Nothing mixes pleasant, pensive and peculiar like Hylics’ music.
Quick Summary
Hylics is ‘a recreational program with light JRPG elements’. You assemble a party that levels up and has skills, you walk around town, explore the world using your boat or airship … But it’s weird. Why is it all claymation? Why does your face melt off when you lose? Why do spells involve weird pointillated hands making gestures? Read the rest of this entry »
If you look behind the numbers, Academagia has lots of story snippets waiting to be told.
Quick Summary
Academagia is a time management role-playing game where you choose what to do with your days (study, practise, explore the city, spend time with friends…) then see how it turns out. In Academagia, you play through your first magical school year, aiming to pass your mid-terms, then your final exams.
Remnants of Isolation shows that even just a small tweak in the formula, like assigning spells to equip slots, can make a world of difference.
Quick Summary
Celesta and Melchior, two characters born with the curse of magic, help each other escape from prison in this turn-based RPG. Along the way they defend themselves using spell combinations, a mechanic which forces you to get the most out of each action in battle. Read the rest of this entry »
WitchWay takes one mechanic and pushes it as far as it will go, leading to a short and satisfying game experience.
Quick Summary
You’re a little witch who fell into a well, found a wand and is trying to make her way back out. Your wand moves blocks. And rotates blocks. So many blocks! Read the rest of this entry »
Nadia was Here takes a combat set-up similar to other RPGs, but adds active elements to create frenzied fun.
Quick Summary
Nadia is an RPG (of the jRPG persuasion). You control three characters, each with a class of sorts, lined up in rows and charging their moves via an ATB-like bar. However, by adding a real-time lane switching element, and only letting you target the enemy in front of you, you end up with a game that’s fun to play in the second-to-second. Read the rest of this entry »
Serving Suggestion
I’m starting a new set of posts called Bite-Sized Thoughts where I talk about something I enjoyed about a lesser known game I’ve been playing. The conversation that led to the idea went something like this:
Des: …That sounds interesting. Where did you hear about that game?
Flo: I just looked through every Steam release and saw a demo for it, which I enjoyed, so I bought it when it came out.
Des: …You did? That’s your blog idea right there. Read the rest of this entry »
Would you like some tea with that? 