Little Comet (2018)

[tozka]

Little Comet (2018) is a mini-golf game set in space!

The goal is to get Little Comet into the black hole at the end of the course, collecting any candy along the way. It has standard mini-golf rules, with some space-related difficulties. As you progress through the levels, you have to solve quick puzzles, avoid getting sucked into gravity fields, ride the solar wind, etc. Plus get under par!

Really bright colors, adorable graphics, cute background music. Just an overall adorable game!

Price: $2.99

Available for Windows, macOS, and mobile. I played the Mac version. Apparently the mobile version doesn't have ads or in-game purchases, which is great!

The Whisperer in Darkness (2014)

[tozka]

The Whisperer in Darkness (2014) is a visual novel game based on the H.P. Lovecraft short story of the same name. It's basically just a retelling of the story, set in modern times.

Since you literally don't have ANY input except for slowly moving a pixel person across the screen, which honestly could've been left out with no loss to the story, I don't think this is actually a "game." There are no dialogue options, no plot choices, no actual interaction except for moving the pixel person.

As an art form this is an interesting concept; as something I spent almost an hour reading I can't say I was that excited about it. (I don't like Lovecraft.) I liked the art and the old school style font, and I appreciate the unique delivery of a short story, but it was VERY boring.

Not really recommended unless you want to try out reading a short story via video game. I vaguely remember these sorts of things from my 1990s childhood, and I don't think I liked them then, either...

Price: $2.99

Available for Windows, Linux and macOS. I played the Mac version.

Content notes: Screamer-style art panel at the end, though there isn't actual screaming.

Secrets of Rætikon (2017)

[tozka]

Secrets of Rætikon (2017) is an open-world action/adventure game set in the Alps. You play as a bird, exploring the world to find runes, interact with animals, solve puzzles, etc.

I played about 20 minutes before having to give up. It recommends using a controller, and I agree. Using the keyboard to try and navigate my bird over mountains and into the woods was very difficult; a controller would've made it much easier to do ANYTHING.


I actually have a Steam controller, but the buttons don't match up with the keys, and I can't change the bindings. I checked the Itch.io page and apparently it's set to an Xbox controller. If you have one of those, you're set!

Not being able to play this is a bummer, because this has really nice art! And the background sounds of a busy forest are very soothing.

Price: $9.99

Available for Windows, macOS and Linux. I played the Mac version.

Orion Trail (2015)

[tozka]

Orion Trail (2015) is an adventure/interactive fiction game that's basically Oregon Trail but set in space! And it's just as difficult to NOT die as the original game!

So, you play as a spaceship captain trying to fly across the galaxy to a particular space hub. You pick your crew, who each have different skills (science, fighting, diplomacy, etc.), and you have to manage your resources while making your way through stars, planets, meteors, aliens, etc. Your resources are: crew members, food, fuel, and hull pieces. Get to zero on any of your resources and you fail the mission.


At each stop, and sometimes between stops (and away missions!), you have encounters where you can either gain or lose resources through basically random chance. You choose an action, and then the probability engine randomly selects an outcome. You can try to win the outcome by picking an action where you have extra skills, but it's not guaranteed you'll win. And if you lose, you lose a LOT of resources.

On my first mission I ran out of hull pieces and my ship exploded. The second mission I kept running out of fuel, had to send an SOS signal, bartered to re-fuel with my BLOOD, ran out of HP and died. On my third time, the ship exploded again.

I do think it's a LITTLE suspicious how the probability engine spins, slowS down, then SPEEDS UP again to round a corner and pick some other square than what it originally looked like it would stop on. Also, super frustrating when I loaded that thing up with skill points but still managed to crit fail MULTIPLE times in a row.

Still, I definitely enjoyed playing this! I really like the retro pixel art, the scifi setting, and the funny dialogue. Played about an hour and didn't manage to live to the end ONCE. The only thing I'd want changed is the stars/planets you stop at; they mostly don't have names or interesting descriptions, and that part could've been flushed out more.

Price: $9.99

Available for Windows, macOS, and Linux. I played the Mac OS version.

Your Future Self (2018)

[tozka]

Your Future Self (2018) is an interactive fiction game set in the future, post-worldwide catastrophe. You play as a genderless protagonist trapped in a time loop, ordered to convince your future self not to commit a terrible crime.

It's a very intriguing storyline, with very simple gameplay. You're trying to match up your dialogue choices with the current mindset of your future self: the more matches you get, the more they trust you and the further you can go into the game. But it's not that easy!


There's another group outside of your area trying to make contact, and of course the time loop keeps resetting. Each replay has similar dialogue but slightly different emotional variations, which makes it tricky to get 100% right.

I don't want to spoil it too much, but the ending was unexpected! I liked how the game sort of subverted whatever standard story expectations I might've had. That said, I don't particularly understand what gaining insight points did, since "leveling up" didn't seem to do anything. And failing dialogue options still gave the same dialogue information, I just had to loop a few more times until I got the right correct percentage.

Also didn't much enjoy the graphics. The old school computer style was really neat, but there was a LOT of flickering and juddering, even after turning it "off" in the settings. After an hour or so of playing, my eyes were NOT happy with me.

Still, it's a neat little game with some clever twists.

Price: $2.99

Available for Windows, macOS, and Linux. I played the Mac version.

Go Morse Go! Arcade Edition (2018)

[tozka]

Go Morse Go! Arcade Edition (2018) is a Morse code party game! Play as a cute bunny cheerleader and tap out letters to win!

This was super cute and fun, but it'd definitely be MORE fun with friends. It's super easy to win against the CPU unless you mess up a lot (like me). I played about 15 minutes on championship mode and had a great time.

There's lots of options to adjust play to make it easier or harder. The standard timing is one second for long and half second for short, but you can go longer or even do a custom timing. There's also two difficult levels (JV and Varsity), four game modes, and multiple outfits and animal characters. Plus adorable art and fun background music!

I don't think there's an online player version, but if you happen to be stuck at home with three other people who are all Morse code nerds, you might want to check this game out.

Price: $1.99

Available for Windows and macOS. I played the Mac version.