5/5.
Death and Taxes has plenty to like, and plenty of replayability, if you're into that. It has the feeling of Papers, Please with a relaxed, peaceful gameplay loop and less drastic repercussions for your choices.
A fun, low stress, polished game that's worth your time.
August 2020.
4/5.
Another Lost Phone is more trite than its predecessor. I felt preached to while playing, as if it was a PSA instead of a game. The plot is much more contrived than the first game's, and you can tell where it's going from very early on.
That said, the flaws are not a dealbreaker and it's certainly worth playing if you enjoyed the gameplay in the first one. While Another Lost Phone's story is less developed, its gameplay is more filled out and satisfying.
I still enjoyed this game, despite some reservations.
July 2020.
3/5. (Series: 5/5.)
This game is not gonna make much sense if you haven't played the other games, but if you do play the series, man is it a trip! The main story is free to play, and while it's a bit of a time sink, it's well worth it.
This particular installment is decent, but not the best one they've got. You could skip it if you wanted.
The order in which to play the series can be found here, and the games can be found here in flash-game-form, or here if you'd like to buy the series on Steam for a few dollars.
July 2020.
5/5.
A Lost Phone is an excellent game. You have discovered a lost phone, and while trying to find the identity of its owner and return it, you uncover the recent events of their life. It's an engrossing story, with innovative and fun gameplay. If you can download this on your Android phone and play it there, I'd suggest doing so; it becomes quite immersive.
Bigotry against LGBT+ people is a prevalent theme, and I believe there is a trigger warning to that effect at the beginning of the game, which is good of the creators to do.
July 2020.
4/5.
Adjacency feels like the sibling to Hexcells, which is perhaps the highest compliment I could give a puzzle game.
Its design is sleek and elegant; it gives you exactly what you need, no more, no less. The mechanics are simple, but the puzzles are complex. It provides you the ability to perfect each level, without forcing your hand or shaming you if you're satisfied with simply completing the level instead.
Unfortunately, there's something missing from it, for me. Maybe it's the lack of progressive solving; you can solve the whole thing before you click a single cell, and the puzzle doesn't get easier the more progress you make in it.
Adjacency is everything I should like in a puzzle game. And yet, it somehow misses the mark for me, and I found myself not picking it up again once I put it down.
November 2020.
4/5.
In Lizzi Crossing, you lead a bear-frog-creature past landmines and down into the depths of a cave, armed only with logic and your knowledge of Minesweeper and Nonograms. The combination is novel and engaging, and having to physically maneuver around the board changes the strategy in a subtle way.
It's easy to get swept up with this game and lose track of time, and there's only a few quality of life issues that are keeping me from adding this to my regular circulation.
June 2020.
4/5.
The Indifferent Wonder Of An Edible Place is a short, poignant experience. Based upon a poem by an Indian poet in 1960, TIWoaE explores cultural erasure through poem-like letters written by a Muslim man who has been tasked with wiping his own city from existence.
TIWoaE invites you to sit with the tragedy of what has happened. It's a somber game, but a worthwhile one, giving a personal perspective on something many people don't know much about.
June 2020.
4/5.
Hippo on Elm Street is a text adventure where you are a curious house hippo. The game has little delights everywhere, and a whimsical logic. I got stuck partway through and couldn't figure out how to progress, but I think I'll be coming back to try again.
(Type "help" into the text box if you don't know how to play text adventures.)
June 2020.
5/5.
In Fat Bear Week, you are an adorable smol bear who wants to become THICC, and so must nom all of the berries and salmon! One of the best games ever made. I look forward to a sequel.
June 2020.
3/5.
Yi and the Thousand Moons tells its story through music sung by the characters. Though imperfect in execution, the concept is novel enough that it's worth watching a playthrough on YouTube, if not playing through yourself. I look forward to the day there are more video game musicals like this.
June 2020.
1/5.
CHESTO is a stressful game, until you realize it doesn't have any consequences either way. Failing doesn't feel any different from succeeding, and even the unlocks don't seem to affect the gameplay noticeably. I got bored quickly.
The game seems more like a proof of concept, reinforced by the (admittedly cute) website showing the game's worldwide aggregated statistics, which seems to be more the point of the game than the game itself is.
June 2020.
2/5.
A choose-your-own-adventure set in the hours and days after your plane's engine explodes, [SIBERIA] toys with some interesting concepts (like the hints at parallel universes it peppers throughout) but it doesn't explore them in any satisfying way. The narration is sarcastic, but not particularly witty.
In the end, though there's glimmers of a good story, [SIBERIA] feels rather generic.
June 2020.
3/5.
The mystery of Hope's Peak, and its vigilante cowboy protagonist, is told through dozens of bite-sized stories.
Hope's Peak delivers on its premise well. It evokes the feeling of the dry, dusty Wild West, of course, but more impressively it blends that with mystique so naturally that it's easy to forget not every western has the unexplainable at its core.
The game's only downfall is the time constraint it was made within, making it feel unfinished and lacking in a definitive ending.
June 2020.
5/5.
birdsong is a moderately difficult platformer which can be completed in about an hour, give or take, and will leave you feeling satisfied. The visual effect might leave you with a bit of a woozy feeling, but even as someone who gets motion sickness easily, it didn't affect me too badly.
June 2020.
