Every Game I Played in 2023

Better story than I remembered. Good investigation. Goofy cast, as always.

Very charming game. Puzzles were fine and controls were a little finnicky, but it's easy and fun and we had a nice time. Music is great, cutscenes were hysterical. There's a million little things to find.

Sort of odd little puzzle experience. Sort of like a more abstract Blackbox, if that's a thing. Short ans sweet, with a bit of story. Odd, but enjoyable.

Great puzzles, good art style. Liked the overarching plot and the approachability of it all. I could have used 20% more difficulty, but it was a superp addition to the detective/logic genre.

Didn't expect to like it, but I did! Small, cute puzzles. Not hard, but entertaining. Extremely short.

Certainly an interesting game. I liked the combination of the RTS and RPG genres, but I don't feel like it quite clicked. The RTS was ok, but big battles felt a little random. I liked the territory setup and worker mechanics. I didn't love that RPG elements happened during RTS battles. Also, the equipment system never quite panned out. Definitely a cool concept though, but it didn't quite stick the landing.

Cute game, one I have a lot of nostalgia for. Played on freeplay and needed 26 "quarters" to beat it. I definitely had never gotten that far in the arcade. Gameplay is simplistic and clearly designed to take your money, but I liked the art style and sound effects.

Definitely had "the room" vibes. Enjoyed bits of it, but a lot of the puzzles were more obtuse than I'd like and the controls weren't as polished as they should have been. Also, some levels felt very scattered, moving around to lots of puzzle elements intead of increasingly complex single boxes. Just didn't quite click for me

Largely charming. Graphics were great, story was cute. A few puzzles overstayed their welcome and controls were bad on PC (likely fine on touch devices). Overall very pleasant though.

Cute little game. Fun to explore the world, and it's ineresting being so short. The gameplay was light and there wasn't much gameplay in hunting for animals, but it's fun to stumble across them. Story was decent though, and the music was nice.

Great little spin on survivalist. I liked the card stacking and the vibe. I also loved that there were quests, which gave direction to the game (too easy to wander, otherwise). It could have used some QoL and automation into the late game, but largely I had a great time with it. Would love to see more in this series/genre.

Did a lot right - engaging gameplay, good RTS implementation, decent puzzles, achievements, fun to explore. There's a ton of content here and yet it didn't overstay its welcome. The boss fights were _fine_, but that my only, very minor, complaint.

Definitely an interesting game. Ultimately, the battle, equipment, and leveling system are awesome. They still feel fresh and they solve a lot of problems that RPGs have. Unfortunately, the story and characters leave much to be desired. Most of the dialogue is just _bad_. Maybe I'm just nostalgic for the first game, or I was a dumb teen when I played it, but this is rough today. Also, the story pacing is dreadful. For a game that doesn't have random encounters, it sure doesn't let you walk 15 feet without a cutscene and a forced battle. Honestly I think this is a place where the postgame will really shine, since I can do exactly what I want, when I want to do it. Also, the story doesn't really stand on its own because it's so tied to the first one. Fun enough (and I stuck with it), but definitely flawed.

Great little game. Loved the style and the setting. Puzzles were generally good, but the difficulty curve was all over the place. Some of them were super hard and required _many_ complex positions, while others were more straightofward. I liked the simpler ones, but it's nice that there's stuff there for everyone. Cool settings, good puzzle mechanics, great vibes.

Great in co-op. Puzzles were good and combat was satisfying. Good upgrade system too. And a story! Really has it all- just don't play it solo.

Super interesting game. I like the open-ended exploration and the fact that it was sort of a secret platformer. There's a lot of overlapping storylines, and I liked how well they executed on the V I B E. The biggest knock was that you're not really _solving_ the case so much as you can talk to everyone as much as you want and explore. There's not much logic to it. But, it was good for what it was.

Some good puzzles coupled with a too-serious theme. It's interesting, but a little intense for what the rest of the game is. I did like the framing and exploration though.

Took everything about the first game and improved it. Bigger world, better stories, more varied machines, better weapons, more interesting exploration, the works. The story was a little weaker, but set up some very interesting things. Plus, there's a lot of bits to find. And the stash system! What an improvement. Kudos all around.

Absolutely superb. Follows in the footsteps of great JRPGs before it, modernizing and generally improving their gameplay. It's good a pretty decent story, great world to explore, cool abilities, great secrets, the works. I finished the main quest, every side quest, and a bunch of extra bits in 33 hours, which is amazing for a game like this. Usually it's dragged out much longer. It's a very focused game; there aren't that many locations, but there's a lot to explore. Doesn't hold your hand, but doesn't let you get too lost either. Very well constructed. I can't say enough good things about it.

A small trio of puzzles. 2/3 great and 1/3 a miss, which is a decent ratio. Neat presentation and good sound design. Definitely new, and there's something to be said for that!

Tiemframe _really_ stretches the "games as art" and "how much gameplay does a walking simulator need to be considered a game". There are a small number of text logs that let you piece together a bit of "story", but there's not enough there to be compelling. It also doesn't really use its "slow motion" theme in any meaningful way. Overall, just a miss.

Neat concept, but heavy handed with its politics. Also, waters down some of the decisonmaking in a way that's not realistic or helpful.

A hint of a story, boring combat, nice enough, if bland, environments. Cool glowing deer. But, really not much there.

Fun concept, nice (if simple) art, great writing. Actual deductions were a little frustrating, but I ultimately did like the open-endedness of solving the murders- actually had to do some thinking.

Touching, small story. Nice art, chill vibe. Great dialogue and writing. No real gameplay, but the walking around and choosing who says the next line made it much more dynamic, somehow, than a movie.

Doesn't shy from the political, but presents it in a fun, light way. Great theming, varied gameplay, good music, and doesn't overstay its welcome. The complete package.

Some nice art, but bad puzzles, platforming, and no story. I think pretending there's a story is worse than not having one. They're clearly inspired by Journey, but captured none of what made it enjoyable.

Somber, slow, contemplative game. A story about loss and regret, told interestingly.

I have some complicated feelings about this one. As Pokemon games go, it's certainly novel. It tries a lot of new things and some of them are good! It's a little grindy and there are too many papercuts, but there's a lot of serious QoL. The core gameplay is still great, and while a lot of systems have been simplified, I think they made good choices. On paper, this would be the Pokemon game fans have been dreaming about for years and years. But, it dramatically falls short of its potential. The graphics are dreadful (and you can't _just_ blame the hardware; there are good looking Switch games) and the movement itself feels bad. There's boss battles are mostly button mashing and dodging, which is a weird way to climax a battling/catching game. The story is basically non-existent and all the side quests are just fetch quests. If this weren't a Pokemon game, it would be a bargain bin 5/10. It just hurts because there's _so_ much opportunity here, and this is what they came up with. I'm glad they're trying new things, but would really appreciate a higher quality bar.

Cute take on a reverse city builder. Was surprisingly pleasant and definitely a good spin on how we're treating our nature. A few papercuts and lack of clarity, but I liked that there was always a mission to be working towards.

Stellar writing, gameplay, animation, and of course, music. Just the complete package. Doesn't overstay its welcome, but uses its time well. I love the attention to detail and amount of care put into this game.

Really great on paper. Pretty good on execution. Ended up being a bit simplistic, and wasn't always clear with what would happen. But it was nice having a proper deckbuilder and there were pretty decent upgrade paths and power curves.

Cute little game. Some obtuse puzzles, but it's a charming presentation.

Great combat and team building. Exploration was decent. It was a little overwhelming having full skill trees for everyone, but certainly lead to a lot of depth and ability to customize. Story was decent. I liked that there's advanced game modes too.

Very charming puzzle game. Definitely mind bending, especially towards the end. Completed 161/364 puzzles, which is impressive. Game felt smooth and engaging throughout, and introduced new mechanics well.

I enjoyed the concept and the UI is pretty good, but it wasn't quite engaging enough to hold my attention. Finished 2/4 worlds (and no bonus puzzles)

A little janky, but very fun. Good puzzles, charming enough story (such that it is). Did the DLC too, which were fun but not necessary.

Neat puzzle game. I liked the asymmetry, but some puzzles were hard to do on a controller and there were noticeable bugs. But, there were some very neat sections and I'm glad we played.

There's a lot going on here. I can see that it's built on the bones of a great game, but I feel like a lot of that was lost in the remake. There are very lucid sections where everything is great, but they're few and far between with abysmal pacing. The is cool but doesn't make a ton of sense (having limited knowledge of the original). Combat is fun and customizing ability loadouts is good. It just sort of felt all over the place. Graphics and music were top tier though!

The controls are great (especially for a mobile game) and the actual gameplay is a lot of fun. Unfortunately, a lot of progression is balanced around being able to pay to win, so playing it on apple arcade, some things were just prohibitively expensive. Also, the dynamic difficulty, while good, made it less rewarding to have top-tier players (because the defenses got good to match your success). Once I realized that was happening, I had less fun with it. But, I played it a ton and it's a great way to spend 5 minutes.

Fun re-tread of the base game. Occasionally frustrating, but it nails the style of those older platformers in a fun and fairly charming way.

It's a well-tread concept implemented snappily, but forgettably. There's a lot of named enemies, but they don't seem to be different in significant ways. Gameplay got pretty same-y over time. That said, I liked the writing a lot and there was more level variety than I expected (there's a lot of environments vs things like Hotline Miami which is mostly same-y houses). So there's things there, but I didn't stick with it.

Very stylistic. Super weird, but the gameplay is engaging. Good music. Sense of scale gets very cool, especially in the late game. Occasional bugginess held it back, but it's a quick fun time.

Extremely charming platformer. Plays a lot like Pikmin-lite, but simplified in all the right ways. The animations and sound design are extremely cute and the NPC dialogue is a lot of fun. Each world is great to explore and they pulled the "pea-sized-person in a house" vibe off incredibly well. The only thing that fell flat was the story, which tries to be much deeper and serious than it needs to be. Luckily, it doesn't get it the way of anything and can be safely ignored. What a delightful time!

Odd little story, with nice art and music. Narration was also good (and AI generated!). It's only a part 1, so we're excited to see where the rest of the story goes.

Fun art and stories. But ultimately, the difficulty was inconsistent. Puzzles were either too simple to too hard with little in-between. Fun for a couple of evenings though. Also I'm extremely curious about how the execution engine works behind the scenes.

A bittersweet story about family, food, and culture. Nice little 1-sitting game, and surprisingly touching.

fascinating game. Fun gameplay, kept it fresh throughout. I'm not totally sure I followed the story, but I loved its layers and my total inability to guess what was coming next. The whole thing came together very well. Extremely unique game.

Quite fun and good for short bursts of games. Great controls which make playing on mobile very natural. Difficulty was inconsistent and basically all of the special events are bad, but it makes for a satisfying play (especially once they smooth out the curves)

A well-made metroidvania. On the whole, the movement felt really good and you could fluidly zoom around the map once you got moving. Combat was pretty fun, if a little simplistic. The EMMI mechanic was fine, but didn't feel like it added a lot. I liked all the powerups, but it almost felt like there were too many relative to the amount of time you got to use them. Also, the story felt shoehorned in. But, I enjoyed coming back to it and exploring, plus it didn't overstay its welcome.

An interesting concept, but the gameplay itself left something to be desired. I liked the vibe of the text-based exploration, but it was more frustrating than fun. The story was interesting enough, and told interestingly, certainly.

Great little platformer with a very distinct art style. There was ostensibly some story happening, but it was the kind where I'll need to search "Limbo story explained" afterwards. Some neat puzzle mechanics. It didn't quite do it for me, but I enjoyed my time with it.

More style than substance, but nice art and music. There were some minor puzzles and story about mental health that didn't really go anywhere, but it wasn't an unpleasant hour.

While this game doesn't explain anything more than its predecessor, I liked the setting much more. Instead of being in a black-and-white zone, you're in a series of industrial buildings that really give the game an eerie sense of place. The controls feel better and the puzzles are better balanced (if a bit easier). It also goes places I didn't expect, which feels like a rarity these days. I enjoyed it a lot for what it was.

Neat concept, but gameplay didn't keep me hooked (pun intended). I liked the progression well enough, but the shooting was tiresome and there wasn't enough variation in the fishing. But, it's a cute concept!

Interesting and dense story, if overly complex. I like the intermingling of the plots, but it does make it a little hard to follow. Combat provides a good respite and is simplistic without being boring. There's great QoL features for the visual novel part and gorgeous art, as always. It's an ambitious game, but it sticks the landing.

Ethereal little puzzle game. I loved the seamlessness and otherworldliness of the environment. Was also nice to have a game from this dev that wasn't so gross or death-focused. The recursion was a good mechanic and it did a good job respecting your time. Lovely little experience!

What it lacks it gameplay, it makes up for in charm!

Similarly charming with marginally more gameplay this time around (but not really). Still a fun world and story though.

A lovely end to an extremely cute trilogy. Tied it up perfectly, no notes.

On paper, I should have loved this game. It's routinely hailed as one of the best games in my favorite genre and it's a remaster with a bunch of QoL features. But dang it if it wasn't a total slog! There's a huge amount of backtracking in the levels (there are 50+ story battles but only ~20 maps). You can't mix and match skills between classes, so there's not a lot of theory crafting - it's mostly "pick the best 4 skills for a given class". There's also a distinct difference between unique units and generics (the former are much stronger). You get so many generics that it's never really worth training anyone else. And, there are still some glaring QoL misses, despite the progress there. There's a ton of characters and classes to find, but much of it is locked away behind long, grindy sidequests. I'm sure that's fun for some people, but I wasn't into it. The story is long, but not especially impactful. While there are lots of branches in the narrative, I don't feel like all the branches add much; they just dilute what little story there is. At its core, the gameplay is pretty fun, if a little slow to start. Rewinding time is a great feature that I wish more SRPGs had. But, the games that learned from it and came after it are much better.

Neat little game. I liked the idea of combining exploration and inventory into one system. Plus, being able to cache and improve recipes was fun. The controller support was pretty good, but the game got pretty repetitive and tedious. Fun idea, but I didn't want to play much more of it.

Fun little puzzle game. Ultimately felt pretty hard for the amount of enjoyment it brought. Haptics and design were great, as was the concept. Just didn't love it

Climbing as a core mechanic felt quite good. It was fun looking for handholds and swinging to reach something new. The story being all text as fine and the collectibles left something to be desired. Also, for being a platformer, there was remarkably little ability to fall off things. It's pretty and zen though, which is a nice change of pace. Great sense of scale, too.

Best described as "4 player Slay the Spire", there was a lot to like about Across the Obelisk. The 4 character classes and variety of perks and skills mean there's a lot of customization and replayability. Building a deck is always fun and there's a lot of card variety. Multiplayer works well and the tiebreaker mechanic on split votes was a ton of fun. But, for a game we played as much as we did, there wasn't as much variety as I would have liked. The maps always have the same layout (though the events on each node are random) and the end-map bosses are always identical. I would have liked to see more variety in regular enemies, too. The UI is decent but the descriptions on effects was sometimes lacking, making it hard to understand exactly what was going to happen (tough for a card game). Ultimately it was a great choice for my gaming group and I'm glad we played it.

This is a very faithful remake of a classic 2D game I've never played. Though the graphics are nice, the game suffers from an aged simplicity. Not that every game needs to have all the bells and whistles of a modern RPG, but this one felt a little _too_ stripped down. I liked that gear choices were straightforward and abilities were interesting enough. But, the game got off to an _incredibly_ slow start - the first 5 hours, depending on your character selection, you have no abilities at all; just light attack and heavy attack. It's great if you want to mindlessly wander around and whack things, but left something to be desired. The game opens up after the first class change and brings a little more strategic depth. Mostly it was just fun to turn my brain off during a personally busy month, but not something that'll stick with me.

Fun, plant-based puzzle game. There's a branching story that's surprisingly engaging. Plant identification gets a little repetitive after a while, but there's enough different identification angles and other puzzles that it stays fun.