RileyHisbert
6.6 hours
Neko Akatsumi with FROGS

I was a little nervous getting this game. It seemed heavily inspired by the mobile game, Neko Akatsumi, in which there is… a lot of waiting. Fortunately, they seemed to have cut that aspect out of this game!
In fact, I found the frogs loading in too fast. Fortunately, they did add settings to allow frogs to stay longer while I was playing! So kudos to the devs for listening to their playerbase!
Essentially, you have left a busy life to come back home and start up a frog refuge with a childhood friend. You do so by placing furniture, gathering bugs and items by placing plants and ponds, and photographing the frogs that appear! You can then feed the frogs the bugs you gather in order to breed them for new color combinations!
The story was simple, but cute. You can help out a few different areas across the world to develop frog refuges and help with other conservations in the process! The new areas also give new frogs and new items to decorate with!
The achievements were mostly pretty simple and obtainable just by playing. I have heard that the sleeping one is the most grindy, but found it pretty simple by just making sure to sleep every night. Once I unlocked the firefly catching, I'd usually go to sleep around midnight and it'd still count :) That way I could catch some fireflies as well! I finished that achievement about when I finished the story. For that reason, I think the most grindy achievement is the one I didn't even try to go for - getting every single frog. I just didn't care enough about breeding to do it, to be honest. It's partially luck based and I got bored pretty fast.
The art is absolutely adorable, and a big draw point for the game. It's very soft and even though the frogs were all very similar, it was fun to see the different colors!
I think the price point is a little steep for what it is, but overall I did have a great time playing.


11.1 hours
Find the Difference

A very cute, free, 3D find the difference game.
There's essentially 3 different themes for stages, and considering the amount of stages, that means… a lot of repetition. A lot of the differences are the same between rounds, and you kind of learn what exactly to look for. This leads to it feeling very grindy, which is the only reason I haven't finished 100%ing the game yet. I did finish the 'main' part but am slowly working toward the 500 endless mode levels. You can do them pretty fast, but I just reached the point where I'd rather play other things.
The achievements are pretty simple and straight forward to get. Play all the rounds, and you'll likely get them all, plus 500 endless mode levels.
The art is pretty basic. It's definitely not bad, but nothing to write home about either.
Overall, straight forward and a pretty good time, but does reach a level of grindiness if you aim to 100% it.


28.4 hours
Bunkers and Badasses Takes a Mind of its Own

It has been a really, really long time since I played a Borderlands game, so honestly I don't remember what is special to this game, and what's usual for those, so please keep that in mind.
I overall, really loved this game. It was by no means flawless, but the characters were fun, the gameplay entertaining, and it overall kept me engaged the whole time, which can be hard for me. I've always loved the art style for Borderlands, and Tiny Tina definitely kept it up nicely with fun character designs and even more fun characters themselves.
The story was pretty basic, but I didn't find it boring to be honest. It was full of tropes, but it seemed intentional and fun, where I usually find them annoying.
The Voice Acting really stepped the game up, in my opinion. It was really well done, and suited each character really well. While the dialogue itself may not have made me laugh at times, the way it was done by the VAs did. Especially Valentine and Frette.
My biggest issues with the game absolutely come from the overworld. Overworld combat is… lame. It takes forever for the enemies to spawn some times in the encounters, so I'd just be running around waiting for them to come. And the encounter maps were kind of large, meaning the 1 or 2 enemies that spawn could be on the other end of the map as me and considering you need to kill a certain amount to END the encounter, it was just. Annoying. Plus, overworld movement speed is slowed down and just. A pain. You don't spend too much time in the overworld though, and most encounters are just for side quests, not main story, so not too bad.
To 100% the game, there's definitely a lot of grinding. I had fun doing the story and all the side quests, but then I felt done. My copy came with all the DLC, but based on reviews, I felt no need to play it, as they don't seem like they really add much aside from an achievement checked off and maybe a small, tiny story.
I really did have a great time with this game, and it's made me want to go back and finally play more Borderlands 2 for the first time in 10 years.


2.8 hours
Get Your Human Her Candy!

This game is a quick, adorable Halloween game focused around Lilpup who just wants to get her human (who is for some reason not allowed out for Halloween) her most desired candy. In order to do so, you must dress up in multiple costumes, help other humans (and some not-so-humans) with some quests, and knock on all the house doors!
It's a very simplistic game. Mostly just run around, collect candy, and do some pretty simple quests. 100%ing this game is overall pretty easy, done by doing all the quests and finding all the candy.
The graphics are very cute and simple. There were fun character designs, and of course, a wonderful Halloween aesthetic! The costumes for Lilpup were cute and fun as well.
The story was incredibly simple, but very cute, especially the ending! I really had a great time. I'm not sure I'd buy the game at full price, just due to how quick the game is (and this was me taking my time and being stupid about a few things), but on sale it was totally worth it!
Steamdeck specific, it runs pretty well, but you DO have to change the resolution when you start!


59.2 hours
Ducks

Not much to say about this game. Get ducks. Watch ducks. Become duck.

Honestly though, it's a pretty fun little thing to watch or just have up in the background. I have a few friends who like to stream it on discord while we're just chilling in calls, and it's always fun to watch! There's not too much in the way of gameplay, but some achievements do require actions, especially one that everyone I know used a guide for (the safe).

The graphics are basic, but so, so fun at the same time. The duck designs are fun, and despite there being paid DLC for more ducks, it feels worth it in that they're actually fun designs and don't feel like basic, minor recolors of other designs (even though they are technically recolors as most are done on identical bases, but you know what I mean). Plus, most of the DLC gives new maps which are fun!

The achievements are overall pretty simple. There's plenty of guides out there to help you get them. A lot of them are just gained by leaving the game open, and having random events occur, but some do require active actions!

There is nothing in the way of story here, not even hidden story, but despite typically preferring story-based games, this was still great.

So go. Become duck.


fernandopa

I still need to get into Borderlands, but I agree that the franchise’s graphical style looks great to me. Great to know Tiny Tina keeps those in place :)