Gold-Plated Games

I can’t be the only one surprised by the consistent quality of the Weeklong Deals lately. We’ve got a few more definite recommendations this time around, and a boatload of adventures and roguelikes you need to check out. In fact, our offerings are so dense that I’m going to start skipping some of the more common appearances on these lists… I doubt anyone who reads these who doesn’t have the Stronghold games yet is going to get them now, after all. My time writing these lists and reviews is surprisingly limited these days, so I’ll have to make little adjustments here and there to keep up.

Bueno

They Are Billions (Review) – It’s been awhile since Early Access but this one definitely had a survival mode worth checking out, if nothing else

ABZU (Review) – A gorgeous, relaxing odyssey under the oceans

Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones (Review) – Rough around the edges, but still a very compelling cosmic horror RPG

The Painscreek Killings (Review) – A genuine murder mystery in an abandoned town that you’ll need to take notes to solve

Cogmind (Review) – More depth and content than most classic roguelikes, and it’s not even done yet

Big Pharma (Review) – Super engrossing conveyor-belt puzzler with some light business management layered on top

Red Faction Guerrilla Re-Mars-tered – I haven’t reviewed this yet but this is about as good as open-world chaos destruct-o-thons have ever been

The Cat Lady (Review) – Gruesome, disturbing, excellent horror adventure

Catmaze (Review) – Charming indie metroidvania based on Slavic myth

The Dream Machine (Review) – Imaginative and haunting point-and-click adventure, if a little edgy at times

Nevermind (Review) – Solid psychological horror game that avoids most of the genre’s worst tropes

Golden Krone Hotel (Review) – Unique roguelike focusing on vampires and some clever light mechanics

Unexplored (Review) – Probably the most faithful translation of classic roguelike action and conduct into real-time you can find

King’s Bounty: The Legend (Review) – Hard to match the charm or depth of this turn-based strategy RPG

The Sea Will Claim Everything (Review) – If you have not played this brilliant adventure game yet, drop what you’re doing and get on it

Drox Operative (Review) – Extremely unique sci-fi space ARPG

Imperium Romanum Gold Edition (Review) – A fine Roman city-builder with a unique character-based progression system

Ghoulboy (Review) – Sharp little retro platformer that’s more forgiving than some of the classics that spawned it

 

No Bueno

Bloody Trapland 2: Curiosity (Review) – Don’t make a challenge platformer if you can’t give it passable controls

The Bridge (Review) – Sadly not nearly as clever or engaging as it needs to be

Bardbarian (Review) – Decent idea, but doesn’t make for a very decent game

Frankenstein: Master of Death (Review) – The rare hidden object game that’s too dumb for me

Alien Breed 2: Assault (review) – Looks good, but the gameplay will put you to sleep

ADR1FT (Review) – Impossibly boring

Apparition (Review) – One map and cheap jumpscares don’t make for much of a horror game

Vertiginous Golf (Review) – Mini-golf robbed of all its fun

NeverEnd (Review) – Insanely bare-bones roguelike

Woodle Tree Adventures (Review) – Barely enough of a 3D platformer to register

Alchemy Mysteries: Prague Legends (Review) – Boring mess of a HOG

Crab Dub (Review) – NO.

rooMaze (Review) – Could’ve been a neat voxel dungeon crawl if it wasn’t stupid hard

Sinister City (Review) – I want to like this goofy HOG, but it’s sadly buggy as hell

STANDBY (Review) – No thanks

Chaos Domain (Review) – HELL NO.