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The gaming landscape, now more than ever with the modern proliferation of indie games, has shown that great games can come in all sizes. There are low quality AAA games that cost millions of dollars to make, and there are fantastic games from one-man studios that were crowdfunded, and some not even that. Further, while all of us wish we had the kind of money in real life as we tend to end up with in our favorite video games, that’s not always the case. And even for those who do, there is no income limit where you are required to stop being careful with how you spend your money. So, why pay a lot for a bad experience when you can pay a little for a great one? For someone with a computer, there is a vast, wide sea of Steam games that are both high quality and wallet-friendly.…

Timberborn’s update 5 enriches the beaver kingdom with new features, particularly the ecological ‘Badwater’ challenge, enhancing the game’s core city-building mechanics. It introduces faction-specific content, terraforming capabilities, and numerous quality-of-life improvements, including an overhauled irrigation system and building flexibility. With its profound updates, Timberborn is now an essential experience for city-builder enthusiasts.

Beyond Sunset is a fairly decent retro cyberpunk shooter and a fantastical journey through the story and sound, provided by Karl Vincent of a wild cyberpunk world. The world is bleak but so full of character, embodying the idea of synthwave / cyberpunk aesthetics weaved with a lot of DOOM. This review covers the November 2023 Early Access Build. This is one of the few games where the smooth door animations actually impress me. A world built around a strong cyberpunk theme waits for players to jump and slide their way through its streets and towering mega-skyscrapers. If you’re at all into the music or the gameplay of DOOM, this is a definite purchase. If you need some more details, let’s dig in. What is Beyond Sunset? Built on GZDOOM, Beyond Sunset is a retro DOOM-like FPS with multiple hub maps, a full story driven campaign, inventory, RPG elements, side…

Inkulinati is imaginative, playful and strategic as it builds on colorful ancient memes to provide a strategy puzzler that has the most artistic vibe of any game we’ve seen in awhile. While the art isn’t uniquely rendered, gorgeously deep or unique in any way beyond its ability to While in early access, Inkulinati has impressed us since launch with how beautiful the art is brought to life and the artistic style of how the game plays out. There’s a lot to like here and the early access game is on PC Game Pass (as of this early review) so definitely worth a look there if anything in this review interests you. This review is of the early access version, update 3 (late August 2023). Art to Life The fun of the game is the art style. The characters are all drawn beautifully with rich color and really respect the roots…

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…

Dave the Diver does an exceptional job of telling you where to go and when. The main story is full of breadcrumbs, UI elements, guiding arrows and landmarks to help you navigate the Blue Hole. There are some elements that might have you scratching your head. Without spoiling the story, we’ve put together how to get through the main quest-line along with a lot of tips, hints and tricks to make it in the Blue Hole. Getting Through the Main Story Most of the main story will directly tell you where to go and how to do it. There are a few places you might get stuck: Chapter Walkthroughs Dave the Diver is a chill game. Your missions and to-dos are in the “To Do” app on your phone. The game is very explicit on where to go. For points of reference, the ship wreck is different than the cargo…