Recent reviews by BaronCalico

A bit bleak, a bit broken, but it's a chill game built around a really fun audio experience--a golf game AND an accompanying radio drama. Recommended!

I made a factory that makes factories out of lesser factories (which were made out of still-lesser factories). Neat!

Breezy puzzle-strategy at its best.

Can't...stop...clicking...

If you can get over the hump of a slightly obtuse intro, there's a wonderfully weird, philosophical, surprising, and extremely player-choice dependent tale here. Some of the places it takes you, some of the characters and situations you encounter, are unlike anything else. The combat in the game may only be okay, but the tale it weaves, and weaves around your choices, sends you down some fantastic roads. Approach it like a choose-your-own-adventure novel (and bump your Wisdom and Charisma stats often), and there's something truly special here.

Might be the most beautiful (and beautifully sad) walking sim game--stroll playing game--I've encountered. Strongly recommended.

If 'Stellaris' is any indication, I would be a poor space-governor.
Pros: A balanced economic policy focused on sustainable expansion...
Cons: ...but not focused on military defense against the rabidly xenophobic space-slugs who live the next system over.

I love this game.

'Ori and the Blind Forest' is very pretty, but it goes so overboard with packing in detail that it's hard to parse what's going on half the time. Clever jumping puzzles though!

Unfortunately, this is just not a good reimagining of the classic. The game feels much less technically interesting or challenging, preferring to lead you by the nose through its labyrinths (while failing to make those labyrinths especially interesting). And then there's the story. As much as I appreciate them bringing back the old cast for a victory lap, the writing just wasn't there and there was far, far too much of it. If you want DuckTales action, seek out the NES version in the Disney Afternoon Collection instead.

'Pony Island' is an indie game that presents itself as poorly programmed software that you have to fix and break to proceed. It has a few clever moments (and one extremely clever moment near the end that totally fooled me), and at ~2hrs in length it doesn't overstay its welcome. Still, it's tough to recommend unless you're deep in the 'Undertale'-style meta videogame camp. In short, it was okay.