Gone Home By: Annapurna Interactive / Fullbright Company Gone Home released on PC in 2013 to critical acclaim, won a bunch of awards and, along with it, a ton of controversy. Dubbed the original Γò¼├┤Γö£├ºΓö¼├║walking simulator,Γò¼├┤Γö£├ºΓö¼├æ the lack of any meaningful challenge prompted questions on whether itΓò¼├┤Γö£├ºΓö£├╗s even a game. Basically, you walk around an empty house, picking up objects and reading notes left around by the family. There arenΓò¼├┤Γö£├ºΓö£├╗t really any…
Twinfold By: Kenny Sun I'm a big fan of swipe-based roguelikes and high-score chasers that feel perfectly designed to play on an iPhone. It's amazing how innovative mobile developers can get using swipes as the primary input from a player. I don't know if Threes! was the first game to have the whole board shift with each swipe, all pieces moving in the same direction. But since then, many developers have incorporated…
CHUCHEL By: Amanita Design Amanita Design's Samorost 3 was one of my favorite games of 2016, and it's still one of my favorite point-and-click adventures ever. One thing that stood out to me was the number of little details in each scene and objects to interact with that weren't necessarily related to the puzzles. For instance, in a forest scene, there were three cicadas that you can tap on to get them…
A Mortician's Tale By: Laundry Bear Games Inc. Three months ago, the only grandparent I ever knew passed away and, even though she lived close to me, she was buried abroad. As someone who's bad at taking spontaneous trips, I made the poor decision not to attend her funeral. Without that closure, my brain hasn't fully acknowledged her passing and I also haven't truly mourned. So I understand firsthand how important it…
Humbug By: Dunderbit Earlier today, I read a sort of post mortem from Radiangames' Luke Schneider about his recent release of Slydris 2, which I've been pretty obsessed with over the last week. In it, he talks about how stressful it is to release a free-to-play game on the App Store, especially as a solo dev. Instead of creating a game, feeling good about it and selling it to people, the developer…
Slydris 2 By: Radiangames While I adore my iPad and all the adventure games I've played on that nice big screen, my first love is still my iPhone. It's basically glued to my hand, so by default any games that easily play with one hand in portrait mode are going to get more of my attention. And that means that I'm always on the lookout for relaxed, endless puzzle games that can…
Golf Peaks By: Lukasz Spierewka / Afterburn Games I have a strange relationship with golf. I enjoyed playing miniature golf as a kid on family outings. And I've even tried some regular golf and didn't find it completely terrible. I still wouldn't make it a hobby, though. And you wouldn't be able to pay me to watch someone else play the sport. That said, I acknowledge that it translates well to video…
Into The Dark : Narakan By: ORC PUNK, LLC I'd been looking forward to Into The Dark : Narakan ever since it appeared in the pre-order section of the App Store, as its stylish minimalistic artwork helped it stand out. I also liked the idea of a portrait mode, turn-based adventure game with roguelike elements. Knowing there was an endless mode also got me excited, as often I get absorbed in a…
