Rental is shorter gentler than many other horror games, but it still explores some of our most primal fears.
Little Goody Two Shoes Is a Bewitching RPG
With a retro art style and dialogue filled with meaningful consequences, AstralShift’s latest is a big step forward, going places few RPG Maker games are able to go.
Balatro Finds Order in Chaos
Of course Balatro isn’t the first card-based roguelike. Balatro isn’t even the first poker-based roguelike (consider, for example, 2022’s Poker Quest: Swords and Spades). But Balatro is the first poker-based roguelike that reminds me of 1992’s Mah Jongg for Windows, and that’s why I can’t stop playing it.
Getting Blown Away in Helldivers 2
Helldivers 2 presents an oddly alluring bug hunt, as long as you have friends who can watch as you’re blown up. It might lack some of the punch of Verhoeven's Starship Troopers, but its satire is still good for some laughs.
In Tears of the Kingdom, The Legend of Zelda Remembers Itself
Tears of the Kingdom, how do we love thee? Let us count the ways.
FixFox
A quirky sci-fi indie game filled with working class folks trying to make things work!
Entropy Machines: On Battle Platform Antilles
What can the wargame Battle Platform Antilles teach us about the limits of human beings and the forces of entropy?
Should the Rules be a Puzzle? Thoughts on Tunic
For all of Tunic’s foxy brilliance, it forgets the lesson of Zelda: make the players feel smart.
ARC: Doom Tabletop RPG
Have you always wanted to experience the end of the world? Well, have I got the game for you: ARC!
Boyfriend Dungeon, Queer Romance, Stalking, and Internet Scandal
Boyfriend Dungeon is a crushworthy queer romance game, but it doesn’t come without some baggage.
Road 96
Talking politics is awkward, but Road 96 suggests it might not have to be.
Secrets of Soil
Stories of Soil is an interactive, free-to-play art piece that’s all about revealing the cosmic essence of dirt, and it’s a trip and a half!
Ynglet
Ynglet is a brilliant platforming adventure, a minimalist ode to Scandinavian design sensibilities, striking a delightful balance between whimsy and challenge.
The Wild at Heart
The Wild at Heart is a charming indie game bringing together puzzles and strategy with a moving, melancholy story.
Biomutant
Biomutant is messy in all the best and worst ways. It’s a AA game unafraid of piling on interesting ideas, even if they don’t always hang together very well.
Returnal, or Arcade is Dead, Long Live Housemarque
Time loops, alien artifacts, and third-person shooting. Can Housemarque’s Returnal reinvent arcade fire for the present?
Persona 5 Strikers
What happens when a beloved JRPG switches from turn-based to real-time combat?
Ten Candles, Horror Storytelling, and the Inevitability of Death
Jason Mical offers impressions of a collaborative horror storytelling experience.
Cyber Shadow, or Back to the Future of Game Feel
Cyber Shadow does retro right, combining tight gameplay with beautiful pixel art.
Red Dead Online, or the Multiplayer Redness in the West
Jason Mical discusses the freedom, violence, and exploitation of Red Dead Online.