This is like the 100 hidden… series had a baby with a bottom-of-the-barrel, porn without plot game. Everything works really smooth, but it's hilarious how perfectly the shortcomings of AI art are displayed thanks to the zoom. The scenes are already blurry enough from the get-go, but after zooming in… you might as well have had a preschooler draw you a scene and it would have looked less blurry. And Violette… oh, Violette… it is so painfully obvious she has no personality of her own. You just know it was some sad, sad man, sitting in his bedroom, wearing a crusty pair of underpants, writing all the things she would say (complete with the winking faces, no less). And why is she so obsessed with butterflies of all things, anyway? Ladies, can you feel yourselves getting hot and bothered at the thought of your partner fervently collecting butterflies to impress you? Show of hands! …if it wasn't November, I suppose I'd go practice in my Animal Crossing village.

The length of this one makes the bold and daring personality of the girl marginally more believable than the other one, even if it is still very much purely in service of the player. She doesn't even look like herself in one of the CGs; par for the course with AI art. I only missed the "bored" ending, but after almost 40 minutes of playing, I couldn't be bothered to figure it out.

Truth be told, this one is just very confusing. In an hour to an hour and a half, the story that unravels is so jam-packed, it's hard to tell which aspect is most important or what conclusion there is to be drawn, if there is any in the first place. I want to say that the safest bet seems to be reserving your judgment until the sequel (main game?) comes out and helps the story find its footing. Oddly enough, despite this one being F2P, the store page for the second game is already assuring potential buyers that they need not worry about playing it if they don't care to, which seems confusing and counterintuitive.

BLACK BOX LSS - The Shining Immortal is Playable on Steam Deck, possibly because touching the screen brings up a mouse cursor, so it's likely not far off from becoming Verified. Touchscreen or A to advance text; all options are contained within the on-screen UI, so X, Y and B don't seem to do anything.

Nihil novi… maybe except the fact that the GOG achievement pop-up style doesn't really lend itself to achievement spam games.

It's finally out! …and I quickly remembered that I did not miss these games much. It got paid DLC content on day one and I genuinely hope there will be no more… even though I already know I'm gonna pay if there ever will be.

"A classic puzzle game designed to have fun. Open drawings by solving puzzles to relaxing music." says the store page for this game. Right away, I think my and the dev's ideas of "relaxing music" are vastly different from each other. And as far as the design goes, even in spite of its simplicity, the game manages to be broken. At the last few images, I encountered a bug where after solving a puzzle, I couldn't go to the next one right away or if I did, one of the pieces would glitch out and disappear permanently, making the puzzle unsolvable. In both cases, I had to go back to the main menu and reset the puzzle from there… except the new one would still show up as locked and I'd have to redo the previous one. In one instance, a puzzle even registered as solved with two pieces being out of place. Don't think I need to say this when talking about a "hentai" game of all things, but do not get this, even as a joke. It's just a bad game with bad music and a random mix of images of unknown origins.

In a world where every supercomputer has, without fault, concluded that to save planet Earth, humanity is doomed to perish, the last professor willing to continue his work builds Kyuu, the ninth (and last) attempt at an android that will hopefully see a way for mankind and the Earth to coexist peacefully. Kyuu turns out to be more clever than her eight predecessors and finds a way to pass the same judgment in less direct terms. With renewed hope, the professor overrides Kyuu's ultimate directive and convinces her to spend one day outside of the lab, interacting with humans and gathering new data. At the end of the day, will Kyuu be convinced that humans can find a way to save the Earth, or will she still think that humanity must perish?
This is, in fact, the one and only choice you get right at the end of the story. I read a review of this game that recalled the initial judgment explicitly stating that if humanity cannot perish, it must be enslaved and expressed disappointment at the fact that there was no choice to enslave mankind at the end of the story, which I have to agree with; I feel like that could have been another, longer and possibly more dramatic branch than outright eradication. That being said, experiencing a world of utterly human randomness from Kyuu's POV was fun, considering she's written very much like a robot, but still has a sense of humor about it (and yes, that is pointed out multiple times by the game itself.)
A great touch for this one is the glossary for tech-related terms, which you can toggle ON or OFF depending on your preferences. A "save on quit" option is also available, though the game is so short you likely won't be needing it, just like I didn't. I think I missed the part of the intro that explained why scientists are so busy with building androids that keep telling them humanity is doomed, but in the end I can't complain, I love stories about androids.

Humanity Must Perish is Verified on Steam Deck, which matches my experience as of 15/11/2024. Use the touchscreen or press A to advance text, press Y to hide textbox.

I said I'd get to this one after completing Lo-Fi Ping Pong, and I'm glad I did. I much prefer lo-fi music over exclusively Russian post-punk, but the gameplay of Kovox Pitch makes more sense from a thematic standpoint. Your older brother has been away for a while, and when he comes back, your mom convinces him to go out and spend time with you… and off you two go, with a radio, your trusty scooters, and the ever-so-creative invention of baseball launchers that can be synchronized to any and all music. The very beginning was a piece of cake, but eventually, the third song of the third location started giving me a hard time, so I had to stop playing. (Possibly also because some songs are so fast that focusing on the inputs made me feel like I was losing vision…) But boy, am I glad I did! Only after that does the game starts throwing new things at you, level by level; still, it feels awesome to pull off. One song was so fast I had to drop the graphic settings! The levels are all broken up by short segments where your older brother talks about his past, both at home and when he was away. I assume the VA had to be someone who had a natural Russian accent, but it was tough listening to the guy; he sounded like trying to get his lines out took a lot out of him. There is also a level editor in this one, but just like with Lo-Fi Ping Pong, I don't care to check it out, so I can't speak for it one way or another.

A small adventure game where nothing "of note" really happens; all you gotta do is help Little Man go through a day that makes him feel a little 'eh' and remember that in the end, it's okay to feel 'eh' sometimes. Recommended only if you don't care that it doesn't have some deep, hidden meaning.

This is the exact kind of game you're likely to enjoy if you loved The Henry Stickmin Collection, as the gameplay is identical: get put in a ridiculous situation, then toy around to try and find the right way out of it. While THSC grew into a sensical storyline, however, McPixel is more of a chaotic, "lol random" romp. It also foregoes a variety of multimedia references in favor of retro game homages; Sos Sosowski's love for retro games is undeniable. The levels are spread out across a walkable map, which becomes a level of its own in the climax. Levels vary in length, but there's one constant: they won't let you go unless you win all scenarios and truly save the day. For the most part, this is rather easy, but if you get stuck, don't feel bad about consulting a guide; the limited soundtrack is okay for the most part, but it can quickly turn grating when you're struggling to figure out your next move. There's already a replay of this one waiting for me in the future, and I guess I should probably buy the first game at some point. I wonder if McPixel 2 is ever going to come out…

Just because it's a quickie doesn't mean it can't be enjoyable. This dev, however, doesn't seem to think so, as the Hard and Extreme difficulty keep you flailing around as you uncover tiles and lose points for every wrong try. If you run out of time, the board (and your score) reset. It's okay for a free game not to be easy, but despite what it looks like, flipping tiles at light speed and occasionally finding a match in the process doesn't make me feel like a savant. Only recommended if you know you have enough patience for things like this. (Definitely download the free "Fruits & Vegetables" DLC to make it easier on yourself.)

In spite of this alternate universe allowing some magical creatures to coexist with humans, one human is having a particularly tough time without any magical interference. Dawn has recently realized she's transgender and she can't wait to tell the world about it. Sadly, most of her surroundings (including, but not limited to, her parents) are not readily accepting of this fact. Luckily, Dawn has just made a new friend; a mysterious succubus named Lucia. Two years later, Dawn is comfortable with her appearance, but not so much with her body; this gives Lucia the idea to utilize alchemy as a faster alternative to surgery and therapy, and here's where the story truly begins.
I can not recommend this VN enough. It has been years since I've enjoyed a VN this much, especially one as short as Reborn A Zombie!. Every aspect of the visual presentation is utterly gorgeous from start to finish and the story is all about girls loving girls (as friends, but possibly also as girlfriends, in the future…?) Despite the harsh reality of things like these happening in real life, I'm glad not a lot of time is dedicated to people who don't accept and/or mistreat Dawn, not to mention that there is no violence or targeted language at play. Besides the zombie thing, I think it's more than enough that Dawn has to listen to her inside, deadname voice as it tries to make her feel bad about her choices. I do also notice the obvious parallel between Dawn's conscious, informed choice to transition and the accidental fate that led her to become a zombie; it feels like there's something to be said there, but I just lack the words to say it. Personally, I was also interested in Lucia's asexuality and how that is presented in the story; as a relatively fresh ace with low confidence I would gladly devour an extensive subplot about Lucia discovering herself and learning to be comfortable with her needs, so I feel like this was barely mentioned (the word "asexual" is never uttered, to my recollection); then again, this was meant to be Dawn's story and a sequel is already in the works, so I'm excited!
If you've had this on your wishlist, play it! If you didn't, play it! If you're LGBTQ+, play it! If you're an ally, play it! I'm simply overwhelmed at how easily I could have completely missed out on this one if I hadn't decided to pay attention to free games on my wishlist.

Reborn A Zombie! is Playable on Steam Deck, possibly because touching the screen brings up a mouse cursor; I feel like it's well on its way to becoming Verified.
Touchscreen or A to advance text, X to toggle auto mode, Y to hide textbox, B to force skip, R1 to bring up backlog (conflicts with default screenshot shortcut.)

This one's got a pretty bumpin' BGM, though it stays the same after you complete the game. Hints take time to recharge, like in normal HOGs.

I feel weirdly lied to. I was genuinely expecting a story of a journey in which Zarie guides you through the afterlife to help you attend your final trial, with a bittersweet goodbye after you reach a point where she has to give you over to Enma's minions, as she herself alluded to it… but then it all just ended with a dumb, DDLC-esque twist. I don't even really know you! Oh well.

Zarie: The Story of Sin is Verified on Steam Deck, which matches my experience as of 14/11/2024. Use the touchscreen or the right touchpad to advance text; pressing A hides the textbox. (I also seem to remember R1 brings up the backlog, which conflicts with the screenshot shortcut.)