Happy Game and Botanicula

Point and click adventures of the WTF variety.

Happy Game

I laughed at the warning disclaimer that "Happy Game is not a Happy Game" and yes, in it you guide a child through a bloody and terrifying nightmare via point and clicking through worse and worse "puzzles" but given the nature of the setting you need a lot of trial and error to work things out. For instance you'll only learn by doing when you crank the hand of a giant bloody teady bear to slowly tear its head off and crank the other hand to make the cyclops skull creature inside come out to pull out its own eye. Blood aplenty ahoy! But boy does it make you work for it...

Botanicula

If the previous game was too dark for you, rejoice for this one is much lighter but still in the super strange variety where a bunch of happy tree friends are trying to take a seed and plant it in the floor below without getting caught by the black stick figure spider creature(s). Easier said than done as incredibly obtuse puzzles are both funny and difficult to work out with a fair bit of "find the pixel to click on" in play. I did enjoy the random creatures you keep running into but not enough to recommend this game. 

Four more Epics (Sail Forth, Orcs Must Die 3, Circus Electrique and The Big Con)

Tried and skipped, but maybe these are what you are looking for?

Sail Forth

This is a cute sailing game with one major problem for me: I didn't like the sailing controls. That's a pretty big issue since the entire game is sailing, and I never got to the cooler ideas like managing a fleet and such. It might just be a me thing but if you are faced with the same issue I can recommend Windbound which is much better (but a little different since there's a survival component to that one).

Orcs must Die III

In this tower defense game you (and possibly a friend in two player co-op) need to stop the steady waves of orcs from reaching the thing they're not supposed to reach! Place deadly traps and upgrade them and your own weapons between levels to keep them out. Decent graphics but solo tower defense is dull for me. Two player would be better, but with that frame of mind four player would be even better by simply switching game to Dungeon Defenders which is really neat (and we really got into it back in the day). That said Dungeon Defenders is more traps reliant so if you like fighting things yourself, you might prefer this one.

Circus Electrique

The reopening of your local circus has caused the local robot / android populace to go mad. Now it's up to you to continue to hire performers and send them out into combat ala Darkest Dungeon style while also running the circus, because apparently everyone else doesn't care about this strange turn of events and still come in droves to be entertained. An unexpected union of genres with some decent art and easy to understand mechanics but for those who have already played Darkest Dungeon this might not be "the next best thing". That said it is easier than Darkest Dungeon so if you wanted that type of "row of four of your guys fighting a row of four bad guys" type thing that isn't so punishing, this might be your jam.

The Big Con

Faced with the prospect of losing property to debt, you set out to make money the best way you know how: by making other people lose property through swindling and theft! Not sure what the game is trying to teach people here and it has an art style that you might other dig or hate, but because it is the most unique of these four I spent the most time with it especially since it rewards exploration and there are a ton of optional things you can do to reach your target dollar figure faster. Not a bad game in the entertaining sense but it might pose some moral issues? Haha, yeah if they let me kill the people before/after robbing them then it would be ok right? I think my compass is broken. :P

Waiting for Duviri: The Ninth Nuggets

Yeah, I am aware my titles are getting sillier. Today's set is another random group of games!

Hood - Outlaws & Legends

A four player cooperative medieval heist game where archer Robin, ninja Marianne, hammer warrior John, and mace wielding mystic Tooke (in any combination so you can have 4 Robins) are out to steal the treasure of the state and/or against another thieving team of their own doppelgangers (pvp). First you need to pick pocket the key from the sheriff, an unkillable knight tank who can one shot execute any of you, then use it to open the vault some where on the level, take the heavy treasure chest from within and walk it down to the docks to hoist it (in a long defense sequence) onto the ship - all while not alerting (yeah right) or fighting through the soldiers coming after you. I found this to be really cool, but at the same time not being able to start a solo mission, long downtime if you are killed and a low player count makes it a hard one to suggest.

Saturnalia

This Italian detective horror game has a really nice art style, intentionally cramped spaces, really bright matches, a party system and a somewhat scary though very noisy monster. What kills it for me are logic loops like this: to turn on lights in the mine I need to flip a switch at the dam but that's locked and the key is in the boarded up town hall which needs tools from the (still dark) mine to open. Huh? Why do horror games always turn into stupid fetch quests...

Geneforge I Mutagen

This RPG game lets you play as a "shaper" (or shaper adjacent), magicians who can make things come to life (commonly raptor type dinos), and plays a little like Ultima Online but switches to a turn based mode (without changing the view) if you get into battle. While it is dated, my main problem here is how tiny the graphics are - with no option to zoom. When your character is the size of your little fingernail on the screen, you can imagine how small the loot graphic is. Maybe one I'd put more effort in if there weren't more modern things for me to play.

GameDec

This point and click detective game has a decent interface, a unique skill system where you spend personality traits you gain from talking to buy said skills, and some nice art. In it you are a VR detective, going into games to find people who either have gone missing or are wanting to hide. Your available skills actually determine what you can solve though, and the initial quest hook is weak at best.

Tunche

A side scrolling beat em up like Golden Axe, only set in the Amazon with cute, hand drawn graphics. Definitely designed for cooperative play but ultimately its just a button masher with or without friends. Controller recommended.

The Silent Age

This point and click adventure has you working as a janitor at some fancy R&D company where you rather quickly get involved in time travel ridiculousness. While the puzzles are pretty straight forward and the game itself isn't very long, finding the items or the spots to click on can be the challenge - especially since most rooms exist in two states: the present and the future. 

Waiting for Duviri: The Eigth Ebb

This time it's all ship and ocean themed games!

Call of the Sea

How can a Lovecraft inspired game not be horror? This first person puzzler certainly rocks that boat, and is pretty good to boot. Decent voice acting and gorgeous colored art helps usher you along from one puzzle to the next as the story takes you along for the ride. I have to say this has one of the strongest starting quest hooks I've come across in awhile but it lost me once I reached the trial and error puzzles.

Submerged: Hidden Depths

A pair of siblings work to "save" a flooded city being claimed by black tentacles, by making the tentacles ... not black? Despite the premise and the watery wasteland setting this is a very chillaxed exploration game with no chance of failure. Even the Assassin's Creed level of parkouring that takes place is all automatically handled by your regular controls which is a good change of pace. A little annoying that completing the main goal of an area returns you to the main hub though, meaning you might have to repeat it for any missed collectibles.

Maneater

In this game you are a shark out to eat stuff to get bigger and cause chaos in general. Nice graphics, decent controls and a cool mechanism that eating things both heals you and nets you a type of currency to evolve and become a stronger shark are quickly overshadowed by the annoyingly large grind present in this single player game. Since you start out small you need to be careful around the bigger carnivores in the water but gaining mass to challenge said enemies takes a long while. Quests can help, but when the quest is kill x catfish, but specifically catfish in this area and not the other catfish all over the place, that kinda pisses me off. Not recommended.

World of Warships

This popular multiplayer game is all about collecting and upgrading all manner of ships from around the world's history and then pitting them in missions against others which includes team elimination or area control. Small, fast maneuverable ships have less turrets and less hitpoints while the lumbering battleships bring lots of firepower and HP. There is no respawn when you die. You can either continue to watch as an observer or return to your dock and play another ship out to battle (as your destroyed one is locked for the duration of the match I think). Despite a mode of coop vs AI, the game quickly pushes you into the direction of PvP which is not something I'm interested in. The cash shop messages are also annoying.

Kerbal Space Program

On to ships of the space faring variety - this highly rated game failed immediately for me because as one can imagine, running a space program isn't all fun and games if you want to get anywhere. There's a heavy dose of reading, an unfriendly but functional interface (that might be by design) and my nemesis: math! The steep learning curve is to the moon! Blergh.

The Captain

This is the best old school point and click adventure game I've come across. In it, you must captain your space ship to find special macguffins and make it back to Earth in time to use said macguffins to win a war. Yes there is a timer, and you definitely start in a galaxy FAR FAR away with many potential stops on the way. And that is the beauty of it - everything is optional with each stop even having multiple potential outcomes. I basically sacrificed everything and everyone for the mission, and it let me. Best of all the puzzles are easy, even with the "future tech" terms. The weakest part of the game is the combat, but you don't need to fight a single thing to win the game. Highly recommended!

Paradigm and Just Die Already

Games that try to be funny.

Paradigm

In this old school point and click adventure you play as the titular Paradigm, a pretty chill and happy mutant person who also has a decent sense of humor. The voice acting and jokes are surprisingly good here, and while most of the puzzles are straight forward expect to get stuck in a few places (or I'm just terrible at these games). I just wish he could run. Anyway, decent one to check out if you are feeling in the mood for this type of thing.

Just Die Already

Clearly created by people who hate their parents and/or grandparents, this open world sandbox has you play as a geriatric who must escape from their nursing home and "live" (get points) by doing ridiculous things in the super dangerous world outside.

To "help" with the fun, the controls are intentionally bad and you will most likely maim yourself before even making it out of your room. Not to worry though, respawns are endless but other than to feel a game that seems to drip with hatred for the elderly - what's the point? Not recommended.

Steam Discovery Queue - Crusade of the Free XXVII

Continuing freebies from last time... the one in bold is the best of this set.

Alphadeck: Pixel card battler where your cards are weapons instead of the usual minions/monsters. Bleh.

Astro Sentai Jarbonder: Side scrolling pixel bullet hell with awful music. Garbage.

Dream Dasher: A hard core 2D pixel platformer where you are either a dream catcher or a beholder. Good music and quick rooms make it addictive. I gave up at the upside down levels.

Flak: An odd game about purchasing and sending out air planes to fight the enemy. I didn't get into it.

Greed Knights: Pixel idle game of boredom.

Lirica: A very cool student made 3D game with a nice story and heavy emphasis on music. Despite there not being an ounce of violence, I really like this game.

I actually played through it twice.

Puzzle: A 2D puzzle platformer where you are a rectangle with a face mask. Bleh.

Shu's Misfortune: An odd RPG Maker game where you play a princess who wants to kill their father so you set out on your quest with a chainsaw and aminoacids? WTF.

Tree Trunk Brook: A point and click exploration game where loads of people decide to go hiking into the forest with face masks because of COVID, and then lose shit that you have to find. Stupid. Also, don't these people know of self-isolation? Walk speed is annoyingly slow too.

We're All Going To Die!: PvP top down shooter. Bleh.

Steam Discovery Queue - Crusade of the Free XXVI

Continuing freebies from last time... the one in bold is the best of this set.

Collision Hero: A bad side scrolling platformer.

DEAD: Top down pixel shooter where you need to survive against waves of zombies. Bleh.

Ghosty: A cute pixel adventure where you are a ghost. Alas it also features lots of big, pointless areas purely for traversal. When will creators learn we don't need the whole [insert location here]? Sigh.

Janosik: A very cool 2D pixel action platformer where you must rescue your compatriot drinking buddies. Thumbs up despite the sections of grind.

Is It Wrong to Try to Shoot 'em Up Girls in a Dungeon: Side Scrolling bullet hell of mundaneness. Bleh.

Markus Ritter - The Lost Family: A retro video point and click adventure like Gabriel Knight 2 with some amateur acting, but you don't really see games like this anymore. Space bar for tips really helps progress the game.

Rare to see live action games these days...

Power of Ten Demo: Top down pixel space shooter where you need to mine asteroids and deliver resources to planets so they can power up their shields, all while protecting them from enemy space craft. It's not bad, but it could use a soundtrack or something for non-combat periods.

Toast Defense: In this tower defense game, ducks are coming to eat your toast. Cute but dumb.

Tomb Rumble: 2D pixel PvP platformer where you are meant to (violently) compete to claim a treasure and escape. Death turns you into a monster to continue harassing the survivors. Bleh.

Vectromirror 0: First person platformer with annoying controls. Bleh.

Steam Discovery Queue - Crusade of the Free XV

Continuing freebies from last time... the one in bold is the best of this set.

Kulebra and the Souls of Limbo Demo: In this 2.5D adventure you are a bone snake and limbo is a bright, cheery and funny place. Does a good job as a demo as it makes me want to play the full game.

Leave the Red: First person horror that I didn't get very far in, because I couldn't work out how to leave the coffin room. Nothing I did seemed to work and that's no fun so, fail.

Mirlo Above the Sun: Made by students from the Digipen Insitute in Bilbao, this action game sees you control a simple spear wielder to fight the robot forces and free your dragon friends. All it's lacking is some sound effects but otherwise it's a really good game!

Very cool.

Orion: After a promising but retro intro, this devolves into a generic and bad first person shooter. Bleh.

Praesidium: Leap across neon rooftops in the best time you can as a cyborg who looks like Batman, while carrying a round shield you can use to block attacks from drones, or to destroy them by throwing the shield which can come back to you... Bleh.

Quiet Thoughts: Someone's first attempt at making a platformer - definitely succeeded in making it annoying.

Raging Ball: Control a ball to get it across some platforms with some of the worst controls ever. Garbage.

Saving Punyville: A really bad pixel adventure game as it immediately features things like backtracking and having lots of "places to traverse that have no purpose". Shit.

Trikaya: Student made first person puzzle game which is pretty decent. Wonder if there's a way to find more university made stuff as so far they are consistent in enjoyable quality.

Wild Dive: A colorful first person runner which is ok for what it is, but is ultimately pretty shallow just like most other runners.

Steam Discovery Queue - Crusade of the Free XIV

Continuing freebies from last time... the one in bold is the best of this set.

ArmaCulture: A complicated pixel farming game during a war with a nice soundtrack. Too much for me.

Boodunnit: A tonally jarring cute 3D exploration game where you play the ghost who must solve their own recent murder, but the find the spot nature of it is a bit frustrating.

Clash of Legions: A cash shop heavy card/idle game. Nice music and some nice art on the cards, but what's the point when you can just press "automatic" to have it fight for you - followed by waiting for "stamina" to recharge before you can fight again. Definitely a "waiting to have fun" sort of game. Bleh.

Dinner with an Owl: Short stylized point and click adventure game about being stuck in what basically is a two screen house (with a most impeccably polite monster). It's great. :)

Recommended!

EoS: A short first person walking simulator with minor puzzle elements and a decent story made by students in Singapore (which you can hear from some of the voice acting). Pretty nice.

From the Shadows: A cute platformer where you can cooperatively play as light and shadow, or in single player just flicker between the two. Some platforms only exist when in range of one of those two elements so, in single player anyway, there's a bit of timed flickering to do. Not keen on the controls and once again... backtracking. Bleh.

Gorge: A first person parkour game where you have fallen down a gorge and must make use of all your double jump, wall running, and telekenisis skills to escape. Controls well, but kinda annoying.

Hidden Lands: A relaxing "spot the difference" game with decent game play and ambient music. If you like that sort of thing, definitely check it out. Just a little too chill for me.

I'm Strongest Legend: First person Chinese sword swinger where you fight hundreds of mohawked eunochs who all have the same death sound after being hit once by your mighty sword, or by their own swords. For variety stage three has you in a futuristic jet fighter fighting the same enemies in their strong T-pose flight form. WTF.

Jack Axe the Trial: No tutorial platformer where you need to actually find the axe first. The throw axe and rush to axe interesting mechanic as it can make you travel further than a jump, but still just a cute platformer. Bleh.

Steam Discovery Queue - Crusade of the Free IX

Continuing freebies from last time... the one in bold is the best of this set.

Distancing: Silly little game that teaches social distancing due to a virus, while having a main character who doesn't wear a mask and decides to attend a party. The true win condition (which doesn't exist in game) should be to stay home like a champion.

Ghost College: Chinese side scroller with decent art and terrible English translation. That would be ok if the game didn't simply involve running around in the dark looking for key items while avoiding a giant slime baby.

Just a game to test your IQ: A horror twist for an IQ test. Silly, but well rendered.

Larry the Unlucky Part 1 and Part 2: Hand drawn "stuck in a room" puzzles that have very obscure solutions. Thank goodness there's a handy "Hints" button because there's no way I can guess scissors will come out of someone's head or throwing dice at a painting will change it.

Sillyfun Valley: Point and click adventure in a cartoony world with an obvious slant towards humor. Terrible animation though.

Soul Dossier: Requires additional login but I can't tell what. Not in English.

Space Survival: Space sim with bad graphics and even worse controls. Garbage.

S.U.M. Slay Uncool Monsters: A pixel adventurer math game where you must find the two digits to correctly get the total each monster is looking for. A good math challenge as even the easy ones like x + y = 12 might have you seeking two 6s's or a 2 and a 10, but those aren't always available.

I wonder if he's related to that vampire on Sesame Street...

Treasure of Barracuda: A lego based puzzle game which I didn't get into at all. Lack of instruction only makes for frustration if you want to progress. Garbage.

Zombie Hunter: Pretty fun sniping game where you must protect civilians from zombies. Very cash shop heavy though, not just in terms of boosts and new maps either - you run out of "power" by playing and either need to rest or pay up. Bleh.

Steam Discovery Queue - Crusade of the Free VIII

Continuing freebies from last time... the one in bold is the best of this set.

Bridg: Walking simulator of going across a bridge while kicking stones. Sometimes the stones kick you though. Terrible controls & gameplay.

BustyBiz: Adult clicker game. Just... why? There are so many easier ways and better clickers.

Deepest Sword: Pixel platformer where you are a knight who has to stab a funny dragon. You cannot jump but instead have to rely on your sword like a lever to pole vault up, over and across platforms. Each attempt makes the dragon move deeper into the cave and makes your sword longer, but this also makes it much harder to maneuver at all. With no enemies except the dragon, most of your "battling" will be with platforms. I get that its designed to have poor controls, but that doesn't make it fun.

Etched Memories Demo: High quality 3D explorer where you are a cat. Unfortunately super dark in some areas and hard to find how to advance.

Girl's Lovecast: Hand drawn magic girl hunts demons in hotel? Art is ok and fighting becomes a little bullet hell type but the game almost immediately introduces back tracking. To hell with that.

Grow Defense: A very messy indie idle/tower defense game. Bleh.

NoirPunk: A very cool greyscale point and click adventure game where you are a freelance private investigator. Excellent variety of gameplay and fun puzzles that aren't too hard if you put your mind to it. Hey, I hate puzzle games and even I finished this one! Recommended! You'll probably finish it in around 30 mintues. :)

Funny and cool.

Ransack Racoon: Student made game where you play a mall thief who happens to be a racoon, while evading spotlights. Cute but repetitive.

Shattered Slime: Platformer where you are a slime that can vary your own weight, affecting your jump distance or sink capability. Poor controls never go well with a platformer though.

Stay in the Light: Fails to even install. Garbage.

The Pillars of the Earth (PC Game)

"The most expensive part of building is the mistakes."

Based on the book of the same name (which also spawned a very cool mini-series) this point and click adventure follows the stories of multiple characters across many years during the times of the destruction and reconstruction of the Kingsbridge Cathedral. I found the art style and voice acting to be very good which only helped the already great plot. There are a number of QTE's that might turn off some people but for the most part they are easy too.

Sir Catface is a funny guy.

My main gripe is the "find the spot" aspect of the game. Especially in particular areas where you can see said spots, but cannot interact with them until you've unlocked the correct dialogue line which "officially" tells you to look for them, despite many other dialogue lines already hinting to keep an eye out for them. That aside, I found this to be a really fun game and do recommend it to those who enjoy point and click adventures. I give it three master builders out of five.

Insight: Double clicking lets you move faster.

The Lion's Song

Everything is (loosely) connected.

This four chapter point and click game is pretty different from your usual adventure ones and is very much story driven. While your choices do affect outcomes down the track, its really the experience you will be playing for... which isn't helped by the seemingly stagnant first chapter (stuck in a one room cabin for most of it) or grindy second chapter (guess I didn't like the protagonist).

I had that feeling too, but I'm glad I stuck it out.

At least the music is good, and I really got into the game by chapter three but I'm wondering if that's simply too late for other players. Anyway, not a bad game but I wouldn't go out of my way to go get it. I give it two train stops out of five.

Insight: Even when solving math's puzzles, its still a find the spot game so just move your cursor around.

3 out of 10

Apparently it's an acceptable score.

Self proclaimed as a sitcom game, this focuses on a quirky game design company and their newest hire. It is quite funny, has decent art and is peppered with mini-games that are interesting, fun and skippable (if you just want to get on with the story).

Racially diverse cast of characters: check.

Most importantly the voice acting is pretty spot on too and my run of Episode 1 which included playing all the mini-games, took around 30 minutes. Unfortunately Episode 2 always crashes when I start it up and I'm not sold enough to be going out of my way to fix it. Just this time I'm not going to score out of five, and instead give it the score it put in it's own title. It seems fitting.

Insight: Throw the intern quickly. Taking time to aim will usually end in defeat!

Delores: A Thimbleweed Park Mini-Adventure

A Covid Freebie.

This point and click adventure sees the player in control of the titular Delores, who is trying her hand out at photo journalism for a small town paper. With pretty intuitive controls, there's not much of a learning curve in this purely find the spot game. Though in this case, "the spot" you need a picture of might need some puzzle solving to find.

That's about all the story you're going to get.

Your tasks are given in batches of five, at which point you pretty much have to quit the game. Don't worry, that's actually the very odd save mechanism and some things actually progress. An entertaining enough little exercise which is freely available on both Steam and Epic I think, perfect if you happen to be really bored and in the mood for something different. I give it 2 cameras out of 5.

Insight: Remember where things are to help your future assignments.

Cayne

A rare game where you play as a heavily pregnant lady.

Trying to get rid of an unwanted pregnancy, Hadley makes the mistake of using the free option provided by the Cayne Corporation - who are clearly up to some messed up business practices! Despite being ready to pop, you play as Hadley who can still climb and survive more explosions than necessary in this horror point and click game. While the graphics are nice, and the voice acting is superb, and the monster is politely patient (just don't go near it), this game has a few problems.

Hmm, I think this room could use more blood.

First, the click zones for things are TINY. Even looking for a way to simply move to a door you can plainly see might take some time to find the right spot to click on. Second, due to the setting there's a lot of future tech. This is nice and all but it often makes it hard to logically get from point a to point b at times. Third, there's a LOT of reading. LOTS. And it's required too since there are codes and settings you will need to remember later on. Lastly, and this is just a personal one, it leaves more questions than answers. Certainly an interesting adventure, but not one I recommend. I give Cayne 1.5 grubs out of 5.

Insight: Things to look out for other than unlock codes are temperature settings and room ID numbers.

Amazon Queen Temptress Teenagent

A trio of point and click adventures!

Flight of the Amazon Queen

I liked the navigation hub idea.

Having a business contract stolen from him is the least of Joe King's problems as the pilot for hire soon finds himself stuck in the Amazon jungle where a mad scientist is attempting to create an army of dinosaur women to take over the world! While this game doesn't take itself very seriously, the animations, voice acting, and most importantly - clue giving, is above par. That last one can really help when you get stuck. I quite liked their "over map" mechanic too. The only downside is the tremendous amount of backtracking involved in more than one area. Still worth a play, I give this 2 jet packs out of 5.

Insight: While you can only carry one at a time, you can come back to get more bananas and tree sap as required.

Lure of the Temptress

This pixel point and click adventure starts in a prison, which is fitting since the user interface is so poor that you will feel trapped regardless of your surroundings. Every mouse click will give you a few too many options. For example you can "Talk" or "Ask" or "Tell" (and a few more variations), all of which are different and you must use the correct one to progress in the story. My personal breaking point was clearly able to see a tap on a barrel, but having the character ignore it until you "look" at the barrel at which point the tap becomes an interactable feature. That's just fucking annoying and incredibly poor design. I knew from that point that this one isn't worth playing. 0 temptations out of 5. Not even worth a screen shot.

Insight: To get to the menu, move the cursor to the top of the screen.

Teenagent

Doing stupid stuff seems to be the key to success.

After being randomly selected to be a secret agent, you are sent for a brief stint at the secret agent boot camp before shipping off to solve a case of vanishing gold. For its age, the graphics and animations are actually quite decent here, and it comes with a good dose of humor and easy controls to keep you playing. It's also clear right from the get go that there are no game over screens. Alas, as you progress through the story not only does the pixel finding get more difficult, but the leaps in logic required to progress become really large. Would you really think to repeatedly insult a squirrel so much that it would throw a nut at you? Or paint something to look like a grenade which turns it into a real grenade? Didn't think so. Fun for a time, I give Teenagent 1.5 mouse traps out of 5.

Insight: F1 to reach the menu. Move the cursor to the top of the screen for the inventory.

Mutazione

Beautiful but slow.

Having heard that your grandfather is unwell you decide to visit him on an island full of cute and friendly mutants that need help with their gardens. GARDENER HERO COMMENCE! Just kidding (only sort of), this point and click adventure tells a pretty great story and has a whole bunch of memorable and quite well written characters. This involves a fair bit of reading as there is no voice acting but that works just fine. What's really amazing is the art and animation which was clearly lovingly crafted by the designers.

Nice creature designs too!

Unfortunately it does suffer from a slow pace and the cardinal sin of large open space purely for traversal. Walking through a few screens of beautiful art is fantastic but the appeal does fade the number of times you need to repeat the walk / slow jog - especially if there are no important interactive elements in them. Recommended for those who want to chillax and enjoy a bit of drama. I give Mutazione 3 seeds out of 5.

Insight: The fastest way through the game is to not explore and just do what the journal tells you to.

Deponia: The Complete Journey

You are your biggest enemy.

This point and click adventure follows the adventures of Rufus on his junk home planet and is actually three games rolled into one (Deponia, Chaos on Deponia, and Goodbye Deponia). The art style is great, and so is the humorous story along with the short musical interludes. There are also various mini games peppered in which helps keep things fresh.

Some memorable characters for sure!

That said, it is also hard, despite the clues that you can spot in hind-sight, as some puzzles verge into trial and error. Chasing an animated toothbrush in the first room gives you a taste of this. Later on there's a part where you need to turn down the in game music volume in game because the protagonist keeps getting it in his head while trying to remember a different tune. Good luck working that out!

On top of that, Rufus is a selfish prick which doesn't really make it easy to root for him - especially since his antics often put everyone in jeopardy. An amusing game but one I definitely needed breaks while playing, I give it 3 petting zoos out of 5 and only recommend it to fans of this genre.

The Kite

Point and Click your way out of an abusive relationship!

In this short point and click / find the spot game, you play as a poor mother who needs to look after her boy. While most of the puzzles are "logical", there are some (the cat in particular) that just make no sense what so ever!

Only the Kite gets to smile in this game.

At least the mouse cursor turns red when you hover over an interactive space. The story, art and music are also decent. Indeed, the main wall I had was getting the language into English! Worth a try, especially since it's free on Steam. :)

Insight: To get it to English, select the 2nd menu item then the 3rd menu item.