Tonight at 7pm ET, my partner and I have a date with some indie games and you’re invited! We’re going to dress up fancy and play Moon Hunters, Sunlight, Rings of Saturn, and Tanuki Sunset. And I’ll be getting a belated Valentine’s Day treat! (I have no idea what it is, but the treat I got on actual Valentine’s Day was fancy marshmallows so I have high hopes for more fun foods)
Finally we come to where I spend most of my free time.
New Plays
The best game I played this year is undoubtedly Black Mesa. I'm old enough to have played Half-Life when it first came out in 1998, and I've long been a fan of the series. I've also been aware of this fan remake of the original game for many years, but only actually bought it around a year ago. And yeah, it's really good, as good as its reputation. I'm just glad I was able to 100% complete the game before I broke my arm.
But, you don't need me to tell you that Black Mesa is good. Let me cover a few things you probably haven't heard of.
Psycutlery is a free 2D platformer that was released earlier this year. On the one hand, this game should not be free; it's far too good, and has far too much content. On the other hand, it seems to have largely slipped under the radar regardless. If you have any interest in the genre, I encourage you to pick it up. It's about a girl fighting a psychic corruption by telekinetically throwing a spork at things. It's a real labour of love, with great music, sprites, animation, and mechanics. It also has a main campaign of about 100 levels (half optional) and two additional campaigns of the same length.
Cards of Heart is another free game, this time much shorter and more modest. It's about a girl or young woman dealing with depression, and was made in part to help teach techniques to deal with depression in the real world. Mechanically, the core game is a simple card battler, but it definitely leans on the easy side (to fit the general theme better). It's well worth a try.
Finally, in the context of things that actually cost money, there's Here Comes Niko! This is a cozy 3D platformer about helping people, the struggles of early adulthood, and about dealing with a hostile and unwelcoming family (by kind of making a new one). it's published by the people behind A Hat in Time, but is easier than that game was.
Re-Plays
I replayed Portal, but I also finally got the last three achievements by finishing all the challenge chambers. This means that it took me over a decade between playing for the first time, and reaching 100% completion.
But again, I want to bring up something that isn't so well known. Verdant Skies is a farming sim in the Stardew Valley genre, albeit much simpler than that game, but with a space setting, a relaxed attitude to gender, and an acheivement that rewards polyamory (kind of). It suffers a bit from the lack of a proper ending, and being a bit too easy, but I like it.
