1. #OuterWilds 32h so far

Very late to the party but glad I dropped by.

A game where you are stuck in a timeloop, exploring space and sating your curiosity.

Loved the campaign and one of the few games I wish I could forget and play again.
The DLC does not do it for me so far though, gd. I'm stuuuck.

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2. #RivalsOfAether2 aka #Rivals2 Playtime:91h

The best platform fighter of all time.
The second best one being Rivals 1.
The third best one being Project M.
Everything else I'll still play but don't bother ranking.

Deal with it Melee purists.

One of the few that truly embraced and grew its competitive scene.

Butter smooth but responsive animations with pretty motion trails and Pixar reminiscing stretch and squash.

Exciting VFX, inspired pretty or funny premium skins

Same access to satisfying combos but with more defensive options than its prequel.

Proactive development with transparent patch notes outlining not only changes but philosophy behind them.

I'm excited for more modes and characters to show up. Every time a new one gets in I go lose a little more in ranked.

Miss having a playgroup for it though.

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3. #Downpour #Rainworld DLC B:First campaign so far; Playtime: 46h so far

A beautiful and brutally difficult platformer with no unlockable abilities but deep and obtuse control scheme to either look up or discover organically (or fumble with)

It is not a metroidbrainia nor a metroidvania.
You don't unlock or learn about things that magically make the game easier and I strongly recommend looking up a wiki when you get stuck or once you want to know what even is the wincon area you must find and how to reach it.
It won't hold your hand as it lets you fall in deathpits or die to the many predators out to get you and the few load screen advice that give movement tips don't cover everything.

I would hate it solo but enjoy it as a tense nailbiter 2p coop (on EASIEST difficulty because losing a day to a voidout when the other player makes it sucks balls)

Whoever died can root for the other. Also great with mods (imho the 2 must haves is Press to Meow and the nontrivial and not full recovery CPR-allowing Revivify)

Running away and avoiding combat is the better way to get where you want, but advanced/fast movement and avoiding death is nontrivial in fun ways.

Imho this is not a game to power through. Take breaks when shit sucks.

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4. #HeroesofHammerwatch2

The long awaited direct sequel to Heroes of Hammerwatch and best one in the series as a whole so far.

A 4P class based online coop topdown ARPG dungeon crawler with semi randomized maps where you grind levels for your character as you play and unlock town upgrades for buffs to make it further in your future runs.

Its predecessor added permanent progression to its roguelite origins and this sequel adds a lot more customization to the formula.
For example, now you can swap weapons regardless of class, essentially replacing your basic attack.

Basically, if you liked the previous Heroes of Hammerwatch, this one is more of that and even better.
If you liked HoH but not Hammerwatch 2 (which has a more campaign oriented design) you'll love this one.

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5. #Deltarune latest chapters B:To be continued; Playtime : (last 2 chapters 11h)

Each time my expectations get higher and each time I laugh more and get closer to crying than I expected

In a sea of games that aren't worth reading, Deltarune tricks me into trying to make sure I took every possible detour to trigger every possible heartfelt and funny dialogs that will stick with me for life.

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6. #Unrailed

A chaotic coop roguelike game where players must delegate eachother maintenance of an ever going train that always threatens to run out of track or hilariously explode when someone drops the ball and team coordination fails

Yet another game where I feel weirdly attracted to the task of chopping trees, but one where it's actually very actively needed (To make tracks and clear a path)

It looks a lot easier to decipher in motion, so pls go check it out, pictures don't do it justice imho

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7. #BackpackHero B: YES; almost 100%d Playtime: 104h

A turn based addictive inventory minmaxing Roguelike RPG with a lot of unlockable content (items and 5 playable characters with pretty different playstyles) that makes the vast majority of runs have satisfying loot to latch onto and work towards the meta progression.

Really like how different characters have wildly different mechanics and only wish there was more (Found cute art of a weasel cut from KS campaign ;w;)

Strongly recommend with some warnings to set expectations:
- The game is sometimes buggy. But it autosaves on every floor so it's never a huge setback.

- When and if you get stuck unlocking the last character just cheat using the mod menu. It seems random but after an obscene amount of runs I just couldnt get the last unlock requirement to drop unlike my friend who had it ages ago.

- The green playable character is VERY hard, look up strats to beat the game once with them to unlock final chapter.

- A bug prevents 100% completion to be reachable (MFW I wanted it so bad ☠️)

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8. #Megabonk B: No but I'm good now lol; 40h

Most likely to win and most deserving of an award at the AAA-celebration wannabeE3 thing

Megabonk takes 2 formulas I loved and combines them very cleanly without taking itself seriously

It's Vampire Survivors but in a Risk of Rain 2 3D Chests; Boss; Teleporter recipe

Fun achievements and challenges to unlock more items and characters.

Sour note is the final boss that nobody likes but only really beat for the item unlocks then never visit again.

And the game suffering from its own success by putting the leaderboard front and center while the massive playerbase solves every balance patches too quick to enjoy the theorycrafting or playing casually without chasing the scoreboard.

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