Pink Gum

Pink Gum

Pink Gum is a very short journey through a life as told by chewing gum bubbles. I pondered how to sum this game up in a sentence, and I guess that’s the best I could do. Not great, really.

I think its one of those things that no matter what I might say, you could go, hmm, sounds interesting, but when you actually see it, it will make perfect sense. Which begs the question “Why am I even writing about it then?”

Because I think Pink Gum is well worth checking out. For the small amount of time and money you spend, you get a visually appealing, thought provoking experience. I’m also pretty sure that my opinion isn’t enough to persuade you, so here are some quotes about the game from famous people.

Real player with 1.1 hrs in game


Read More: Best Experimental Hand-drawn Games.


Pink Gum is a short but powerful experience that tells us about birth, life and death from a unique point of view.

I really recommend this game to everyone.

Real player with 0.5 hrs in game

Pink Gum on Steam

Lost Voice

Lost Voice

At first glance, the story is simple, if not cliched. A player finds themselves in a strange and unfamiliar world - they don’t know where they are or how they got there. And it appears they don’t remember anything up to this point. Almost immediately the player is contacted by a group of characters with similar symptoms and together they start an investigation to unravel these mysteries. Where are they? Why can’t they remember anything? These and many other questions will be answered in the most unexpected ways.

At its core, Lost Voice is a first-person shooter, with strong exploration and some puzzle elements. Town Square is a safe space where the player can go to seek shelter and communicate with NPCs. Teleport Room that can be found there is used to reach other worlds (dungeons). Each world has its own gameplay twist.

There is no “Game Over” screen in Lost Voice. Instead of dying, the player teleports to the Well when HP is depleted. Upon climbing the Well to the top, the player transports to the Secret Room, nearest to the player’s “death” location. These rooms are closed from the inside, so the player will need to figure out how to unlock them.


Read More: Best Experimental Atmospheric Games.


Lost Voice on Steam

Please Wake Up

Please Wake Up

This game is AMAZING! It’ll have most at the edge of their seat, heart racing and very concentrated. A must grab for any psychological horror. There is text in between levels to move the story along, but it does have a blur effect that can be a bit straining on the eyes, BUT, it can be turned off!!! NO WORRIES ON THAT!

Let’s break it down

The game follows a young boy in a coma trying to wake up while reconstructing different scenarios. I won’t spoil much, but different events and weave the narrative along nicely as things get more intense. A very well crafted narrative! I like it a lot, it’s simple and has a bit of spice in there to have an awesome story. I will say though (KINDA Spoiler I guess) the ending is JUST a little empty and I would’ve liked to see more.

Real player with 2.9 hrs in game


Read More: Best Experimental Psychological Horror Games.


This game will scare the **** out of you, but at least you will remember some really profound questions and interesting facts about memory reliability that constitutes reality vs. illusion distinction.

Real player with 1.8 hrs in game

Please Wake Up on Steam

reYal

reYal

Absolutely worth playing, and worth the money. Like people have said, mindbending, difficult but in a way that guarantees you’ll never be stuck. It’s not that you don’t know the solution, for the most part you’ll know the solution but it will be very mentally taxing to carry it out. Simple, elegant, with appreciated randomization so you could play it again while keeping quite a bit of the challenge.

I’ll admit I’m kind of sour about

! adding a new gameplay mechanic during the most laborious part, when the visuals aren’t even good enough to be sure what it is you’re looking at or what rules might have changed.

Real player with 1.3 hrs in game

Oh wow! Great puzzle game! Really had me thinking differently.

I had to take it one step at a time til completion!

I love the little characters and different styles.

The tunes were great and had a very peculiar sense of things getting… odd.

I can’t wait to see more by the developer.

Real player with 1.2 hrs in game

reYal on Steam

Primate Signal

Primate Signal

Thought provoking, deep and twizted. Absolutely stunning graphics, audio and character development so much so that I actually was physically transported into the fucked up world of the minds of the Wainstop gang. This work, will replace the Bible in our churches. Thank you.

Real player with 1.8 hrs in game

It’s not very often something comes along that is this unique. It has such a strong stylistic character that you feel transported to another world with the original artwork and music, not to mention the mind bending story. The time I spent in this world was totally bizarre in the best possible way. Nothing else like it.

Real player with 1.1 hrs in game

Primate Signal on Steam

The Prologue to a Dream of Home

The Prologue to a Dream of Home

One hundred years before the events of A Dream of Home, Dr. Seth Schumann’s reality simulation is nearly complete. With the birth of the Narcissus Project, Eridean scientists have discovered a means to project the soul as art. Who will finish Schumann’s unfinished masterpiece?

The Prologue to a Dream of Home on Steam

Daffodil Yellow: A few poems from an insect collector

Daffodil Yellow: A few poems from an insect collector

“Daffodil Yellow: a few poems from an insect collector” is a 3D game/interactive experience about the reconciliation between someone and a season.

The story takes place at the very beginning of summer. This season makes the collector see everything in black and white. One day, after taking a nap, he turns into a butterfly.

He will go through three memories that are dear to him, which took place during previous summers. Looking for a color in each of them, he will repaint his current summer.

Daffodil Yellow: A few poems from an insect collector on Steam

DIVINATION

DIVINATION

This game disturbs me a little bit and I love it for that. I guess I should call it a visual novel because the only real thing you do is decide how to arrange the runes your patrons select, but even that little act can be a quite an experience depending on how into it you can get. What could this rune mean, what order do they actually go in, can I actually reverse the fortune by moving this one?

It’s very short (like 20 minutes tops) to go through a single time and the English text could use a bit touching up in a few spots, but for the cost of a soda or candy bar I’d definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys the genre.

Real player with 2.1 hrs in game

This is a very short game with only 4 characters but each divination change the outcome whoch makes the story very interesting. After the first round, you can use the flowchart to pick the options you decide and see the result, I do encourage you to not necessarily focus on the 100% chaos but to try to see how each result has an impact with the ending.

The 100% Chaos ending is really interesting, it reminded me a LOT of Chobits (not the animated version) as the plots turns a lot around the fact the robots don’t have the choice to live or to die.

Real player with 2.1 hrs in game

DIVINATION on Steam

Dooria

Dooria

This is a great game for someone who has some time on their hands and likes to figure things out. Each section of the game has its own rules, which provides for a good deal of variety. It has a pleasant atmosphere throughout and is contemplative as opposed to action-packed. A lot of bang for the buck at $16.

Real player with 105.0 hrs in game

If you want to get your ass handed to you by a gentle sweet game with calming music and the meanest puzzles I’ve seen in a while, by all means try this game out. This really itched a part of my lizard brain I that I had been missing from other puzzle games.

Downsides are: 1) It can be frustrating and tricky to figure out all of the rules at first (due to some differing door varieties and etc) and 2) it’s not easy to figure out the “plot” of what all doors to open and how close you are to being finished…. but overall definitely persevere if you’re a puzzle junkie like myself.

Real player with 6.0 hrs in game

Dooria on Steam

Nebula Within

Nebula Within

A life philosophy ruminating, fast-paced, geometric twin stick shooter made by the human, Nick Oueijan. Allow me to maybe put it a bit differently, one man’s escape from the black hole life tends to create for a lot of us at some point and a vessel that helped him break free from his own personal one.

Despite only using geometry shapes, the game’s visuals are very well done. Sharp, colourful geometry on a black background with tiny white, swirling stars makes for some good contrast and individual shapes stand out nicely. Game menus and selection are awesomely done, allowing you to pilot your ship and shoot to select individual options which are represented by different drawings. Even looking through your collected mantras is done by turning the pages with your ship.

Real player with 15.0 hrs in game

A Bird’s Eye View Curator 🦜

Introduction

Fair warning at the start, the developer has been very kind to reach out to me as a Curator to leave a review for this game and despite me being extremely thankful that they did, this review is and will stay my personal honest opinion of the game. P.S. Considering the game this review might be a bit more of a ‘deepdive’ than normal.

Nebula Within is an Asteroids style game with a focus on zenning out and just enjoying the game and yourself with an overarching theme of motivation and relaxation.

Real player with 7.4 hrs in game

Nebula Within on Steam