In Lou’s Lagoon, you play as the nephew/neice to Lou, the owner of Lou's delivery service, who has asked you to come to the Limbo Archipelago to help fix things up after the storm first hits said archipelago. Once you get there you can tell that this is not going to be an easy task, as multiple islands in the archipelago are in need of your help.
War in the North: Legacy Edition is what it is, a modern port of the classic game. Its bells and whistles are few and far between, but the core game as it was is here and is a blast to play in co-op. Combat, progression, and the ability to swap between each character makes this one of the better LOTR games ever crafted.
Pet Survivors, developed by Vergiu Games and published by Eastasiasoft, joins an incredibly over-saturated market in the survivors genre. However, its simplicity and reliance on pets does give it an edge when leaning into the younger player. I just wish it had a bit more going on when it came to its combat.
While there is a ton of enjoyment to have here, you're generally enjoying it due to what's been lifted from Star Fox, and not from the game itself. If Wild Blue Skies wants to make any sort of impact with a follow-up, then it needs to barrel-roll into something unique, or risk living in Star Fox’s shadow.
The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales is the classic Zelda alternative that players have wanted for years. It captures everything that made traditional top-down action-adventure games so special, including rewarding exploration, memorable dungeons, clever puzzles, satisfying progression, and an endless stream of secrets to discover.
With a great soundtrack, and a snappy battle system, LumenTale: Memories of Trey excels as being one of the better Pokémon style games, even if a few edges are rough and a true lack of originality hovers over the experience. Still, if you're looking for this type of game, do to Pokémon feeling a bit stale from year to year, few do it better.
Coffee Talk: Tokyo is an amazing experience on the whole. The bright colors and collection of interesting characters invite you in. The many lives and stories that gravitate around the coffee shop are full of heart and expertly written. I was invested from start to finish and I looked forward to what was going to happen every time the bell chimed when the door was opened
The world of Opus: Prism Peak is a finely crafted tale that ebbs and flows with wrenching and heavy emotion not often felt in many forms of media these days. I kindly recommend Eugene's story to anyone ready to take the plunge into a new world that threatens to pull you in and never let go of the heart it exposes in you.
Incantation is, simply put, a walking simulator horror experience. You’ll collect documents to learn more about the lore, solve puzzles, and avoid confrontations as you have no way to truly defend yourself. The atmosphere is fairly impressive with a few solid scares, but a limit on your interaction with the world does lessen the appeal.
If you’re a fan of word-based games of any kind, then Beyond Words is absolutely a must-play. It’s an experience that I will continue playing for hundreds of hours. While Balatro’s ‘lightning in a bottle' success might not be replicated here, it does provide that similar rush when a round goes your way and you feel like an absolute god. With all that in mind, it’s impossible not to recommend it to everyone who likes these deckbuilding roguelike-style games.
