1000xRESIST (2024)

holy WOW what a game!!! easily my goty of 2024, and i haven't even gotten all of the endings yet! (yes, there are multiple endings!). you play as 'watcher' and navigate memories in what's called a 'communion', with a lot of walking and reading Lore and a little bit of platforming. a scifi story about aliens and a pandemic and clones and and and... so much. this story really has it all and handles all of it with aplomb. did you like everything everywhere all at once? PLAY THIS GAME. i know Generational Trauma is a buzzword lately wrt media but like. holy shit this handles it INSANELY well, and is especially relevant to those who were in any way affected by the hong kong protests of 2019. this game keeps going and going, when you think you have all the answers, it changes the questions, and does this Several Times, to great effect. just. a FANTASTIC game, well worth the $19.99 imo.

Absolutely Perfect Specimen (2023)

first of all, mind the cws on this one! but my GOD what a GAME!!! a veritable sledgehammer to the chest of a visual novel. "toxic yuri", as the creator puts it, and boy does it deliver on that. it follows the story of the android pan and her creator/lover dr. amy g. dala, focusing primarily on pan herself, it slowly unravels pan's past in horrifying detail. just... a REALLY good trans visual novel, once again mind the cws but it's REAL good, highly recommended!! plus, while the game itself is PWYW, you can support the creator by paying $5-15 for the ost and concept art bundle!

Ace Attorney Investigations 2: Prosecutor's Gambit (2011/2024)

now okay hear me out: i played the english patch for this several years ago and while i thought the translation was FANTASTIC, i'm also thrilled with the impending official translation, finally, at last! even if they named my son eustace. so technically you don't HAVE to play the first aai in order play this one, but it does help, and it's not a BAD game by any means (even if the fifth case takes for fucking ever), but my god does the second game blow it out of the water, and in fact, it's one of my favorite games in the ace attorney series! if you don't know the conceit about the two aai games, you play as edgeworth and have limited walking about ability to explore crime scenes. also both games take place within like, a week or so total haha. at any rate, the story between both games is absolutely FANTASTIC and it's well worth your time! okay now that uncle ninty isn't reading anymore, honestly i can wholeheartedly recommend emulating aai2 and then just installing the english patch, which Should be available with a quick google. otherwise just pirate the updated translation when it comes out, i linked the steam/switch pages but. it's always moral to pirate ninty games tbh.

ALTER EGO (2023)

mind the cws on the steam/itch pages, but while it is very short experience, for the low price of free, one can't complain. that being said, i do wish it was longer, but it does display the Moments it does show very well. EXTREMELY good game, sound design and art direction is banger and while i had a feeling it would go in the direction it went it was still good and cathartic overall!!! play as reese, a rat who walks into her kitchen one day to find her girlfriend murdered! did she do it? did anyone? find out :)

Boyfriend Dungeon (2021)

i guess there was some Controversy with this game similar to the backlash with dream daddy, which is to say, Complete bullshit. that being said, i ADORED this game, holy shit. it was just... really cozy despite some of the content matter, i enjoyed it a lot. hell, i enjoyed (and romanced!) every single character, which the game explicitly lets you do in a polyam context, which RULES. i think my faves were rowan, seven, and sawyer, but genuinely all of the characters are SO well crafted. the gameplay besides the dating parts is also actually REALLY fun, being a dunj crawler/roguelite type beat, which i don't Normally enjoy. overall, i reckon i'd recommend looking up a cw list for this game if you're sensitive, but i wholeheartedly recommend diving into this one and giving it a chance if you haven't already!

Buckshot Roulette (2023)

if it wasn't obv, a Big cw for suicide/guns for this game! but holy SHIT if that doesn't bother you then WHAT a game this is! the premise itself is simple: play russian roulette with a 12-gauge shotgun. two enter. one leaves, either You, or the dealer. but what really gets me is the sheer AESTHETIC of it all. everything is industrial and grimy and sleazy and HOW! the gameplay is also fun, but hard, because i am stupid, but don't let that stop you! in addition to the titular shotgun that you're shooting yourself/the dealer with, there are also various items to either help or hinder you (in a way that's been compared to Inscryption). in ADDITION, there's also a MULTIPLAYER mode in the works! shoot your friends! or shoot yourself in front of your friends and change the trajectory of their life forever. in minecraft. no but FOR REAL this game is worth every penny.

Cassette Beasts (2023)

i really want to like pokemon nowadays, but i genuinely can't remember the last pokemon game i fully finished. maybe sun/moon? THIS GAME, however, fully re-awakened the monster collector enthusiast in me, and while i didn't 100% the game, i DID get most of the achievements and finished it! play as someone who's washed up on new wirral, a place that... you can't get home from. but you're Determined, and with your starter beast and some new friends, journey throughout new wirral to try and find a way home! and the actual battles? FANTASTIC. most of them are 2 x 2, with some exceptions. and the archangels? not to MENTION tumblr sexyman bait? everything about this game is FANTASTIC and i really enjoyed it, and if you like pokemon but are tired of the modern games, maybe you will too! this one also has online multiplayer which BANGS tbh? have Not done that yet but, have heard good things. :)

Disco Elysium (2019)

of course i have dyed hair and pronouns and played disco elysium. a few years after the big boom of course, because that's how it goes with me generally, but. while i would recommend looking up a list of cws for the game if you have any sort of trigger, if you can stomach the game it's an absolutely stunning show of what a video game can be. play as amnesiac [REDACTED], a cop who wakes up after a bender that literally erased everything about who he was. you are solving a murder mystery but i cannot articulate how much that if you've been spoiled on the killer, it doesn't matter. very much a case of the journey being greater than the destination if that makes sense? the art is stunning, the music and sound design are chef's kiss, and the story... my god. i ugly cried multiple times during the course of the game. it's an rpg that operates off of stats and dice rolls, so there is the option to save scum (which i Did Do... oops), but honestly isn't the appeal kinda just letting the dice fall where they may? of course everything that happened in the aftermath with ZA/UM is insanely unfortunate and sucks but i don't think that should take away from how amazing disco elysium was as a game.

Hatoful Boyfriend (2011)

"the pigeon dating sim, silas?" YES. it's probably been about 10 years since i last played it, but i'm definitely due for a replay, because once you get past playing it for haha funy meme bird game xd, it's actually a DAMN good game. even before you get to the True ending with all the drama, the character endings are REAL good and just. listen, it's a good game, okay? i even backed the kickstarter for the sequel (see below), and still have the pins and plushes from it, ehe. there are, some cws for this game, primarily for the true ending, but god it's a fantastic dating sim, a fantastic video game overall, and i'd definitely recommend it, especially if you DO like dating sims and somehow haven't played this one yet!

Hatoful Boyfriend: Holiday Star (2011)

"the pigeon dating sim SEQUEL that is CHRISTMAS THEMED, silas?" YES, AGAIN. obviously wait to play this until you play hatoful boyfriend, but definitely DO play this one. it starts very silly but quickly veers into familiar and yet all new horror-ish territory that you may have come to love from the previous game! it has most if not all of the characters from the first one, as well as a cast of new birds who are just as good as the old ones! again, some cws, especially in the Main Story, but overall a really, REALLY good story that broke my heart and mended it in one night. :')

How Fish Is Made (2022)

"Are sardines trustworthy? Are you? Do you want to be?" "Do fish feel pain?" all questions asked but not necessarily answered by this game. cws for like, gore and shit but god i ADORED this game and its free, katamari-esque dlc. you play as a fish, and you have to decide if you want to go UP or DOWN. which way is salvation? is any? find out :)

Hypnospace Outlaw (2019)

god this game. this GAME!!! i just. man. i remember for new years one year, my nesting partner played us the song from the climax of the game and he was crying while he did so, and he was right to do so because everything about this game is absolutely peak. the aesthetic of late 90s internet is just, chef's kiss, and the MUSIC!!!! chowder man.... as for gameplay, you are the 'enforcer' of the rules, basically a glorified moderator, of the titular hypnospace, an online space that is only accessed while you're sleeping. over the course of the game, while going through websites on the network and doing your little moderator duties, you learn more about the alternate universe that the game takes place in, and meet a genuinely unforgettable cast of characters, whom you'll come to love or hate. but god what a good game. HIGHLY recommend especially if the setting/aesthetic seems up your alley!!

Super Auto Pets (2021)

OKAY LISTEN!!! just listen. i've sunk 30+ hours into this game on steam and countless more on tablet and phone (where it's also available but i didn't link those). i ADORE this game. first got into it bc nesting partner watched northernlion play it a bunch, and then he stopped but i kept playing it haha. i don't play it near as much as i used to but god i adore this game. it's super fun single player OR with friends and the kind of combos and Shit you can get up to is INSANE if you learn the tech. speaking of insane, you will also sound insane if you talk about this game to others who aren't familiar with it bc saying "the elephant killed my turtle prematurely and put melon armor on my fox" sounds Absolutely Inane if you do not have the context lol. but genuinely, if you like autobattlers (or even if you don't -- give it a shot!) this is a damn good game, and the additional packs you can buy are well worth it if you're enjoying the game! and if you don't wanna buy them, you can always test out those pets in the weekly packs the devs make!! overall, i will keep playing this game until they shut it down, god bless.

The Beginner's Guide (2015)

i first played this game when i lived in wv and we had 2 feet of snow on the ground. after finishing it, i sat there ugly crying over it before i had to go out and shovel the sidewalk. the beginner's guide is a short (bout an hour and thirty minutes, give or take) character driven walking simulator type game, but i do NOT use 'walking simulator' disparagingly, oh, not at all. your only goal in the game is to learn about davey and his friend, coda. and learn you do, warts and all. absolutely stunning game.

To The Moon (2011)

a game that was EXTREMELY helpful good for me coming to terms with Being Autistic as a young adult. river wyles is one of my favorite characters of all time, i UGLY CRIED at the end of this game and the song that plays at the end still means a lot to me. playing as doctors neil watts and eva rosalene, you go backwards in time through a dying man's memories in order to fulfill his final wish, but things are never as easy as they seem.

TRAUMAKT~4.SEXE (2023)

mind the cws on the itch page for this one folks! but oh MAN what a GAME!!! i haven't even gotten all of the endings yet (only the bad one i think haha) but even THAT was enough to sell me on this! it's about a girl, and... well, honestly, anything else might just be spoilers! i ADORE the gameplay and the style and just. everything about this game honestly.

We Know The Devil (2015)

it's been a while since i've played wktd, but god what a game. cws for christianity/religion and body horror. one of my fave visual novels of all time, jupiter especially really spoke to me. in the game, you play as three teens, meangirl neptune, tomboy jupiter, and shy, shy, venus as they survive at a christian summer camp where the final 'test' so to speak is to resist the devil's temptation, or otherwise survive. two of them can overpower the third, but what of that third...? there are four total routes, and they're all bangers. i especially remember liking the sound design for this game. btw it's by the same people who did heaven will be mine, which will be on here when i finish it LOL.

Zero Escape series (2009, 2012, 2016)

silas, is it cheating to rec 3 games at once? NO, says i! and it's my page on my website so i get to do what i want. at any rate, the zero escape series, consisting of the games nine hours, nine persons, nine doors (999), virtue's last reward, and zero time dilemma are absolutely MASTERPIECES, not just in the escape room genre but in general. though all three games have their own unique Thing, you do escape rooms to progress in all of them, and the puzzles are mindbending but FUN (generally). if you've played a kotaro uchikoshi game before but (somehow) haven't played these, you should know what to expect when it comes to characters and plot beats, but if you haven't? oh, buckle up, mon frere! some of my favorite games of all time. the third and final game is a little weak compared to the others if i'm being fully honest, but it was a miracle it was even made/came out, so it gets a pass (and also has my favorite character in the entire series in it so). i love love love these games but listen. listen. if you play them, PLEASE pirate the original ds 999 and NOT the steam one or the ios one ok listen i KNOW i linked it but you HAVE to trust me on this one they CHANGED the final puzzle in the steam port and i will NEVER forgive them for it.