A factory sim that is a bit distinct from Zachtronics-style puzzle games in that it takes place on a large persistent map, rather than having a separate workspace for each level. It also has one single immovable drop off point in the center of the map. This encourages a big sprawling factory with lots of highways to move things around, but drawing roads gets dull after a while. Resource spawn points aren't movable either, and relatively sparse on the scale of your factory components, so you have a choice of either building near your hub (as near you can, as your factory expands) and drawing long roads to supply resources, or building near the resources and drawing long roads back to the hub.

The logistics are supposed to be part of the challenge, but it's not a very interesting one. I don't think I'll be playing much more of this, but I am still interested in the sequel that is supposed to come out this year.

An alchemy-themed synthesis of Stardew Valley and the Atelier series. The idea has a lot of promise, and the pixel art is lovely, but everything else feels less substantial than its parent influences.

It has Stardew's stupid save system that only lets you save by going to bed, but for what reason? Probably to get people to mention Stardew in their reviews. An alchemist's life is much less rigidly scheduled than a farmer's, apparently. There's no weather, no seasons, no unique days of the year, no reason that anything needs to be done on a particular day, and no limit to your total number of days. Your only deadlines are when someone falls ill, but I've always been able to fix that before 7 AM on the day it happens. Apparently there aren't really any consequences to missing a treatment deadline, either: there are achievements for failing to cure one, and then ten, separate patients.

The game's story is about winning the trust of the villagers by repairing alchemy-related environmental damage around your island. The story rolls to a halt with only a little fanfare (a party scene at the local tavern) once you do.

A Humble Choice game for Dec. 2023. The Gunk is a very okay little puzzle platformer that's somewhat like Super Mario Sunshine or Okami: vacuum up toxic goo and restore the land. Movement and combat is much less sophisticated than in either of those games, but it works well enough.

For most of the game, exploration is straightforward enough that it's not really a puzzle platformer. Things gradually ramp up and by the end of the game, progression requires multiple steps over several rooms.

It has a vaguely environmentalist message, but unless I missed something, the story is too vibes-based to really make much of a point.

It's mostly a very pretty game, but the limits of its time/budget are apparent in face-to-face cutscenes between the MC and her parter. Their mouths move with their words, but their faces are otherwise still.