itch.io

Baba is You is one of my favourite games of all time. Its a puzzle game focussed on pushing blocks, but those blocks decide the rules that the on screen elements abide by. A key can open or kill depending on the words you push together, and that leads to some of the smartest puzzle design and level ideas I've ever encountered. This is a fantastic game, will break your head, surprise you and blow your mind and you absolutely deserve to play one of the smartest games ever created. 5/5

A roguelike action adventure with an insane amount of heart and polish that likely will end up as one of my favourite games of the whole bundle. Fantastic progression, fun singleplayer/coop/online modes, great art style, entrancing atmosphere, tons of unlockables, a mysterious story, engaging and challenging combat and absolutely fantastic soundtrack. What really makes it stand out is its seamless integration of narrative aspects with gameplay. Deservedly well known and appreciated gem. Absolutely fantastic game. 5/5

Easily one of the best all around multiplayer game I ever played. Its an action platformer where you jump around a level, collect items, and try to take out your opponents quicker than they get you. Its biggest strength is easily the movement and combat mechanics, which are frankly just downright perfect to make for an engaging and never frustrating affair. Tons of levels, good variety of stage mechanics, items, some singleplayer content and this would always, always be the first game I'll think of when having some fun time with a few friends around. Fantastic. 5/5

Everyone probably knows Celeste already, so this one is quick and short. One of the best platformers in recent memory with an engaging story/setting, some very well balanced progression with additional tough as nails challenges and a good pacing for new mechanics. Platformer with a strawberry shaped heart. 5/5

Another amazing take on the Zelda games that takes Majoras Masks time limit to the next level. You have exactly 1 minute to save the world... until the world starts again and you have another minute with the items and knowledge you gained before. Incredibly smart game world design, cool ideas, a breeze to play and the only downside I could see before was a relatively short playtime for a relatively high price, but this game is unique and absolutely worth the money and minutes you spend on it. Worth it alone to marvel at the design ideas they used to realize the concept. 5/5

Fjords is a puzzle exploration adventure and one of my favourite Indie experiences ever. Its a glitch space world where you need to learn the rules before you can go about solving its secrets and it sends you on an engaging journey through the unknown that only a few very rare games ever managed to evoke in my as much as Fjords does. Every aspect you unravel on your own will hold a special place in your heart. Despite its simple looking nature, the journey into Fjords is one of a kind. Take your time with this one. 5/5

Another fantastic game that crept up on me out of nowhere. Your family has left and you are the last one in your old family home, passing your time and tending to your animals and farming your land, eagerly awaiting news from your family by the postman. Or do you not care and just wander out into the desert? Its an absolutely gorgeous and lovely tale of loneliness, happiness, loving the small things in life and also... the curse of frailty. I was expecting this game to be more of a simple ponderous affair, but there is much more to this blend of pondering and small, but fitting gameplay mechanics. I highly recommend exploring what this game offers and guiding this person along her path, whatever it may bring. Its guaranteed to affect you. Very life, very good. 5/5

Right when I started dreading every new Visual novel in my download list, a visual novel comes along with the most unique game mechanic I have seen in the whole bundle so far. Every conversation isdone through a small card game where you and your conversation partner back and forth match cards to each other. You start with a pack of cards symbolizing your previous experiences in life, travel the region and start to make new experiences, which in turn allows you to adjust your own deck. The way you internalize your experience then directly affects how your future self talks to other people, opening and blocking venues of conversation. Its an absolutely genius way to visualize the flow of human conversations. 5/5

These games are unique little gems. Its basically a story book puzzle game in which you need to reorder panels to tell the story you want do tell, which usually includes getting away from the people hunting you and they have some seriously clever ideas for its design. Its not terribly challenging as you can try around a lot, but its such a joy to play and just effortlessly makes you grin with its amazing fluid animations, unfortunate outcomes and smart level ideas, that its hard not to recommend everyone to play it. 5/5

Hands down one of the best and certainly one of the most original and most stylish jump & runs I played in a long time. It easily combines brain melting visuals with challenging and varied level ideas that are equally challenging for your fingers and eyes and continuously amaze with new visuals and twists (ha) on the formula. A bit surprised there are no times/speed running options here as figuring out the mechanics is already amazing, but nailing the movement of a level into a perpetual motion is downright mesmerizing. It combines the best of twitch action games with platforming challenges wrapped up in an interactive piece of digital art. Downright amazing and jawdropping. 5/5

Hacknet is a hacking simulator that ticks all the right boxes for that genre. It nails the theme, giving you cool tools and procedures to work with, entertaining side stories and cool and well balanced ideas to simulate the hacking process. Naturally the game is mostly text, but that really just gets you invested in its theme and its hard to put down once you start digging through the code and files of the systems you access.Just an incredibly interesting and fun game, even if it isnt particularly flashy. 5/5

Block or.. snowball pushing puzzle game, with clear visuals and rules, some very engaging and satisfying level solutions and a fantastic relaxing ambient soundtrack. The game does especially well keeping its levels easy to grasp and giving you all information at a single glance. In line with the genre, it has some very clever "Oh that is how" moments and combines all of those elements effortlessly into just an all around pleasant and brain tickling puzzle game, that eases you into it, while also throwing enough challenges at you later to give you your moneys worth. Great little game. 5/5

Well, holy crap is this good. Like seriously, seriously good. It looks like a fairly standard action platformer, but the developers managed to press the essence of what made those games fun way back when into a new casing that perfectly speaks to modern gaming standards with a ton of variety in each level, some really, really satisfying movement and combat mechanics and just overall great art style. I am honestly not sure if I could pinpoint another game on the spot that evokes the oldschool feeling of this genre better while also keeping it fresh and all around entertaining. It has a ton of levels that you will need a while to chew through and some smart design decisions with multiple difficulty levels and retries per level that subtract from your performance rating. Great, great game. These devs are insanely good and honestly would deserve being snatched up by a big Indie publisher. 5/5

I regularly tend to be disappointed by games trying to invoke the Loco Roco style and charm because they never really instill that feeling of happiness and wonder that Loco Roco did and just seem like been there/done that affairs. Pikuniku is a very basic game. You can jump, kick and walk (and do a few other minor things with your legs), but it tells the story of a colourful adventure that will have you grin constantly. Its not a hard game, but the colourful characters and well paced, varied quests are transporting you back to a time when games were just ... fun and full of childlike wonder. I tip my nonexisting hat. 5/5

To no ones surprise, this game is one of the best action roguelikes with a good amount of stuff to unlock, secrets to uncover, challenging difficulty and very satisfying gunplay with a multitude of different upgrade options/gun options. I have a few smaller quibbles regarding its visual style that might lead to some motion sickness and I wish some parts (minibosses for example) were a bit more varied/randomized, but it doesnt take away from it being a great game. 5/5

One of my favourite Indies the year it came out and I didnt even realize its in the bundle. The game is easy to explain: Its a an action puzzle platformer, with jello physics and a great soundtrack. You jump and sink into jello and using that to propel yourself towards the goal. Its well polished and an all around blast to play and you might be surprises how challenging the levels can become later with that seemingly simple concept. Keep playing if you enjoy the beginning, but wonder if its a bit too simple. Quite a few interesting ideas to come. Shame the game never got the attention it deserved. 5/5

Insanely fun arcade style action game that makes you feel like a badass slicing through bullets, shooting and air gliding through the levels. Oh yeah, and you can slow time too. The first bleed was fun, but they really ramped up your movement capabilities in a way that just navigating these worlds is stupidly fun. The bosses are extremely well designed and the game has a multitude of different modes such as random worlds and daily challenges. Pretty damn near perfect sequel. 5/5

This is the type of puzzle game I was really hoping to find in this bundle. It starts slow, introducing you to its world of sights and sounds (fantastic audio design btw), but then continuously ramps up its mechanics and difficulty that constantly leaves me in awe and curiosity which new mechanic this abstract puzzle journey game introduce next. No text needed, just pure experimentation. The basic premise is simple: Navigate to the exit in all 24 levels. The fun starts with the most simple mechanic of the game: You can move sideways, but to go up/down, you need platforms that you can move through. Then the game adds more elements that quickly make reaching that goal much more complex and rewarding. Lovely game with a zen like presentation that allows you to chill out and sink into a cloud of puzzles. 5/5

Great stealth game with a very unique and interesting gameplay loop that requires you to "eat" the furniture in the level, allowing you and your opponents new paths and strategies. The items can be used to more efficiently sneak through a level, which increases your score, which in turn unlocks more features/game modes and extra levels. Incedibly polished package for a unique concept in a well known and beloved genre. 5/5 without question.

Mini Metro is a fantastic highscore puzzle game that oscillates between calm and frustratingly hectic. You are tasked to build train lines, to transport passengers between stations. It is beautiful, has a relaxing soundtrack and very simplified, and as such easy to understand, but due to the ever increasing nature of it, it will always end up becoming impossibly difficulty to manage, landing you your highscore. I love logistics games and this is no different, If you can equally enjoy challenges and relaxing gameplay, then you'll love Mini Metro. 4,5/5

Excellent puzzle game with an even better sound design. Its one of those games where sights and sounds are integrated in a way to easily transport you into a flow of meditation and relaxation. Has 5 modes, 5 songs and is entirely customizable, meaning you can download more sound/song/graphics packs from other people creating them. You might need to poke around a bit for some more songs you enjoy, but this is an utterly fantastic game and deserves to be named among the best in its genre. 4,5/5

Ridiculously gorgeous top down exploration puzzle adventure. It doesnt offer much direction and is more focussed on instilling a sense of exploration and curiosity in the player, which is very well realized and also very rarely as on point as it is here. You will traverse the environment and try to understand its rules visual cues and by playing your continuously unlock more of that sense of wonder that will allow to be a part of this world. It is not a game that everyone will appreciate, as it doesnt offer much direction or clear goals, sometimes you might not even be aware you are standing right in the middle of a puzzle to figure out, but its truly a special game, that really is its own beast, making a thoroughly unique experience. If "artsy" games arent you thing, you might want to skip, but its certainly a great find for me and for everyone appreciating exploring an unknown world. 4,5/5

Puzzle platforming Metroidvania that packs quite the punch. The combat isnt really the focus most of the time and even if the jumping mechanics admittedly feel a bit off and it has some hit or miss humor, the game just works so well as its own thing, that its hard not to fall in love with it once you stumble over some puzzles and genuinely interesting rewards that give a proper spelunking mood. Add a pleasant soundtrack, rewarding exploration and secrets and some really nice pixel art on top, and this easily is among the games I most likely would want to buy and play on Switch outside of these impressions to really dig into its 20 hour campaign. Incredibly well designed. 4,5/5

Soul searching is part contemplative journey and part survival game (and collection of interesting short stories) and it was frankly incredibly hard to stop playing. The survival mechanics are not terribly deep, but the are engaging and unintrusive enough that they underscored the meditate nature of the game, which is as much an exploration of the seas as it is an exploration of deeper personal topics. It doesnt come across on screenshots, but the game can be downright beautiful in motion and the constant discoveries keep the journey fresh. It is an incredibly heartfelt game and I cannot recommend it enough if you enjoy contemplative experiences. 4,5/5

A narrative adventure that asks you to look into the live of several suspects, deciding if they are harmless citizens or terrorists. By deciding which data to upload into the system, you are shaping how that person is viewed by investigators. Its a very clear criticism of the increasingly critical methods a police state is using to surveil and seemingly arbitrary choices how citizens are being judged. It would be neat if the decisions would have more branching possibilities, but it is still a powerful statement and an engaging story. 4,5/5

Chef simulator, in which you can serve a variety of dishes in kitchens with different challenges, by clicking/choosing the right ingredients for every customer. The gameplay is snappy as you quickly get used to navigating the menues via mouse or buttons, the presentation is very engaging as the preparation for every dish has nice graphics and the multitude of different restaurants holds different challenges that you can gradually unlock. A ton of content, great coop entertainment, easy to pick up and rather challenging to really get the hang of serving everyone on time with perfectly timed food. Fast and fun. 4,5/5

Surprise of the week. This looks like a crude project that wont have much weight to it and you'd be oh so wrong. The unique art style is adorably well animated , it has a never ending cast of intriguing characters in this world ruled by combat warriors, plenty of minigames to indulge in and is just a joy to explore. It has your typical adventure game tropes, but is surprisingly well written and the charm of the very unique art style grows on you almost immediately. The "combat" mechanics are a bit weird, but they dont detract too much. This is a 10 hour epic chinese warrior adventure RPG with a ton of heart and even more charm. Highly recommended if you want to play an original adventure game that focusses more on exploring a world than solving hard puzzles. 4,5/5

Out of nowhere a game approaches with a unique genre blend that makes me fall in love with one of the oldest and uninspired puzzle game mechanics of all time: sliding. Hear me out though: This is a roguelite puzzle game where you descend into the dungeon and using sliding movements you need to figure out the most optimal way to fight through the monsters, while in between the levels you get potions, powerups, unlock new characters and whatnot. Very satisfying, super easy to pick up and overall incredibly snappy that you kinda dont want to stop playing, because it makes you feel so damn good. 4,5/5

Platformer that gives me strong Goemon vibes with its japanese folklore theme, in which you are supposed to avoid coins instead of collecting them. The gameplay mechanic seems a bit gimmicky at first, but once you understand that you can just do 2 runs for each level (one without coins, one with), the game becomes less cumbersome and more fun to explore. Add a variety of fun characters, great art style, good music and a ton of secrets. Initial gameplay confusion aside, this is very good stuff and reminds me a lot of classic SNES platformers. 4,5/5

Sidescrolling Metroidvania with some roguelite progression mechanics. The fluid animations and feeling of the combat is rather addicting, even if it isnt super deep. However, exploring, walljumping and navigating the levels to unlock new level areas while unlocking more skill boosts is just a darn addicting little gameplay loop that is hard to put down. Even if it doesnt quite reach the heights of the best in the Metroidvania genre, it just adds a fantastic art style and an intriguing background story with multiple endings on top of its 15 hour package, and you got a very, very enjoyable game. 4,5/5