You'd think it'd be hard for lightning to strike twice with a game like Frog Detective. The concept by default kind of sounds like a one-trick pony, which makes Frog Detective 2 all the more impressive that it manages to retain both the whimsical, charming humour and the low-stakes, low-challenge gameplay of the original while still offering just enough to make it worth going back into the series for a second helping.

Once again we are the titular amphibian sleuth, this time sent to the sleepy town of Warlock Woods, who are being troubled by the other titular character, an invisible wizard. As before, the game is largely a scavenger hunt in which you'll interview everyone in the town and find the thing that solves their problem. The only new addition is a customisable notebook, which contains the musings of our froggy protagonist, as well as some of the game's funniest bits of writing.

It's yet more of that cute, harmless, gentle humour that has come to characterise the Frog Detective games, and that alone makes it worthwhile to play, as far as I'm concerned. It's short, sweet, goofy; everything you'd want from it, essentially.

A short, goofy adventure game built primarily around a scavenger hunt mechanic and a lovely, soft sense of humour.

We play as the titular Frog Detective, who is sent to a strange island because the folk there are concerned it's haunted (well, obviously). The game relies on a very internet-centric style of humour, with lots of silly non-sequitur and nonsense jokes, but it's not as irritating as many other attempts at this. Instead it features a gentle style to its writing, getting by mainly on smart writing and prodding harmless fun at its own premise, but without getting bogged down in 4th wall-breaking stupidity. There's no hint of either sarcasm nor cruelty in its jokes, a distinct rarity in internet-age comedy, and I adore it for that alone.

Frog Detective won't be for everyone; it's not challenging, nor lengthy, but like an episode of a weird TV show you've accidentally caught, it's a cute way to spend an hour playing and then all day thinking about.

A walking simulator - or more accurately a hiking simulator - in which players take on the role of Henry, a grieving chap who runs away from a turbulent family situation to take up a season as a firewatchman atop a tower in a national park in rural Wyoming. As you'd expect from the genre the big draw here is in the writing, which oscillates between heartbreaking tragedy and gut-wrenching melodrama before seguing into some surprisingly tense moments as the game reaches its climax.

In a lovely touch, players can opt for a less "gamey" experience by turning off standard open world fixtures like map markers and button prompts, relying instead on reading the landscape and their own map-and-compass skills to navigate the gorgeous wilderness of Shoshone. It's a brilliantly immersive way to play this particular type of game.

As far as walking sims go, Firewatch is one of the finer examples of just how far a smart developer can push an otherwise oft-maligned genre.