Peglin and its Pachinko Goblins – Trying the Demo

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 on Steam, although the main game has been covered elsewhere. Anyway, I’ll give you a brief rundown of Peglin. Why Peglin? So, it turns out Peglin is… Read the rest

Labyrinth City – A Family Friendly Where’s Waldo? Type Game

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 too. So, let’s get into this, what is Labyrinth City? It’s a top-down puzzle game with hand-drawn characters in a visual feast of eccentric characters and scenes.… Read the rest

With You is Still Fun For “Single” Players

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 sections on the two-dimensional plane behind them, and unlocking the next levels. The game features a cute style, with a pleasant soundtrack, and is described on the… Read the rest

Unpacking is Great For People Who Obsess About ORGANIZING But Need To CHILL While They Organize

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 artisanal thing mover. You may take solace in a simulation of this if you’re particularly neat, or simply like no-pressure puzzles. The game starts off in the… Read the rest

Loading Story Killed An Afternoon For Free

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 but won’t go too crazy on detailing this one, since you really should just play it. Loading Story: Free and Fine Just a heads up, this game… Read the rest

The Lightbringer (Demo) is What I Played Today

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 a lot of you like demos for some reason. So, this one was on the eShop and I gave it a spin. Here we go again with… Read the rest

Toodee and Topdee is one of the Best Indie Puzzlers Out

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 the video, but suffice it to say it is really, really neat. Plus anybody can play! The game has a compelling intro with a demagogue world-merging backstory,… Read the rest

Weaving Tides is a Hidden Gem I Played

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 can just feel the silky textures of the world as you traverse, feeling perhaps you are enchanted, or simply on a very fine adventure. In collaboration with… Read the rest

Runo is a Finnish Game That I Absolutely Love

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 is a deep mystical nature to this lake and in a simple quest to find your grandmother’s hidden journal, you’ll encounter a variety of exciting obstacles. Settle… Read the rest

GeoGuessr is The Best Browser Game You Can Play Right Now

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 clues from your surroundings to find out where you are. Any person could easily bend the rules to win. For purists, on the other hand, it’s a… Read the rest

Genesis Noir is a Unique, Interesting Indie in the Hidden Universe

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 this review, I’ll talk about the game–and also talk to you about a new project I’m working on involving space exploration in games. Genesis Noir: Cool Beans… Read the rest

Rail Route is a Train Dispatcher Simulator Railfans Love

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 eye on your fleet timetables for engaging gameplay. My Railfan Past One of my hobbies for years has been radio monitoring. I have listened to a variety… Read the rest

Lasagna Boy is Weird and Scary But Really, Really, Hilarious

“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 that for ages. Direct link to the games on Itch.IO a the bottom of this article. Lasagna Boy – Umm, Why is This Not Pizza? Keep Your… Read the rest

The Gardens Between is a Game That Does Some New Things

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 existence, which had me thinking about the name. The title, The Gardens Between has a mystical ring to it, but I don’t know if that is intentional.… Read the rest

Burnstar is a Bargain Rogue-Like on Nintendo Switch

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 about frugal gaming. Yep, cheap games! I’ve received a lot of positive reception for my research on this subject, so here we go. Burnstar: No Mas Pantalones… Read the rest