raccoons4444
2007
What else really needs to be said about Portal? It's a modern classic puzzle-shooter with one of the most inventive core mechanics in gaming, with witty writing and well-designed puzzles, and a gloomy atmosphere that stays cold and mysterious throughout.
2020
4th-wall breaking puzzle-shooter where you find a hammer that can perform out of bounds anywhere. This is a really strong proof-of-concept; there's just not enough games which embrace the idiosyncratic game-logic of glitches and design situations intentionally around them.
A practically perfect expansion to the Talos Principle, where the puzzle difficulty picks up from where the end of the base game left off and the environments/puzzle setpieces are more beautiful and elaborate. The story follows a different part of the universe where a society of AI that have studied and created art based on the humans before them now find their world on the brink of collapse; it takes a lot of class to pull off a serious story about the end of days where some of the characters are internet trolls and discord moderators.
A 30 minute game about covid-era depression you brave together with your fleabitten companion, Lambshank. Man, I miss my dog like you wouldn't believe...
The hottest white rap duo since Insane Clown Posse get down to 3 of the shittiest pop rap songs you may ever hear! Enjoy rhythm games with awful hit detection, simping for the cops, and pouring grape juice on your shirt in this ...unforgettable 15 minute audiovisual experience!
2017
A two minute "contemplation" about how it feels to reach the summit of a mountain where the air is thin and you are very, very cold. Some days I have to scrape ice off of my car's windshield in the morning before work, so I can relate to this experience.
2007
A fantastic hack-and-slash that flaunts the unique humor, sublime aesthetic and undeniable charm you'd expect from a Suda51 game. As fun as the primary bodybaggin' and boss fightin' is, the part-time jobs and missions are a great pace-shift that allow you to catch a breather in between the more involved combat sections (that is, when you aren't grinding the baseball minigame or Gamble Fight over and over because that sweet leopard print jacket bankrupt you).
The most skill intensive, hardcore game I have ever played.
Lore: https://youtu.be/n2NrXK6EJAk
Lore: https://youtu.be/n2NrXK6EJAk
If only there was a way to play Advance Wars over the internet with a welcoming and active community without being restricted by the anti-consumer practices of Nintendo...
https://awbw.amarriner.com/
https://awbw.amarriner.com/
2021
Said lovingly, the "B-Movie" version of a freeware horror RPG maker game, with some great sprite-art and animated cutscenes courtesy of legendary old-school youtube animator Rong Rong. The setting where smaller injustices at an art school take form due to a root evil is cool, but I was laughing at most of the spooks, and Charles Worth has got to be the goofiest looking horror villain in gaming.
1990
19 years before the Balloon Boy saga, Pax Sofnica warned us about the dangers of sending a child drifting away to the sky on a balloon. For real though, I enjoyed the loop of going for a 1cc run of the eight-level campaign, then giving the much more challenging Balloon Trip mode a couple of shots before starting another run.
2021
This is the mean-average eroge; the plot doesn't exist and the girls are cardboard cutout caricatures. The reason you came for is serviceable, however.
2022
I respect WB for going after the competitive platform fighter genre as there hasn't been a good one since melee, but there's too much aerial drift, not enough defensive options, some attacks have too fast/poorly telegraphed startup, ect. This game demonstrates why fighting games should never go free to play, as it results in this obnoxious-2022-hellscape-skinner box-battlepass-menu nightmare scenario, and you can't trust "TimmyLakers27" playing on Xbox to know what an ethernet cable is.
The artstyle is great, the gameplay is shallow, and the twist with the final boss was neat. But the jabroni who put this on igdb spelled "labyrinth" wrong (its literally spelled on the cover image, doofus)!
(Edit April '23: fixed it)
(Edit April '23: fixed it)
2022
Gaming's greatest lesbian power couple get strapped to beat Sakuya Izayoi in a short homage to the Time Crisis series. There even looked to be lightgun settings in the option menu, but the game is more than playable with a mouse and the spacebar (it's even got 2P online co-op!).