Games I have played in 2016

It was the end of 2015 when I’ve read some news about the insane amount of games that were being published all around, both digital and non-digital.
Being a game designer and game design consultant, and very interested in looking into how games evolve, I realized that I didn’t actually know how many games I play, per year. Not only that, but also I wasn’t really aware of which kind of games I play.

So, on the New Year’s Eve between 2015 and 2016 I took a decision: for a whole year, I would have tracked every game I would have played. And here I am one year later plus some weeks for, you know, making sense of the list.

Data

I would like to spend a phrase or two for each game, but before going into that, there’s the need for some overall data.

Through the whole 2016, I’ve played 368 games, slightly more than one per day. Just to be clear, I’ve listed every games I’ve played from one minute sessions to 200+ hours of gameplay time.
For practical reasons I didn’t keep track of the whole time played, though. I know that Steam can kinda track it, but it’s way less practical to keep track of the time spent in a role-playing tabletop game, or the total amount of sessions played in a mobile game.
And let’s be honest: I don’t want to be the person to bring a stopwatch to the boardgame sessions with my friends.

Regarding the kind of games, I wasn’t really sure how to categorize games. As some of you know, the discourse about what’s a game and what’s not is kinda foggy. So, I’ve divided what I played in four categories: video games, tabletop, larp (live action role-playing), and misc. I’ve also placed tabletop role-playing inside the tabletop category. In misc, I’ve played both hybrid games and experimental games that rely heavily on the real world. Take this section as “I’m not really sure how to define this game”. Of 368 games played there were 271 video games, 70 tabletop, 15 larp, and 12 misc. Circa 3 game out of 4 were digital.

Being particularly interested in role-playing, I’ve also counted that kind of games from live-action role-playing to tabletop role-playing. I didn’t included role-playing video games. Doing this led me discover a terrible truth: only 28 games (8% circa) I’ve played involved non-digital role-playing. This is a number I definitely want to increase in my 2017.

I’ve also tried to attach a link for each game in the list. If a game had a website, I went with that. In the absence of it, I went with the store page, or Wikipedia. In some cases, there were only press releases. In 22 cases (6% circa), there were literally nothing to link: these games were either prototypes, student games, or games organized for special occasions, with no information online.

The list

Here’s the list, in playing order, from the 1st of January to the December 31.
I will write few phrases about each games in a freeform style driven by memory. It probably won’t be fair, spending a dozen of lines on a single games, while using just few words for others, but that’s how it is: I’ve got more to say on some games.

Slither Link [link]

One of my favourite logic puzzles of all time. The link bring you to the mobile version I always bring with me. If you want to learn the basics, this is the place.

Starbound [link]

I remember when I’ve played the early build at the end of 2013. My memories of the times were pretty terrible, and I was bothered by the random drop of weapons by enemies that should be even able to have weapons, like quadruped animals. But a lot of problems I remembered weren’t present in this version I’ve played years later. It became super good, and I felt a bit guilty regarding my early judgement of the game. I was so moved by this, that I delved into the publisher more.

Halfway [link]

This is indeed from the same publisher of the previously mentioned game. I especially liked the environment mood. This game deserve to be played by more people.

Band or Album [link]

A oral game to play with your friends. Nice for killing time when the conversation is dead.

Beneath The Lighthouse [link]

A game about rotating the field in order to reach the exit. Nice visuals, smooth gameplay.

Monaco [link]

Quite famous heist game, great to play with friends. Catchy soundtrack.

Victor Vran [link]

I’ve played this few weeks after having finished The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing (a game that I’ve loved). Victor Vran, on the other and, was pure delusion and I quickly abandoned it.

Godville [link]

Interesting mobile textual god-game where you see the life of your faithful believer and the tragicomical situations that happens.

Aviary Attorney [link]

Inspired by Ace Attorney and with an astonishing visual style taken by the wonderful illustrations of J. J. Grandville, I was surprised by how good this game was. The mood was incredible, and everything in the game enhance it. A must play if you love investigative narrative games.

Why Am I Dead At Sea [link]

If there is a setting that intrigue me, that’s a ship and the ocean all around. This investigative game put you in the shoes of your ghost, trying to discover who killed you. Yes, a bit Murdered: Soul Suspect, but this one’s setting is a ship.

Vagante [link]

I’m following the development of this super-nice 2D action rpg since its first steps, and it’s one of the few games that don’t make me hating the magic classes. It made me even loving the ranged one, and I’m usually the kind of player that default for the sword-based class. Anyway, now you can even play it with a friend. A must, if you like the genre.

O2Jam U [link]

I love rhythm games, and this is a must on my phone. A classic “note falling” game, but with a super nice selection of Korean artists. Two of my favourites: Senez and Warak.

Blaze Rush [link]

A fast-paced overview racing game. Reminded me of the good old times with the Micro Machines games. Very nice to play with friends.

Nuclear Throne [link]

The most recent game from Vlambeer is a very nice action roguelike. Lot of characters, and a ton of style.

ROCKETSROCKETSROCKETS [link]

A quick and frantic couch multiplayer game. On the same kind, I actually preferred LAZA KNITEZ!!.

Winning Putt [link]

This is a golf MMO. Let me repeat this: a golf MMO. I actually liked it, but was soon bothered by the pay-to-win aspects of it. Pity.

Volvox [link]

This puzzle game is full of style with its trippy watercolor visuals and a soundtrack based on hang sounds.

Play Club [link — NSFW]

Being interested in how sexuality is portrayed in games, I felt the need to play some of the Illusion works. The target is clearly the cis male player, and the narrative is more than terrible, but gameplay and character editor are quite good. There will be a lot of improvements on the mechanics in the latest title from this software house, but I’d spend some words later in this list about that.

Grand Theft Auto V [link]

So yeah, I’ve played the latest Rockstar Games GTA. There has been a lot said on this, so I’ll just say that was kinda what I expected. I overall liked it, but nostalgia is whispering to my ear that, damn, I would love another Sleeping Dogs open world game instead.

Old Friends [larp]

The first larp I’ve played in 2016 was one I was playtesting for Jason Morningstar and Ole Peder Giæver. I loved the more emotional and dark “Ghostbusters” mood.

Hanabi [link]

Quick and easy cooperative card game, with the twist than your hand of card is flipped and only your co-players will see them. A must play if you like clever filler games.

Timeline: Inventions [link]

I’m always perplexed with games that require too much of encyclopedia-ish knowledge, and this is probably why I hate Trivial Pursuit. The Timeline series use only dates, though, and ask players to correctly form a line of events, resulting in a surprisingly enjoyable feeling. The moment when you discovered that something happened centuries before you expected it is awesome. This version focused on inventions and discoveries.

Timeline: Historical Events [link]

This version of Timeline focus on historical events.

Timeline: Diversity [link]

This version of Timeline has general knowledge events, without a specific focus.

Patchwork [link]

Quick two-players boardgame with a patchwork aesthetics. I liked the flow of the game, but was a bit perplexed by the point calculation at the end.

Timeline: Music & Cinema [link]

This version of Timeline focus on dates regarding movies, songs, and musicals.

Diktat [link]

I am involved in the design of this game. This play session was a playtest of the first prototype. Its form changed in the following months, but at the time this was an hybrid between a tabletop boardgame and a role-playing game, where two opposing political parties try to exploit the others, while being careful of not driving the nation towards the civil revolution.

Left 4 Dead 2 [link]

Yup, sometimes it happens that I play this game again. It’s not that common, though, and I tend to dislike zombie games. This one has a super-clever game AI, though.

StepMania [link]

Here we are, back in the rhythm zone. I played this game while co-organizing the Copenhagen node of the Global Game Jam 2016. We wanted to develop a rhythm game, so we played this for research purposes. I was a terrible StepMania player, but recently I’ve learned some tricks and, hey, I improved.

Dance Trial Inferno [link]

This was the result of the team during the Global Game Jam: a rhythm game where you need to appease the god of fire, or your people will die. The game must be played on a dance mat, and also have Twitch integration with the possibility for the viewers to modify the rules for the player.

Frat Trap [link]

During the Global Game Jam I’ve also spent some time playing other people games when I could. This one was a game about drunk people and bladder control. It sound disgusting, but the game really tried to convey that feeling to the player. Thumbs up for the effort.

Color Sensitive

A platform in which you need to change color in order to interact with some coloured walls and floors.

Patapon [link]

There aren’t enough words to express how much I loved this PSP game. A super-clever hybrid between rhythm, strategy, and rpg games. If you haven’t played it, you should. Really.

183 Days [link]

The first time I heard about this was by reading its pitch. “Sam can see the future. Dylan can see many possible futures. Tomorrow, they go on a date. Their relationship lasts 183 days”. Here there are some things I’m super-intrigued by: two-players role-playing games, and games about love. Damn, I even wrote a paper about games and falling in love. Anyway, the first time I played this, was with a terrible person, and it was bitter. Luckily, recently I’ve replayed it with another one, and this time, woah. A must play if you’re into personal, intimate, and close-to-home role-playing.

Line / Dash [link]

A frantic arcade game about lines and timing. Very nice feeling and minimal aesthetic.

LocoRoco [link]

Together with Patapon, another great game from the PSP era. LocoRoco is all about turning the world left and right in order to move cute little creatures around. And shaking it to made them jumping. Nice visuals and a catchy soundtrack enhance the experience.

When Mummification Fails [link]

A Global Game Jam game from the Italian POLIMI node. This one is a platform game where you control a half-mummificated pharaoh.

A Fistful of Gun [link]

Quick and frantic action shooting game. The thing I’ve loved most is that different characters have different controls, bringing the player to have different experiences. Best experienced if you are in possession of a keyboard, a mouse, and a controller.

Triple Triad [link]

The classic Final Fantasy VIII mini-game, in a standalone version inside the Final Fantasy Portal App. Years ago I loved this game so much that I printed some homemade cards to play a non-digital version of this with my sisters.

Stone Age [link]

A worker placement boardgame that I disliked. Nothing else to say.

Monopoly: Game of Thrones Collector’s Edition [link]

Let be honest there. I spent years of my youth playing Monopoly. And yeah, it’s important and everything, but I’d be glad to spend future time on games that aren’t Monopoly. I’ve played this one just because someone really wanted to try it. I’m not a fan of Game of Thrones, so well. I hated every second of this.

Cards Against Humanity [link]

You know this game. It’s basically the evil version of Dixit.

Dice Heroes [link]

A turn-based strategy game that use dices as units. Interesting.

Clustertruck [link]

Since I’ve played the early version, I knew this was going to be awesome. Months later it was released, and I loved it. A super-frantic first-person game about jumping from truck to truck. Yes, you read it right: jumping from truck to truck.

Berlin’82 [link]

Fast game about a never ending robbery bank car chase. Really nice isometric visuals and pastel colors.

Fragments [link]

In February there was the Black Box Horsens event: a weekend full of blackbox larps. Fragments was an emotional game about family drama, played in counter-chronological order scenes.

Deranged [link]

I loved this blackbox larp about the life and death of Robert Schumann. It was really emotional and intense. Play this if you have the opportunity.

Bring Your Own Bottle [link]

I generally prefer to play sad larps, but this was a nice throwback to friendship memories. Really nice and heartwarming, with some emotional moments too.

Settled? [link]

The second blackbox game in a trilogy of larps about love and relationships. The first one was named Single? and was about finding new love after a breakup. This one was about routines and everyday life in the relationship.

The Witness [link]

Finally I managed to play this wonderful game. Being a lover of logic puzzle games based on lines, I adored every second of this.

Two Interviewees [link]

I like visual novels and I’m also looking for experimental twists in this genre’s mechanics. In this game, you follow two characters at the same time, in different time/spaces, but with the same choices and situations: a job interview. And the two protagonists are a male and a female characters. Neat.

Tom Clancy’s The Division [link]

I was looking forward to trying this since the last time I saw something at a Gamescom, years ago. Sadly, this early closed beta was poorly optimized, and I abandoned it quickly. I’m looking forward to try the current release, though.

Shadowrun: Hong Kong [link]

I loved the first two Shadowrun Returns and Shadowrun: Dragonfall, so when the Kickstarter of this one went live, I quickly become one of the backers. Even thought I liked Dragonfall’s story more, this last one had a better and more memorable character design.

Deep Sea Diver [link]

While doing research on submarine games for a university project, I ended playing some forgettable games on flash websites. This was one of them.

The Aquatory [link]

Another forgettable submarine game.

DIVE [link]

Another terrible submarine game.

Submarine Dive [link]

The last one of them, luckily.

Dino Run DX [link]

A running game about pixelated dinosaurs. Some juicy visuals and customization.

Tabletop Simulator [link]

This game is a real jam. With this, you can play a lot of boardgames digitally, and with your friends too. The workshop is astonishing and full of stuff, from the most famous one, to some of the most niche and weird boardgames. See for yourself in the community: there are more than 13000 games there.

Duolingo [link]

Being there in Copenhagen, I felt it was only fair to learn some Danish. So, apart from taking a traditional course, I did some Duolingo on my phone. I placed this in the misc category, but it’s clearly a game, with reward, progression, unlockables, and so on.

SpeedRunners [link]

A quick multiplayer running game. Lot of levels and characters, but it didn’t hooked me.

Stick Hero [link]

Nice small game for mobile. Raise the stick, pass the gaps.

A Friendship in Four Colours [link]

A super interesting local cooperative platform game. I don’t want to spoil this telling too much, but you should play it with a friend.

Tearaway [link]

I loved Tearaway. Great visuals and art direction. Also, the possibility to apply photos taken with the PS Vita as texture for in-game elements was brilliant. I had Hawaiian shirt patterns all over the place. Thumbs up.

Valiant Hearts: The Great War [link]

Don’t be fooled by the colorful and cute visuals of this game, and think this will be light. The game take your hand, and walk with you through the devastation of the first World War. A must play.

The Culling [link]

Battle Royale? The Hunger Games? Both, in a multiplayer game.

B-Asik [link]

I honestly don’t remember how I ended up playing this super early prototype about slashing stuff.

Super Hexagon [link]

Well, you probably already know of this, but in case you don’t here’s something: a quick and frantic game, amazing seizuring visuals, and a soundtrack made by Chipzel.

TPOW

This had a link when I’ve played it, but now it’s gone. Anyway, I’ve played this intro larp during the wonderful Solmukohta 2016. The best thing of the game was a meta-technique involving huge and heavy stones that you can carry with you while playing and, if you had one with you, your character was in a depressing phase.

Crow Funeral [link]

One of the american freeform games in the Golden Cobra Challenge 2015. This one won the “Best Incorporation of Touch” award. Players take the role of a murder of crows (in case you didn’t know, a “murder” is the collective noun of a group of crows), discussing the death of one of you.

A quiet place in hell [link]

When you think that real estate market is hell, think about this: you just died, and you need to find a suitable house for you. In hell. A wonderfully comic american freeform game.

The Exiled [link]

Formerly known as Das Tal, I entered this closed beta inspired by the premise of being an hybrid between MOBA, MMO, open world, and with strategy elements. I liked the art direction, but the game was too unriped at the time.

Basement [link]

Basically this is Breaking Bad: The Game. With a tycoon/managerment layer on top of it.

Lunatic Rave 2 [link]

The best Beatmania IIDX clone around. Even if, technically, is not a clone since this is released for PC, while Beatmania IIDX exist only as either coin op cabinet or PlayStation 2 game.

Capacity [link]

Interesting short game, nice visuals. Don’t want to spoil too much of the story, but if you got some spare time, play it.

Volfied [link]

My relationship with Volfied is a long one. It was indeed my first videogame. I remember it as it was yesterday: I was a very young boy, and my cousin had this game on DOS. He played through it, and I remember the ending. I keep playing this game every year, and haven’t beated it yet. One day, before I die, I may be able top.

Sarah And Death [link]

A mobile puzzle game full of visual inspirations. Nice graphic style.

Stronghold Crusader HD [link]

The good old Stronghold Crusader, with “HD” graphics. A piece of history in the strategy games land.

Spacebase DF-9 [link]

I had great expectations about this game. I was in love with the visuals, and the dominant orange neon color. And yet, the game was “abandoned”, and failed to deliver everything it promised. Pity.

A Thousand Stars and No Home [link]

I played the Italian localized event of this Danish larp. The core idea is to take many sci-fi tropes and worlds, including some good Ursula K. Le Guin stuff, and make a game about refugees. Many characters, from many worlds, trying to escape their past lives, looking for a better life.

DiscrimiNation [link]

I kept my eyes on this boardgame since the first time I saw it online. Finally, I played it at the PLAY fair in Modena. Players take roles of different marginalized groups, in an environment of hate and discrimination. A must play, if you’re interested in meaningful games.

#SelfieTennis [link]

I love HTC Vive, and for some reasons I don’t suffer motion sickness from VR. This game is all about playing tennis against yourself, and the experience is great.

Spaceship with a Mace [link]

Local multiplayer, where you try to crush your enemies. I honestly played this for just a quick match months ago, and don’t remember more than this.

Pico Pirates [link]

This brilliant local multiplayer put you in control of a ship, trying to sink other players. The twist is in how you need to move inside your ship to do stuff: every area has different effect: rear left to turn left, rear right to turn right, center to manage the sails, and front to use the cannon. It quickly become super frantic as you try to move your ship and to shoot enemies. Brilliant.

Genital Jousting [link]

Yup, this game is all about making penises with assholes trying to enter other penises’ assholes. In local multiplayer.

Weekly Leaks [link]

The awesome Nordic Game Jam come, and I was in the team that designed this card game about the stock market of secrets. I’m still quite proud of the bubble burst mechanic.

Guns of Mosede [link]

At the Nordic Game Jam there was this HTC Vive game about teaching math through the preparation and use of a cannon. Also, apparently this was a master thesis. Cool.

Schrodinger’s Shark [link]

This Nordic Game Jam test your planning, morphing a 1vs1 game in a 3vs3 game, where your team is you, the past you, and the past past you. Brilliant.

VaRrrrrrgh [link]

The first time I saw this, was at the closing ceremony of the Nordic Game Jam. The concept is easy: you tape a kitchen paper empty cardboard cylinder in front of your phone, and you play the role of a pirate watching through a spyglass. In a one-eye VR game.

Downwell [link]

A fast, frantic, and neatly designed game about descending an endless well. While shooting from your boots.

Galaxy Trucker [link]

Many of you probably played the boardgame, but this entry is for the videogame port. Even if it remove some of the materiality from the physical version, this mobile experience is pretty good and true to the original feeling.

Hyper Light Drifter [link]

I have been a backer of the Kickstarter campaign, but I admit I’ve waited on purpose for the release of a more stable version of the game before playing it. I liked the graphics and the gameplay, overall. A nice modern take with a retro vibe on the action rpg genre.

Space Bastards [link]

One of the non-digital games developed during the Nordic Game Jam. The game is a small 4X focused on exploring, trading, and stealing.

Outbreak [link]

Another non-digital game from the Nordic Game Jam. In this one, you represent a disease spreading in the city, and your goal is to infect more people than your opponents.

Prune [link]

A very nice and poetic mobile game about growing and trimming a plant to make it reaching the sunlight.

Western Press [link]

A brilliant small game about western duels that uses a brilliant game mechanic to represent player’s ability to shoot first. Also, I’m in this game’s Steam Workshop as a character.

Mirror’s Edge Catalyst [link]

I’ve played in the beta of the sequel of the most famous sci-fi parkour game. I admit that I am quite intrigued by what I’ve played here, with the openworld-ish design and aesthetic of the game.

Wiraqocha [link]

A nice worker placement/area control boardgame that allows for many different and parallel winning conditions. I love his aesthetics that reminds me of Atlantis: The Lost Empire.

Haiku Kaiju [link]

If you love haikus and/or kaijus, this is the short game you need.

Silence of the Crabs [link]

One of the prototypes of the Game Development course at the IT University of Copenhagen. This is a turn-based/real-time hybrid stealth game with animals.

Virtua Tennis 4 [link]

One of my favourite tennis video games ever. And the world totally deserves a sequel. Why there aren’t more tennis games out there?

Drawtopia [link]

Do you remember he great and cute Crayon Physics Deluxe? Well, this is a bad version of that one.

Framed [link]

Noir mood and comic board aesthetics are the core of this narrative puzzle game based on moving comic panels around to find an order that make the main character evading dangerous situations.

Im null [link]

This game apparently disappeared from its website, but it was a wireframe exploration of sounds and places.

FEAR [link]

This tabletop role-playing game uses the FATE system with a psychological horror Vietnam war setting. It’s currently under playtest, but it’s very promising.

Her Inner Dead Ends [link]

I’ve worked on the design of this two-player role-playing game with Francesco Zani for the Golden Gobra Challenge 2015. We won the “Most Polished and Ready-to-Play Game” award, and I admit I’m quite proud of this game.

O2Jam Analog [link]

The previous game in the O2Jam series I’ve mentioned at the beginning of this list. This has simpler graphics and no change in the speed of notes through the song. Some songs are missing from the most recent title in the series, though.

Gladiabots [link]

This hybrid between a puzzle and a strategy game ask you to create AI for your unit in order to pass the level. An interesting introduction to the topic.

Robot Arena III [link]

When I heard that a sequel to the great Robot Arena 2: Design and Destroy was coming out, I was astonished. While waiting, I’ve mentally prepared myself watching episodes of BattleBots and Robot Wars. The game came out a bit buggier and more incomplete than expected, but I hope that the developer will continue polishing this title.

Emily is Away [link]

A narrative game that bring memories of the time spent using old chat programs decades ago. It bringed me both memories of my MSN period, and of the wonderful Christine Love’s game Digital: A Love Story.

Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number [link]

A lot of people disliked this sequel, but I enjoyed it enough to finish it.

Verdun [link]

If you’re searching for a World War I game with an heavy atmosphere and like the fear of being sometime killed with just a single bullet, this is the game for you. I liked it.

Deep Space D-6 [link]

Since the first moment I saw this Kickstarter campaign I was intrigued. I grow up with sci-fi books from the 60s and the 70s, and the aesthetic of the game was all about that. It’s a single player boardgame abut worker placement, that could as well been treated as the non-digital version of FTL: Faster Than Light.

Timing Hero: Colosseum & Raid [link]

As the name said, this small rpg-ish game is all about timing your attacks and evasions. Too repetitive, though.

Battlestation: Harbinger [link]

Nice space strategy game with some rpg mechanics. I’ve played the mobile version.

Space Washers [link]

Another prototype from the Game Development course. This game is an asymmetrical local coop where players try to reach their home planet with their parent’s spaceship, while cleaning it from space trash.

Overthrow [link]

Another asymmetrical local multiplayer prototype from the Game Development course. One player Leap Motion to maneuver a giant god-like hand, trying to crush the other players characters.

MonoSlice [link]

A small frantic arcade mobile game I’ve worked on for the game development course at the IT University of Copenhagen.

Coupling

This other local multiplayer prototype from the Game Development course has no link, but it was about connecting pipelines from your starting station to the central hub before other teams.

White Space [link]

One of the most visually polished games to come out of that Game Development course. A nice first-person puzzle game about time.

Survarium [link]

One in a while I open this online FPS, to give it a try and see how it developed. It’s still in beta, but it was interesting. Nice setting, inspired by Tarkovsky’s Stalker, and with some developers from the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game series.

Lifeline: Silent Night [link]

The sequel to the first Lifeline game. I like this series, and love how it uses notifications and passing of time as part of the game dynamics. The first game is a must play, and this one is a nice sequel.

Metal Gear Solid V: Phantom Pain [link]

I loved the Metal Gear Solid series since the first time I’ve played Metal Gear Solid for the PlayStation 1. I’ve played most of the main titles of the series, including even the obscure and non-canonical ones for GameBoy and PSP. This last entry took a lot of my hours, and I liked it overall, even if it was quite different from the previous titles.

The Final Station [link]

I liked Snowpiercer, and like the “ship in the sea” setting, I’m intrigued by the train one. This 2D survival game has indeed a quite peculiar setting, alternating train management phases with exploration and scavenging. An interesting game.

Liyla and The Shadows of War [link]

A game abut the invasion of Gaza. A lot of personal emotional involvement from the developer, narratively speaking, but not very polished as a game.

Primordia [link]

I was intrigued by the setting of this game since the first time I saw some screenshots. Liked it overall, but nothing really new regarding the graphic adventures genre.

The Masterplan [link]

Like Monaco, but a bit more clunky.

Thoughts & Prayers: The Game [link]

A game about stopping mass shootings in america using thoughts and prayers.

The Beginner’s Guide [link]

Saying too much about which thoughts this game bringed to me would spoil it. If you like meta-games and are intrigued by the academic discourse about players and authors, this is a must play.

VOEZ [link]

A rhythm games with a more freeform approach to the “note falling” subgenre.

OverRapid [link]

Another “note falling” rhythm game.

Read Only Memories [link]

A love letter and homage to Kojima’s Snatcher. Mechanically speaking it’s an old school hybrid between a visual novel and a graphic adventure but the narrative core is young, with a modern and diverse approach to gender in character design.

Sword & Crossbones: An Epic Pirate Story [link]

A tactical role-playing game about pirates, with a comedy vibe and character design.

Tropico 5 [link]

I’ve played all the games in the Tropico series, and I’ve loved Tropico 4. Sadly, Tropico 5 has few improvements, but a lot of things that went wrong. Your dictator’s traits choice list is poor in the new title, and the background possibility is missing entirely. The dinasty is an interesting twist, though.

Alien Frontiers [link]

A tight boardgame abut area control and worker placement in an planet colony setting. Nice.

Honey♥Select [link — NSFW]

Another Illusion game. Differently from Play Club, in this one huge step forward has been made. There’s a great editor and more polished mechanics, but most important of all, there’s a huge re-evaluation of the female NPCs: here there’s the option to make them taking control, literally removing agency from the player. This is hands down the most interesting design element I’ve encountered during 2016 in a game of this kind.

Toncc [link]

Interesting three-players abstract board games that use a group of discs as a play field.

CapRiders: Euro Soccer [link]

Some games developed at jams evolve and become full releases on some platforms. It’s the case for this Subbuteo-ish game, initially developed during the Global Game Jam 2016 in Milan.

Milanoir [link]

A super-interesting pulp noir game set during the Years of Lead in the ’70s. Nice visuals, and a super fitting soundtrack.

Climax

The prototype of this 3D fighting game was about using the trope of the “Final Battle” in action movies. No link or online presence, though.

Maxioh Dimensional Defender [link]

A vertical pixel art lane-shooter for mobile.

Ta-Pum! [link]

This is the Italian edition of the most famous The Grizzled, named after a war song used by Italian soldiers in the trenches. A wonderful cooperative game about a group of friends during World War I. The game was illustrated by one of the comic artists died during the Charlie Hebdo attack.

Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma [link]

Almost every person I know that has played Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors and Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward waited for this third title in the series. I played this one as soon as it was published, and finished every ending. I’ve got mixed opinions about it, but I don’t want to do any spoiler. The lucky news for you is that the first two titles are coming to Steam soon.

Colt Express [link]

A quick and nice action planning boardgame about train robberies in the far west.

Dominion [link]

The game that popularized the in-game deck building mechanic.

Secret Hitler [link]

The Kickstarter campaign was quite successful for this game that we can put in the basket with Werewolf and The Resistance.

Deception: Murder in Hong Kong [link]

I am so happy to have backed this game on Kickstarter. The final product is a wonderful party game about deduction and bluffing. For 4 to 12 players, this is a must to have if you like detective games.

Drakon [link]

A tile placement & dungeon explorer game I didn’t liked very much. Not my kind of short game, I suppose.

Carrom [link]

A “strike and pocket” game famous in India and Sri Lanka. I acquired a wooden board of this years ago, and from time to time I still enjoy playing it.

Caligula [link]

A super-underrated intense game about conjuring and backstabbing during the decay of Rome. Nice auction mechanics and a lot of replayability too.

I.D.I.O.T.S. [link]

The first game I’ve designed. From the first prototype made in 2006 the game changed a lot, and I’m currently testing the English version under this name. A role-playing party game about the insanity of talk shows.

Funemployed! [link]

Do you enjoy having job interviews? You will in this role-playing party game about that.

Lovely Planet [link]

This crazy super-coloured first-person shooter game has an amazing soundtrack. Also, it’s visual style is awesome.

Oxenfree [link]

Wonderful mood, great visual style, and an awesome dialogue-system in this supernatural teen thriller game.

Cities: Skyline [link]

I had high hopes for this, but the game it’s strongly OCD-unfriendly. I missed Sim City’s good ol’ grids for the whole time. Pity.

Elegy for a Dead World [link]

Nice poetic game about writing stuff about solitaire planets where there are traces of dead civilizations. You can also read other players’ writings. If you’re playing this, you can have access to my personal writings too.

Abyss Odyssey [link]

A lot was said about this side-scrolling roguelite. I personally liked it. Nice visuals and soundtrack. Be aware it can get repetitive, though.

Vanguard V [link]

In this period I had access to a mobile VR headset, so I tried some movile virtual reality games. This one is about space fights.

Galaxy VR [link]

This one was also a mobile VR game about space fights.

Life is Strange [link]

Finally I’ve managed to play it. I liked the style overall, but disliked both endings. Anyway, this for me is basically The Butterfly Effect: The Game. If you’ve watched the movie you can’t deny it.

Never Alone [link]

Nice cooperative platform about a young Iñupiat girl and an arctic fox. There’s also an amazing amount of video short documentaries about Alaska natives inside.

Elliot Quest [link]

A metroidvania inspired by Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. Played it for a while, but i got pretty bored soon.

Apollo XIII [link]

A great players cooperative board game for 2 to 5 players about the Apollo 13 mission. If you love cooperative games, you should play this.

Blackwell Deception [link]

The fourth game in the Blackwell series. If you don’t know it, go play it.

Cytus [link]

Wonderful mobile rhythm game from a Taiwanese studio. If you’re familiar with the game Osu! then you’re ready to play this game. If you’re not, this game is still a nice entry point to the genre.

Chronicles of Skin [link]

A storytelling and role-playing game about a forgotten war between two opposite sides. I really liked it.

Shut Up & Take My Money [link]

Are you a game designer inside? Are you ready to shock the world with the most amazing Kickstarter ever? Well, this is the game for you then.

Fluxx [link]

Partially inspired by Nomic, this card game will let players modify the rules of the game through the cards, until someone win. A classic, but I find it not very replayable, once you understand the core mechanics.

Family Fluxx [link]

The family version of Fluxx.

Make You Gunfighters [link]

There’s a war between gunfighters in this small Far West town. This Japanese card game is quite broken to be honest, with unfair mechanics, and player elimination, but the art and illustrations are super-cute.

Space Station 13 [link]

This top-down role-playing multiplayer game is astonishing, conceptually speaking. Every player pick a role in this space station, and everything goes awry. The downside to a brilliant array or in-game freedom of possibilities is a super-clunky user interface and controls.

Barotrauma [link]

Basically same concept of Space Station 13, but with a 2D side view and inside a submarine.

I Am A Brave Knight [link]

A metaphorical mobile poem game about the life and death of a man.

7 Wonders [link]

A classic 2 to 7 players strategy card drafting game. You should really play this if you haven’t already.

VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action [link]

People often said that the writings in games sucks. They’re right, but they haven’t played this game yet. Intriguing character design, nice narrative rhythm, cool setting and an awesome soundtrack. A must play if you like games with well written characters.

The Wolf Among Us [link]

Nice interactive adventure based on Vertigo Comic’s Fables. Great mood and art direction.

The Detail [link]

A Finnish episodic noir adventure. A nice take on the genre.

A Real Game [link]

A non-digital meta-game designed by Caitlynn Belle. Print it and play it, seriously.

The Endless Express [link]

A surreal exploration game, with a ton of style. I loved the game’s concept based on moving through different trains and the emphasis on waiting the next one.

Tormentum - Dark Sorrow [link]

A grim and dark graphic adventure. Nice style and visuals.

N++ [link]

It was the year 2004 when the first N was released. This plusplus version add a lot of content and style. A must play if you like frantic puzzle-platformers.

Twilight Struggle [link]

The digital version of the highly awarded and beautifully designed strategy game about the Cold War. Great port.

Reigns [link]

Neat mobile game that use Tinder’s swiping mechanic applied to a branching storytelling with management elements. Wonderful.

Dead End [link]

A brilliant one-button game about jumping and avoiding enemies while standing on the edge of a cliff.

Viscera Cleanup Detail [link]

You know very well the splatterfest in the levels of the typical first-person shooter games. In this game, you take the roles of a cleanup team with the task of cleaning all the shit on these levels. Body parts, bullets, and broken stuff all around.

13 Days: The Cuban Missile Crisis [link]

Basically a short version of Twilight Struggle, but focused only on the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Star Realms [link]

A deck building card game about space combat.

Mottainai [link]

Nice visuals, but it didn’t convinced me. I perceived it as highly unbalanced.

Blackwell Epiphany [link]

The fifth game in the Blackwell series. As said before: if you haven’t played any game in the series, you should.

Assassin [link]

Also known as Killer. Every player has a target, every player is a target. A circle of mock assassinations that will result with only one survivor.

Expand [link]

A small abstract game about a circular labyrinth.

DMCA’s Sky [link]

Born with the name No Mario’s Sky, it changed it after a DMCA notice. Basically it’s Super Mario meets No Man’s Sky.

Elite Dangerous [link]

Open world and MMO, this is one of the best space games I’ve tried. Find yourself a good joystick, and fly.

Poncho [link]

This platform used the background and parallax as part of the level. Nice try, but the game fail if compared with FEZ.

Zen and the Art of Transhumanism [link]

As said on the game page, this is a cyberpunk pottery game about improving the human race through technology. Nice small game.

Supercontinent Ltd [link]

A cyberpunk game about making phone calls while modifying your voice. Brilliant.

The Samaritan Paradox [link]

Point and Click adventure set in Sweden in the ‘80s.

Postmortem: one must die [link]

You take the role of an Agent of Death in a fictive nation. Inside a party with some of the key-people in the whole nation, you should decide who will die. Intriguing system of presenting you with the ripple effect consequences of your choice.

Howling Dogs [link]

A Twine game about escapism, violence, and religion.

Mystic Messenger [link]

A visual novel about finding a phone and interacting with mystic people. A bit of dating sim, a bit of investigation.

Super Time Force Ultra [link]

Super-frantic action game about using time travel as a mechanic. Neat.

Photopia [link]

A ground-breaking interactive fiction from 1998.

Colorave [link]

A party game that use lumisticks to conquer zones.

The AI with a Broken Heart [link]

You need to fix an AI that fell in love with the previous programmer. Brilliant.

Fiasco [link]

The tabletop role-playing game that I’ve played most in my life, hands down. Masterless, inspired by the Coen Brothers movies, this game is a must play. You have the manual and need free playsets? Here you can find them. And if you’re a fan of Hong Kong movies from the ’90s, you will love HK TPK.

ᗢ [link]

A beautiful minimal exploration game where you are a cat. Nice poetic pixel art style.

I Love Walking Very Much [link]

I loved this poetic lateral walking game. Great environmental mood and visuals.

A Heart between Parts [link]

A Point and Click adventure where you are a scientific experiment hated by its own creator. Short and nice.

aglimpse: friends [link]

A social mobile game about making photos with your friends, challenging them with small tasks.

AGPPBP [link]

A small game about reading a book. Spooky.

The Shadows That Run Alongside Our Car [link]

This small visual novel about two characters in a car can be played from both point of views. This game has also a super nice visual change of light to match the time in the game.

YIIK: Episode Prime [link]

The Episode Prime was basically a teaser game for YIIK: A Postmodern RPG, a turn-based JRPG set in the ’90s. I’m so looking forward for the release.

The Cat and the Coup [link]

Small game where you control a cat during the 1953 Iranian coup d’état.

Ladykiller in a Bind [link]

The new Christine Love’s game is a wonderful visual novel with a very cool branching dialogue systems. When playing this kind of games one of the problem I too often find is the disconnection between the player’s mind and the character’s mind, a thing that usually bring dissociation in the dialogue. In this game, this doesn’t happen thanks to a lof of very clever design choices in conveying not only the topic of the branching options, but also the thoughts and moods of it before selecting. Also, sometimes waiting for answering and listening to the other character more unlock new dialogue choices. A must play if you like narrative and branching games.

Monty Python Fluxx [link]

The Monthy Python version of Fluxx.

Firefly Fluxx [link]

The Firefyl edition of Fluxx.

Stoner Fluxx [link]

The marijuana-themed edition of Fluxx. I just want to say that all these version of Fluxx were played by request of a friend, and that I really want to stop playing this game. I’ve played it enough, really.

Expedition: Northwest Passage [link]

A competition among explorers to become the first to reach the end of the Northwest Passage, and to return to Greenland. Neat tile-placement mechanic, and brilliant use of the passage of the sun. I loved this game.

SpaceChem [link]

A classic Zachtronics game. I loved it. If you have never played it, you probably should.

There You Go [link]

Small isometric room-based puzzle games. Nice visuals.

WILT [link]

At the end of September the 6th edition of the Blackbox CPH took place. This was one of the blackbox larp I’ve played, and it’s a non-verbal game about a breakup. An intimate experience.

Winston Green Prison [link]

This was an amazing blackbox larp about the Suffragette movement in United Kingdom during the early 20th century. It made me thinking about what I now call “the right to worry”. When worrying about someone infringe their rights? When stop our worries is a form of respect to another person? I loved this game.

Socialismo y Muerte [link]

An intense blackbox larp about the Los Frikis community in Cuba during the end of the ’80s. This community was composed by punks, metalheads, queer, and artists that were heavily discriminated by the cuban governement of the time. Most of them died by self-injection of HIV as an act of rebellion. Socialismo y Muerte is a game about that.

M/S Kristina [link]

Brilliant blackbox larp about escaping your nation and becoming a refugee. The scenes alternate from past to future, playing in your old nation, during the boat journey, and in the new nation. I liked it, and there were some very intense moments.

Diaries of a Spaceport Janitor [link]

I really wanted to like this game, but I wasn’t able to. I loved the setting, but couldn’t end up liking the gameplay. I want to stress that it wasn’t because of the janitorial job, since I’m always playing the Janitor in the before mentioned Space Station 13.

Klodsmajor [link]

Basically coloured Jenga.

Carcassonne [link]

The classic tile-placement game.

Tetris [link]

The classic tile-matching puzzle video game.

Texas hold’em [link]

The famous variation of the card game Poker.

Chess [link]

The classic two-player abstract game.

Pocket Rush [link]

Nice one-finger racing game. Neat visuals.

Space Game VR

No links and no official name for this experimental prototype developed at IT University of Copenhagen. You move grabbing pipes to create momentum and move through a zero-gravity corridor space station.

A week at the court [link]

A small interactive fiction developed by a classmate for the Transmedial Storytelling course.

What’s inside the box? [link]

Mobile game about 100 puzzles, one inside the other.

The Corridor

No links for this zombie survival boardgame prototype about running away from zombies in hallways, hoping to not be the first one to be devoured.

The Airship Races

No links for this airship racing boardgame about being the fastes to collect resources.

Hit Parade [link]

A single player rhythm game prototype where you need to punch an actual punching bag rhythmically.

Haunted House

No links for this semi-cooperative haunting game about trapping a ghost that can enter people’s bodies.

SHENZHEN I/O [link]

This new Zachtronics game came out of the blue and absorbed me. When I was in high school, I hated assembly code the hell out of it. Zachtronics made me loving that now. This game is smart, clever and one of the most interesting cases of open-ended puzzle games. A must play if you like puzzle games.

Your Edges Don’t Belong Here [link]

Small abstract game about discrimination between shapes. Neat.

The Muse [link]

A first-person puzzle game about notes and music.

MetaBeta [link]

Previously named Stop Playing, this game prototype don’t want to be played, by design. You as a player need to fix it. Nice.

Guns of Icarus Online [link]

One of my favourite cooperative competitive games. Fight other airships with your crew.

Polyforge [link]

Mobile game about spinning around shapes, shooting at every side.

Hop in the Dark

No prototype for this student prototype that use an actual snowboard to put the player inside a cave, surviving through cavemen.

The Big Book of Madness [link]

Nice cooperative deck building game about students of a magic school that release monsters from a book. I love how the actual book is semi-procedural, generated randomly each play by picking a cover, a back, and a handful of pages. Super-neat.

Betrayal at House on the Hill [link]

I really wanted to like this semi-cooperative game. I like how every game ends up with a different scenario and traitor, but the game itself felt too clunky for me.

Enki [link]

A small workout game for your programming skills.

The Metagame [link]

A card based party game that reminded me of the before mentioned Timeline.

Seen [link]

An interactive fiction game that uses chatting to branch the story. The game also has an editor to make you able to create your own scenarios. Nice.

Room 25 [link]

Basically this is the unofficial Cube port of the movie as a game. Nice.

Dog Eat Dog [link]

This was the first Kickstarter I’ve backed, in 2012. The result was a neat role-playing game about colonialism. Still a very actual game.

111 mph [link]

Also known as 180 Km/h in Italian, this small rpg is one of my usual examples to explain the concept of Bleed while playing.

Between Worlds [link]

Only a .zip link for this student investigative visual novel about preventing a suicide.

Sokward [link]

A student game about social awkwardness and human morphing. Nice and hilarious.

Kholat [link]

Environmental horror about the Dyatlov Pass incident. Good use of the weather and the ambient.

Devil Daggers [link]

A super frantic small arena survival arcade game about throwing daggers to kill demons before they kill you.

Tempest [link]

Nice sailing game. I liked it, but I’ve read that the game took a development direction to favorite tablet users, and the Steam version had a lot of negative feedback after that decision.

Babushka [link]

A student environmental puzzle game about an old Russian secret agent lady.

SteamWorld Heist [link]

The second game set in the SteamWorld universe. This is a turn-based tactical lateral shooting game. Neat style, loved it.

√Letter [link]

An investigative visual novel set in the Shimane Prefecture. Nice premise, but bland endings and mechanics. Pity.

Merchants & Marauders [link]

Be a merchant or a marauder in this boring and unbalanced 3 hours boardgame. Sigh.

Mushihimesama Futari Black Label [link]

A classic danmaku shoot ’em up from CAVE.

In Space We Brawl [link]

An Italian local multiplayer space dogfight game. Nice ship modular customization.

Brogue [link]

One of my favourite roguelikes. Neat visuals.

Chroma Squad [link]

Basically this is Power Rangers: the game. Nice pixel art and style.

Frog Fractions [link]

I can’t say too much about this because i don’t want to spoil it. Probably the biggest case of secrets in a game that are biggest than the game itself.

Mall Monster [link]

A survival horror from the beginning of this decade where you need to escape a monster following you in a mall.

SHE [link]

A frantic abstract game about escaping an hexagonal maze.

ROM [link]

A short environment interaction experiment. Great visuals and amazing mood.

Paramedium: A Noise in the Attic [link]

A lot of style and neat visuals for this small investigative paranormal visual novel teaser. I’m looking forward for a final game.

Deadlock II: Shrine Wars [link]

A 4X classic from my youth. Still nice.

Break Liner [link]

Neat mobile game about crossing a line with your rocket. Nice.

Swarmation [link]

A chaotic cooperative multiplayer Conway’s Game of Life.

Rebel Galaxy [link]

Nice space western game focused on fights, trading, and exploration. With a very fitting soundtrack.

Punch Club [link]

Pixel art boxing tycoon management game. Got repetitive too soon for me.

∞ Infinity Loop [link]

Abstract and minimal puzzle game about loop patterns.

Vovu [link]

Abstract and minimal logic puzzle game. Intriguing visuals.

PinOut [link]

If I were to define this game, I would say it’s a arcade pinball racing game. Neat neon visuals and a fitting retro-wave soundtrack.

The End of the World [link]

Side scrolling exploration game about loneliness. Nice visuals.

Juice Boost [link]

A student racing game about fruits in a supermarket conveyor belt.

Westerado: Double Barreled [link]

A western game about revenge. The killer is randomized every time, and your action have concrete consequences in the game world. Nice.

BossConstructor [link]

Build your own ship in a procedurally generated galaxy. Lot of modules that you can scavenge from your enemies, and the single developer of this game is releasing frequent and constant updates since 2014. Super good.

Sphere Defense

No links for this student sidescrolling shoot ’em up about shooting lasers.

I Can’t Help It

No links for this student first-person shooter about the impossibility of not shooting things.

Let it Slide

No links for this student endless runner about grinding and sliding on things.

Unseen Diplomacy [link]

Brilliant HTC Vive game that make a great use of the space, making the player going through a complex building in a super-smooth way. Brilliant.

Di Renjie [link]

A deduction card game for 2 to 6 players focused on one of my favourite characters: the magistrate Di Renjie.

Forbidden Island [link]

A cooperative game about recovering four artifacts from a sinking island. Nice.

Machi Koro [link]

A dice-rolling card-drafting game about building your city. I really didn’t liked it.

Homecoming [link]

A IT University of Copenhagen student roguelike psychological survival game during the Vietnam War. Promising.

Warframe [link]

I remember when in 2013 I was in the closed beta at the launch of Warframe. It was super-interesting to play a fully cooperative action MMO. I was mesmerized by the aesthetic style of the character design. After few weeks, though, I stopped playing it. At the end of 2016 I decided to try opening it again, to see what changed. It was incredible, and i dedicated 200+ hours just in the last weeks of the year. The lore and the main storyline it’s truly deep. Give it a chance.

Lost in Harmony [link]

A rhythm runner game. Interesting.

Tricky Traps: The Videogame [link]

The digital port of a plastic toy game from the ‘90s.

Quickdraw [link]

A small drawing game with a neural network.

Dead of Winter: A Crossroads Game [link]

A cooperative (or semi-cooperative, depending on what happens) game about surviving during a zombie apocalypse. Various scenarios, and a lot of replayability. Nice.

Captain Sonar [link]

I waited so much for this. Basically it’s a cooperative competitive party game about two teams inside two submarines trying to kill the other team. Each player has a different role, and it’s playing in real time. Neat.

Keyboard Sports [link]

A brilliant game that use the keyboard in a pretty innovative way. Super experimental, and totally suggested if you want to experience new controls.

Dear Carmen [link]

A small poetic personal abstract game about flirt signals. Nice.

A Few Small Things [link]

A small game about commenting photos.

t- e ni hтm-are of·`a c ty [link]

This first-person environmental exploration of a yellow-lighted city under the rain it’s super-powerful. Great mood.

Exit 19 [link]

A first-person environmental exploration in a deserted location. Nice mood and visuals.

Against the Wall [link]

A brilliant first-person platform adventure set in a vertical world built against a wall. Super interesting.

Lieve Oma [link]

This beautiful environmental game is all about the memories and the relationship between a grandma and a kid. Nice visuals and mood.

Media Is Dead. You Are Alive [link]

A first-person experimental environmental exploration about shapes and media pieces.

Hot Date [link]

A speed pug dating game. Lovely.

Awkward Dating Simulator [link]

A hybrid game where you play out a date situation mixing text and physical gestures.

■ Square it! [link]

A mobile puzzle game where you need to fill areas with squares.

OPUS: The Day We Found Earth [link]

A wonderful mobile game about locating earth in a future where the human race need to find the Earth. Nice and poetic, play it.

Shadow Sounds [link]

This student horror game use wave guns that make monsters visible for a moment. The sensation of being surrounded by creatures that you can’t see is indeed scary.

HOOK

No links for this experimental prototype developed at IT University of Copenhagen. It’s a game about using two hooks and physics to reach the end of complex levels without touching anything.

VR hot balloon airplane

No link and no official name for this multiplayer asymmetrical HTC Vive game where one player fly a hot air balloon and shoot at airplanes, while the other 4 players controls the planes in a split screen, trying to destroy the balloon. Nice.

Who’s the Boss

Sadly there’s no link for this hilarious branching visual novel about a boss and an employee that really want his promotion.

Lost in the Kismet [link]

I obtained a new VR headset for my phone, so I delved into android virtual reality games. This one is a really bad mobile VR room puzzle game.

Returning Home [link]

This one was a VR flying exploration of spaces.

Wrong Level [link]

This one was a terrible VR platform.

A Chair in a Room [link]

This was a VR horror game that make me scared as fuck.

VR Noir [link]

This was one of the most interesting VR experiences I had on mobile. High quality, nice mood, good mechanics, but the game feels as if the story is abruptly ended. Like, in the middle of the action. I hope it was a teaser for a full experience: I would love to see a complete game out of this.

Minion Masters [link]

A PVP mix between Clash Royale and a deck building trading card game. Interesting.

Trawl [link]

A wonderful small game where you move a fishing trawler boat during a rainy night to find lost items. I already said how much I love boat and ship settings, right?

Mediterranean Voidland [link]

A nice environmental exploration of a Mediterranean diorama. Nice mood and soundtrack.

NORTH [link]

If super-cryptic first-person investigative noir cyberpunk dystopic exploration games are your cup of tea, you need to play this game.

bird song [link]

A small and compact metroidvania, full of style.

Roguelight [link]

Few colors, but a ton of style in this amazing 2D roguelite. Wonderful.

Pirate Pop Plus [link]

Basically this is a GameBoy-like Pang on steroids.

A Normal Lost Phone [link]

A nice and intimate exploration of a found phone. I loved it.

Microscope [link]

There are very few fractal role-playing story games out there. This is probably the best one you can find. If you’re interested in world-building, you can’t avoid this game.

Infiltration - The Happy Knights Edition

A terrible student game based on Snakes and Ladders. No links found.

Mekorama [link]

An isometric puzzle game about interacting with dioramas. Kinda like Monument Valley, but without M.C. Escher.

Spaced Out! [link]

Zero gravity and golf mechanics for this space game in which you need to reach the escape pod. Nice.

The Worst Knight [link]

If you’re the best knight in the reign and the princess wants to marry you, but you want to be single, you can’t refuse or you will be executed. In this game the only way out of this is to become the worst knight, and fail every quest. And it’s harder than it sounds. Brilliant.

Neonomads [link]

A post-apocalyptic tactic survival about nomads in a frozen land. Nice setting.

Undercover Elf’s

No links for this social game where you need to find which other player belong to your family.

Alto’s Adventure [link]

Nice visuals and mood for this endless runner about snowboarding.

Epic Snowball Fight

This was an insane snowball fight in an underground room, using balls made of textile filled with flour. No links found, though.

Worlds Adrift Island Creator [link]

This was the sandbox island creator for Worlds Adrift. Nice.

Setup.exe [link]

This interactive small game is basically a fake setup.

Lifeline 2 [link]

Another game in the Lifeline series. This one has a urban fantasy setting. I liked the personality design of the main character.

LogicalCell [link]

A collection of micro logic puzzle games. Nothing special.

Sara Is Missing [link]

An investigative mobile game about finding a phone and discovering what happened to its user.

racegame.io [link]

A multiplayer online racing game for a shitload of players.

The Quiet Year [link]

This is my favourite map-drawing game, hands down. Super poetic, and with a brilliant mechanics revolving around community discussions. A must play.

codex [link]

A super cryptic game. I’m not telling more to you about this.

Memoir en Code [link]

A poetic experience about life events that influenced the game designer of this game. I loved how every event has fitting and different mechanics. Neat.

Bleed [link]

A 2D lateral action-platformer about dodging and shooting.

Pioneers [link]

I know I’ve dedicated less time to this game than it deserves. This is a truly underrated diamond. A turn-based traveling rpg set in a gargantuan world. The game is all about exploration and nature, and it really deserve to be played by more people.

Stockpile [link]

I wanted to play this game since the first time I’ve discovered it. I’ve got a thing for games inspired by the stock market, and in the last year I ended up loving Offworld Trading Company and WORLD END ECONOMiCA. Stockpile is a 2 to 5 players card-driven auction boardgame about making more money than other players. Nice.

Wartile [link]

Stunning visuals and a hybrid between real-time and turn-based mechanics for this tactical viking rpg. Neat.

Hitman GO: Definitive Edition [link]

A turn-based diorama game set in the universe of Agent 47. Nice visuals and mood.

Hero Generations [link]

A turn-based rpg where each step is one in-game year. If you are able to have kids, you will continue the game in their shoes. For some elements, it reminded me of Rogue Legacy. Nice.

Stratus: Battle for the sky [link]

A modern remake of NetStorm: Islands At War. Still in development, but it’s promising.

Shibuya Grandmaster [link]

A frantic abstract puzzle game about lining up colors. Neat visuals.

Killing Time at Lightspeed [link]

When you’re browsing your social network when traveling in space, every refresh is a huge delay in communication. In this game, every time you refresh one year pass. See your contacts and friends getting older, and society change accordingly. Nice.

P.T.S.

No links for this thesis prototype of some IT University of Copenhagen students. The game used a HTC Vive to recreate the mood and feeling of the famous P.T. game. Spooky.

Triennale Game Collection [link]

A small collection of poetic and artistic games. I loved all of them, but I think my favourite was Il Filo Conduttore.

Streamline [link]

A streaming-oriented multiplayer third-person team game where you take the role of Runner and Hunter during frantic matches. Nice character design and style, but I didn’t liked the core mechanics.

Hitman: Absolution [link]

Long-time fans of Hitman hated this game, but I liked it. But I’m no long-time Hitman fan.

Table Football [link]

Yup. A.K.A. Foosball or Table Soccer.

PANORAMICAL [link]

A abstract exploration musical game. Similar to Proteus, but more trippy.

Social Justice Warriors [link]

A textual fighting game about trolls in the modern days. Nice idea, but i found it too repetitive.

Hitman [link]

The 2016 episodic game. I loved it. A ton of style, neat gameplay, and great mood. I liked the idea of the Elusive Targets too.

Five Tribes [link]

Area control and set collection for this boardgame. Some friends told me this was a great game, but it didn’t convinced me too much. Pity.

Vee Is Calling [link]

Small visual novel about online chatting. With a nice visual style and a plot twist.

Roomies [link]

A room-management game. The game is super repetitive, but the blueprint visual style is very intriguing.

Raft [link]

In this first-person survival game you start on a wooden raft in the middle of the ocean, with just a hook to catch stuff that pass around you moved by marine currents. Brilliant concept.

TMO: Tiny Multiplayer Online [link]

A meta-game about managing an MMO. Interesting concept, but poor execution.

Assault Android Cactus [link]

A nice and frantic twin-stick action local multiplayer game. Cool character design and setting.

Space Pirate Trainer [link]

A HTC Vive game about shooting things and avoiding bullets. Nice.

Conclusions

This is it. As said at the beginning, in 2017 I plan to both increase both the number of yearly played games from, and the number of non-digital role-playing games. Expect a post like this in 2018.