January 2017 Archives

Back in 2015, LucidShadowDreamer's text-based game Playing with Letters had us chasing a shrewd criminal through a series of boxes that could only be unlocked through riddle-solving ingenuity. Well, if you enjoyed struggling through the original, you'll be happy to hear that the puzzling antagonist is back for a sequel in A Sweet Typing Thrill. If you haven't played the first game, you'll enjoy this one far more if you play them in order.

Heed us, readers! Our words are backed with CUTE VOXEL GRAPHICS and SOOTHING BLIPPY CHIPTUNES! [We've found that's much easier on the floors around here than nuclear weapons.] Midjiwan reinvigorates Sid Meier's Civilization-like turn-based strategy and resource management gameplay for Android and iOS and gives it a sleek mobile interface, voxelized graphics, a refreshing chiptune soundtrack and chibikkoi cast of adorably tiny characters. Games usually last thirty turns in Perfection mode, but the option for Domination mode will let you keep playing long enough to become the undisputed ruler of the realm — or to research all the techs and build all the turf improvements until you're satisfied with your infrastructure or score. Polytopia even comes with a 'Pass & Play' mode that lets you play multiplayer with your friends locally until you don't have any left!

Omnichronic is a clever point and click game from Jonas Nilsson that gives you everything you'd expect from a Pirate's tale. Buried treasure. Swashbuckling. Backstabbing. Time travel. Yes you heard me correctly, time travelling pirates. Throw in some Dwarves and essentially that makes it 'Time Bandits - The Game' and who wouldn't want to play that!

Sphere, a French/English first person platformer coded in Unity by Team Sphere, is an oldie from the middle of 2012. While the name may make you think of Michael Crichton, it has absolutely nothing to do with his book with the same name. If you want to compare it, you should rather use Portal as a measuring stick, although (sadly) the total number of portals in-game is zero. The game did however win Hits Playtime (2012), and was a finalist for the Best Student Project in the Unity Awards (2012).

It's short, it's sweet, and it loops! It's puzzlehz! Remember all that information you learned in high school about waves and frequencies and you wondered when you'd need to use it outside the classroom?

Yeah, you still won't need it. The concept is simple: watch the thick green line move across the screen and try to make the thin green line match it. You're probably thinking "I got this." You do, but you'll need to think differently with each new wave. The game consists of horizontal and vertical sliders that you'll need to move in order to make the lines match. Some levels that makes for a pixel hunt, but don't worry, that's only once or twice.

puzzlehz is short and will take 5-10 minutes to complete. You'll only know it's done when you think "Haven't I seen this before?" You have. There is something cathartic and at the same time aggravating about puzzlehz, but if you're looking for a short time waster, look no further.

Note: the game is a unity game. You need to use a compatible browser in order to play the game. Mozilla for instance.

Play puzzlehz

Escape...Escape....E-S-C-A-P-E!!! Yessssss we have three games this week!

Locked in the Kitchen? PRIMERA has the solution but you need to find it!
If you are a lover of symmetries, YONASHI's title is for you.
Do you stress when you need to catch a plane? My grandmother does. And VITAMIN HANA does not help her.

Have a good time and enjoy!

Who doesn't like a relaxing game of Minesweeper? Between us, it's one of the best games to relax
with, and not only because you get it on almost every computer ever, and is what I mainly play when the internet is down... Back to our subject, Minesweeper is a very popular game, and it got a couple of variations (my favorite among them is Mamono Sweeper). In the last week I found another interesting variant of Minesweeper, called Mine of Sight, by ZBlip.

Android developer Yiotro shows us that the best things in life are not only free, they're also buttery-smooth and more than a little offbeat with Achikaps, a minimalist economics simulation with defense elements that fans of rymdkapsel will find eerily familiar. Achikaps has you building production nodes, managing workers and occasionally fending off timed waves of aerial invaders, but has less to do with placing tetrominoes and much more of managing supply and production processes [getting enough raw materials acquired and processed in various player-built facilities to become things you actually need] and defense [amassing enough workers to man the defense stations and successfully fend off the waves of invaders that show up on some levels]. Each of the fifty levels have completion requirements necessary to advance, and the paid version has three times that, along with a level editor and unlimited slots for savegames. Achikaps' slimmed-down look reminds us that content is king, and makes for smooth play even on older Android models — even the nifty two-finger rescaling feature.

Hi people,

This time I want to talk with you about a more personal matter, something that is in the interest of all of us, which is JayIsGames. It has been a while since the farewell of JIG was published. I was a regular visitor at JIG for a couple of years by then, first for the hints, and then as a regular source of awesome games. Needless to say, I felt very sad when I saw that no more reviews will be posted. I still went around, looking if it is a joke, if this site will just spring back to life, but it didn't. But I did see a couple of months later that people are invited to send reviews. After a couple of months of social anxiety, I decided that I want to do it.

I know Christmas is over, but there is one late Christmas present from Tesshi-e for you all - A new game!

Tesshi-e´s games are not so frequent as they used to be, so for Mild Escape fans every new game is a small feast. You may feel some déjà vu in their last games, but also the satisfying feeling of a well known place associated with good memories.

This time you have to escape from another Santa´s room with brick walls and wooden floor, and find 10 Happy Coins. And make a cup of tea for Santa, not coffee! (I spent about 15 minutes looking for a pack of coffee in vain effort). There is a familiar rocking chair, a familiar fireplace, a familiar relaxing tune, Mr. Birdy, Mr. Hippo and of course, there are puzzles. Satisfying puzzles.

A language button to switch between English and Japanese is in the bottom right corner, so don´t forget to switch for English if you can´t read Japanese. Cursor is not changing but there is no pixel hunting, and to navigate, use the side bars. The game has only one end, with a small present from Santa.

Have a good time with another great escape game!

Play The Happy Escape 12

Traditionally, Mateusz Skutnik released a new Where is #? game as a farewell from the past year. This year, it was released only as a downloadable game and it is quite short, but quite enjoyable. This time you are not peacefully looking for 2017, but have to cope with 2016 first. It doesn´t want to leave and it´s a bit overgrown and kicking, so you have to fight it! Luckily, villainous 2016 is also slow and not very bright, so even players that aren't so good in action games (like me) are able to defeat it. Not in the first attempt though.

Graphics are beautiful, as always, in Skutnik's special, atmospheric style. For navigation and action, use the keyboard controls. No words are needed here.

Be brave, go and kick 2016 out! And enjoy.

Play Where is 2017?