Thread by @JohanSHolm

2022 games thread: a small review of every game I play and like. Ratings:
[★] Neat and worthwhile, but limited in scope / quality.
[★★] Stronger games falling short somewhat in concept, scope or execution.
[★★★] All-time greats.

Yugo Puzzle [★★]. Early on the gleeful bouncing is unintuitive in a comical way, and once that's internalized it makes for really wild possibilities despite small, concise levels. Jelly is a bit more minimalistic, less brain load, but this manages to do more with fewer pieces.

Downwell [★]. Really cool platform shooting, but too fast. A glitch making it run slowed down was more enjoyable kind of, at least doing combos. Having the best gun to start is nice for making deaths feel better, but at full speed nearly every other gun is awful.

Super Monkey Ball Universe: Final Mix (romhack) [★]. A lot of solid stages, even if I'm not a big fan of the bouncy floors (mostly for the camera), weird stuff like 5-8 / 5-9, and some overly precise late stages. 3-7 (Peekaboo) is a really cool gimmick.

NAM-1975 [★★]. Really cool shooting gallery without the usual hitscan. Limited controls (mainly a slow moving reticule) force you to set up and play proactively with where (and whether) you shoot and move, rather than just testing your aiming / reactions.

Banjo-Kazooie [★]. Pretty nice moveset, lots of options with some segregation but momentum and transitional states tie them together somewhat. Levels start strong, different flavors of platforming, but straying from the basics mostly ends poorly.

Carcavas [★★]. Transcendent wandering, stunning visuals, and then the haunting other.

That Feeling Blue [★]. Beautiful mix of alien nature, geometry and magic.

Ashen [★]. Decent soulslike footsies, but enemy design and variety is lacking. The AI companion and rpg elements are messy, and while it's fun jumping around it can be very punishing for experimenting. Amiren is a really solid boss, and watching the village evolve is neat.

An Empty Castle: Laputa [★]. Cool visuals and atmosphere, if a bit nauseating in its dreaminess.

Gunstar Heroes [★]. The regular combat is a mess and the lack of iframes can be annoying, but some bosses are very solid. Customization makes and breaks fights, e.g. homing can make things a lot less interesting, and free shot is kinda unplayable without homing.

Outer Wilds: Echoes of the Eye [★★★]. More contained and focused on physical riddles, with layers of meaning to everything you discover. Every leap of logic not being obvious enough to predict, but not so obscure as to be unintuitive makes for organic linear progression.

Balloon Fight [★]. Neat maneuvering, occasionally doing complicated bounces with the momentum is really satisfying, but it's a bit slow overall with awkward scoring that requires waiting around.

Exo One [★★]. Satisfying movement with some cool gimmicks, while looking gorgeous.

Aero Fighters / Sonic Wings [★]. The third and final powerup being temporary does a lot for consistency in challenge, characters are pretty well balanced (UK sucks but otherwise solid), and random stage order with harder versions is always nice (though the city is a mess).

Ori and the Will of the Wisps [★★]. Faster pacing with the ever-dynamic moveset, escapes are mostly set pieces but the addition of races really push you on combining the various movement options efficiently. Combat isn't explored that much but pretty fun with juggling.

Riko [★]. Pretty sweet puzzler with some cool tricks. As it keeps going I'm finding it harder to read, between overwhelming possibilities of move sequences and the focus on enemy manipulation.

Elden Ring [★★★]. Wonderful to discover and wander in, thanks to the subdued music and range of aesthetics. Systemically well-rounded with healing and jumping improving on old foundations. Some incredible contained areas, though replayability is mixed and bosses never excel.

Shatterhand [★]. Solid action platforming, little initial unfairness while having some tricky situations, at least for the top levels.

The Eternal Cylinder [★]. Great music, pretty skies and charming narrative. The gameplay is alright, 3D adventure platformer fare, but could've been shorter without repeating a boss and having so many chases.

Vertebrae (puzzlescript) [★]. Broken up over years of getting stuck, mainly level 11 and 18, and towards the numbered end I kind of lost track of the logic. Outside that though, beautifully concise hard puzzles exploring nuanced movement.

Binding of Isaac: Rebirth [★]. Experimenting with items are fun chaos, but the game doesn't let you tame that chaos and make informed decisions without external help. The shooting is simple and effective, but those fundamentals are destroyed by wild items very quickly.

Bomb-O-Grams [★]. Pretty tight in pushing minesweeper-esque logic efficiently, going fast with three different hint axes can be really satisfying, but somewhat poor readability and feedback, and too often comes down to tiny or mistakes (that you can't analyse) and/or bad RNG.

Task Force Kampas [★★]. Starts slow without much going on in stages, but higher difficulties amend that, and all along there's some really solid bosses, even if the healing can be too forgiving there given no pressure to stay offensive.

Samurai Aces / Sengoku Ace [★]. Most of the characters feel weak (compared to no6 at least) but enemy design is a solid step up from Aero Fighters. Gets too fast for me past the opening stages, but randomizing those with increasing difficulty makes for fun consistency tests.

Sacramento [★]. Lovely fleeting scenery to drift through.

Fruit Ninja Classic+ [★]. So satisfying. Can be a bit unclear, particularly with the default background, and bombs can come too fast to see, but solid fun nonetheless.

No Breaks Valet [★]. 2 Breaks balances best between total crapshoot and consistency test, but both ends provide some dynamic fun with a focus on consistency.

Raindrop [★]. Dynamic avoidance ramping up to blissful speeds, ending up near impossible which pushes efficiency on the lower levels to score chase. Wasn't into the nonstop bonus for that, even if learning of ESP it makes sense, and I preferred my playstyle without achievements.

Heaven's Vault [★★]. It's so cool to explore another culture's way of codifying the world, and the setting as a whole is deeply mysterious with magical discoveries. Visually the rivers are beautiful, music is great but inconsistent, and it can be slow to walk around at times.

Hard Lads [★]. Nice vibe, taps into some of the awkwardness of analogue interaction with the classic endearing lads. Though I don't quite agree with the author on its cultural status (i.e. being queer culture) or that the camera is essential to this behaviour.

Castlevania [★]. Some rough edges but solid fundamentals and some good level design. Bosses tend to be meh, many stretches are very rigid, but the tension achieved at a good capstone, e.g. the corridor with medusa heads and knights, makes it all worth it.

AM2R [★]. Unclear progression as the map randomly opens up but offers no real freedom. Some good shooting platforming stuff but at least on normal nothing really stands out and it's not very streamlined, somewhat clunky controls and lots of spamming bombs.

Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light [★★]. Fun gameplay all around, built around dynamic physics entities with good content design and a structure that explores it all. Instant death traps are a bit annoying, weapon variety could've been better, and there's some jank.

A Monster's Expedition [★★]. Slow to start with repetitive solutions, but once geared up it just does not stop excavating new interactions and implications of its simple rules. Endgame snowmen are sometimes really cool, but awkward to approach so I didn't do many.

What Remains of Edith Finch [★]. Hits a nice tonal sweet spot between tragedy, comedy and mystery, allowing it to be poetic or silly without pretension. Neat storytelling and thoughtful themes of familial influence, but a bit too abstract to draw me in and really get invested.

The Red Ring of Immortality [★]. Really sweet concise fun. Even just a 6x6 grid as a playground to explore.

Sokoban[Sokoban[Sokoban]] [★]. Technically busywork but the constant management and planning of layers in your mind makes that meaningless. Identical places, with each their different goals and implications to moving.

Wand Spinner [★]. From incomprehension to mastery in record time, impressive level design and some real tricky ones with 14 and 18.

Kitten Connection [★]. Really cool tight platforming, straight forward but with some tricky level design that makes sure it's not generally obvious what to do and requires some tinkering.

CommitArsonNow [★]. Pretty neat, a bit janky but both the level and boss are cool to figure out. Good sign for a tiny game to still have a "that's impossible" to victory arc.

The Unforgettable Gem Hunt! [★★]. The red cats are a bit heavy on memorization but outside the maze that worked ok, and the trickiest ninja rooms like Gear Wastes are sick, from broad routing down to nitty gritty precision movement, all interweaving and vying for attention.

Akumajō Densetsu / Castlevania III JP [★]. More polished and well-rounded than the first, even if stairs and offscreen enemies are awkward. Once learned some sections have limited variety and lax challenge, but some highlights too and the spritework and music are great.

Tunic [★★★]. Magical wanderlust that slowly transitions into probing the world for all its secrets, revealing hidden layers to all that's known. Some of the music is really good, and action gameplay tends to complement exploration even if not great in itself.

Stephen's Sausage Roll [★★]. Intricate movement that's utilized in really cool solutions, but doesn't feel like it all combines into mastering that fundamental movement, more disparate tricks. Sometimes fiddly and/or very long, and the structure makes it annoying to get stuck.

Gunbird [★]. Pretty similar Psikyo foundation with a bit more going on with extra enemies if you perform well, and manages to stay feasible but tricky for quite a while.

Poinpy [★★]. Goes from careful nuanced routing to get and avoid fruits with limited mobility, to wild flurries of bouncing and jumping toward infinity, both lots of fun to explore and optimise.

Sylvie Lime [★]. Pretty cool, though chair hopping was more fun than edging spikes with the lime or kaizo exploration. Some alternative progression paths are interesting, like abusing mouse form, and some neat bosses.

The Zachtronics Solitaire Collection (★★). A few novel variations to good effect, but tarot takes the cake. Large scale with limited placement options so it's manageable, losing to stack directions sucks but so satisfying to unravel.
8 > 7 > 3 > 5 > 6 > 2 > 1 > 4