DeVuego

The developers of Intruder in Antiquonia looked to craft a compelling mystery with an offline twist. However, a story that struggles to connect and lukewarm puzzle-solving make this game about an amnesiac one that’s all too easy to forget.

Groundhog Day wasn’t exactly a property screaming for a sequel. However, Tequila Works’ next-generation time-looping adventure successfully manages to pull players into its familiar small-town Americana vibe for a cute new story, albeit one saddled with some VR control issues and inevitable repetition.

STAY is a game that requires dedication, both to its digital protagonist and its puzzle solving, and features the kind of narrative that’s best digested via discussion with others who’ve played it. Eccentricities aside, it provides the kind of fodder that transcends the superficial and is recommended for anybody willing to face a slice of real-world drama.

Humor is a subjective thing, and others may like MechaNika’s dark comedy where it fell flat for me, so I’m willing to look past that for the most part. I did like the gameplay itself, as straightforward as it is. But the music could certainly do with more variety, and most players will have seen and done everything there is in less than two hours. The reason it’s so short is that the big payoff promised from the beginning is pushed to a sequel, as the game ends abruptly just as Nika completes her robot. Really MechaNika seems more like an introduction to the world, a first act rather than a standalone game that ends up leaving a more tepid impression than by rights it should have if allowed to develop fully.