Happy 2023 with a lot of gaming

Let me start by thanking the many newcomers. This makes me both motivated and happy, but also empowered, I feel the pressure of having to put out the best newsletter for every issue and not being able to say "alright this week I'll put down a list of games and I'll be fine".

The Newsletter is still in an embryonic stage, this is only the ninth issue, and I am not yet clear on how to continue its development. Whether to tend towards a fixed structure or change from time to time, be patient, growing together with you will still be fun and stimulating.

Now let’s start!

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Played and Playing

I finished playing Pentiment just yesterday (on PC Game Pass but it’s also on Steam). 10/10 What a ride it was. This is, hands down, one of the best experiences not just for 2022 but my entire gaming life. If you love games you can’t miss this one unless you hate reading (but if you hate reading, you are not reading this newsletter too).

If you’re looking for a clever murder mystery with interactive narrative decisions, beautiful 2D art, and a wonderful historical fiction treatment, you owe it to yourself to check out Pentiment. (Kotaku)

Now something completely different. I also finished playing Strange Holticulture and Lost in Play.

Strange Holticulture

Is a puzzle game made by UK-based Bad Viking. Is a game of deduction where we take the part of a plant and flower shop owner in a small (fictional) village. we will find quickly thrust into an occult mystery stretching back hundreds of years. Each and every day we’ll have to satisfy.

is a game of deduction where we take the part of a plant and flower shop owner in a small (fictional) village. we will find ourselves, despite ourselves, quickly thrust into an occult mystery stretching back hundreds of years. (EDGE)

The magazine EDGE compare the game to another deduction game that I loved A LOT which is the masterpiece from Lucas Pope, Return to the Obra Dinn and I couldn’t agree more.

Lost in Play

Still puzzles and adventures but in a completely different context. This time we are faced with an exciting adventure starring two brothers who, playing together, end up inside a fantasy world (but is it their fantasy we are playing with or reality?).

Hand-drawn graphics, and beautiful animations, all seasoned with comedy and lightheartedness rarely seen in a video game.

Lost in Play won’t win over everyone, especially not people who care most about gameplay, but it’s fun, charming, and endearing enough that it’ll be a hit with point-and-click fans and even earn itself converts. (Cultured Vultures)

On the “playing” side the plan is to try to figure out how to play Kenshi, go ahead and finish Sunday Gold, and give a chance to Arctic, which I haven't had a chance to play since it came out of Early Access.

I will talk about these games in more detail in one of the next issues.

Playing...

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What’s next!?

Games that will be out in the next few days:

Glimmer in Mirror | a 2D story-rich action shooting game

Fears to Fathom - Carson House | a first-person narrative walking simulator

Flash Party | multi-platform fighting free to play

Scrap Riders | pixel art adventure game set in a cyberpunk future

Truck World: Driving School | free standalone truck simulator

Path of the Midnight Sun | heroic JRPG-inspired adventure

KartRider: Drift | free-to-play, cross-platform arcade kart racing game

Children of Silentown | hand-drawn adventure game

Sailing Era | Navigate your fleet and sail for fun

Siege of Dungeon | strategic team-based rogue-lite

Aquatico | survival city builder set within the depths of the sea

Gatewalkers | cooperative action RPG game with survival elements

LONE RUIN | roguelike twin-stick shooter

Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider | side-scrolling action platformer

SimRail - The Railway Simulator | guess what it is?!

The Lost Village | 3D simulation game

WW2 Rebuilder | Flip, renovate, repair and rebuild places destroyed in WW2

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In one of the next issue I would love to talk about indie MMOs, it is something you could enjoy?