Goblin week.
I coincidentally only played goblins these past few days.
It wasn’t on purpose.
It started with me joining a guild called ‘Goblin’ in Where Winds Meet. It’s not about actual Goblins or anything like that, but in hindsight, it was a sign.
Hytale
I played Hytale and ended up living my best life as a moss goblin.
I have a lot more to say about this game, so much that it has its own review!
Trash Goblin
Trash Goblin is one of those games that went straight to my heart.
The premise is simple: you sort through stuff brought up from the chasm, chipping away at the dirt to reveal the trinkets, cleaning them, combining them with others to create the orders that come in, all while slowly revealing a compelling story! I’ve never been so invested in the story to what essentially amounts to a chain of cleaning mini games since PowerWash Simulator, and that is about the highest praise I could give to a game in this genre.
The characters are all very unique, with interesting and genuinely funny dialogue. I never thought I could be thoroughly immersed in the story of an armoire I haven’t even seen yet, but here we are.
I’m not exaggerating when I say this is the first time a game has a minigame gimmick that doesn’t feel like a chore after a while. It keeps being exciting to click away, get a trinket, clean that trinket, bolt it onto other trinkets to create… more trinkets, and then hoard those trinkets and cry a little when someone wants to buy them. Goblin loves trinkets, goblin loves tinkering, goblin loves money, goblin loves shinies… I might genuinely be part goblin.
My only hangup with the game is that you never really get to see your goblin character. Add goblin customisation to this game and it’s an 11/10!
Peglin
I have played Peglin before, but for some reason never reviewed it.
Genuinely happy to revisit it this week, because this game feels like digital bubble wrap for the brain.
You’re basically throwing your little goblin balls through a bagatelle, popping bubbles and scoring points for everything you hit. Every ball has its own bonuses and weaknesses, and where the ball ends up at the bottom will influence how much damage you deal (to your enemies or yourself). Just like any roguelike, it comes with shops and random events in between battlefields where you can upgrade your balls, get new balls, you know the drill.
The goal? Bring the enemies to 0 HP before they succeed in doing that to you.
This game is gorgeous and excells in its simplicity. Each level consists of roughly the same structure and elements, but through combining them as creatively as they have, the level designers bring something unique to the table every single round.
Goblin Cleanup
Imagine a couple of developers being at a bar, snacking on salted pretzels and discussing games and anime. One of them goes, “hey, what if there was a game like Viscera Cleanup Simulator but you’re a goblin in a maid outfit?” and the other one goes, “dude, we should totally make that!” and then they do.
That’s how I imagine Goblin Cleanup came into existence.
You enter a scenario in which a party of heroes just cleared a dungeon, set off the traps, left debris all over the place, and it’s your job to reset the dungeon level for the next party. Repair the traps, reset them, rebuild the furniture, clean up the blood and meaty chunks. You do that as a goblin, in a maid outfit, and you don’t do it with a mop, but with an adorable slime on a stick. And you don’t throw things away in trash cans, but feed them to a mimic.
Sounds fun, right? Right! It’s incredibly satisfying, puzzling together the story of what happened, the tall tales the heroes will likely be telling in the tavern tonight, cleaning up their mess and rebuilding everything for the next party of heroes who are none the wiser.
There are tons of customisations to unlock. While your weapons and gear don’t have any stats, they can be reskinned to look like a variety of things, recoloured to match your outfit and vice versa. It’s all maid outifts, all the way down.
And it’s multiplayer! It’s one of those games that’s fun on your own but FUN when played with friends.
Goblin Sushi
I have already mentioned Goblin Sushi in an earlier post, and revisited it again this week, and it’s perfect for my goblin week. Make sushi, feed your customers, get xp, upgrade your tools, make more sushi, pay your rent, make your landlord explode (hopefully). Great fun!
I’m not done with my goblin rush yet, but I have run out of goblin games.
Know any good goblin games I should play? Let me know on Discord!
Fantastic roundup of goblin games! Trash Goblin's description pulled me right in, especially the trinket hoarding aspect. The comparison to PowerWash Simulator for story engagement is spot-on becuz both games nail that zen-loop satisfaction. I didnt know about Peglin and now I gotta check it out since the bagatelle mechanic sounds perfect for when I need to zone out after work.