Christopher Lannoo

“I’m a bit of a sucker for games that tackle themes like grief and loss, and Death Howl is a prime example of how to not just use story beats to do that but include gameplay in that storytelling as well. There is beauty in the determination and grit that Ro shows, but it feels like there are things she still needs to learn about herself as well. Exploring that story and playing the wonderful grid-based and card-based combat is exquisite, if you’re up to dealing with dying over and over again.”

“Translating an actual life into a video game is not an easy task, but Jenny Jiaso Hsia and her colleagues have managed it beautifully here. Through a collection of fun and short minigames, we get to dive into the soul of young Jenny and discover that our experiences might be more universal than we had thought. Carrying the pressures of your parents along with your own is not easy, and it’s just delightful to see how she has handled it all.”

“Arctic Awakening is a beautiful walking simulator that clearly takes inspiration from those that made the genre great to begin with, and while it makes valiant attempts at creating its own mysteries and forging its own connections between its characters, it just fails to land the final punch. Choices don’t feel impactful enough, with the game remaining very linear despite the dialogue options on offer, and the game’s bugs do enough to sour the experience as a whole.”

“Ritual of Raven is a much-needed refresh of the farming sim genre. It manages to mostly avoid the trappings of similar games while adding some great touches of their own. The writing is fun and engaging, the gameplay is addictive – I don’t even know how many times I just kept on playing because I needed to do ‘just one more thing’ – and its world is gorgeous. I had high hopes for this game, and Spellgarden Games has duly delivered.”

“Whether you love music or just adore turn-based RPGs, there’s something here for everyone. Fretless would have been an excellent game if it wasn’t this huge ode to music, but being what it is makes it even better.”

“As debut games go, Quantum Witch sure isn’t afraid to take risks. It takes some pretty adult themes, combines them with incredibly witty writing and a really fun art style, and leaves you wanting more when you’re done.”

“How to begin summarising an experience like Without a Dawn? For all its brutality, there’s a gentleness, even something delicate about how it presents its themes. Mental illness can be the harshest of things, but telling these stories can’t be as rough, as people wouldn’t be able to listen. Jesse Makkonen sticks the landing beautifully, though, with a game that’s as thoughtful as it is creepy. I found myself recognising so much of my own mental health struggles, without ever feeling attacked. No, I felt seen and understood, and that’s all you can ask of art. To make you feel seen and heard in a way that’s mesmerising and haunting.”

“Deck of Haunts gameplay loop, with the building phase during the day and the combat phase during the night, will keep you coming back for more as your mansion grows bigger and stronger. There’s a real power trip to be had, but just like giants can be taken down by many smaller enemies attacking at once, it’s tricky to not get overwhelmed by all these people wanting to figure out your secrets. But finding out your own strategy is a ton of fun, whether you go in for the kill or choose to cause madness galore.”

“Everything combines to create an incredibly addictive game. Drop Duchy throws you into its gameplay immediately, not bothering with too much story in a similar vein as Slay the Spire. You’re here for the gameplay, and boy does it deliver.”

“Like some of the best narrative games in recent years—I’m looking at you, Citizen Sleeper, 1000xRESIST, Spiritfarer, and Celeste— Many Nights a Whisper is ultimately a meditation on what it means to be human. Why we put ourselves under the stresses and burdens that we do and what ways we look for when it comes to finding ways to get away from those. And it succeeds in a magnificent way: not by telling us what to think but by making us question things we take for granted.”

“StarVaders is a game that takes the best influences from the genre—the seemingly simple basics that can be iterated on to make it as complex as you want, mostly—and adds its own unique twist. Maybe the best way to describe the game is ‘what if Cobalt Core leaned more into Space Invaders,’ with this one taking the best from both of those classics without being a copy/paste job. The game looks classy, plays wonderfully, and sounds amazing.”

“Despite there being a lack of big emotions and intriguing environmental storytelling, there is an absolute gem of a puzzle game to be found.”

“MiTale has survived an incredibly delicate balancing act where they mix many different gameplay mechanics to make something truly unique. It makes me happy to see that they have succeeded at making these different aspects all feel as part of one world.”