DeVuego

As a short, narrative adventure, The Last Case of John Morley is enjoyable thanks to a great sense of atmosphere, good story and well paced reveals that keep us second guessing right until the very end.

A stunningly presented psychological horror title with some excellent twists and turns that is only let down by a few obtuse puzzles, Luto is a strong debut title and easily makes its case as one of the better indie horrors in recent times.

There is some fun to be found in Moons of Darsalon at times, and some of the more balanced levels offer a decent challenge. But too often I found myself cursing at the game for yet again killing me or making me fail more due to the fiddly mechanics than actual game design.

Neon Blood was still an enjoyable ride despite the issues listed, mainly again due to that stellar presentation and a tale that, while not exactly original, was executed well (and briefly) enough to keep our interest high throughout.

CLeM maintains Mango Protocol’s track record of quirky, inventive, and slightly hampered-in-places gaming, with a great central premise and gameplay mechanics that are only really held back by slow movement and occasionally frustrating moments.

Horror Tales: The Beggar has its moments (mainly thanks to some half-decent world building) but the introduction of combat, and its slow moving puzzles, underwhelmed me completely. Go and play The Wine instead, and hope we get more of that for the next outing.

While including the Lüscher color test is a neat idea and actually quite well implemented (in our eyes at least), there’s no getting over that aside from this USP, Finis is a pretty basic and simple puzzle game, where the main challenge comes from the controls rather than some cleverly designed challenges. Worth a punt if you’re looking for something to give an evening’s puzzle action, but keep expectations low.

Seven Doors is short but entertaining puzzle title. The fact each puzzle tests us in different ways is a nice touch, although this will impact the difficulty differently for different players. We’d like to see the movement smoothed out a bit, but as it is this is worth a look for those looking for some quick hit puzzling action.

In the here and now, Guts ’N Goals is fun in short bursts, at least solo. There’s a ton of stuff to unlock, the match types are fast and hectic and the extra modes prove to be a great way of mixing things up. It’d make a great addition to a local multiplayer night again in the near future, and once online play is there there’ll be more incentive to keep returning.

Despite having some neat ideas across the board, the final execution of Colossus Down just feels a little too awkward and uninspiring. Clunky, repetitive combat and a teenage angst-filled story do little to inspire continued play. There are far better examples of the genre out there, on which your time is better spent.

And that’s about it. There’s no extra modes, no MP, no leader boards. As a standalone arcade game it’s passable for quick bursts, but the appeal soon wore off and after just an hour or so I’d more than had my fill. As usual, there’s a fairly easy 1000g to find if you’ve the desire to grind the stages, but I can’t see this being a title that’ll stick in your playlist once that last achievement pops.

Relicta offers up some clever, challenging puzzle scenarios that use physics in a way that feels natural while also embracing the sci-fi elements of its presentation. The difficulty can occasionally spike, and the story elements, while entertaining, definitely take a back seat to the actual puzzle solving gameplay. But when that gameplay is so good and rewarding, that’s no bad thing.

EMMA: Lost in Memories simple premise means it is easy to get to grips with, but some vague collision detection and dull visuals/music lead to it all round feeling rather bland and frustrating to play.

SuperEpic: The Entertainment War lays its feelings out for all to see on the current state of the big buck chasing corporate side of the game industry. That it does so with enough wit and entertainment factor is commendable; it would have been easy to fall on the wrong side of parody. The core gameplay is fun and engaging, the art is fantastic and – odd typo aside – the writing manages to get the message across in an entertaining way. Undercoders perhaps lent a little too heavily on the MetroidVania aspects with a hard to read map and even harder to keep track of side missions, but overall I had a blast with SuperEpic.

Whilst short and somewhat overly dramatic in regards to its writing, the game’s core loop is thoroughly well designed, putting forward engaging, clever mechanics that rarely grow tiresome. This is further upheld by solid visual and audio design, both of which collectively set the vibe of the game remarkably well. Puzzle fans looking to fill a quiet evening will no doubt enjoy what’s on offer, it’s just a shame it’s all over with far too soon.