Game Pile #8

Games all worth your attention

I’ve recently been playing Citizen Sleeper 2, and have been reminded of the love I have for it’s predecessor. It is very much a text heavy interactive story but the light touch game systems coupled with all the amazing writing, art and sound make this a pretty special game for me.

This feels like the psychological horror cousin to the classic indie platformer VVVVVV. If you are curious, check out the demo like I did and then add it to your wishlist.

A lovely puzzle game with tight designs and a lot of heart that deserves so many more players. It feels digestible and has been the first game in a long time that has felt “right” for playing on my phone again. Additionally the developer Draknet and Friends does amazing things for the puzzle game community with both their games and support with Thinky Games.

It’s free - just go play it and then come back here.Franzen plays like a familiar old SNES JRPG of old but in a world that is wonderfully weird in its construction. More games need to follow the lead of Franzen and refuse to rely on established fantasy story trope.

I have been hearing people sing the praises of despelote and they were 100% correct. I adored my time spent with this game. I thought I would appreciate it as a fan of football and games but it transcends that. It is a piece of art that enriches you by giving you a unique insight into another persons life and history. What more could you ask for?

Metal Garden is like a hike (with a cool double jump) through a place that never existed mediated by gunfights. It gives me the feeling of the spaces of the early Halo and Stalker games without being overburdened with the need to tell an explicit story or have a deep gameplay system. It is a lonely and quietly beautiful experience.

I played Wacky Wheels as a child and this game instantly spoke to that part of me. It did not go the distance as a game on it’ own (the gameplay got repetitive quite quickly) but it has a big heart and that is worth something.

Hypogea is a game, like Metal Garden, about silently moving through a strange world. The dev here instead makes the movement about platforming puzzles that squeeze all the juice out of the tools given to the player. The lack of words in the story really gives the player space to feel what might have occurred and to transplant their own feelings onto the journey taken.