It's always an amazing moment when you realize you've found a game that you'll be playing for the rest of your life. The bitter winds of Skyrim; the tranquil environs of Stardew Valley; and now, the quiet sands of Desert Golfing. An incredible game that's emblematic of what mobile gaming does best. No frills, nothing fancy, just mindless fun. It's right on the tin: you're in a massive, endless desert, and you're golfing. What more could you ask for?

Too many mobile games nowadays try to suck you into an endless progression loop that, at a certain point, demands you cough up real-world money in order to advance. Even if it's not progression, many games will entice you with pricy cosmetics to customize your experience. Here, you can see where a more cynical developer would insert these micro transactions if they were making the game today. Special premium holes, custom balls, fancy ball contrails, new environments to purchase.

There's none of that here. You get your one regular golf ball, and an endless desert to play in. It's beautiful. So simple and pure, a perfect game to pop on a podcast and just play.

Desert Golfing will forever be installed on my phone, and will be something I always come back to when I have 5 minutes to kill or a podcast to catch up on. It doesn't insist upon itself, trying to suck up every moment of your spare time. The epitome of a gaming philosophy that I wish more games, especially free mobile ones, embraced: here when you want it, and not a second more.

There’s been some debate as to whether Astro’s Playroom is a tech demo or an actual game. After completing it and getting every trophy, I can safely say that this debate is ridiculous. Of course Astro’s Playroom is a game. It’s not 40 hours of endless open world exploration, but that doesn’t make it any less of a game. It often feels as though every square inch of the experience was carefully considered. No matter what action you take and where you take it, the developers have included a wholly unique and relentlessly cute animation to address it. Showing off the capabilities of the Dualsense controller is obviously impressive, but what brought me back to this game time and time again was exploring each level thoroughly, punching, hovering, admiring every nook and cranny to see what little detail was included. Every time I positioned the camera to be centered around Astro’s face, it never failed to make me smile when he looked back at me, enthusiastically waving.

By the end of my time with Astro’s Playroom, I’ve become wholly convinced that more games should follow this model: 5-10 hours, carefully crafted experiences that you can appreciate for what they are and then walk away from. Astro’s Playroom impressively shows of what the PS5 and Dualsense have to offer, but it’s a charming and delightful game all on its own.