing games as cute anymore, because there are so many vocabularic adjectives for a game of this caliber. Perhaps this is "clever," "witty," "minimalist," "pleasant," and "empathic." There's a whole slew of wonderful descriptions. So, let me garner your attention and put the…
I hesitated the first time I played this. I was up late at night and wanted to try something relaxing and I chose The Last Campfire on the Switch. Visually nice, interesting, but I was a little startled by the minuscule, but there, elements of macabre. Okay, it was just a single skeleton, but that’s enough to not be my usual thing! I set it aside and haven’t thought about it in a while. I’m happy to inform you that this game is actually quite good. It needs to be reconsidered by skeptics, even you if you are one. It’s a sweet and empathic story. Things can change before you would expect them to and it deserves a lot of merit for that.
I'm not sure if the preface of this game is an homage to any other pop culture time traveling islands, but maybe not. I had some theories while playing that maybe some kind of altered planes of existence, which had me thinking about the name. The title, The Gardens Between has a mystical ring to it, but I don't know if that is intentional. I think it might be, but that is my own projection. There's no dialogue or anything to reveal these things, but that's actually okay with me because it's super original and such an interesting gameplay experience!
