Ra da da da da da da da Circus
Da da da da da da da da
Afro Circus, Afro Circus, Afro
Polka dot, polka dot, polka dot, Afro!

See A Few Days With Violette.

In AER, you control Auk, a bird shapeshifter. As one of the last shapeshifters, they're sent on a pilgrimage to save the remnants of the now shattered world.
As the world is now but a few islands spread out across the sky, Auk's ability to fly is the main draw here and I've got no complaints. The controls are smooth and there's no risk of failure; as long as you're outside, your location doesn't matter: Auk will transform at the press of a button. There is, however, one small caveat: when in bird form, Auk will transform into human form on their own upon landing. I noticed reviews mentioning getting stuck in textures, which I also have experienced. (Poor Auk was trying to fly through a tree growing on the side of a mountain while in human form…)
The story is where it gets worse. I'm not a fan of spiritual narratives, so YMMV, but I found the story of AER easily forgettable. Like, I read everything I came across diligently, but I could tell I wouldn't remember any of it the moment I was done.
This would be okay in a sprawling open-world game, where your memory will be jogged eventually if you got busy with side content, but when your game is as short as this and that's all it's got, it can't feel as inconsequential as this.
On their pilgrimage, Auk explores three temples, each of which involve a series of simple puzzles (including a time puzzle…) to get through, and although the temple layouts are mostly linear, directions are sparse, if not non-existent. This game barely gets a pass for using words to tell its story, but that… that could probably be improved somehow.
All in all, if you like the idea of a game where you'll get to fly and don't experience motion sickness when playing games (this is also something I've seen negative reviews mention), AER: Memories of Old may be worth checking out. Otherwise… it's a meh from me.

Exactly What It Says on the Tin™️. Crazy of these devs to make a speedrun achievement, my laptop can't handle it.

This short point-and-click puts you in the shoes of an unnamed, hungover guy, who wakes up to an objective unlike any other: he has to find the Orange Narwhal. If this doesn't sound crazy enough, consider the fact that on his quest, he'll encounter pirates, clowns, ninjas and other random NPCs.
Find the Orange Narwhal is - say it with me now - like a Flash game from the 2000s. (For once, the devs said it before I did!) It was originally made in PowerPoint, which blows my mind. This, however, is an updated Ren'Py port, which I can only imagine controls much better. I don't know if the art style has anything to do with the game's origins, but either way, it adds to its oldschool charm. The BGM consists of one and the same classical track playing on repeat, so feel free to lower the volume (or even mute it.)
I was intrigued by this one from the first time I found it in the store, and I'm glad to have finally played it.

I was promised free girls and you know what? I got them.
This is just a rudimentary clicker game… at least someone had a different idea instead of making another puzzle game.

Don't know if I'll ever complete this one, so might as well write about it now.
I wouldn't have even known there are a hundred different variants of solitaire, had it not been for this game. It's simple, sleek and contains proper explanations for the rules of each variant.
You can also create a custom deck with images of choice, which I fully intended on doing, but quickly realized it would take too much time and gave up on it. (The one bit of advice I can offer is: make sure you know exactly which image you want on which card.)

For 15 minutes and not a penny, you too can become a spy in the 50's!
…eh, who am I kidding, this wasn't all that exciting.
I thought I was doing just fine, then it turned out I wasn't. I think you're supposed to be able to put the hairdryer down after picking it up?
I didn't even think to do that because I was too busy thinking it's broken (it wasn't, but still.)
If you know me, you know what I'm gonna say: it's reminiscent of the Flash-era point-and-clicks.
Oh, and it doesn't close or transition to the main menu after it's done playing the ending sequence, you have to exit manually. Yeah, that's about it.

In this stop motion video game, follow Baasha, who falls asleep on his couch while watching an action movie only to find himself replacing its protagonist.
I'm so used to "FMV" being the tag that I thought something was off with the in-game footage… but no, it's explicitly stop motion video. That being said, this kind of home-grown, indie charm fits right in with the (micro)genre.
Oh, and it seems the credits are completely broken, so the game ends really abruptly.

Simple swap puzzle game featuring AI-generated girls in Lunar New Year-themed outfits and settings. It's an SG win, I brought it upon myself.

This volume focuses on the tall, clumsy and (by her own admission) uncute Coconut and the easily flustered tsundere eldest sister, Azuki.
I'm… not surprised I only played another NekoPara game four years after the previous one.
When the catgirls are not molesting each other, they're talking about their feelings regarding having been molested, the possibility of being molested or the desire to get molested.
Because the sexual content for these games is sold separately, the base versions are frequently referred to as "all-ages"; this is a misnomer, as scenes involving obvious sexual innuendo and sexual teasing are still present.
These characters have no personality, wishes or desires outside of obvious comedy fuel, things that lead to romance/sex or romance/sex outright.
The few things that manage to fall outside of these three categories are never directly shown, dropped when it's convenient or feel like non sequiturs.
At one point early in the game, Shigure lets Kashou know that her, Chocola and Vanilla will be taking a few days off because Chocola and Vanilla need to retake the test that allows them to have bells. Why do none of the other girls need to do that? How long will it take until they have to take it again? Shigure made it sound like it's a big trip, so where are they going, exactly? What is the test even like? Why does Chocola act like it's hell on Earth?
I would much rather learn more about the test than have to sit through another conversation about feelings at the bakery that loses me halfway through.
As for the dropped plot points: even earlier on, while out on delivery, Kashou, Chocola, Vanilla and Coconut meet Milk, the only side character worthy of a sprite catgirl who works as a takoyaki seller at the park. One thing leads to another and Coconut ends up saving her from getting ran over. Milk and her owner are eternally grateful and everyone figures it'll be nice for Milk and her owner to visit the bakery someday. After that, Milk and her owner never show up again.
The non sequitur, to me, was Kashou's date with Azuki. Here we are, a chapter and a half or so into Coconut's issues, then one night Kashou figures Azuki's always working so hard and takes her to a fancy store to rent a dress, then to an even fancier restaurant for dinner.
Most of this game is focused on Coconut anyway (which I don't mind, I like her just fine), so when that stops (after Kashou and Coconut have sex, of course), it's a speedrun to sleeping with Azuki.
Most egregious is the scene in which she accidentally spills custard, including all over herself (and doesn't wash it off, for reasons which only make sense out of universe), then proceeds to lick it off of Kashou's hand after he asks if she'd like to try some. After snapping out of the trance that put her in, she's so embarrassed she wants to die. While that is not explicitly referred to as "being in heat" (as it was introduced in Vol. 1), she had been oddly flustered and jumpy up to that point and that same night, she gets sexually teased into admitting that she wants to sleep with Kashou.
That series of events struck a nerve with me.
She's made to look defiled, is taken over by desire in spite of reason, regrets it shortly afterwards (so strongly, in fact, that she has a meltdown right then and there), wakes up in Kashou's bedroom and learns she tired herself out so much Vanilla cleaned her up and changed her clothes, promptly gets molested by Vanilla and manipulated into saying that she'd like to have sex with Kashou, actually, then lets him know afterwards that "she's not that kind of catgirl."
Let me repeat: she is molested into "being true to her heart."
This frame of thinking is typical to eroge, sure, but… why can a character just not want sex? Why does Azuki, in spite of being the eldest sister, have to be treated like she doesn't know what she really wants?
The catgirl variable exists as nothing more than a flimsy excuse for Kashou to have sex with the heroines whenever they go into heat, because at that point, it's a must. And because catgirls don't get possessive, bedding each of them for the first time is treated as correctly placing a new piece of the harem puzzle. At the same time, he consistently lets them know that he thinks of them as sisters, so… it's platonic?
The slice-of-life aspect can be as inconsequential as possible (whenever the cast is busy running the bakery, everything always goes off without a hitch - they are serving nonexistent patrons, after all), but it doesn't make the context of the sexual content any less sinister.
In NekoPara, you either love sex or you're lying to yourself.
I like Azuki and Coconut because I could relate to both of them on some level, but now I wish they could be part of a better story.
I was gifted Vol. 0, 1 and 2 by a friend way back when and I'm glad to finally be done with them.
I might be even more glad if I never end up playing a NekoPara game ever again.

Man, it sure was sad. I mean, all Vlad got to do was come back home to his sister on a rainy day. After she reminds him about buying bread, he can either decide to go the next day, then sit down at his PC and watch it bluescreen (you can't do anything about it) or go out, buy bread, then get severely beaten up by some thugs. That's some classic Russian doomerism for ya.

A short game about struggling to say the thing that matters. Played using only the Backspace key (which made me realize it doesn't see much use in games otherwise.)

Set in the 60s, with the tensions of the Cold War ever-present, South of the Circle follows Peter, a Cambridge academic who finds himself crash-landing in Antarctica. The pilot ends up injured as a result, so Peter has to go out looking for help on his own. When he does, the game transitions to the past to unravel the story of how he got to Antarctica in the first place. After one of these flashbacks ends, we return to the present and watch Peter discover something of importance. Rinse, repeat. These transitions are all very smooth; clever, even.
The problem with South of the Circle is just that the story is on rails.
Over the course of the events leading to his trip to Antarctica, Peter meets, works with and even falls in love with Clara, a fellow scholar.
I did everything I could to make Peter likeable in his interactions with Clara, but by the end, she still felt betrayed by his actions (which shouldn't be possible, considering I kept picking her over everything else.)
Then again, the choice system is rather vague, only allowing you to pick between one of four "vibes", so to speak (silence is not an option.)
Initially, I was worried that would mean the whole game is devoid of dialogue, but lucky for me, not only is the story engrossing, it's also fully voice-acted! So I guess it's just a bit better than I thought it would be.