This one surprised me. Reventure is a very simple game, gameplay wise. Explore the kingdom to find all 100 endings to the story, picking up items each run to find interesting ways to bring the story to a close. There's a lot of humour that - at least in my eyes - misses the mark; lots of gore, unfitting jumpscares, long bits of text with huge pauses, and endless pop-culture references.

Still, I think this game is something special. There's a surprising sense of progression as endings you achieve unlock shortcuts and items for other endings, and by the end you really do have a good feel for how to explore the map. A tricky task at first since collecting items - while unlocking different paths for you to explore - directly impacts the height of your jump.

This is a game that plays to its strengths well. The world, gameplay and characters all reflect the endings you've collected. Spend enough time in it and that cringe-inducing humour can even grow on you. At least a little...

This was yet another game I became interested in due to it having unofficial Archipelago support. I think it'll be a great addition to my randomizer rotation, but even beyond that it was absolutely worth the vanilla playthrough.

This is one of the first video games I ever played, so there might be bias here, but Adventures of Lolo is an absolute gem of an NES game.

In a sea of punishing 8-bit platformers, this simple block-pushing puzzle game stands out as a masterclass of design. There's a surprisingly deep set of logical rules Adventures of Lolo follows, and the developers milk that for all its worth. It's a bit of a cliche to say this, but you really do feel so smart when you find the solution to a level.

It's not without flaws. Some levels require a bit more dexterity than one would expect from a puzzler, and while the developers make great use of the fact that blocks can be moved on an offset of the grid, it can be frustrating to push a block half a tile too far. Even so, with its forgiving continue system and timeless design, Adventures of Lolo is absolutely worth playing through 35 years after its release.

A competent indie hack and slash. While I didn't collect everything needed for the good ending, I enjoyed my run and can see where the replay value lies.

I picked it up in hopes of learning enough to throw it in my Archipelago Randomizer rotation, since there's unofficial support. I have many more secrets to learn before I'd be comfortable doing a run in that context, mind you.

It's solid! Very much what I'd consider a throw-a-podcast-in-the-background sort of game, but that isn't always a bad thing. It offers enough of a challenge to be engaging while not being too difficult.