Some of these cat names are diabolical. Leverage? Derivative? COMMODITY?!

Whoever decided that a game called "100 Doors" should have 140 levels is a genius in their own right, if you know what I mean.
This is a casual puzzle game, themed around escaping various places you might find in a school, like a library, gym or cafeteria. That being said, you don't actually get to escape anything; it's more like you're stuck in a loop of escaping the same ten rooms over and over, just in different ways.
In each level, you have to solve a riddle or find a key to the door by fiddling with objects scattered around the room. A mobile game-style monetization system is also present; with each completed level, you'll earn a bit of money which you can then spend on hints or skips, but if you're short, you can always spend real money. There's no need to do that, though, as there are full guides for the game available.
I liked that the difficulty went up as the levels progressed - I definitely would not have figured some of this stuff out without a guide - but at the same time, even the later levels would once in a while only ask you to figure out a string of numbers based on the amount of colored items in the room, which I thought ended up looking dumb. That, and most times you need to interact with things around the room, it's not even clear what you can or can't interact with, so if you're stuck, you might end up clicking aimlessly around the screen.
I'm glad I got to play this for free, but at the same time, I don't think it'd be worth any other price.

I can only assume she's Brazilian because "Brazilian = feisty" to some people.
The funniest part is when, if you piss her off, she angrily remarks that "she's a woman!"; no, honey, you're some sleaze's idea of what a woman should be.
As opposed to last time, I got the "bored" ending, which was surprisingly easy to get to.

When I saw that Game Pass had the newest Barbie game on offer, I knew I had to play it ASAP.
In this one, Malibu Barbie and Brooklyn Barbie travel to the Malibu Waves Community Center, which Malibu's mom is fond of for having been a place of inspiration back in the day… and find it rundown. They flag down Letty, the only person around, and convince her to let them work on restoring Malibu Waves.
The gameplay is largely a mix of fetch quests and minigames (off-brand Overcooked! and Rhythm Heaven, for the most part.) As you unlock new areas, more of Malibu and Brooklyn's friends come to visit and take charge of tasks in their respective locations. Even though there are only 2-3 quests per area, there's a lot of running around to be done, especially considering that this game makes the rookie mistake of unlocking fast travel to an area only after its main quests are completed. Completing quests and playing minigames gives you community points, which can be spent on decor for the office and outfits for the Barbies. If you complete all the quests, even while doing subpar during the minigames, you should have enough points to unlock everything eventually… but if you don't, you're gonna notice that stuff around Malibu Waves tends to break or get messy fairly often.
It's a weird kind of irony for a game about working to restore a place to feature benches and lamps that break every few minutes. That, and it feels like someone is not factoring neurodivergent players into the equation, as it's a challenge not to stop and fix every little thing even if you know you don't need the points. Anyway, interacting with these things will also give you a handful of points.
This is also the only incentive to try playing as Brooklyn, as for some inexplicable reason, she's the only one allowed to take care of plants and empty water bowls. Switching characters is annoying, as you have to go to the office and interact with the Barbie resting in the corner… which also doesn't make any sense plot-wise after the intro, since they go together everywhere anyway.
I'm hardly the biggest Barbie fan out there, but there were so many nods and references to the movies, it was a delight. The Allan curtains you can buy for the office, the rollerskating Barbie mural in the parking lot… the cabinets at the arcade even reference a few retro Barbie games! If I had to guess, the songs during the rhythm minigames are probably from the TV show(s), but I haven't seen any of them, so I can't confirm or deny.
If you want to play this one in co-op mode, watch out: despite two playable characters being available at all times, co-op seems to only be available during the minigames.
This was fun for what it was, if a little long. Oh, and I think the magical storeroom that ends up having everything the girls need deserves its own spin-off story.

Have you ever looked at the cleaners whose service John Wick orders in the first movie and thought "man, I wonder what their lives are like"? Well, now you can see for yourself!
In Crime Scene Cleaner, you're Kovalsky, a regular janitor turned crime scene cleaner. Your daughter, Elena, is away at some hospital or other getting treated for an unspecified illness, but the treatment is expensive and your insurance company doesn't feel like paying up, so you start working for Big Jim, a notorious criminal, to make the big bucks and pay everything off.
The gameplay is reminiscent of Viscera Cleanup Detail, with a bit of PowerWash Simulator, with the big improvement over Viscera being that knocking over a bucket with bloody water does not create new blood stains. The powerwashing, however, is as rudimentary as it goes; the only functionality you get is rotating the nozzle. In every scene, you will need to get rid of the bodies, clean up the trash, wipe off all the blood, collect the evidence and put all the furniture back to its rightful place. Watch out for some serious jank when you get to the furniture.
More often than not, trying to pick up a chair would result in it getting yeeted halfway across the map for no apparent reason. In a couple or so cases, I had to watch smaller objects glitch through the ground and - as opposed to the player respawn button in the menu (says more than a thousand words) - there is no way to get them back into view that I've been able to come up with. Heck, even the bodies will get stuck in parts of your car if you throw them in the wrong way.
You can leave early - technically, all you need to do is get rid of the bodies (and trash bags, if you fill up any) - but that won't be enough to fill up the deception meter in the final evaluation and you'll get sent back to the scene to finish the job. Every scene will also have money and/or valuables laying around that you can steal for extra profit. There could have been some sort of a moral dilemma put in place here, but because money translates directly to experience points, there's no reason not to steal everything you can.
The experience points can be used between missions to unlock upgrades in skill trees tied to each method of cleaning, as well as a few other miscellaneous items. I love me a good upgrade unlock, but half of the upgrades available here either make you choose between two different perks or come with some sort of a downside. Sure, the "either-or" upgrades allow for switching freely between missions, but I'd still prefer a permanent upgrade I can be fully satisfied with.
That, and across the ten levels available, there's not nearly enough money to be earned to unlock every single upgrade without replaying some levels… unless you've played the game before and know your way around all the levels, perhaps?
Also, a fair warning: there's no satisfying conclusion to the overarching narrative. Kovalsky's house gets more and more clean as you progress through the levels, seemingly getting ready for Elena to come home, but the ending cutscene is truly underwhelming. You could say that this is on par with how the updates to this game have been going - despite the promise of new content a good few months back, I'm seeing a lot of confused and disappointed players on the Steam forums, begging for a comprehensive update. (Checking the Steam page now, it seems the Nightmare mode update released right after my GP sub ended!)
This was good for what it was - yet another chance to enjoy cleaning in a virtual world more than I do in real life - and I have a soft spot for Polish games… well… being Polish… but for now, I think I'm good.

I always keep thinking about how I need to play more classic point-and-clicks and then I never do. Well, this month I did!
Full Throttle follows Ben Throttle, leader of a biker gang called The Polecats, who finds himself involved in a nefarious scheme thought up by one Adrian Ripburger, determined to take over Corley Motors, the last domestic motorcycle manufacturer in the country.
I've loved Grim Fandango ever since I first played it on my Vita back in 2021, so I had high hopes for Full Throttle and… I guess it was good?
Although I get the natural appeal of the biker subculture to an outsider such as myself, I can't say it's a kind of narrative I'd be hugely invested in. And, as an all-around lover of romance, I found the ending a bit disappointing.
That being said, Full Throttle is only half the length of Grim Fandango, so there's a lot less to sink your teeth into here.
The Old Mine Road minigame is an interesting one, though save for a few opponents on whom you need to use the right weapon, all you need to do is button-mash your way through it.
The ability to switch between the original and remastered graphics and soundtrack is greatly appreciated, as is the inclusion of a director's commentary track. Looking forward to replaying it on Steam next year.

This time, Kate's attempt to follow up on the House's whereabouts is interrupted by the appearance of The Palm of Zoroaster, a, uh… cursed fireball.
It's notable that no one really explains where the name came from or who Zoroaster was, Kate just seems to know it somehow.
Instead of saving spirits from various time periods, here you get to visit various places around the world to find parts of a contraption which needs to be put back together to seal The Palm of Zoroaster.
And in the bonus adventure, you save the owner of the House from expiring due to a curse placed on him when he was but a boy, meaning Kate narrowly avoids becoming part of the House again.
I'm pleased to report that in The Palm of Zoroaster, the map has been separated from the journal! Can't remember the last time a series improved on the exact thing I wanted to see changed (if it even happened before), so… yeah, this is nice. I think I'll stick through to the end with this series.

In Kulebra and the Souls of Limbo, you control Kulebra, a bony snake who wakes up in the afterlife with no memory of their past. Your ability to retain new information, however, makes you the perfect fit to help out souls you encounter in Limbo by breaking them out of their time loops and allowing them to move on. To do this, you're gonna have to gather information by talking to them, investigating their surroundings, collecting various items and even doing some snooping and light puzzling here and there.
I love that Kulebra can get around quicker by doing a Sonic roll. As I progressed through the game, I kept getting better at stopping before bumping into everything. Oh, but bumping into stuff is a useful mechanic as well.
The game has a day/night cycle, which sees more use the farther you progress the story, but at times seemed completely unnecessary.
Playing as a silent protagonist is a change I didn't even know I needed, but I feel like I missed the part where you get to piece together Kulebra's past. Sure, some of the important characters talked to them like they knew them in a previous life, but at the same time, I feel like that's just a vibe I got and thus might not be accurate.
The final scene was somewhat underwhelming and the credit roll was so plain, it's a shame there wasn't anything creative done with it.
There's an awful lot of grammatical mistakes all over the place; nothing dramatic, but frequent enough to stand out.
The vibrant, 2.5D papercraft-esque art style is a wonderful fit for the - as the store description puts it - "Latin American-flavored world."
I did like this one, but I'm struggling to describe it in a simple way because it's so unlike anything I've played before, I think. I guess what I'd say is, it's a narrative adventure game with light puzzle elements.
If you like a good adventure game and/or works themed around Dia de Los Muertos, I would not hesitate to recommend Kulebra and the Souls of Limbo. (Fun fact, the only negative review it's got on Steam right now is from someone who couldn't help but self-report on the fact that they're just not willing to read, so it's basically got a stellar record, lol.)

A tiny management sim about building tiny streets for tiny people to inhabit and picking up tiny, sparkling pieces of trash they leave behind.
It's a lot more simple than I expected, offering five story missions (each with a set of main and optional objectives) and 4 hours of playtime at most. A sandbox mode is also available, though it's a hard sell given how little there is to the game.
Being able to only expand your street downwards feels like an oversight and the soundtrack is rather limited considering the playtime (though it did take me by surprise when the music suddenly swelled and expanded after I upgraded my street a bunch in the last mission), but I had fun with it.
It's just the kind of game to play when you feel like winding down with a cup of your preferred beverage in hand… or maybe start your day right, since it's not moody or atmospheric!

Yeah, I'm thinking I'm back.
If you're not into brutal monsterfucking (which I'm not! oops?), pass on this one. I probably said this before, but you gotta love how the red tool is still called the "deck brush", even though we've not been on deck since 2018.
Also, fix your damn shit! Why have a pre-launch config window if you're not gonna let the player access half the options?!

It's Summer of 1996, and an election is coming up in the ever-so-authoritarian country of Petria. You are one of many teens who decided to run away from home and hitchhike your way to Road 96 to escape the country by any means necessary. On your way there, you'll cross paths with a colorful cast of characters whose stories are entwined with each other - they might just not know it yet. After you successfully cross the border for the first time, you'll get to choose another teen currently out on the road to take control of and help them get to Road 96, rinse and repeat. Each trip takes about an hour, an hour and a half, and the game ends after six or more runs, depending on how many times you managed to reach the end of the road.
Road 96 used to be on Game Pass a few years back, but I was busy playing a bunch of other games and just didn't get to it in time. Now that it's found its way back, I'm really glad I got to play it. I love me a good ensemble cast and retro throwbacks, and Road 96 has both of them in spades.
The RPG-esque mechanics, such as keeping your energy bar in check, occasional dice rolls for choices or perks you can get from the characters are all welcome additions, but the game is a narrative adventure first and foremost, so it's not all that hard to get to the end successfully. Taking every bit of money or every snack you come across comes with no moral dilemmas given your circumstances, after all.
Each of the player characters is represented by nothing more than a pictogram, so you get to shape their outlook on the country's political situation through their choices. Do they wish for a revolution to shake Petria? Do they think voting is the only right way to make your voice heard? Do they prefer to stay out of political discussions where possible? These choices have an active influence on the polls… which I found kinda funny, since the percentages in the polls don't add up to 100% because of this.
Is Road 96's outlook on politics simplified? Yes. Does this mean you can tell what the devs' political stance is? Possibly. But I can't deny that I was positively surprised when Petria - my Petria, if you will - revolted and replaced its despotic leader, which would mean a change for the better is on the horizon. That being said, it was a rather anticlimactic ending; I would have hoped for at least a still image of Senator Florres giving some sort of speech.
"Procedurally generated road trip" and "no one's road is the same" are lofty promises for a game to make and they do come apart when you realize that most of the game is focused on you experiencing as many character events as you can find your way into and making big choices where possible, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't blown away by how well most of the game works in that you're never out of the loop. (Well, maybe except the very beginning, but that's how you get hooked on the need to see it all through to the end.) I don't know that there's been a game quite like this made before or since. Also, the soundtrack is fantastic and you can be sure I'll be listening to it some more soon.
I'm already interested in replaying Road 96 in the future (I've gone through all character events, but who knows what else I might have missed?) and checking out Road 96: Mile 0, despite its mixed reviews.

We're back at the beach! This time, after choosing which ending you got in the first game, you get to accompany Seiji, Momoko and Ayumi on another holiday. The plot of this sequel only makes sense if you chose the harem ending in the first game; if you didn't, Seiji is supposedly dating one of the girls, but the other one remains adamant she'll convince him to change his mind.
I don't know about anyone else, but if I were the one who didn't get chosen, I'd be out of there ASAP instead of keeping up this weird throuple charade.
And if you do choose the harem ending at the start, Seiji will vehemently deny even the idea of the relationship being polygamous. What else do you call it, then? 'Cause it sure as hell ain't monogamy.
And oh yeah, the only thing that gave Seiji character - his interest in astronomy - was pretty much written out because "that was just him being childish and trying to run away from the real world." As if getting molested by your friends is better than focusing on your interests.
This time around, a new character joins the party. Her name is Nene and she's a local, but due to her awkward nature and sheltered upbringing, she hasn't had any friends until she met Seiji one fateful evening.
A lack of common sense and trouble understanding social cues made me think she could be neurodivergent and that might well be what a good writer would have done with a character like Nene.
On the other hand, a hack writer would have made her an alien to give the story an interesting spin.
But only an idiot could have written her to be the daughter of people who are stupid rich and always busy, so the reason she's never had friends is that she's homeschooled. It's a dumb excuse to make her able to stay over at the hotel once or twice and a complete waste of a character that could have been interesting. And of course, she falls for Seiji just because and wants into the harem. Plus, whether or not you choose her (alone or in the harem ending), she promises to convince her parents to move and if they don't want to, she'll find a way to do it alone, just so she could be near Seiji.
There is truly no plot to speak of in this game, not even what little they manage to do is any interesting. Basically everything the girls do is to tease Seiji in some way, if not outright molest him. Also, whenever the fanservice comes in, Seiji refers to the girls' breasts as "fruit", which annoyed me to no end. The only really good thing about this VN is the art and I wish Inma Ruiz wasn't under some kind of deal with the devil to work with Winged Cloud only. Hell, the logo at the end doesn't even have a "2" attached. I bought these games back in 2016 and in some way, it feels like I'm still paying.

You know I can't resist a bad VN. I looked past this one while it was still available for purchase, but when I noticed it went down, I got myself a code from a third-party site.
This is, quite literally, a speedrun of the life story of a guy named Noah, as he's introduced to the internet in the late 00s and through getting into gaming, starts making friends and (mostly) "girlfriends" in an unspecified MMO throughout the 10s.
The script is chock-full of internet slang and emoticons, which makes for a relatively easy read, but regardless of how true to reality this story is, I fail to see the value in telling it.
All it did was remind me of my own cringy online past… and, uh, apparently there are people out there who still talked in that "le random xd" way back in 2016-2019? Suuure.
The dev of this one took it down himself, citing "issues in professional life." Well, hope it wasn't that bad. On to the next thing!

The sense of humor instilled within this franchise continues to be painfully unfunny - like hanging out with someone who insists on "never wasting a comedic moment!", yet is so chronically online they only make themselves laugh, but you just don't have the strength to tell them - but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't entertained by the sequel's roguelite-ish (?) gameplay… at least when I first started.
The formula is simple: Turnip Boy and co. set out to rob the Botanical Bank, but they only have a few minutes before Stinky calls the cops on them and they have to bounce.
As you progress, you gradually uncover more locations within the bank, some stationary, others accessible with the use of elevators, which shuffle randomly between runs.
You get money from shaking down regular foodpeople, defeating enemies, breaking into safes and vaults, so on and so forth. The more money you get, the more upgrades you can buy between runs. There are also a bunch of items required for story and quest progression you'll need to get between runs.
The first two or so hours were great; I was earning so much money I couldn't hold it all, expanding my weapon rack, starting and completing quests left and right… and then, everything slowed down to a halt.
When you progress far enough into the bank, you'll start earning so much money from pickups alone that buying all remaining upgrades and items won't be a problem. After upgrading your money bag to the max, you'll likely never have a run where you reach the limit again. (My best run had to have been the one where I stuck around long enough to max out my heat, and even then I had to get out after earning a bit over $20k, not counting the pickups.) And speaking of heat… after you max it out, you're just forced to leave by way of unavoidable damage.
Even upgrading the timer to the max won't let you do a complete sweep of the place, which is a shame. Most of my runs, I kept racing through the place, killing every enemy and taking care of every pickup on the way, but I would've liked to see what it's like to fully clear out the bank.
Picking up new weapons as you encounter them and bringing them back to convert into upgrades for the weapon rack is a good way to get the player interested in trying them out, but since the gameplay is so fast-paced, there's not really enough time to try them out properly before committing and after maxing out the weapon rack, that incentive is gone. I stuck with the machine gun that's a pretty early unlock; the DPS probably sucked in comparison to some other weapon I haven't played around with, but I like knowing I'm dealing damage consistently, not waiting for reload or ammo drops.
Quests are good, I like having clear goals to strive towards, but… in this kind of game, they're kind of a flop.
There's no arbitrary limit on how many you can start at once or anything, thank god, but when you've got a dozen or so things going on at once, it can get overwhelming. There's a list kept handy in the menu (aka Turnip Boy's phone), but it's weirdly sluggish to scroll through. Between the tempo of the game and my distaste for the writing, I might as well have skipped through all the dialogue around the quests in permanent locations. But most annoyingly, a good chunk of the quests is tied to characters only available in rooms accessible via the elevators, so if you're looking for a certain room to spawn, good luck! You might be around for a while, just running from one elevator to the next and getting every other room but the one you want. Some of these quests are also tied to defeating a certain number of specific enemies or using a designated weapon on a number of enemies… yeah, you can tell someone on the dev team really wants to waste your time.
I could have sworn I saw some guide or other say that you can choose which elevators you want to spawn after beating the game; guess I must have dreamed that.
The bosses were… uh… well, defeating them made me feel good, sure, but it's not like they were anything to write home about. Each one just took more time to die than the next, but all of them have a period of invulnerability, which is just more annoying than anything else.
I'm glad this game also includes accessibility options, because the final sequence was total BS. Had to turn on God Mode just for that.
Overall, this came out better than I expected, but then again, my expectations were extremely low. If I had any input on potential improvements, I'd say: more upgrades, less customizables (there's like five dozen different things you can make Turnip Boy wear, who is going to use all of that across ~5 hours of gameplay?), find a way to let players choose which room(s) they want to spawn. Oh, and get an actual sense of humor… though that one might be impossible.