Spiritfarer

Difficulty: Easy but need patience to gather materials. 

How long to beat the game: It took me like 4-5 months, but I think I was super busy or depressed when I was playing??

Best parts about the game: Well, if you love crying this game if for you. I think this game made me cry more than any game I've ever played in my life. My grandma also had recently passed when I was playing this game, so grief was on the forefront already. I think the art style and animation make this game beautifully done. It has a lot of fun little elements such as farming, modifying your ship, recipes to cook and other stuff to make this game really variable in its gameplay. I think everyone can agree that the very best part of the game is the cat that follows you around! So freaking adorable. This is definitely a cozy game, but as I said, be careful, it's heartbreaking when one of the characters finally departs after you've given them all those hugs throughout the game. I think I just have attachment issues though. I cried almost every time one of them left lollll I think the game is meant to maybe confront grief though? Like it made it a celebration in a way, and it was like a healthy goodbye each time? Whatever it was, this game really made me feel things. 

Home Safety Hotline

Difficulty: Surprisingly more difficult than I thought! I'd say on the high side of moderate. 

How long to beat the game: A few days to a week. You could easily beat this game in a single day though. 

Best parts about the game: This game is freaking weird! How weird it is along with all the retro interface elements make this game unique and fun to play. Of course, Supervisor Carol is increasingly off-putting throughout the game which adds to the wtfness of the entirety. As I mentioned above, this game is more difficult than I thought it would be. I guess I haven't really explained the premise of you are playing as a crisis responder and you get all these weird calls you have to figure who/what the culprits are. There is list provided with audio clips and descriptions, but make sure you look through allllll of them because there are points in the game where the software "glitches" and you have to use your memory to guess the culprit at that point. I really love this little gem. I also played the Seasonal Worker expansion and that was super fun. I liked that they let you know when an answer was wrong. The first one you didn't even know so you had to keep going back and guessing! My friend and I played the first one together and man, there were times we were like this hassss to be the answer just to go through the whole round again not really knowing if the answer was correct. This game gained a lot of publicity when it came out and for good reason!

 

Life is Strange

 Difficulty: Easy-Moderate

How long to beat the game: a few weeks, I think?

Best parts about the game: Obviously the story is the main draw to the game. This game is entirely choice based, and your choices affect the direction of the plot. This game did a great job at delivering an emotional story (yes, I cried during one part) and dang...some parts got a lot darker than I was expecting. I had never played any of the other games in the series, so I didn't know what to expect. This was a good break from playing action heavy games, but after this game I was ready to play something a bit more physically engaging. The other major part of this game is time travel. Max has the ability to go back into the future and rethink some of her choices. It was really creative how they tied that part in, and you get to see the story unfold in a number of ways. Of course...I chose to save the blue haired girl I only kissed once. Please kill me. 

Amanda the Adventurer

Difficulty: Moderate (some of those clues were sort of tricky!)

How long to beat the game: I think I spent about a week or two playing it. 

Best parts about the game: The creepiness of the game for sure is the best part. There is a trend of turning childhood nostalgia into something unsettling and not quite what we remembered growing up. I didn't realize how much story was involved with this game until I looked up some of the explanations. Although it is never fully said in the game, there is high speculation that Amanda is actually Rebecca Colton who is a little girl who went missing. Her father was the creator of the show, and it is believed that Rebecca turned into this TV character. She even says in one of her VHS tapes that she is still out there somewhere. The puzzles were actually sort of difficult in this game, but once you got the hang of what to look for and get used to the attic, it gets a bit easier. There were also 5 possible endings to the game (and yes, I got them all). Some of the endings led to your death by a monster that appears in the attic while I believe there is just one true ending. One of the tapes leads to Amanda the Adventurer 2 and I can't wait to check that one out! It's currently on my Wishlist on Steam.

 

MADiSON

Difficulty: Moderate-Difficult (have to be pretty good at picking up on clues/doing puzzles)

How long to beat the game: A few months

Best parts about the game: The scare factor in this game was legit one of the best I've seen in a horror game. The use of the camera flash to cause jump scares was such a good touch. This is also one of those games that if you turn the camera around sometimes random figures/objects will appear. Not gonna lie though! Some of those clues were difficult to find and some of those puzzles were pretty tough! This is def a fun game to play with someone else so two people can work on the puzzles together. However...much scarier by yourself. I actually remember being a little intimidated to play this game by myself in the dark at my old apartment. I can prob do it now because I don't feel anything anymore and just numb lolllll. I think this had a lot of things you see in your typical horror game, but they did it with finesse? The whole game seemed to be very intentional and was very story driven so even typical horror game elements seemed to have more of a purpose in this game. This is a game I would def play again with someone who has never played (I forgot most of the clues anyways). Maybe I would pick up a bit more on the story since it was a little complex and involved multiple people and timelines. The main story is you are Luca who has been gifted a camera that was previously owned by a serial killer and spooky stuff happens. That freaking white statue got me so many times!

Coffee Talk (1 & 2)

Difficulty: Easy (it's literally just making coffee and talking to guests)

How long to beat the game: You could easily enjoy this whole game in one day, but I played it over a week or two I believe. 

Best parts about the game: This is another super cozy game and I happen to loveeee coffee and live in WA (actually about to move to Seattle!) The pixel graphics of this game is what originally drew me to the game. I think it was a beautifully done game. I love the multiple story lines you can follow throughout the game and all the different combos of drinks you can make with the ingredients. Coffee Talk 2 was equally as good as 1 and I would not be surprised at all if they made a CT 3. There is enough of a fan base, and you can def continue the story of some of the characters. In fact, a completely dialogue-based game is sort of brilliant in that sense. This is one of those games to play when you just want to just sort of zone out and take your time enjoying the characters. Plus, this game is hella inclusive. Not only are there fantasy creatures, but they include LGBTQ characters. This game will always be one of my favorites! 

Lake

Difficulty: Easy

How long to beat the game: A couple weeks?

Best parts about the game: It's super cozy and there literally no parts where you have to actually use your brain. Sometimes that is needed in a game. With that being said I think of this game as more of a palette cleanser before going into a bigger game? Also, the version they made for the Switch was so bad. I played it on my PC and it worked much better (as expected). I like the story of the game, and I like that it's one of those decision matters type of games. Not gonna lie, my little heart was torn between being queer or just having a happy, safe life with Mr. Lumberman (def don't remember his name). It was actually pretty relaxing driving the little mail truck around and looking at the scenery. I hope to one day retire in this little lake town!