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House Flipper 2 really elevates the iconic formula that House Flipper brought about and renovates the game from top to bottom. The biggest change comes in the form of the graphics. Whereas House Flipper originally looked more like a source engine game (now compared to the new edition), House Flipper 2 looks like a slick modern title really taking a large shine to cleaning virtual homes and laying down virtual flooring. Those tasks get elevated as well with extra polish. Everything from painting to placing items is tighter and with more controls. The leveling system is easier and the upgrades dramatically change your overall gameplay. Compared to the original there is so much more content too. A lot of different house designs and way more in terms of features to renovate. Freedom is something that House Flipper 2 gives you when it comes to doing missions and flipping houses. Not…

Backpack Hero is a rougelike that features a polyomino (think Tetris) style inventory management system that you use to develop builds which can be used in turn-based battles. After each battle loop, you return to a city to use your loot to research new items, which unlock new builds, which can in turn make you more powerful as you venture deeper into the dungeon. There’s a lot going on in the game and for the entry price alone you’re getting almost too much content. You have a city builder, inventory management, economy both in and outside of the dungeon, item builds and synergies (based on placement) and turn-based battles with NPCs that can change their next action based on what you do. You can also play several different modes, some which include a way to not even worry about the city and offer an endless crawl through the dungeon, unlocking…

Archetype Arcadia is an Isekai (Wikipedia) visual novel with an exceptional amount of content focused and a very deep story. The game has more content than the larger novels out there and it’s presented beautifully beside great backdrops and rather kicking music as you make your way through 50+ hours of gameplay. If you’re looking for a very long visual novel then the Archetype Arcadia is the hidden gem you’ve been missing. It has a story that is unique (as much as the genres and tropes it plays with allows) and the gameplay that is more than read and choose which is nice. The Story The world has fallen to a disease known as “Peccatomania” which has wiped out most of humanity. Rust, the protagonist, is immune from the disease but his sister suddenly falls ill. The only way to slow the progression of the disease is to spend time…

The Bus Simulator 21 School Bus Extension is really good. It reminds me of Bus Simulator 2008 in all of the good ways. It adds three new buses, school route related missions and new schools to act as the final drop-off for the kids. The three new buses are: The nice thing about the school bus extension is again, you get the route content meaning you can run real school bus routes. Which is really fun and a lot more interesting than moving bus stop to bus stop. What’s Cool About the Bus Extension Here’s a list of what makes the bus extension worth the $12.99 to us: The Not So Great The expansion doesn’t include a few nit picky bus features like strobe lights at the top of the bus. That’s about it. Conclusion If you want to drive a school bus, this is it. Go for it. You…

Legends of Idleon has somehow achieved an interesting status as a game that the community dislikes, across the official channels (which are moderated out) and the sub-communities. The developer, LavaFlame2, has mostly gone silent with little content since the release of companions with a high emphasis on events and quality of life updates. Understanding the Companion Update We’ve previously covered the companion update and LavaFlame2’s response that it’s a marketing ploy. The community still, since June 17th, has remained stagnant and in a constant state of burnout. The updates aren’t met with much excitement since Doot remains the critical “need” to get to the top of the leaderboards, get the most everything, do all the things quickly, etc. It’s still at a point of why use any candy if you don’t have Doot? The community remains completely openly hostile to the developer, and has increased monetization through not only the…

You should play Mondealy if you have the chance to. That’s our review. If you want to know why we say that, read on, but ultimately, we’re going to tell you to play Mondealy. If you don’t like visual novels, that’s fine. If you don’t like pixel art, that’s fine. If you don’t like indie games, that’s fine. Go play it. That’s as high of an honor as a game can get from us and we’ll gladly hand it to this year’s best visual novel adventure game. Mondealy is a journey of friendship in a weird world that exists slightly below our own. The best way to describe is what happens in Undertale if the barrier went down but no one left and classism is at the top of the discussion list. Modern culture weaves through with love and affection as Michael journeys through a world that evokes both nostalgia…

Adore’s combat is groundbreaking, intuitive and different from creature summoning games that have been needed for a long time. The latest update and full release have shown a polished strategic pet summoning game that has ARPG elements, rogue-like elements and something different than turn-based pet combat. If you’re big into pet games, you shouldn’t take my word for it and head on over to the Adore steam page to start checking the game out yourself – we recommend it. You summon a team of four creatures who fight for you. Your main character can’t actually engage in battle directly, only dodge and you don’t have absolute control over your summons. You’ve got to involve a lot of strategy and tactics to get through combat and what appears to be simple gameplay unravels as you move deeper into the game. If you played the game early in early access, you will…

Alterium Shift is an aspirational JPRG designed to follow in the footsteps of Legend of Mana and Chrono Trigger. Still in Early Access, the development so far has shown great promise that we may yet see another breakout hit this generation with the essence from decades ago. Alterium Shift is an aesthetic charm and once a bit more buttoned up will definitely be a competitive player in JRPG arena. We took a deep dive into the game and gave the early access a preview. It’s nice to note the game has a demo, which means if you’re on the fence about what’s available now you can always check it out before you commit. In the developer’s notes on Steam, which are really heartwarming and extremely fair, they even encourage users to. Be sure to give it a read if you’re curious about more details about the game. What is Alterium…

The Life of a Magical Circle is the first game from Solideo, a one-person indie game development studio looking to focus on more philosophical games. Their first title definitely doesn’t disappoint, taking the general aesthetics of Geometry Wars, with the frustrations of Getting Over It, dashing in a bit of roguelike and philosophy with dynamic music, narration and lots of intent. There is a lot to what is overall a rather simplistic game. There’s just a circle, it’s a bit hard to control and there are things that you don’t want to hit. There are some collectibles. There’s not a lot going on until things start to advance and the narrator starts to provide color to the world you’re playing within. Soon you’re trying to figure out what each collectable does and what you’re wanting to collect and not along with the true meaning behind the journey. Intentional Design Simple…