in 2022 we left 56 five star reviews on projects on itch.io

these are some of those reviews

here are some projects that we want to shout from our very low rooftop

in january we played why small? by Coleo_Kin

an explanation of an artist’s choice of focus

and The Twine Fishing Simulator by maxine sophia wolff

A worthy little Twine game, and ode to fishing minigames. Requires quick reactions in the first section, but if you get through that you should be all right.

and directions by cecile richard

I, too, want to write a letter to a past self…

in march we read DEATH TO THE GRAPHICS CARD by mark wonnacott

Turning over a hypothetical, in response to electronic and electricity waste.

in april we purchased The Arcade Arcanum by Rose (review is from July)

Nice sets of pixel-art tarot cards! Got the paper version of this a little while ago and quite satisfied with it.

and played Princess with a Cursed Sword by anna anthropy

Had a really vivid experience with this - the concrete images offered and the framing of a fairy tale told in the third person were very good for steering what kind of atmosphere to make. Can recommend if you have a nice full-art tarot deck!

in may we read a manifesto of indulgence by ehronlime

Encouraging words and expressive metaphors.

and THE MIXO MANIFESTO by davemakes

Straightforward and pointing in a clear direction - I like this.

in june we read MAID/OF by MeltyAutumn

Very cute comic talking about trans feels in a magical TF context.

and played What’s your gender? by PurpleSloth

A meaningful wander through concepts surrounding gender. Probably familiar to a lot of trans folks, but a beautiful space.

and played Bear by roll / flip / draw

Really interesting and unique concept based around checking the sky and your body and using that as prompts.

and played A Hand With Many Fingers by Colestia (we reviewed it in October)

Played this game a while ago now, but even as short as it is, it took us a little while to process and settle our feelings on it, to really understand and appreciate what it is and what it does.

Mark Brown of Game Maker’s Toolkit did a video on detective games once where he praised those games that make you take information out of the game and into your head to be able to progress - and that is true of this game mechanically, but it’s even more true narratively. “A Hand With Many Fingers” will tell you a story … but it’s down to you to connect the dots.

in july we read the RPG Design Zine by Nathan D. Paoletta

A lot of information analyzing how tabletop roleplaying games work and how manuals steer play.

and played co-open by lowpolis

Sweet and silly - it’s very fun talking to everyone and figuring out how to help them out.

and, with some help from the author, read who’s afraid of repetition by q1

Some affirming thoughts about going back to the same ideas more than once.

(Note: the web version is very GPU-intensive; a PDF download is available for lower-end machines.)

and started listening to digital reflection | selected works 2020 - 2022 from hellvalleyskytrees

This album is full of cool electronic tracks - I’m digging.

and started a campaign of This Town Is Full of Monsters by Aleks Samoylov (we reviewed it in December)

This is an incredible storytelling game.

You can, when taking a turn setting a scene, do anything you want with it - nothing’s stopping you. But if you’re ever wondering what to do, it gives you so much material with which to decide: characters, relationships, storytelling motifs, mysteries to solve … heck, pull a Tarot card or hit “Random” on Wikipedia, see what comes up and if it inspires.

And, as you play, you build on the characters and the world. You give your characters tags like “Librarian” or “Respectable” or “I Ain’t A Goddamn Snitch” or whatever else makes you understand what they are like, and you add to those tags as their natures are revealed and their choices change the story.

One of the most creatively inspiring games we’ve ever played. Our game uses a lore wiki in place of the suggested conspiracy board and it’s terrific.

in august we downloaded the Slimegirl tarot digital deck by Lichen

A neat digital tarot deck with nontraditional imagery. Includes info on card art and interpretations.

in october we read ALTERNATE DRAG ⚧ by DONNYCLAWS

This is a great glimpse into and affirmation of the queer outsider side of drag.

in november we played a not so lonely time by onion

This is so nice and adorable and sweet. <3

in december we started reading dis/connected by Ell

evocative and painful and compelling

disability and politics and neurodivergence through a nonhuman lens

if we had metrics for how much time we spent in different games, books, comics … they would be useless

we aren’t talking about time

p.s.

we also finally got around to putting Godzilla 2049 by maxine sophia wolff into a collection, a game we reviewed years ago

This story is very Godzilla - really sells the feeling of overwhelming force.

p.p.s.

please wear a mask and avoid spending too much time indoors with other people - there’s a pandemic on and it’s worse during flu season

p.p.p.s.

you matter

the worst person in the universe matters and they aren’t you

you so much more than matter and you deserve security and peace and kindness and art