flower

flower is lovely game from the same studio that brought you journey. you are a petal flying on the wind, your mission: to greenify things... with its lovely zen interactive soundtrack this game goes straight into my top 10. beautifully pointless.

slidey

nice take on tetris, music is restful, ability to think ahead is essential. https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/slidey-block-puzzle/id966322463

sumikko gurashi

ok so this is a another match 3 (4 actually) game but it has a certain something... ...how would i describle it... hello kitty on drugs! lot of upgrades to be had and the difficultly curve isn't too steep the music is wonderfully cutesy in a nintendo zelda kind of way although if you listen to it too much you will go mad it is a tenacious little earworm... NO MORE¬! PLEASE! but there is some serious strategy to it and it becomes quite challenging hexic meets tetris in a a world where conflict means box office this harmless and charming little game is a breath of fresh air a well thought out japanese gem.

masquerade: the baubles of doom

hitting evil clowns with a great big hammer! enormously stupid colourful violent fun! great soundtrack too... http://www.masqueradegame.com

kaiju rush

this

is a very cute and dumb japanese style timewaster/endless runner. you are a kaiju (a monster), and you have to destroy the cities by timing your superbouncing correctly. sounds easy, it isn't. it's like crossy road in reverse, instead of avoiding things you have to DESTROY them! fun. and when you hit the sweet spot it's oddly satisfying. the graphics are lovely pastelly 80's nintendo blockiness. it's lacking some nintendo earworm of a tune, unfortunately, but hey, you can find plenty of dumb nintendo tunes on spotify... and you have to put up with a lot of adverts so mute the sound and stick your headphones on...

alice: madness returns

so, alice: madness returns as a reboot of the early naughties 'under the radar' classic unreal mod 'american mcgee's alice'. Alice as a videogame character? she's perfect... suitablely dark and sarcastic... she goes steampunk on our asses with her vorpal blade mele and pack of throwing cards ranged she's pretty kickass. ...so drop her in mid Victorian workhouse london, with that mad look in her eye... ...curiouser & curiouser...

journey

'it's not the destination,
but the journey that counts...'

i've just played through about half of journey and it's a gorgeous game.
reminds me lot ofico. although in this game there are no baddies.
no, this is far more zen.
no instructions,
no massive backstory fmv,
you are just plonked in the desert
without a word
and you have to figure it out for yourself.
now, i don't want to say too much
about the gameplay,
because a lot of the fun of the game
is discovering how just cool it is.
safe to say
it is very cool.

what really enthused me about journey
was the multiplayer
which is lovely in it's simplicity.
there is only one mode..:
you are paired with some random person
who is at the same stage as you are
and you solve the level together
voicelessly swapping tricks and tips.

'if you want go fast, go alone
if you want to go far,
go together'

it's a beautiful thing.