Unoriginal and Uncreative【Game-Log: Mid-December 2025】
A lot of random games. Theoretically some of them would be the big games I missed during the year, but I don't think any of them are hugely notable.
Major Timesinks and Finished Games
Call of the Golden Valley is an Australian adventure game initially released in October, but unplayable to me until now due to accessibility issues. It's a first person game where you play as an American tourist looking for her sister in a country Victorian town. It's a very basic game, that superficially appears to be made entirely of Asset Store artifacts and simple character models, but with a charm that conveys just enough information. The mystery itself is quite compelling, and has a neat corkboard + fake internet research mechanic that gels well with the exploring. Unfortunately I hit a save bug that caused a minor amount of lost progress and I haven't returned to it since, but I think it's a neat game against all odds.
The Enigma Lounge is a simple, 10 minute point and click escape room. It's good for what it does, but not much beyond that.
Megabonk added a patch with a new level with an interesting mechanic. But all the new content is gated by the most obnoxious achievements I have ever seen. It seems to be a bold attempt to make the gameplay as bad as the humour in the game.
The last few stages of Old School Rally are as good and bad as the rest of the game. But offer almost nothing new and seem like busy work. It's not a huge thing, but I would have liked some distinct content.
Carnival is a point and click adventure game from the creator of Abscission. It is set in fascist-era Venice and has a very effective paranoid and oppressive vibe permeating it's existence, and incorporates a medical condition of the protagonist very effectively into that. The puzzles are mostly straightforward point and click, and seem to be more robust than Abscissions were.
Cape Hideous is an amazing short (~40 minutes) experience where you control a pirate as she helps to repair storm damage on her ship, and batten down the hatches for the next one. From there it gets increasingly surreal and psychadelic. It's hard to explain but has some incredible animation and a great soundtrack.
Tried Out or Revisited Briefly
CorgiSpace is a neat collection of Pico 8 games from Adam Saltsman, of Finji fame. These have all been shared for free on itch.io already, but it's neat to see them together.
9 Kings is fine, but feels like the developers are constantly looking back at the audience radically changing every aspect of the game multiple times, at the whims on insane forum posts.
Asbury Pines is an incremental/idle game themed around solving a mystery in a country town. I thought the premise sounded neat, but the idle activities aren't connected to the narrative so I'm less than convinced.
I played a bit of Angeline Era, it seemed fine and I liked the way it seemed to be telling its story. But I don’t think I can be bothered working out the unintuitive vagueries of the combat system. There's enough of a hook that I may come back to it.
Beyond Citadel is a stark FPS with an "anime" styling, and set long after a mass apocalypse, with a bizarre pantheon of divine saviours for the fragment of remaining humans. I didn't get too far, but I'm looking forward to playing more.
All Games Played
Automobilista 2: GREAT
Old School Rally: Good
Nuclear Throne: GREAT
Call of the Golden Valley: Good
The Enigma Lounge: OK
Megabonk: Good
Carnival: Good
Cape Hideous: GREAT (Notable)
Corgispace: Good
9 Kings: OK
Asbury Pines: OK
Angeline Era: Good
Beyond Citadel: Good
A lot of random games. Theoretically some of them would be the big games I missed during the year, but I don't think any of them are hugely notable.
Major Timesinks and Finished Games
Call of the Golden Valley is an Australian adventure game initially released in October, but unplayable to me until now due to accessibility issues. It's a first person game where you play as an American tourist looking for her sister in a country Victorian town. It's a very basic game, that superficially appears to be made entirely of Asset Store artifacts and simple character models, but with a charm that conveys just enough information. The mystery itself is quite compelling, and has a neat corkboard + fake internet research mechanic that gels well with the exploring. Unfortunately I hit a save bug that caused a minor amount of lost progress and I haven't returned to it since, but I think it's a neat game against all odds.
The Enigma Lounge is a simple, 10 minute point and click escape room. It's good for what it does, but not much beyond that.
Megabonk added a patch with a new level with an interesting mechanic. But all the new content is gated by the most obnoxious achievements I have ever seen. It seems to be a bold attempt to make the gameplay as bad as the humour in the game.
The last few stages of Old School Rally are as good and bad as the rest of the game. But offer almost nothing new and seem like busy work. It's not a huge thing, but I would have liked some distinct content.
Carnival is a point and click adventure game from the creator of Abscission. It is set in fascist-era Venice and has a very effective paranoid and oppressive vibe permeating it's existence, and incorporates a medical condition of the protagonist very effectively into that. The puzzles are mostly straightforward point and click, and seem to be more robust than Abscissions were.
Cape Hideous is an amazing short (~40 minutes) experience where you control a pirate as she helps to repair storm damage on her ship, and batten down the hatches for the next one. From there it gets increasingly surreal and psychadelic. It's hard to explain but has some incredible animation and a great soundtrack.
Tried Out or Revisited Briefly
CorgiSpace is a neat collection of Pico 8 games from Adam Saltsman, of Finji fame. These have all been shared for free on itch.io already, but it's neat to see them together.
9 Kings is fine, but feels like the developers are constantly looking back at the audience radically changing every aspect of the game multiple times, at the whims on insane forum posts.
Asbury Pines is an incremental/idle game themed around solving a mystery in a country town. I thought the premise sounded neat, but the idle activities aren't connected to the narrative so I'm less than convinced.
I played a bit of Angeline Era, it seemed fine and I liked the way it seemed to be telling its story. But I don’t think I can be bothered working out the unintuitive vagueries of the combat system. There's enough of a hook that I may come back to it.
Beyond Citadel is a stark FPS with an "anime" styling, and set long after a mass apocalypse, with a bizarre pantheon of divine saviours for the fragment of remaining humans. I didn't get too far, but I'm looking forward to playing more.
All Games Played
Automobilista 2: GREAT
Old School Rally: Good
Nuclear Throne: GREAT
Call of the Golden Valley: Good
The Enigma Lounge: OK
Megabonk: Good
Carnival: Good
Cape Hideous: GREAT (Notable)
Corgispace: Good
9 Kings: OK
Asbury Pines: OK
Angeline Era: Good
Beyond Citadel: Good
Freeman
kasdeya
Arnaud Mangasaryan (Ramenos)
WMan22
Rock Paper Shotgun