Game Pile #1

in no particular order…

A game design delight. I’m not one for sokoban puzzles normally but the puzzle progression and presentation style really sets this apart. The art really taps into my early 2D Zelda nostalgia as well. I completed it earlier this year and have noticed they recently added a new puzzle layer over the existing areas with the “Mysterious Update”.

A game about being a fly and contemplating our time on this earth. I enjoyed both the humour and ways in which it put me in a reflective mood.

A narrative title that has instantly become one of my favourite games of 2025. and Roger has taken what Florence did well and then built something wholly new and interesting. The heavy subject matter is also treated with care and nuance. I won’t forget this one anytime soon.

Another short narrative title that deals in some heavy topics with care and nuance. As someone who has looked into ASCII shaders before I’m super impressed by the implementation in this game. A great effort and worth the time it asks of you.

A Pico-8 Double Dragon style brawler where you need to defeat 100 enemies to win. Simple arcade joy playable on your lunch break.

This has come recommended from a number of people I follow and they all mention Disco Elysium as a touchstone so I’m looking forward to seeing how that manifests in this story.

My current rogue-like of choice looks and sounds great and has a really satisfying loop. The combat has punch and everything feels well put together. It is my default game when I don’t know what to play and I’ve reached the late game difficulty that is really forcing me to engage with all the systems.

It holds up. I’ve recently been going back and playing Xbox 360-era open-world games on my Steam Deck. It has been partly nostalgia comfort food but also my curiosity to get a sense for how open-world game design has change. AC: Brotherhood feels playable and fresh even today and it’s length respects your time much more than modern open-world games, which is refreshing. I honestly don’t know when the content scale race got out of control but I don’t think it makes for better games.

A lovely puzzle game concept about a robot helping its friends. The game has a nice grid of levels spread over a bunch of worlds that expand upon the core puzzle conceit nicely. It never gets too hard but always feels fun to work through.