SHADOWMATIC

Another great game the greatness of which lies in its simplicity. You solve puzzles by manipulating shadows to get a recognizable shape.. Spatially manipulating  oddly-shaped object (or a group of objects) rotating at the centre of the screen being  lit by a sigle light source  proves to be much more of a challenge hat one would initially think.The game appeals to our childhood fascination with shadows and playing shadow masters and puppeteers and is highly recommended to both kids and adults. Loads of fun for your ios/android!

SPACE HARRIER

God bless the 80s and its technical restrictions when it comes to video games, for Space Harrier with its surrealist surroundings wouldn't have been made. The game was ported to a plethora of systems and  I played the game quite frequently on 4 of them and enjoyed each and every version of it. Whether I played the 16bit arcade version or the clunky 8bit C64 version with the mesmerizing sid soundtrack, the experience of playing the game was simultaneously joyful and bizarre. First I feared the fact that I would let it suck me into its world whenever I played it and I feared this game just as I feared early animes as a kid (whether it was framerate, the goriness of it  or something else, I don't know). There was also something beautifully unsettling about flying through a long-gone civilization's urban landscape and killing mammoth cyclops and  the extinct civilization's defence systems in the form of  giant heads and flying shapes, and I couldn't help but feel like a usurper disturbing the peace of the deceased. No explanation was given to the nature of Harrier's mission(s), no storylines, nothing, and I would often  get this feeling of being a bad guy. When I revisited the game in college I had a completely different perception of the game , but the taikan (body sensation) remained. I still feel strange playing this title.

Space Harrier was the first successful rail shooter ever made.

1-2 SWIITCH

There's been much negative hype about the newest Nintendo console , but it only seems to add to the never-ending dissatisfaction of the fraction of gamers worldwide that simply don't enjoy a more "Japanese" entertainment product. By Japanese I'm thinking quirky and unique, disregarding European and American humour, preferences and cultural  norms. 1-2 SWITCH condensed the rich experiences of the Japanese arcade world and came up with a concept that is more accessible to the Western audiences. 18 remarkably simple and fun-to-play mini-games - milking the cow, quick draw, sword fight, wizard fight, runway - are just an introduction to  a new system and the concept behind it, making controllers and the console itself part of the game (holding and rocking a baby console :) ) and looking far more graceful than the tennis games of the previous Nintendo paradigm. I would love it if they switched from a controller to a holographic glove (yes, the original glove was glitchy as hell but I loved it) one day making the experience even greater, but this is as good an experience as it gets. 

Hard-core gamers will naturally ditch this console and its conept for a more "immersive" experience  found elsewhere, but us casual gamers can only give kudos to the new Nintendo system for trying to reinvent themselves. If you hated the mini-games titles back in the 80s you'll hate this one as well.Or you can try the new Zelda game for Nintendo Switch , it's looking wonderful. Or not. 

ROGUE

I've been a fan of roguelike games for a while now, but it wasn't until the local computer magazine ("Svet Kompjutera")  went into the nature and the origins of the genre  that made me go back and try the game the whole genre was named after. Boy was I  surprised! What I thought was the result of an amassed experience of a history of titles within the genre basically boiled down to one single game. Everything one loves about a roguelike is here: permadeath, text terminals, procedurally generated levels, ludicrously hard gameplay, procedurally-created levels,suspense,looting and dungeon crawling, sprites positions etc. Let go of your thirst for the graphically demanding games and try this gem, you'll enjoy it immensely. The rudimentary ascii graphics will spark your imagination beyond anything you've seen in this genre  so far.

YOUTUBERS LIFE

Yes, art should imitate life. And yes, why not transpose modern-day experiences into a simulation? This game is about all the little facets of becoming a Youtube professional. You progress from creating a Youtube alter-ego and chosing your preferred type of content and your humble beginnings of a Youtube enthusiast sharing your flat and your computer time with your roommates all the way up to having assistants and making your content in a rented mansion.You take baby steps and take care of all the little details , including nutrition, energy level, finances, deadlines, comments, followers, buying equipment and enhancing video quality of your videos. All the intricate details make this title anything but a lifeless, generic simulation.
Whether this game should be considered a breeding ground for the aspiring Youtubers out there, or whether it helps your "online" presence is unclear, but  participating in a simulacrum of a simulacra must be rewarding  and strangely appealing.