I revamped my bookshelf into a media shelf and added games. The Steam Summer Sale is about to end, so I figured I’d jot down some games I’ve been enjoying lately. If any of these look interesting, go grab them!
Chants of Sennaar
So much fun! You start as someone at the bottom of a tower who doesn’t understand any language, and you slowly learn the languages and cultures of different social classes. Each language has completely different grammar. Totally my thing. The art style is gorgeous too, apparently inspired by the legendary French sci-fi comic artist Moebius.
Demon Bluff (Demo)
A roguelike inspired by Blood on the Clocktower (what a brilliant idea). It’s basically a solo version of Werewolf. Love the card design, and every round is a brain burner. Highly recommend if you’re into Werewolf or Avalon. It’s only a demo, but the polish is already incredible. Take my money!
StarVaders
Think Into the Breach, but blended with deckbuilding. A chess-meets-cards game with positional and movement mechanics. Way more complex than typical card games, and the roguelike structure keeps it fresh. Great soundtrack too.
Leap Year
A small game by Daniel Linssen. You can finish it in 2 hours. But when you do, it blows your mind. Everything was meaningful all along.
UFO 50
50 small retro games made by a group of veteran game developers. The quality and style varies across the collection. No single game is mindblowing on its own, but the designs are consistently interesting. Each game has its own achievement for high-score completion called a cherry, which makes you want to collect all 50. Out of the dozen or so I’ve played, my favorites are Pilot Quest, Overbold, Bug Hunter, and Camouflage.
Two games I don’t recommend.
Split Fiction
Every world feels too disconnected. The protagonists aren’t likeable. Every gameplay mechanic can be brute-forced through action alone, zero challenge. Nothing like It Takes Two with its co-op mini-games that actually require two players to work together. After a few hours of repetitive gameplay, I had zero interest in the story. Gave up. Would rather replay It Takes Two.
Vampire Crawlers
A card game by the Vampire Survivors team. The map navigation camera is awkward (it’s already a mindless grind game, why even have map walking?). The gameplay loop is just playing 0-1-2-3 energy cards to build combos. I wanted a quick dopamine hit, but all I got was emptiness.
