10mg :)
:) brought back the spirit of mid-’00s freeware games that I’ve missed so much. A fun, weird concept, modest in scope, and playable from start to finish in a few non-committal moments. I was reminded of that time, and while enjoying what :) itself has to offer (which, incidentally, is a bag of delightful surprises and laughs), I also took a trip down memory lane. Rousing so many thoughts and memories, :) proves what a short game experience can do.
Those games you downloaded on a whim and played one afternoon and never again… They stay with you, don’t they? I’m sure I’ll be reminded :) some ten years down the line – and I’m looking forward to that moment.
– Real player with 0.8 hrs in game
Read More: Best Experimental Action-Adventure Games.
10mg: Ten Ten-Minute Games!
This 10mg minigame consists of a series of microgames, all of which are unique takes on nostalgic classics such as Atari’s Breakout and the OG mobile game Snake! Each game contains a twist, such as a golf hole that chases you back, allowing the game to feel fresh despite the plethora of retro influences. Although the prospect of so many separate activities within such a short game may feel chaotic, each section is connected and leads seamlessly into the next making for a smooth and enjoyable experience.
– Real player with 0.7 hrs in game
A Forgetful Loop
Pros:
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Simple mechanics that form some surprisingly complex levels
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Writing is better than it has any right to be for a puzzle game
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Music is top notch and rather catchy
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Honestly peak gameflow
Cons:
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Lost track of time during play, which is ironic really
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Existential dread about the nature of quantum mechanics
Disclosure: Was a beta tester for this, but purchased my own copy on release
– Real player with 14.5 hrs in game
Read More: Best Experimental Time Travel Games.
This is a great, fast-paced worker assignment puzzle. it’s a lot of fun! As someone who likes time management/cooking games where you have to frantically cook multiple meals at once, I took to A Forgetful Loop immediately. It has a few bugs, which can generally be solved by closing and reopening. The story sections (which are text only) are sad and stressful and sometimes kind of horrifying, but you can skip them if you want to. I reported a bug and the developers were very responsive and nice. I would definitely recommend this game if you like fast paced time-management worker assignment games.
– Real player with 10.3 hrs in game
Blind_
This game will make you reconsider your life and seek more harmonious friendships than the one I have with the developer of the game.
A solid title, possibly has a shot to be the GOTY.
– Real player with 2.3 hrs in game
Read More: Best Experimental Grid-Based Movement Games.
A short little game about a Space Invader going blind.
All jokes aside, definitely worth picking up for an hour or two of fun, especially considering the price.
– Real player with 1.9 hrs in game
Fake Illusions
Amazing game to train your eyes. Some of the illusions gave me a really hard time.
– Real player with 3.3 hrs in game
are those illusion books actually lying to you
– Real player with 3.1 hrs in game
Harmless Demons
1 creature, bug where the mushroom house doesn’t go away when deconstructed (giving infinite research). I thought there would be more to it.
– Real player with 7.3 hrs in game
Really cool!! These creatures are super interesting and they make you play with curiosity.
– Real player with 0.5 hrs in game
Horror Girl Puzzle
It actually seems that among the 100-achievements, profile-limited games that are coming out these months on Steam there are some of them worth the while. I mean, I see every week a ton of “everything + puzzle” game or similar titles and of course most of them are asset flips and little else.
Developer Anatoliy Loginovskikh made a great effort in his drawing style here and he shows us his best horror-themed girls' operas, that of course compose the base of this puzzle game.
We will in fact be asked to solve puzzles through various mechanics, mainly by dragging and rotating the various pieces. And we will compose some really beautiful artworks, all made specifically for this game.
– Real player with 46.5 hrs in game
- ### Morlan’s shorts:
No more and no less weird than the other games from this developer. At first it’s a simple twist-puzzle but later there are..elements added. The nude-tentacle-girl-art is quite well done and I liked it and the little other puzzles are fun. It’s a very very short game though so you may want to pick it up on sale.
Don’t waste more time reading lengthy reviews.. time is of the essence!
– Real player with 2.0 hrs in game
Medulla
A short, easy game that embodies magical realism to a T.
This meticulously hand-drawn side scroller makes for an immersive journey through a surreal landscape that ends much too quickly for my taste. The puzzles were somewhat of a challenge and satisfying when I figured them out, although I was far more interested in the bizarre creatures and artworks that revealed themselves as I progressed through the game.
All in all, a good buy worth the price.
– Real player with 2.6 hrs in game
This game has way too high a production value to be going this under the radar.
It’s basically a Limbo-type game. It’s a cinematic puzzle platformer with very impressive visuals. But Medulla trades the horror vibe of Limbo for one much more surreal and mind-bending. The puzzles are not too difficult, you won’t be stuck on one for very long, but they still require you to adapt your thought process to the psychedelic rules the game plays by.
I wasn’t able to glean much of a solid story until the very end, but the varied and detailed graphics kept me going.
– Real player with 2.5 hrs in game
Post-Soviet Yandere
This project is a mix of horror and crafting genres. The whole game fits into a week of the life of a little Russian girl. Every day the character must make a particular magic ritual, using the materials at hand. At the same time, the player must control the activity of otherworldly and hostile forces. The girl should periodically look in the mirrors, which are distracting from her task. The movement of evil spirits of the apartment is visible only in reflections. But what happens if the spirit gets too close?
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
The king is gone
Let me start by saying that this game could have potential and i was really curious to try it intrigued by the trailer, unfortunately only later i realized the whole game is right to that trailer.
I’m a lover of endless games, roguelike, dungeon crawler and any game that has puzzle elements, but this “The king is gone” reaches monotony very quickly.
Gameplay is very limited and flat, you can’t move or interact with anything around you, you can simply watch around while the character walks automatically for a short distance before arriving to a room where you must choose which door to open, so the only input available is the left click mouse.
– Real player with 4.1 hrs in game