Mimicry Man

Title: Mimicry Man

Genre: Doodle God-esque Puzzle

Completion Time: A little over an hour (for 100%).

A cute and entertaining play on RPG tropes.

Interesting:

The premise is quite clever--you're a Mimic (those awful treasure chests that attacked you instead of giving you things), and you use various items to lure people in so you can take their stuff. JayisGames compared it to Doodle God in terms of its item upgrading/combining gameplay, but it's a completely fresh take. 4/5

Fun:

You have to do some of the trade chains multiple times, which gets really repetitive. But the interface is easy to use and they included a handy guide that tracks what you've gotten and how, and also indicates whether you should bother trying to trade and/or fuse that item anymore. In short, some well-thought-out features make the slightly clunky gameplay tolerable to enjoyable. The challenges are simple but not irritatingly slow, and I got a nice flow experience. 3/5.

Moving:

None, really. It's a lighthearted game through and through. The RPG nostalgia was nice though. 1/5.

A pleasant one-hour diversion, especially if you're a fan of SNES RPGs.

Pretentious Games

Title: Pretentious Game 1, Pretentious Game 2, Pretentious Game 3

Genre: Platform

Completion Time: Five minutes for the first, seven for the second, thirteen for the third., 

Really three episodes of one game rather than three different games, the Pretentious Games riff on platforming mechanics and tropes to tell a story.

Interesting:

Each level has a goal, and the strategies or obstacles are hinted at by a line of story. It's a clever concept and should appeal to fans of wordplay. 5/5

Fun:

I thought the better levels were the ones that called for puzzle-solving rather than platform maneuvering--episode 3 got a little frustrating. But overall there tended to be a very nice "Aha!" moment as you figured out each challenge.  4/5.

Moving:

The creator was definitely onto something when he or she titled this. The story leans heavily on clichés, and the emotion feels like the creator was trying to imitate other works of art rather than pulling it from within him/herself. But it's strong enough to carry the game, and the threading of multiple storylines is nicely handled. 3/5.

If you like games that play with what games can be, this is well worth the half an hour or so that it takes to complete all three.

Gunpoint

Title: Gunpoint demo

Genre: Puzzle, action

Completion Time: Thirty-six minutes, which I suspect is kind of embarrassing. I got shot and found myself accidentally jumping onto the ceiling a lot.

From the website: "Gunpoint is a stealth puzzle game that lets you rewire its levels to trick people. This video will explain it."

Interesting:

Fantastic, unique premise. You have to electronically rewire the building so the guards will accidentally do your bidding--leaving a room, opening doors for you, etc. The autosave system is pretty innovative and really reduces frustration. Also, tricking people is funny. 5/5

Fun:

I'm not particularly good at puzzles that involve planning ahead, so I suspect this could have been a lot more fun than I was having. I tended to brute-force everything--hook up all the doors to the light switch and then punch out the guards. I suspect I will enjoy it a lot more once I have gotten the hang of the nuances. 3/5

Moving:

The plot and characters are pretty light, but the music adds a lot to the atmosphere and the dialogue is laugh-out-loud funny. Like Misadventure, Gunpoint accomplishes what it was aiming for. 3/5 

A light game with a clever concept, I am definitely looking forward to the full version coming out.

Fear Less!

Title: Fear Less!

Genre: Jump and Run

Completion Time: After 35 minutes I had all the upgrades. I am not really skilled enough to reach the ending in a reasonable amount of time.

Fear Less! is a simple jump and run game that is vastly enhanced by its incredibly charming graphics. It's the sweetest little-girl-being-chased-by-Death that you will ever see.

Fun:

Jump and run games are great for getting into flow, where you are totally immersed in the game. Fear Less! implements this pretty well, with smooth gameplay and a good difficulty curve. I really could play it forever without getting bored. Actually beating it (collecting all the medals) was too difficult for me to finish in a reasonable amount of time, but I'll probably be returning to it every now and then. 3/5

Interesting:

As these games go, this is one of the less novel ones. The fighting mechanic doesn't add a ton of depth and the upgrades are extremely simple. 1/5

Moving:

This game is just beyond adorable, and also rather beautiful in a way that . I suggest you take a look for that alone. Facing up to fear is a theme that is close to my heart, so my reactions may be idiosyncratic, but the upgrade menu alone (the little girl training with boxing gloves in preparation for facing her nightmares) completely won me over. I just wish there was more of a developing narrative. 4/5

Pick it up for the charming theme and graphics, stick around for the flow experience.