It's winter, I hate being cold, the pot holes are everywhere, & I'm working out treatment for my recently-diagnosed mood disorder. It's a great time to pour myself into video games.
Confess My Love:
This is just the thing for when you need a distraction. It's free on Steam, & only takes a couple hours to complete! You play as this clueless guy who has decided it's time to declare his adoration to his beloved. It all takes place in a classroom, & the mechanics are super simple; you move, you choose dialogue options, there's a timer that adds a new dimension of possibilities, there's a few things in the room you can examine & interact with in a few cases. There's not really any "winning" to the game, the fun is in trying all of the different ways things can turn out. A walkthrough detailing all of the achievements is available, & I recommend using it as a tool to make sure you get every bit out of the game (once you've exhausted everything you think to do on your own, if there are achievements left over). Better some spoilers as you go than entirely missing chunks of the experience. The movement is a bit clunky, but the game isn't big enough for that to be too frustrating, & the music is quite charming. Not the thing you're looking for if you want challenge & adventure, but great for when you just want something new to unfold & stick in your brain.
Puzzle Agent:
This game was quite a ride! A short ride, but densely layered with charm. It's very Professor Layton, as far as gameplay, so if you know anything about those games then you know exactly what you're in for: a lot of wandering about, solving puzzles, & talking to people. It's well done, with a lot of personality. I wish I had more to say about it, but it is really short & I don't want to spoil any of it. I just would recommend checking it out, especially if you can grab it on sale. It doesn't offer much replay value, but you can draw the experience out a bit-- it's easy to pick up & put down, & the sort of game you can play while enjoying a nice mug of tea & petting a bird. (I'm pretty into that type of game right now.) Better than expected. I have the sequel & am excited to get around to it at some point...
OneShot:
OH BOY. This one is going to go down as a favorite in my book. One of those games you keep thinking about when you're not playing it & after you've finished it, & you definitely listen to the soundtrack a lot for the rest of forever. OneShot is freakin' gorgeous. I feel like more people should be talking about this game more often. It's all about the story & solving puzzles, with fantastic presentation. Did I mention it's freakin' gorgeous? Easy to navigate, enough challenge to keep you engaged, a nice variety of things to solve, some of the best characters ever, a world nicely fleshed out. It's even got fast travel, which is handy. It has some lovely emotional moments, without taking itself too seriously-- it also has some really great humor, including one of the best puns ever. The pacing is good. I'm trying to think of something bad to say about it, but just keep thinking of things I like. I got frustrated a couple of times, but in that nice "this puzzle is giving me a hard time" way, never so stuck that I wanted to quit or anything. I don't know, maybe plenty of people would get bored, declare it just another game where you wander around & figure out how to wander farther. But. If you like wandering & figuring. I promise. It is worth not even just OneShot but in fact TwoShots.
Night in the Woods:
This game had been pretty hyped up for me. I know multiple people who name it among their favorite games of all time. So I'd had it on my Steam wishlist for a while, then I heard it was coming to Switch, so I decided to make it one of my very first Switch games! I figured even if I didn't love it, it'd be worth knowing what people were talking about. It did not leave me disappointed. The conversations are like real conversations, the people are like real people, the places are like real places. The problems are even like real problems. This game is particularly not going to be everyone's cup of tea, as it is nearly entirely just walking around & talking to people. But it's pretty much the best game of its type, probably. It is absolutely beautiful-- I know I just talked about how great OneShot looks, so uh, I'm nervous you won't take my opinion of Night in the Woods' visuals seriously right now, but I really did just happen to finish two of the world's most good-lookin' games right in a row. I'm really pleased I went with the Switch version, because I took a bazillion screencaps. It has some really great touches that I would love to talk about but don't want to spoil. If you want to live out some really interesting times in a small town, there are friendships & adventures waiting for you in Night in the Woods. You'll have a variety of emotions, you'll crave pizza & tacos, you'll wish the soundtrack was on Spotify. Also, important note: you get to play bass guitar.
