Directory
This page serves as a brief, spoiler-free summary of the games I’ve covered, ordered by playtime.
Less than 1 hour to complete
Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger, and The Terribly Cursed Emerald: A Whirlwind Heist
Playtime: about 20 minutes
A funny and irreverent experience narrated by Simon Amstell. You should really go into this game knowing as little as possible about it because that’s how it has its full effect. The best comparison is to The Stanley Parable, but only sort of.
Read my DLTTATTCE:AWH review and my Postmortem: One Must Die reviews here.
Postmortem: One Must Die
Playtime: about 45 minutes but with heaps of replayability
More of a visual novel than a game, Postmortem: One Must Die is a game where every choice in every conversation matters. The things you convince the characters of will have repercussions. And of course, one must die.
Between 1 and 3 hours to complete
Venba
Playtime: about 1.5 hours
The game that started it all! Venba packs so much feeling into such a small package that it felt not to write about it in this context. It will make you want to hug your family and eat Indian food in equal measure.
Assemble With Care
Playtime: about 1 hour 45 minutes
Repair the broken antiques and the struggling relationships in Bellarriva as globetrotting antiques restorer Maria. The gameplay is gentle puzzle style, and the characters are excellently realised.
Read my Assemble With Care review here.
Garage Sale
Playtime: about 2.25 hours
A sweet and gentle interactive fiction game where the player is experiencing a young girl’s first day out on her own, exploring the town’s annual Garage Sale Day. It touches on some tough themes with care.
Read my Garage Sale review here.
Luna’s Fishing Garden
Playtime: about 2.5 hours
A casual, gentle experience with gorgeous pixelated art, Luna’s Fishing Garden is a warm hug of a game. The environmental themes come through without being too accusatory, and it’s both fun AND possible to collect one of everything in the game.
Read my Luna’s Fishing Garden review here.
Donut County
Playtime: about 2.5 hours
A very silly game where you pilot a hole around, slurping up things and people and whatever else gets in your way. But wait! The holes have a nefarious racoon behind them. The irreverent comedy really lifts this game from good to great.
Read my Donut County review here.
Between 3 and 7 hours to complete
Unpacking
Playtime: around 3 hours
A casual game where you move through life with a protagonist and unpack her boxes as she moves out of her childhood bedroom, into university dorms, and onwards. Gentle and pleasing.
Read my Unpacking review here.
Limbo
Playtime: about 3.5 hours
Limbo is a highly atmospheric platformer. While the gameplay is fun and the puzzles are challenging but not too hard, Limbo truly shines in the atmosphere. It tells a deep and melancholy story with no words.
Alba: A Wildlife Adventure
Playtime: about 4 hours
Alba: A Wildlife Adventure is a beautiful game where you play as young Alba on her summer holiday to a Mediterranean island. Observe the local wildlife, clear up litter, and foil the plans of a property developer.
Read my Alba: A Wildlife Adventure review here.
The Case of the Golden Idol
Playtime: about 4 hours
The Case of the Golden Idol is a 2D puzzle mystery game that takes a lot of inspiration from The Return of the Obra Dinn. Its puzzles are well-designed, and challenging but not unmanageable, and the aesthetic is extremely well-defined.
Read my The Case of the Golden Idol review here.
Firewatch
Playtime: about 4 hours
Firewatch is a beautiful, funny, sad game with an incredibly gripping art style and a relatable desire to avoid all its problems. It gets called a walking simulator but that doesn’t do it justice, it’s a character drama.
Read my Firewatch review here.
Still Wakes the Deep
Playtime: about 4.2 hours
Still Wakes the Deep is a horror game set on an oil rig in the North Sea in 1975. The characters are authentically Scottish, the environment is fantastic, and the horror comes from all angles.
Read my Still Wakes the Deep review here.
Strange Horticulture
Playtime: about 4.5 hours
A beautiful eldritch puzzle game set in a fictionalized lake district. The characters are fascinating and the story is engaging. Plus you get to discover a load of beautifully drawn plants, put colour-coded labels on them, and arrange them on your shelves. And you have a little cat named Helebore.
Read my Strange Horticulture review here.
Titanfall 2
Playtime: about 5.5 hours
Titanfall 2 is a seriously enjoyable first-person shooter with mech combat. There are plenty of different weapon load-outs to choose between, and each of the nine single-player missions mixes things up enough to keep it interesting. None of the gimmicks outstay their welcome either. An all-around good time.
Read my Titanfall 2 review here.
Citizen Sleeper
Playtime: about 6.5 hours
Citizen Sleeper is a unique experience. A futuristic sci-fi setting mingles with very real human drives and emotions to create something special. How will you use your time aboard Erlin’s Eye?
Read my Citizen Sleeper review here.
Between 7 - 10 hours to complete
Sable
A contemplative open-world exploration game about the coming-of-age of Sable. Learn to Glide, grab your hoverbike, and head out into the world. Take as much from the world as you like and come away changed.
Over 10 hours to complete
Death’s Door
Playtime: about 11.5 hours
The most “just a lil guy” game of all time. It has fun and challenging combat, an absolutely breathtaking atmosphere, a beautiful soundtrack, and an engaging story. This game was truly great, I absolutely loved it even though being bad at the game made it take over my fake limit of 10 hours.
Read my Death’s Door review here.
Hotline Miami
Playtime: unknown! I spent 11+ hours and didn’t finish
A different person with a different skill set would finish this game in five hours, but not me. I found the escalating challenge difficult to keep up with. However, the gameplay was compelling enough for me to keep trying (for a time) and I fully understand the praise that gets heaped upon this game.