Stardew Valley is the perfect game to relax with and do that just one more day thing. There is plenty of depth but what I probably find the most impressive is the amount of post release support it has gotten. I just started a new game following the 1.6 release. And it's basically like it's a completely new game. And considering the game's age that is impressive. It's basically like No Man's Sky but without the botched launch.
SimCity 4 to me is the high point of SimCity games which basically only has one major flaw. But that flaw to me detracts so badly from the overall experience that I cannot in good conscience recommend it as a game. And that is: It runs horribly basically no matter your setup. This is a game from 2003. And no system at that time could run the game fluently. And that hasn't changed. On smaller maps it really won't be a problem. But just try the big city tutorial. On both my old Core i7 980X (a six core flagship running at 3.3GHz) and my current Ryzen 7 1700 I get down into single digit FPS when running that map. Other maps I can get into the thirties. But never anything really fluent. This is basically a problem that seems to come with most city builders especially since very few of them seems to use multi core CPUs properly. And SimCity 4 is really the biggest culprit I've seen so far.
Let's get the most important thing out of the way first. Outcast: Second Contact is an awesome game - because Outcast is an awesome game. But to me there are a lot of things that really hampers my enjoyment that probably was just as bad in the original. But with higher graphical fidelity you just notice it so much more. First of all there is the intro cutscene. To me it is just plain worse than the original. Crappy more or less nonexisting animation with the same dialogue as in the original. But without any semblance of life in it. The in-engine cutscenes are just about as bad with some Mass Effect Andromeda level facial animations and really stilted delivery. Again the voice lines are the exact same as in the original which isn't necessarily a bad thing if it was just dilivered in a convincing way. Now for the positives: The story is still as engaging as in the original when you kind of get over the first bump of the cringe at the delivery. The combat mechanics are surely passable if not exactly awesome and the puzzles and platforming sections are still enjoyable. And the most awesome thing again is the same as in the original: The world to me is the main character. Adelpha feels lived in in a way that I don't think I've seen in any other games. And another completely awesome thing that thankfully is also still part of the game: A soundtrack to rival the best (meaning the three newest Elder Scrolls games). So when you take the good with the bad you end up with quite a good game that just isn't quite what I hoped.
Pax Imperia is historically interesting for being a very early real time 4x game. If you are going for the best game I'd say Sins of a Solar Empire is in almost every way a superior game. But for $6 you are getting a bit of PC history (somewhat more a part of Mac history) and it is a good game. It just requires a lot more effort on your part than the newer games.
Her Story is unlike any other game I have ever played before. The FMV genre is generally often hampered by low production value and a certain element of cheese. But Her Story uses the medium to tell a story that feels authentic because of both great acting and great use of the tech. It uses its premise to its fullest potential and without being revolutionary in a technological sense ends up very much being so in a creative sense. I was hooked from the beginning and the game didn't let go until around 3 hours later when I finished it. It's not in any way a long game. But since the price matches I don't see this as a problem and having quite a large game collection I actually found it refreshing to be able to finish a game. And doing so in one sitting was very appropriate for the game at hand...
Uprising is a somewhat flawed gem in a category that has seen precious few games. And they all seemed to come out in the late nineties. Uprising is a strategy FPS where you both drive around in your tank and shoot stuff and call in different units to do the dirty work for you. Other notable games in the genre are Battlezone 1 and 2 and Urban Assault. Battlezone is probably the best of these but Uprising does have a great deal of intensity and is just a great bit of fun. Sadly I haven't been able to get my copy to run in Windows 10. So finding the game here on gog.com optimised for newer systems was basically a dream come true.
Theme Park is a true classic in that it sparked a slew of imitations and sequels. The most logical comparison is Rollercoaster Tycoon. And compared to this Theme Park sadly does stand out as a bit primitive, which considering the five year difference is understandable. The plot is the same. You are building your own theme park and you have to compete with other parks for the first spot. You can do this in a lot of ways. You can just build a fantastic park but you can also play the stockmarket. And so can your competitors. This is something which you don't see in the competitors and I can see why. Cause I honestly don't think it contributes to the gameplay. Still this is if not a great game then a very very good game and well worth the price of admission.
