My clock seems to be broken.
I played these games for "just a little while" and suddenly it's hours later?
Playing games has always been my safe space, and some weeks I need the virtual equivalent of a warm blanket in the shape of a hyperfixation more than others.
These five games are exactly that.
Whether it’s on my own or with a friend, these games spanning different genres all have that lovely ability to pull me in, let my brain go brr for a few hours, and gently shut the rest of the world out for a bit.
Bonus content: a review collab with my best friend and favourite gaming buddy, my lovely husband Kevin! ♥
The Spell Brigade
The Spell Brigade is a multiplayer bullet hell action roguelike.
That’s a lot of tags to summarise: you and your friends get their wizard on, walk around, kill enemies, collect mana, upgrade their spells and (hopefully) kill the boss, buy more wizards, upgrades and customisation with the money you receive, rinse, repeat.
It’s incredibly addictive. Play at your peril. If you were easily captivated by games like Vampire Survivors, Megabonk or any of the other masterpieces in this genre, this will be no different.
The game plays incredibly well. The Spell Brigade might just have the tightest, best calibrated pixel-narrow hit boxes I have ever seen in a game. If you think “I can squeeze in there”, you’re probably right. And if you aren’t, you only have yourself to blame.
That said, the game is rightfully getting some negative feedback right after the 1.0 release, because of balancing issues. It feels a little grindy because prices are too high, though the devs are already working on rebalancing things, so don’t let that stop you from buying and playing this gem!
Librarian: Tidy up the Arcane Library
Librarian is a tidying game, yet unlike any I’ve played before.
The premise is simple: there’s a library, and a malicious little fairy has thrown all the books all over the place. Your job? To pick them up and put them back into the shelves. That’s it.
There’s very little more to it, aside from unlocking magic spells to help you organising shelves a little easier - but there is an achievement to complete the game without using spells, so guess what I’m doing? Right. Masochism.
Super cosy, a really nice flow to get into and empty your brain for a while.
Coinsweeper
Coinsweeper is one of those ‘brain goes brr’ games that I can’t get enough of.
It’s Minesweeper, but roguelike/deckbuilder.
If you, like me, liked pressing random thingies and hoping they didn’t go boom, you’ll have a little bit of a learning curve ahead of you, but I promise you’ll get there. Things will still go boom, but that’s okay, it’s very cosy.
Click your way around the literal minefield, following the satisfying bling bling bling of success, and try to make 1 million coins before dying thrice.
Sounds easy? It’s not. Good luck.
But wait, there’s more!
I’m honoured to be giving away three keys to Coinsweeper!
Three lucky Rambling Reviews readers will be picked on 15 May.
Want to participate in the raffle? Drop your name in the hat here.
Bobo Bay
While I played/tested a very early version of Bobo Bay a long time ago, I’ve never played Sonic Adventure or the accompanying Chao Garden, so I missed out on all the nostalgia that the Chao Garden fans are feeling for Bobo Bay.
My husband, on the other hand, has been a big Chao Garden fan since long before I met him, and throughout our entire relationship, has mentioned on many, many occasions how much he loved Chao Garden and wishes SEGA would bring it back or someone would make a spiritual successor to it.
When Bobo Bay was announced, he was cautiously optimistic, and as the release date crept closer, he was getting more and more excited about it. As soon as it released on Steam, I excused myself from our dinner to “go to the bathroom” and gift it to him.
He is by far the better reviewer for this game - so I’ll be passing the proverbial baton and interview him for this next portion. Yay!
Bobo Bay has all the wonderful elements of the original Chao Garden, like the competitions you can enlist your Bobos in. Watch them swim, run, climb or brawl, pitting their stats against their opponent’s, and hopefully winning.
No worries if they don’t, though. Bobo Bay is incredibly unpunishing when it comes to losing competitions, there’s nothing you really miss out on or get locked out of. You just have to train their stats a bit more and try again.
Easy to understand overview screens, well-documented descriptions and intuitive interfaces allow you to keep track of your Bobos’ stats. Training those stats can be accomplished in a variety of ways: feeding them specific foods, letting them compete in races, or sending them to training camps. They can also learn fun things like playing the trumpet or clay sculpting.
On top of all of that, this game is also absolutely gorgeous. The Bobos are cute, and they have adorable interactions between them, exhibiting tons of cute and unique animations, including all the fun skills they learned. They get tons of clothes and accessories, allowing you to customise your Bobos exactly the way you want to.
The city you live in is gorgeous as well as upgradeable, both visually and functionally, with buildings that unlock more options, items that give stat buffs, all while unlocking more items to customise your world with.
From a more technical pov: no issues with controls, no bugs or glitches that we’ve encountered, overall a well-polished game. The dev is also very active, listens to feedback, and has a glorious roadmap with monthly updates, regular fixes, competitions for fans to compete in - all in all, it looks like a bright future for this game!
“If you were a fan of the original Chao Garden, Bobo Bay will be right up your alley - and if you weren’t, you missed out, should be ashamed of yourself and go play that, too.” - Kevin
Who Summoned It?
The point-and-click whodunit Who Summoned It? tells the captivating story of a disaster in Knotgut through the eyes of adorable truthmeister Riki.
As you talk to the fine and less fine citizens of Knotgut, asking them questions about the disaster, themselves and each other, you unravel the truth of what really happened at the wedding, in hopes of figuring out the most pressing question: who summoned the giant shadow monster that trampled the castle and terrorises Knotgut?
