WHAT THE GOLF

The fans that prefer their games absurd and funny and packaged in a single bundle of joy should look no more. This is probably the best golf game ever made and it's not necessarily even about golf or sports. It might have to do with sporting life, or making sense of the world in accepting and celebrating all of its absurdities, or the fickleness in us. Cats, houses, poles, office chairs, sofas, TV sets - anything can replace a golf ball. Movement becomes golf. The game makes fun of it, makes fun of us, and makes fun of a number of  indie genres and casual gaming tropes and the gaming world itself.
Another instant must-have classic.

MOSAIC

Any game that dares tackle whatever is mundane in our own lives deserves our utmost respect. And if it happens to do so in a visually compelling way it is bound to become a classic. Though your life might not be as bleak, you’ll see aspects of your nameless protagonist’s life that are readily identifiable. The tasteless meals, the meaningful corporate life of chasing other people’s rainbows, the joyless world of meaningless social interactions and relations, the bland and empty entertainment-everything’s there. The compendium of useless actions and toils is further emphasized by clunky controls and 3d graphics and music that comes off as both optimistic and claustrophobic. It is by putting up a mosaic of your  mundane life that you become aware of the need to change it. In truth, I was expecting something else by becoming proactive, something more daring and unrestrained, a bolder statement against  the world that made the protagonist a shadow of his former self as a perfect ending for this beautiful short game. Or maybe the game was supposed to let us know that misery always remain part of our existence, whether or not you pull the plug. No game’s perfect, right? Games are just games.

 

LIFELIKE

Lifelike is a meditative game exploring a microcosm of interacting particles where shapes, frequencies and sounds make the meat  of this exceptional game. Guiding a bundle of light you touch ,collect and interact with other particles or beings producing soothing melodies or respect their decision to interact with you the way they want to. It's as much about immersing yourself into this wonderful world as it is about the ease and elegance of the game mechanics and discoveries of any particularities of movement or interaction that awaits you. All this bright bioluminescence washing over you is accompanied by an incredible game soundtrack by the inimitable Loscil introducing new melodies with each track/level to accompany new forms of interaction, making  Lifelike a highly immersive experience.