Slime Rancher is a cute, charming, and very addictive farming sim that wraps a simple loop in a colorful world full of adorable blobs. The first several hours are slow and a bit of a slog, and the constant back and forth for resources can wear on you, but once automation kicks in and the largo combinations start piling up, it really hooks you in. Rush mode is also a great change of pace for when the ranch grind starts to feel one note. If you can get through the slow start, this one is easy to recommend.

Chillquarium is a cozy fish-collecting idler that actually respects your agency, letting you play as actively or as passively as you want without forcing a slow, artificial pace on you. There's a huge variety of fish across freshwater and saltwater types, the music and atmosphere are quite solid, and progress keeps ticking along even with the game closed. That said, the endgame grind for painted mythic fish is a frustrating RNG slog, and the way older fish packs get instantly devalued the moment you unlock a new one left a sour taste by the end. Still an easy recommendation for fans of the genre, just don't expect the back half to feel as rewarding as the start.

Desktop Defender is an addictive idle auto-battler with a gameplay loop that consistently hits you with dopamine, whether it's incremental upgrades or ascensions layered with more buffs on top. You can feel yourself getting stronger run over run, and the weapon and equipment variety gives you real freedom in how you go about clearing everything on screen. Performance chugs a bit in the later levels, and the achievement grind at the very end is a bit ridiculous, but overall this is a very solid pickup for fans of the genre. Recommended.

Gloamvault is undoubtedly fun, but it's also inherently imbalanced in a way that flattens most of its own systems. Fireball is busted enough to carry entire runs on its own, which leaves poison, burning, necromancy, sacrifice, and most other spells feeling pointless by comparison. Merging monsters is still addictive, the atmosphere is great, and there's a ton of monster variety to chase down, but the balance issues and underused features hold it back from being something more. The achievement grind is also really rough. Recommended, but def needs more polish.

Digseum is a brilliant little game that is very enjoyable while also valuing your time. The digging and excavation loop is genuinely fun, the incremental progression is satisfying, and I loved basically every second of it. It never gets boring, scales really well for its short runtime, and never once felt like it was padding itself out just for the sake of it. Highly recommended!

My Little Spider is a cute desktop companion idler that undermines its own appeal with a rough early game, poor customization, and an oddly active gameplay loop for something meant to sit in the background. The spider and art style are genuinely charming, but between the visual clutter, the lack of scaling options, and a slog of a first few hours before things actually feel idle, this one has a fair bit of friction for what's supposed to be a low-effort desktop pet. Recommended, but just know the game has a slow start and the more active elements don't exactly feel like they pay off all that much.

My Little Life starts off slow, cramped, and a little frustrating, but stick with it and it turns into something worth your time. Once you get a second person and enough money to actually start decorating, the game opens up in a way the early hours don't hint at. It's very forgiving with its economy, refreshingly customizable, and more active than you'd expect. Give it a real chance before writing it off. Recommended, but just know the start may be a bit rough.

Rusty's Retirement is the perfect mix of active and idle content for a desktop companion game. It's an idle-farming sim that sits at the bottom of your screen, but there's actually a ton to engage with beyond just watching numbers go up. I'm not a fan of desktop idlers that don't have much substance to them, and this definitely isn't one of those. Between the layout optimization, the wonderful pixel art, and the way the game politely gets out of your way when you need it to, this one's a very easy recommendation.

All Hail the Orb has a lot of soul. The atmosphere, animations, and overall presentation are far better than I expected going in, the incremental progression has plenty of systems to sink your teeth into, and the developer even coded in a funny little callout for autoclicker users, which honestly won me over more than it annoyed me. A few UI and movement issues hold it back from being flawless, but this one's easy to recommend.

[b]Slight spoilers![/b]

HOLEHOLE is an unfinished game, but not in a bad way. It's a story about an unfinished life, one ended early, told through the eyes of someone left behind, and the game's rough, meaningless, repetitive loop of a gameplay experience actually complements that message rather than working against it. Lu isn't exactly known for riveting gameplay, and normally that's a knock against a game, but here it works in the story's favor. Just know going in that the gameplay itself is kind of a slog, but the payoff is worth it, and you don't need to talk to every single character to get there.

MELLOWOLLEM is your typical Lu game. The controls aren't the best, and the story is abstract, but at least it's paired with nice character portraits along the way. Thankfully, the story here is easier to follow than some of Lu's other titles, and it isn't a bad one either, even if I wouldn't call it the best story ever written. It's not something you need to be chomping at the bit to play, but it's a relaxing, non-frustrating little experience that's worth a look, especially given the price.

Cute Chaos Demon Nyanbaba is your standard hidden object game, just with a cute catgirl slapped on top of it. There isn't a ton of content here, and the entire thing can be knocked out in around an hour. I can't say I was wowed by it, but I didn't dislike it either. The artwork is nice and the puzzles are easy, making it a good pick if you just want something quick to destress with and turn your brain off for a bit. Recommended, but just know you aren't really going to get too much out of this game.

Mosaic of the Pharaohs is a relaxing puzzle game that offers a satisfying mix of challenge and progression. It's a picross/minesweeper hybrid, and it doesn't pretend to be anything more than that. Completing each mosaic is rewarding, the ancient Egyptian theme gives it a unique atmosphere, and the beautiful pixel art makes every finished piece worth the time spent on it. Recommended if you want a relaxing puzzle game to sink hours into.

One of the best AAA RPGs I've played to date. The lore and the exploration are highlights. I absolutely adored exploring the world and seeing what it had to offer. I also think the combat was nice, even though folks tend to say the game doesn't have the best combat. It does get trivialized at a certain point, but I liked it. The DLC is also one of the best AAA RPG DLCs I've had the pleasure of playing, especially the Blood and Wine DLC. It's a bit of a marathon to 100% the game, but most of it was well worth it. I need to deduct some points due to the sheer exhaustion I felt while trying to complete the game at times. However, overall, this is a wonderful game, and I highly recommend it.

This game was a genuinely enjoyable short visual novel, held back mostly by its own ambition. The world and characters hint at a larger, more developed story that simply does not exist within this package, and that gap between promise and delivery is hard to ignore. But what is here, the sharp character writing, the adult humor that actually lands, and the excellent pixel art direction, is worth your time and the very modest asking price. Recommended, but go in knowing it is a brief experience with an abrupt ending, and you will likely have a good time

Probably one of the most addictive strategy games I have ever played, and it happens to be my first entry in the series. The variety of leaders, victory types, and playstyles keeps the game fresh for hundreds of hours, and the art direction has way more charm than people give it credit for. The Deity AI is a frustrating mess, and the diplomacy system is more annoying than engaging, but for the sheer "one more turn" pull this game has, I have to recommend it (if you can also get past the pure BS that is that EULA they added). However, I took some points off for how horrible this was to achievement hunt.

This is the definitive game for playing board games, tabletop games, and more. There are a lot of mods across many different types of games, with near-limitless options. This makes playing these games more accessible for my friends and me, and I greatly appreciate that something like this exists. Getting all of the achievements was a pain, but the game itself is wonderful. Highly recommended, but keep in mind you have annoying achievements like playing the game for 1000hrs or getting eight people together to cross lines over one another. Took off some points for this reason.

This was quite the marathon. This is a minesweeper-pictogram hybrid game with many nice puzzles, solid logic, and a variety of options. The pictures are nice, the animations are cute, and it's an overall nice experience. However, the game requires you to play all variations of story puzzles. This means you will need to play the game with up to 4 colors and on VERY large boards that take like an hour to complete each. Recommended, but don't expect this to be a fast achievement hunt by any means.

Overall, a very similar experience to the original Voxelgram. They didn't really change much with this, aside from a few quality-of-life changes and the ability to play it with multiple colors now. The novelty of the concept of a 3D nonogram kinda wore off by the time I finished this entry, so I likely wouldn't get any further versions of this game. It's not bad, though. Recommended, but know that it isn't much different from the original game.

This wasn't a bad game, and it was a pretty relaxing game I was able to play with my friend while we talked or watched videos on the side, but it had a lot of jank in the multiplayer department. My friend wasn't able to get certain achievements in the co-op mode, which was very annoying and required him to play stuff again on his own to get the achievements. The DLC is also really anti-consumer, as it requires both players to own the DLC in order for people to play together. And even in these paid DLC, my friend wasn't able to access the same washers or even unlock the same achievements that I could. There was no explanation as to why this was the case, but this just was how the game was. Near the end of it, I was just ready for the game to be over since it just had a lot of issues in the co-op department and the DLC aspect of the game left a sour taste in my mouth. Recommended, but try to only play it with another person who doesn't care as much about achievements, if you can.

The gunplay was solid, the vibes were great for the concept, and the overall atmosphere of the game was very fitting. However, the Citizen difficulty in the game was ridiculously hard at times, and it felt like I was smashing my head against a wall because the scaling was so harsh. This definitely ruined some of the fun I could've had with the game, but it is still a good, fun game overall, despite that issue.

Quite the chill idle game with nice active elements and plenty of fish to find across a lot of beautiful locations. In the latter half of the game, I didn't really have much to do with my currency, as I was just hunting trophy fish, but that's not too big of a deal. Recommended :)

This was my first entry into the Assassin's Creed franchise, and it was definitely a fun introduction. The environments and historical accuracy were quite impressive, and I found myself enjoying the gameplay. It's definitely a good open-world game, but it does suffer from somewhat simple combat and a pretty forgettable story. However, in the end, I enjoyed my time with this one. Recommended :)

An excellent incremental game. It has good pixel art paired with a satisfying gameplay loop with enticing progression. The game respects your time while also providing you with the dopamine that these incremental games are known for. It's a perfectly balanced incremental game, and one of the best in the space. Highly recommended :)

This was a pretty good incremental game. It had a satisfying gameplay loop with good progression, upgrades, and animations. It did become a bit too heavy on the eyes after a while and wasn't really too idle, but I still enjoyed playing through a more active incremental game. Highly recommended :)

Another great incremental game! The systems are really addictive and dopamine-inducing while respecting your time. The art style is also really nice and appealing to the eye. Not idle by any means, so I don't know why that's a tag, but this was really fun. Highly recommended :)

Had to complete it again for the 100%. Still a wonderful game, but they could've done without adding these new achievements. Highly recommended :)

Just replaying this because they added one more achievement in an update. The game is pretty repetitive and boring at this point, but it was fun for the majority of the time I played it. Slightly recommended, but know that it is extremely grindy and requires DLC to 100%.

This is a fun game, but it is hell to 100%, and it gets boring after a few hundred hours. I likely won't keep this 100% for very long, as they constantly add DLC with achievements like every two or three months, but it is what it is. Don't get this game if you want to 100% it.

This was an interesting idle game. It isn't really the most engaging, and the clicking was really obnoxious on my hands and wrist, but the animations and dialogue throughout the game were pretty interesting. If the dialogue wasn't as good, I'd be more mixed on this game, as the dopamine hit wasn't exactly the best, but thankfully, the dev added some humor to make it more entertaining. Recommended, but keep in mind that the gameplay isn't really the most enrapturing :)

It definitely felt like a console game, but it had a wonderful story. I found the gameplay a bit tedious near the end, and I wasn't really the biggest fan of the 2nd dream world sequence, but the excellent atmosphere and interesting characters made this game triumph over those downsides. I do have to say the ending wasn't the greatest, but I get why they did it that way (especially after the scene after the credits). The game also had performance issues throughout. Recommended, but beware of its issues :)

This was a pretty fun game! It had a lot of charm, and the devs put a lot of heart into this to make it more than just your standard Nonogram game. One of the best nonogram games I've played on Steam so far. Highly recommended if you like Nonograms :)

This was a surprisingly addictive little game with great pixel art. The Gnorps are adorable, and the shard physics are super satisfying. The music is simple but fits the vibe perfectly. Progression feels smooth and doesn’t drag on forever, which I really appreciate. The talent system also has variety, but a lot of filler; the late-game Zybellium grind can also be rough if you don’t know what you’re doing. Overall, a very solid game!

This is a relaxing and engaging puzzle game. The puzzles are clever, fair, and satisfying to solve, with tons of extra content on the Steam Workshop to keep you busy. It’s perfect for unwinding while chatting with friends or family. The soundtrack could use more variety, and the tutorial isn’t great, but you’ll pick things up quickly. The puzzles aren’t too hard, just time-consuming, yet it’s still a wonderfully calming experience I’d recommend.

Excellent visual novel. I watched the anime over a decade ago, and it was one of my favorites at the time. It was nice to get back into it. However, this game suffers from a lot of filler, and I felt like it was artificially slow at times. Thankfully, there were many routes with good stories to appreciate, and most of the characters are lovely. I wish there could have been an after story for everyone, as some routes may be a bit grim for some of the girls due to our character not being involved, but it isn't nearly as bad as Kanon in that department.

Route Ranking: Kotomi > Nagisa > Kyou = Sunohara Siblings > Tomoyo = Baseball Route > Kappei = Ryou > Yukine > Koumura > Misae >Sunohara (meme route)

None of the routes are outright bad, but some leave much to be desired. Hopefully, CLANNAD Side Stories helps fill some of the gaps in these routes. Overall, great VN if you're willing to sink a lot of time into one.