I bounced off Kenshi at first, because the difficulty is charitably described as "intense" and uncharitably described as "♥♥♥♥-punching." But once you understand the importance of picking the right battles in the early game, of taking small opportunities to improve your character where you can, and of just mining a ♥♥♥♥ ton of copper until you can afford a decent weapon, things start to open up.

Kenshi is very much a game where what you get out of it depends on what you put in. There's no quests, no achievements, very little extrinsic motivation of any kind. But there is an incredible (literal) sandbox for you to play around in. Want to play as a solo adventurer? You can do that. A small squad of vigilantes? Yes. Recruit an army and create a town larger than any other in the game? Yes yes yes. And even though there's not a traditional quest system, you can discover fascinating bits of lore and dramatically change the state of world politics through your own actions. It's a powerful feeling, like if the Civil War questline from Skyrim had lived up to its potential.

My friend introduced Path of Achra to me as "theorycrafting, the game," which honestly isn't too far off. Review the available powers, try to put something together with strong synergy and good item support, and then go find out whether or not you were correct. That said, the difficulty also scales like a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ and you may get screwed by random items or enemies. But that's also part of the fun, as you refine and iterate on your build to try to get through those walls.

All in all, it's a compelling, lo-fi roguelike. Recommend.

A friend and I picked this up on sale because we wanted to play together. I spent 48 hours trying (and failing) to get it to run on my PC, so I switched up and installed it on my Steam Deck. It runs alright but with periodic, severe rubber banding. Meanwhile, my friend installed it on their Steam Deck from the jump, but had chronic controller input issues that made the game unplayable (they literally couldn't walk in a straight line for more than 1 second). We have now given up.

In short, I couldn't recommend this game even if I wanted to because I barely got to experience any of the content.

Classic grimdark ARPG in the vein of Diablo 2. Gameplay is simple but solid, with lots of options for different playstyles. I like the system of classes and finding interesting or unexpected combinations.

Excellent idle/supply chain management game. Scratches the same itch as Factorio or Satisfactory, but with a little twist. It's obviously not a game you play for the graphics, but if you get dopamine from watching numbers move across a screen, you can't go wrong. Progression in both individual sessions and permanent meta-advancements is clear and rewarding.

Updates are regular, and the dev is very active in responding to bugs and other issues. The community is also excellent and happy to answer any of your questions in chat.

A NOTE: Many of the negative reviews emphasize the "48-hour online time or pay $5" requirement to unlock meaningful amounts of a) trade with other players and/or b) game progress. With regard to a, it's really not hard to do everything for yourself for the first period of time, and it's honestly helpful for making sure you understand the key item dependencies and mechanics of the game. With regard to b, it's simply that people lack reading comprehension. The are VERY CLEAR warnings about what will and won't be carried over after you unlock the upgrade that comes at 48 hours. Not only did I avoid losing progress or feeling like I wasn't making any progress before reaching that benchmark, I then went on to pay the $5 for the supporter pack anyway because it's a great game!

My fridge got stolen during a crime wave, so I bought a new fridge. They stole it again the next week. So I gave up and went to space. 10/10

Patently ridiculous! At the absolute base level, I think it's a solid physic simulator, but then you add goofy courses laden with explosives, or black holes, or gravity that you can adjust to suit your purposes just push it over the top. Definitely good for some wacky nights with friends.

I picked up Northgard about two years ago, and it's been fantastic to watch it grow. From a simple territory-based RTS, to a fully-fledged game with a campaign mode, carefully balanced victory conditions, and plenty of variety, it just keeps getting better and better. I haven't tried out the new Conquest mode yet, but I'm looking forward to it!

I think the three things that really set this game apart for me are 1) the theme: I'm always a sucker for space exploration in general and Mars in particular, 2) the tech tree: because unlike a lot of city management games, progression into the late game isn't just a question of how do you scale-up your economy and infrastructure. You actually have a number of technological advancements that will make certain things easier, more efficient, more practical as the game goes on, and 3) emergent gameplay: in addition to "breakthrough" technologies which are slightly randomized in each of your games, there are mini storylines called Mysteries that can unfold as you play the game. Everything from "There are severe and unexpected meteorological side effects of terraforming that we'll need to deal with" to "Weeeee just discovered evidence of Martian lifeforms". I think it's great, and absolutely worth the $10 it's going to cost you right now.

Absolutely stupendous game. After a full day of shooting and hacking and slashing, sometimes I like to unwind with just a little bit of casual farming and chatting with the townsfolk. Stardew Valley takes all the best qualities of the beloved Harvest Moon franchise and expands on them with a wider variety of acitivities, compelling characters, and a useful skill system. The developers have done great work with continuing to expand gameplay, and I look forward to the eventual release of multiplayer