Rogue Legacy

Expect to die a lot!

In this side scrolling, platforming action game you play as an adventurer (and subsequent heirs) who delves into a horrible castle to try rid it of the evil dwelling within. Getting killed still gives you the collected gold for you to build up a castle of your own, right next door that can improve your heirs by giving them better stuff from the get go etc.

I do like that each heir is their own person, complete with their own class, strengths and clever pitfalls like can't see in color, or everything is dark, or everything being inverted.

Alas the part I hate most is that to go back into the evil castle costs you most of your unspent gold. That just seems like an unnecessary kick in the teeth to extend the grind, given that the castle upgrades later on do get quite pricey and often you will come back with not enough gold to do anything but lose most of it to re-enter the combat zone again.  

That singular bad and honestly cruel design decision is enough for me to say stay away from this game even if you like roguelikes.

Squid Game: Let the Games Begin (Board Game)

It's a money grab.

Based on the popular Netflix show with the same title, this Squid Game board game has up to six players leading a team of competitors through the six games on the show, usually using a small hand of cards that are reused in most of the games - as is a timer that ticks down and usually kills all remaining people once it hits 00:00.

In Red Light, Green Light you want to get as many people to the safe zone quickly but those that move fast have a bigger chance of getting killed by the doll. Dalgona is all about pushing your luck in drawing cards to push your team along but get a "crack" and its over for one contestant.

Tug of War lets you play cards per contestant you have in that match, whichever side has the highest total wins - eliminating the other team entirely. Marbles becomes a duel of guessing or agility where you have to toss something closer to the target on the table, Glass Bridge is another guessing game where you might want to go slower to let others take the risks (but that time keeps ticking down), and finally Squid game itself is a form of rock paper scissors with a few more rules.

OK components but ultimately each and every game here is really shallow with almost no thinking involved. I think what's happened here is that almost everything is luck based with very little in ways to compensate - and if everything is just luck then ultimately there is very little player agency. Unlike the show, we didn't like this game. Not recommended.

Prey (2022 movie) and Alice in Borderland (2 Seasons)

Killing for sport.

Prey

Naru (Amber Midthunder) wants to prove to her tribe that she can be a huntress but is constantly overshadowed by her skilled brother. When a Predator on safari arrives from space, the hunters quickly become the hunted. While it is a simple story it is very well done and comes with decent action sequences to boot. Recommended!

Alice in Borderland

A strange event sends people into an alternate version of Tokyo where they must participate in cruel and deadly games to survive while collecting a deck of playing cards. This is a really odd two season show, but it is also really good with multiple excellent characters, great music, and good sets and cinematography. It also has loads of death and gore so be warned! If you are ok with that (or liked Squid Game) then this is definitely one you should watch.

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.

Wingspan: Oceania + Fan Coop

In its original form, Wingspan is a 1-5 player competitive engine building game. As we aren't a competitive gaming group, we straight away got this highly rated fan made cooperative version and the Oceania expansion that it recommends which adds a new resource and lots of new birds.

The idea is that each player is building their own bird sanctuary and in the cooperative version must accomplish a number of objectives to win - such as filling their sanctuary, gaining a set number of points, or having birds in a particular order (wingspan size for example). While there are lots of pieces and it looks incredibly complicated at the start, turns are really simple. There are four rounds to the game and you basically do the same process.

You all have a set number of cubes and you use one per turn to signify what action on your board you take - and there are only four: get new bird cards, hatch eggs which are used more and more as your sanctuary fills up, gain food to pay for new birds, and add a new bird. Apart from that last action you can add up to five bird cards which might also have special actions - and they ALL fire the next time you pick their row to activate (hence, engine building).

It's a very pleasant game with nice art and can also easily eat four hours or more away without anyone noticing so expect a long game if you put this on the table.

Warframe: Gyre and Volt

A pair of electrical themed frames that are on the opposite ends of the spectrum!

Gyre

This warframe is one you'll get late in the game as it is only available through Zariman bounties. The Gyre is a clockwork dancer who uses her gears to make lots of sparks and passively gains 10% crit chance per electricity stack on her target! To aid with this she has an ability to increase her criticals even more while recharging energy, create a swirl of electricity around her and has a choice of two electrified balls she can toss that explode with more electricity!

Despite being a light show and a crit monster I found Gyre to be somewhat flimsy. It's hard work to zap people and avoid damage due to the short ranges of her abilities (*maybe not so bad if you build for max range), especially since those balls aren't the best projectiles around. If you want a lightning based frame, the one below is a much better choice.

Volt

Either selected as a starter frame or researched from at the Dojo, the Volt is basically the Flash complete with lightning powers. He can electrocute a small number of foes with his first ability or a huge number of foes with his last, run and melee super fast (and get his allies to do so as well, though he can't run as fast as Gauss), and create an electrical shield that blocks enemy fire but greatly improves allied fire that passes through it. This is Juris' favorite frame and one of the best in the game as his abilities synergize very well.

The speed is awesome in most missions as it can also speed up escort targets and the shield is great in defense and against bosses - Eidolons in particular as the shield also improves Operator based weaponry! Highly recommended.

Shadowrift

In this cooperative 1-6 player deck building game, you are tasked with defending a town from a variety of invading monsters. You can win in one of two ways: constructing 8 walls or closing a number of the titular Shadowrifts from which the enemies spawn from (you need to close the same number as players) BEFORE the town is overrun with corpses.

Yes, every time a towns person dies the card is replaced by a corpse card and if on any turn the active townies are all corpses (or a mix of corpses and bad dudes) you instantly lose. On the flip side, you (as players) can't actually die as you can hold an infinite amount of wound cards from battle - though that eventually does mess up your active hand too.

Nice art and cool ideas in this game, but there's not a lot of deck building required if you are going for the wall win strategy as you are already optimized for that from the start. So far we've played five of the six enemy factions and the strategy has worked for us against four of them (that fifth one was just focused on breaking walls and stealing money lol). Interesting game, but not as fighty as you might like and a bit heavy on setup time. DL also has a review!