Reserving my spot
Previous year list managed to finish 51 games and I doubt I'll beat that number this year.
January
1. Save Room -
1h40m | A short puzzle game where you need to organize your inventory like if it was a Resident Evil game. Nice vibes overall and there's also a sequel that appears to be more fleshed out. ★★★
2. Eastshade -
14h | A heartwarming adventure where you travel to an island to paint some specific landmarks. There is no combat in this game, just a small isle to explore, quests to solve, tea to drink and a world to relax. It's not perfect but for me it was the right game at the right time. ★★★★
3. Stimulation Clicker -
1h30m | Do you want to feel stimulated? What about overly stimulated? It's the game for you. It's a simple clicker game after all but the idea is interesting enough to give it a try. ★★★
4. Firewatch - 5h | I have no idea why I didn't played this game before. I loved every minute I spent with it, the scenery was beautiful and even though it's basically a walking simulator there were some tense moments that made me think the game was going to another direction. ★★★★☆
5. Tacoma - 3h30m | Just like Firewatch this one is also a walking simulator, where you watch the recordings of a space station crew after some incident. It's shorter and a lot less interactive than Firewatch. ★★★☆
6. Chestnut Grove -
50m | I was really in a mood to play this kind of games huh? It's a very short game that takes place during the pandemic, specially when the first lockdowns were issued. It's a bit janky. ★★☆
7. The Roottrees are Dead -
15h | The Steam release has many improvements, like a redesign UI, no AI art some qol changes and so on. The main campaign is still the same, but the big addition is Roottreemania, a campaign taking place months after the end of the base game. It's harder than the main game but still a pleasant experience in finding evidence, putting the clues together and discovering who is or not a Roottree. ★★★★☆
February
8. Psychonauts 2 -
25h | It was my second time playing through Psychonauts 2 and it still felt fresh. I love the humor and how absurd some situations are. ★★★★☆
9. Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector -
19h | The overall feeling of the game is quite different from the first one, while in Citizen Sleeper 1 there's that feeling of loneliness and not truly trusting anyone, here it's subverted as you already on the run with Seraphin, your friend and the ship pilot.
The game takes place in the Starward Belt, the outer asteroid belt of the Helios System. There you'll travel between settlements, taking some contracts and doing some jobs to earn enough money so you can keep your ship fueled and with enough supplies to finish the contracts, though like the previous game once you reach a certain point, money and resources will not be a problem anymore.
The NPC art is still top notch and the music doesn't gets in the way but sets the mood for the whole game duration. A bit of spoilers but if you played Citizen Sleeper 1
you will recognize some NPCs from the first game as well some events are mentioned. ★★★★☆
10. On Your Tail -
27h | On Your Tail is an interesting mix of cozy and mistery games. You play as Diana, a college student that went on vacation to the idyllic Borgo Marina a coastal city in Italy, but finds herself in the middle of mysterious thefts and decides to take action and work as a detective.
While not solving the mysteries you'll meet a diverse cast of characters, discover their back story and how it interwines with the main plot. There are a lot of side activities from doing small part-time jobs, to cooking and watching movies with some NPCs and while mostly of the minigames were simple they felt diverse so I did not find myself getting bored while playing them.
On Your Tail isn't perfect, the camera felt a bit janky inside buildings and other minor bugs like the art from an action card no appearing. Overall it was a pleasant surprise and if you can tolerate some janky you may find a nice and cozy game. ★★★★
