Game Pile #2

in no particular order…

A game about being a nice golem looking for its purpose. Not too dense but has a great attitude and nails its movement system. There are enough different mechanical upgrades that you can get away with some goofy flights through the air but it never gets in your way. I haven’t played Spyro since it came out, but this game made me think of it.

I’ve finished this game multiple times but it’s back in my mind because of Öoo getting a release. It’s almost the perfect puzzle platformer with great design, interesting secrets and a nice tight play time. This is an easy recommendation from me.

A simple concept about making sure everyone has somewhere to sit. Thumbs up for it’s clean art style and interface plus it has a light story peppered along the way. It never deviates too much from the core concept but is light and breezy enough to keep me engaged while I’ve been working through it on my Steam Deck.

I’ve not played this one but am intrigued by the fact that it is taking a common film “moment” of escaping while being taped to a chair and creates a short interactive experience. I really dig the diegetic countdown timer too.

An upcoming release that is evoking the awesome surfing moments from Journey, of which the developer was the artist at the time. Even if this was a chilled game to flow around in I’d be excited but it also seems to have full trick system too. Side comment: the use of “from the visionary…” in trailers for games and movies has started to lose all meaning for me.

Another entry in my exploration of Xbox 360-era open world games. Sleeping Dogs has always been better than the sum of its parts and worth a play if you’ve never put your hands on it. It’s also one of the few open world games with driving on the left hand side of the road, by virtue of being true to its real world location. Some of it’s writing speaks of a more Western and/or liberalised Hong Kong that may no longer exist in 2025.

Frogfall is a puzzle platformer from a talented solo dev Kultisti. All their games have a set format that allows them to showcase some really strong design instincts. Each games takes it’s simple design and then uses the game levels you work through to develop the concept out and introduce cool variations.