i'm normally not much into management games, but spiritfarer managed to marry your typical stardew valley mechanics with some truly emotionally gut-wrenching character development and writing. steer well clear if you don't want your feely parts poked.
This game's focus on nonlethality combined with its realism makes it a very planning-oriented and deliberate tactical shooter. It creates a very engaging cadence between careful stealthy infiltration and frantic breaching tactics. I highly recommend the Swat Elite Force Mod for a lot of new features and quality of life additions, adding a lot more depth and tactical options. There's a plethora of fan-made maps out there as well, which are admittedly a mixed bag to sift through, but with a lot of gems to discover,
Image & Form delivers again. Much more expansive than the predecessor, this game adds more "classical" metroidvania platforming challenges to the mix. That means less focus on the digging mechanic, which would be a criticism if the non-dig parts weren't as well done as they are. In the end, when you are a fully upgraded murder machine, the challenge tends to fall off though, especially on the mentioned non-dig parts. Those would be more interesting (at least for me) if they relied more on failing, learning curve and retrying than mindlessly running through with your armor tanking all the environmental hazards. Only a minor flaw though, since the game makes up for it with rich exploration, a beautiful artstyle and aesthetic, the charming steamworld universe, and an amazing soundtrack. And let's not forget the digging, which is still as compelling as ever. Overall, heartily recommended.
Picked up this gem just recently. While the platforming itself is rather bland and the controls are a bit janky, this game just oozes with creativity. The writing is fantastic and hillarious, even unimportant side characters are interesting and memorable, and the clever little nuances to the brilliant and varied level design just blew my mind. If the creatively bankrupt triple-a-industry got you all jaded and cynical, you need to do nothing but play this to restore your faith in the medium.
