Peglin is a great game where you complete levels by dropping a ball into a destructible pattern of mechanic-activating orbs. You can activate critical strike boosts, or replenish the board. And, before I gloss over too quickly, the purpose of this strategy is to rack up points that can then be used to attack mob health points, in effect winning the level and moving on. I was lucky enough to find the demo…
It’s been some time since a game like this has been featured on MrDavePizza. Labyrinth City: Pierre the Maze Detective absolutely belongs. As a game that originated in a book series, the game takes many cues from the visual classics of growing up for me. Incidentally, I was a big fan of books like Where’s Waldo? and Eye Spy, which are similar in scope and content as Pierre the Maze Detective–perhaps you remember…
With You is from Carol Mertz and Insatiable Cycle, the same publisher of “We should talk.” It’s a simple co-op puzzle platformer that can be played with a keyboard. It can also be played as one player using the respective sides of their keyboard to control the two main characters. How to Play Solve puzzles by figuring out geometric obstacles, flipping around your square and half-circle buddies so that they can fit into the floating…
Unpacking is an isometric puzzle game by Witch Beam, an Australian developer, published by our very own sponsor Humble Bundle. You are a third-person clicker, looking down into an empty room with a stack of boxes sitting in the middle of the floor. There’s no direction or impetus, but as you open the box, intuition sets in, and you start to place objects from here and there. Before you know it, you’re an…
Today’s game, Loading Story, listed as developed by “potatodog” on Steam is a tad quirky but genuinely satisfying. It’s a very short game about a character troubleshooting a game loading error in an imaginary video game town, where the loading tube passes through. Just wander around and solve the mystery. It’s good that it’s free because it only takes about 20-30 minutes to play, which is fine. I’ll tell you enough about it…
Okay, let’s talk about The Lightbringer. This is kind of random. No, really, it is. Might as well roll for initiative. Anyway, I’ve been spending a ton of time on the Switch lately, since I was traveling with the handheld recently and got kind of used to it. However, I recorded it while playing on my TV, so I don’t know. Anyway, was looking back through some of my YouTube videos and realized…
Toodee and Topdee is so far one of my favorite platformer concepts that I’ve ever tried. A while back I did a documentary review that talked a bit about the game Fez. While much different conceptually, they both have a neat mechanic that combined 2D platforming with shiftable perspectives. I’m not sure how efficiently I can describe this concept without getting into some straight-up academic theories involving geometry, so be sure to watch…
Weaving Tides sits comfortably in a genre of its own. Unlock a world map woven together through magic threads. You’ll ride upon friendly creatures known as carpet dragons and weave new threads to move forward. With brilliant surface-swapping mechanics that allow you to traverse impossible terrain, exquisite graphics, and smooth gameplay this is surely a work of art as much as a playable game. The artistic aspects of Weaving Tides are exquisite. You…
Runo is a cultural indie game and a very unique project based on the Midsommer mythos from traditional Finnish culture. Its intellectual deduction and story track lead you through a complex story that involves the protagonist’s grandmother and family tradition. The story takes place in a cabin next to a forested lake. The goal is to use clues from your dad’s text messages, your personal journal, and what you observe around you. There…
GeoGuessr… Ahh, I’ve waited so long to delve into this one. I present to you today a non-traditional game review to showcase a game that is on the fringe of traditional games but so fresh and fun that everybody is finding out about it. GeoGuessr is a browser-based game that uses images from Google Streetview. You are dropped off in a random lat/long on Earth or whichever area/theme you specify and you use…
Genesis Noir is an experimental detective story that takes place in a cosmogonic setting in different parts of the universe. If that already sounds mind-blowing, it’s artistically extravagant in the creative gears that turn its two-dimensional, or even 5-dimensional, gameplay mechanics–metaphorically at least. The game starts wandering the streets of some strange alternative 1950s cityscape and blows open a new case to investigate with a bang, a big bang. Yes, that one. In…
Rail Route is a railroad dispatch strategy game for PC. Trains that travel between stations, railyards, and tracks do so at the discretion of railroad dispatchers. They use special display maps to direct traffic. This game takes most of the nuances of this real technology and has created a simulation. It uses simple mechanics to build a railroad empire. With many options, an informative tutorial, and room to expand, you’ll be keeping an…
Princess Farmer is essentially a complex row-matching game, mixed with some RPG and storytelling elements. With some pixel graphics and a cozy story about bunnies, it’s a lot of fun. The style is pink and indie in the best way, and it is fun just to look at. Whatever your first impressions are, the bunny protagonist and characters in the story are quite the departure from your typical adventure. The indie soundtrack is…
“HEADS UP,” Moderately creepy imagery is in Lasagna Boy, this will be my only warning. I don’t generally review horror games, but Lasagna Boy made me laugh, and then, it intrigued me. It merits analysis based on absurdity alone but also on design. I also personally understand people like illustrating and drawing creepy monsters because… well, it’s fun! Why not throw in a third or fourth eyeball here and there? We’ve been doing…
The Gardens Between is a breathtaking puzzle platformer from the indie but tremendously successful studio Voxel Agents in Australia. It was released in 2018. I played it on Switch but you can find it on many platforms. I’m not sure if the preface of this game is an homage to any other pop culture time-traveling islands, but maybe not. I had some theories while playing that maybe some kind of altered planes of…
Burnstar is one of those games that doesn’t have a sweeping setup for buying a bunch of junk. It’s just cool looking and fun, and the sound design is funkalicious. You can play this game either as a single-player or co-op. I think co-op would probably be easier, but I did alright on single-player. Lurked the Nintendo eShop this morning for a good match for a new section of my site I’m expanding…
