I’d been looking forward to this odd little game, a World War II-era tank combat simulator that uses ASCII graphics. It looks ancient but it’s actually a relatively recent release. Similarly, learning the interface and the ruleset also seems daunting but there’s not actually that much to it. It was a blast to figure how it all works and to experience commanding different types of units. Unfortunately while there are many campaigns to play, they all feel repetitive and similar after a while as the core gameplay loop is really quite simple.

In every post about fighting games, I always note how awful I am at them. Well, I still am but I picked this one up specifically because it’s said to be beginner-friendly. Indeed, not only does it have simple buttons so that you don’t have to learn complex technical inputs but it also includes one of the most comprehensive in-game tutorials I’ve seen. Not being familiar to the franchise, the characters are all new to me and feel like generic rip-offs of better established characters. But the gameplay seems solid and the art looks nice enough. I’d planned to learn this better but unfortunately I’d hurt my hand recently and that cut my time with it shorter than I might have liked.

Ages and ages ago, I’d imagined how cool it would be if there existed some kind of strategy game about managing a xianxia sect. ‘Lo and behold, one now exists, made naturally by a Chinese company. It has mediocre graphics, very poorly explained mechanics and a bad user interface, but it does more or less let you run your own sect from the beginning up until you manage to nurture your cultivators into god-like beings. So it’s great, right? Well, maybe not. In between the bugs, intricate mechanics, challenge level and tendency to drop gotchas on the player, this can be a very time-consuming and frustrating experience. I already know I won’t be able to persevere all the way to the end but I’m still trying to see as much of the game as I can.

This is a sequel to a game that I played a long, long time ago. I really liked it back then but never completed it because it was very difficult and if I remember correctly rather buggy. This time rather than the Ultramarines, you’re put in charge of the mysterious Grey Knights and must contend with the forces of Nurgle. Gameplay-wise it’s pretty much identical to the new version of XCOM, except it’s significantly more difficult, sometimes in ways that don’t feel fair to the player. I had a blast with it but did at times grow very frustrated.

Again opting for a slower paced game after Sifu, this is a simple fishing game that I’ve heard good things about. The twist is that it’s also a horror game with distinctly Lovecraftian vibes. There’s no combat so the gameplay really is just about fishing or carrying things around in your boat but nasty things start happening if you stay out too long in the water after dark and you can die. It’s a short game and that’s usually a plus with me these days as that means it doesn’t force you to grind meaninglessly to reach its ending. I like it.

This is the kung fu fighting game that garnered a great deal of attention upon release but also scared many off due to its high difficulty and aging mechanic. I count myself among those who were intimidated and so stayed away. But then Epic gave it away for free so I was out of excuses. It took a great deal of focused practice but I did finally beat the game even if I had to cheese the hell out of the bosses so I’m here to report my verdict.

I’m terrible at platform games and terrible at roguelikes and this is both! I wanted to give this a go anyway due to its very interesting gameplay mechanics. It doesn’t look like much with old-school pixel graphics but that’s actually part of what makes it so special. Every pixel of the game world is physically simulated and so everything is potentially destructible with the right effects! The problem is that the environment becomes incredibly chaotic and combined with how little healing is available in-game, it’s a very difficult game. I ended up using a mod to give myself extra revives after dying just so that I could actually see more of the game.