FRAMED 2 By: Loveshack Once in a while, a truly rare and unique game comes along that's not just a perfect fit for touchscreens, but makes you wonder why it hasn't been done before because it just seems simultaneously ingenious and obvious. Loveshack's 2014 puzzler, FRAMED, is one of those games. It had you swapping panels of a comic strip in order to change the outcome. It's definitely one of the most…
Monument Valley 2 By: usTwo Games I've never bought a game as fast and without a second thought as I did usTwo Games' Monument Valley 2. I never expected a sequel and there was no warning of it, so when I saw it available I mashed that BUY button without even looking at the screenshots or description. I was one of those who loved the original but felt it was a little…
Stolen Thunder - A Unique Action Puzzle Adventure By: Jason Nowak I knew very little about Jason Nowak's Stolen Thunder, but I saw the trailer and loved the look and sound of it. In fact, if I were to design my own game, I would probably want the same color palette. It did seem a bit reflex-based, so I was nervous I might get frustrated with it early on. But I've wasted…
Old Man's Journey By: Broken Rules I'd been looking forward to Broken Rules' Old Man's Journey ever since I saw some early screenshots and teaser videos of it. As an adventure fan and a sucker for eye candy, it's hard not to get excited about games that look like playable art. And I'm happy to report that it's every bit as gorgeous as I'd hoped, with the entire game feeling like you're…
Artificial Superintelligence By: Grailr LLC Nerial's Reigns (published by Devolver Digital) was one of my favorite games of 2016. It's an incredibly innovative game inspired by Tinder that manages to make simple binary choices super compelling and even quite tricky. It's a perfect fit for mobile devices, as all you need is a body part that can swipe left and right and you're good to go. I didn't review it, but I…
SPACEPLAN By: Devolver Digital & Jake Hollands To be honest, I had no intention of buying and playing Jake Holland's (published by Devolver Digital) SPACEPLAN. Not much about it really appealed to me -- I'm not a fan of clickers or idle games and the screenshots did nothing to sway me. I was perfectly willing to let this one go. But I kept seeing people raving about how great it is, how…
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…