Vignettes By: Armel Jestin (Pol Clarissou Armel Gibson) Vignettes, Pol Clarissou's and Armel Gibson's "toyish surprise-o-rama," is a game I'd been looking forward to for a long time, though I wasn't sure how much of a game it would be. I liked the idea of shapeshifting objects, but I've played other toy-like pieces of interactive art that didn't offer enough challenge to feel like a game. So I kept my expectations low.…
Pavilion: Touch Edition By: Visiontrick Media AB Visiontrick Media's Pavilion combines two things I love -- puzzles and gorgeous, surreal artwork. On paper, everything looks great and should be an easy game to recommend. And it still is, but with some reservations. There's a lot that Pavilion gets right. It's just as atmospheric as you would expect, from the art to the music to the animations and sound effects. Even the puzzles…
Onirim - Solitaire Card Game By: Asmodee Digital **Update: See my thoughts on the new Crossroads and Dead Ends expansion and scoring system.** A lot of board games have been making their way over to iOS lately. Some are better than others, but most suffer from the simple fact that they were originally designed to be played with friends in the same room. Some digital games do still offer that and if…
Miss Fisher and the Deathly Maze - Ep. 1 , Murder at the Opera By: Tin Man Games I have to admit, I'd never even heard of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries before the game released. But when I saw that all three seasons of the Australian murder mystery show were on Netflix, I decided to give it a try before checking out the game. It sucked me in right away and I…
Typeshift By: Zach Gage Zach Gage's Typeshift is the latest addition to Apple's indie game showcase that's been in progress for about a week. I got it a few days early and, even though I'm playing about fifteen games at the moment, I keep getting pulled back to this one. The game's stats tell me I've invested over five hours into the game already! It's especially good for winding down in bed,…
Mushroom 11 By: Untame You've probably heard me say this a lot: I hate platformers. It's incredibly rare for me to finish one. I usually try some because the graphics are impressive or the game just looks interesting, maybe has a theme I relate to. But I give up on most of them fairly early on. The exceptions are those that use some platforming ideas but are designed around the strengths of…
Causality By: Loju Games As you might know, Snakebird was my 2016 Game of the Year. It showed me that a turn-based, seemingly simple puzzler can be tough as nails but user-friendly in every possible way. It made me more critical of the puzzle games I play, looking at them with fresh eyes. Are they just throwing everything they could think of at a player to make it seem longer? Are they…
Hidden Folks By: Adriaan de Jongh I'll admit, I had some reservations about Hidden Folks ever since I heard about it. Even though I liked Where's Waldo as a kid, I'm not a big fan of hidden object games. And in all appearances, that's what the game seemed to be, albeit in a cute package. I saw screenshots and GIFs of it and thought it looked charming, but was worried there wouldn't…