Eight games that maybe you would like.

####The Splitting: The Solid Story-Driven Mystery Game

Developed by Fireberry Studio

In desperate search for new macOS compatible (a macOS gamer is a miserable gamer), story-driven games that require less than 10GB of storage (because yes I managed to fill the hard drive of my 256GB laptop), I found chapter one and two of The Splitting free to play on GameJolt and finished them yesterday.

The Splitting scratches that sci-fi mystery itch quite well and I will play chapter three once it is out. However, there is indeed one thing that breaks the immersive game experience for me sometimes. When you coerce the main character to use the toilet or the bathtub, he talks to you and refuses the command in second person as if he knows some malevolent, uncaring and trolling god controls his every action. I’d like to know why the developers designed these dialogues this way.

####Undertale: My Favorite Game

Developed by Toby Fox

If you like games and you have internet for the past year, you’ve probably grown sick of Undertale fans raving about it so I will kindly spare you the torture. I will not comment on how many emotional tweets I spammed when I played the game, or how I finally bought a graphics tablet because I felt inspired by how much simple 8-bit sprites could make me feel. Or how I began to study musical composition after finishing the game. Or why I now have at least a dozen Unity books on my iBooks shelves. Absolutely no comment.

####Gone Home: The Slightly Underwhelming House Exploration Game

Developed by Fullbright

The reason I chose to play this game is because many people recommend it as a similar game to Her Story (another game I am obsessed with and will forever regret having watched playthroughs of). It’s not hard to see why they recommend this particular game but expecting a game of similar novelty and quality to Her Story, I was rather disappointed.

To me, Gone Home is a heart-warming interactive 3D novel with darker side plots. The voice acting is great and the entire game is well-paced but in no way does it require any extra attention, puzzle solving or just any thinking. The main plot is immediately obvious after you obtain the second “clue” and the “darker side plots”… are not dark enough for me.

Two hours well spent? I’m still in debate with myself. Maybe it was just my fault getting into the game with false expectations.

####The Beginner’s Guide: The Food For Thought For Any Artist Game

Developed by Davey Wreden

When I found out Davey Wreden, the developer of The Stanley Parable, has made another game called The Beginner’s Guide, I was beyond excited. 10 minutes into this game, however, I realised that my expectations of another Stanley experience were ill-placed. This is something else.

I can’t say much without spoiling the game (or rather, interactive experience since you don’t get much actual “gameplay”), but I’d recommend it to anyone who engages in any form of “artistic” creation (quotes because I’d feel weird saying any of my work is “artistic”, but I failed to come up with a more suitable word) and who doesn’t mind a walking simulator. If you draw, write, develop games, create films…etc, maybe you’d relate to Coda like I do.

Coda reminds me of how much I used to write even though I was the only one who enjoyed it, and the reason I stopped. It reminds me of the first 3D game I made called Trypophobia.

####Uncle Who Works For Nintendo: “I have half an hour to spare and I like text adventures”

Developed by Michael Lutz

Even up until now I still can’t figure out what exactly about this game made such an impression on me that I decided to write about it. Nonetheless if you have 30 minutes and you like semi-thriller text adventure games, why not give it a try?

####No One Has To Die: “I have half an hour to spare and I like intriguing stories”

Developed by StuStuTheBloo

Very interesting story with very interesting puzzles. Let it become your dinner companion for today. Or just pooping companion.

####Opus: The Cute Space Story Game

Developed by Sigono

It wasn’t until I was properly teary and ready to “research” the developers behind it for more games like this after finishing the game that I discovered that a Taiwanese team was responsible for this touching sci-fi story. So you could say Opus singlehandedly restored my hopes in the game development industry in my country.

In the game, you help this little robot and Lisa look for Earth while gradually growing attached to them and sometimes laughing at their weird antics and interactions.

If that sounds all right to you and you have a free afternoon (and preferably the charger for your phone), try Opus.

####MacRomeo And Julius: The…Thrusting Game

Developed by Daniel Mullins

If you’ve played it, you’d know why I gave that description

This game is an entry for Public Domain Jam by Daniel Mullins and his team (not sure), who developed Pony Island (another favourite game of mine that I stupidly watched playthroughs of). It is a “Shakespearian Mad Libs” (his words) game for people who enjoy Shakespeare’s stories in the original flavour and the troll flavour.

That’s a great 10 minutes you’ll spend laughing and playing this game.

####Irrelevant Conclusion

So there you go, eight games I’ve played this year. Maybe next time I’ll write about other games I’ve played this year. Or games that I never finished. Or games that I’d like to play but can’t. Or online games that I’ve played in my childhood. Or games that I’m looking forward to. Those sound like good ideas, right?