you_are_dust

I love Hellblade. That said, it probably isn’t for everyone. It’s very much about the story and the atmosphere. The puzzle solving is kind of unique and the combat gets the job done. It’s a beautiful game game with great storytelling and atmosphere.

Hoopla is for library systems. We are rising up against public libraries now? I don’t understand that and Tubi being on this. They are both free.

I don’t know what these would really be alternatives to, but I impatiently await every new game from Daniel Mullins Games. Inscryption was a fantastic deck builder and I more than got my monies worth out of it. I also follow Stranga Games pretty closely. Very small developer makes story focused retro style adventure games. No combat at all generally. So if you like a casual experience and that style of game, it might be something to look into.

The controls and camera, as with a lot of games at the time, aren’t great. I’ve played it as an adult after me and my friends being obsessed as teens. I’d guess I’m not the only one that played this game in a friend group and played the hell out of the capture the flag. I think the attraction to the game came a lot from laughing with friends. The main game has bright spots in gameplay for sure, but it can be a real chore at times too. I remember watching the single player struggle even back then.

The Talos Principle is fantastic. Probably my favorite puzzle game. The sequel is finally happening as well.

I have a couple kinda unique things to suggest. There is a small indie game called Eversion that you can find on Steam. The core mechanic is about shifting to these different planes of existence to finish levels. You can only shift at certain places and shifting opens up pathways that weren’t there before. Its retro style graphics and otherwise very simple controls. The Turing Test is a puzzle game like Portal, but instead of portals, you have a gun that can be used to move energy orbs from around the rooms to unlock doors. The game feels like it encourages creative problem solving a lot more than most puzzle games. Catherine. Catherine is a game in a few styles. You spend part of the time at a diner/bar interacting with people. Then you go to sleep and in the dream world you ascend towers using moveable blocks that you must climb. Sometimes you are chased up the tower by a boss enemy. There is no combat in the game. It’s about ascending the tower as fast as possible at night and progressing the story by day.

Dust: An Elysian Tale. The art in this game is colorful and beautiful. It’s one of my favorite games for many reasons.

Currently playing Nier: Automata. It’s incredibly hard to talk to people about this game without spoilers. It’s all about the story, but the gameplay is pretty good too.

Base game only I believe. I don’t think you get any add ons at all from it.

Untitled Goose Game actually has co-op in it. It’s not a super long game, but it is a fun game. I played through the whole game with my daughter and she loved it. You can cause a lot of funny interactions throughout the game.

I love to see this kind of stuff. Thanks for contributing random acts of kindness to a growing community.