RUN AN EMPIRE

Pokemon Go was a revelation and paved the way for games to come, but very few games have ventured into this area since. Another game did go even further into getting people out of their homes and arcades for a unique gaming experience - Run an Empire does not only expand on what a strategy game could be, but it also makes the running application meaningful for those who are not diehards needing no external stimuli apart from the Sun and the track or the road..
Using a real map, players go for catching hexagonal tiles , and  running through an area marked by a hex more times than others enable the player to claim the area and build structures ,encampments objects etc. Now, I know lots of people cringe at the very thought of gamification and think games should be games and not means to achieving short-term real-life goals, but I believe Run an Empire  shows us one of the many possible ways of introducing new concepts into the stale world of gaming and dealing with the mundane in real life. At least we can now do away with boring running track routines and stops -we can look at them as checkpoints.
I wish someone else in my area played it, would love to have some competition,

CULTIST SIMULATOR

Somebody said the best way to earn a million was to start a cult, and this game allows you to do exactly that. Being your sole source of income, the cult must thrive and grow in numbers and strength which is somewhat easier in an era where even high intellectuals would gather around ludicrous clubs such as "The Ghost Club". People are more conducive to the acceptance of such ideas, but the cult leader in you has to act, interact, learn, build a following and be dedicated, passionate and sane throughout all business operations. Time and resources management paired with experimentation is what the game is about. The devil's playground is a card table so everything you do is a card game simulation that requires some wit on your part. Many wrote off this game as a fad , but the way it is devised and structured make CULTIST SIMULATOR another unique page in gaming history.And I find it disorientingly fun.

PAPERS, PLEASE

Being brought up in a country that was neither truly communist nor capitalist, a country that would let everybody in and then keep track of their activities, had goulags and rock'n roll festivals, aimed high and died in a conflict between its petty tribes, I just had to fall in love with this game.In fact I have a love-hate relationship with this title, same as with Bully and GTA, and  especially after years of living under sanctions in the 90s and the 00s.

Being a third-rate god stamping passports and deciding on people's fates, you're spotting smugglers, bombers, idlers and regular people  as they try to cross the Kolecha border and enter the  the promised land of Arstotzka. You are not just checking names, dates, passes, visa details, but are also dealing with bribes, moral issues, personal and family histories and tragedies, and your own humanity in the process. You are a good peson doing reproachable things, even though you appear to have been given an illusion of choice, and you do everything in your power to allow your country to thrive.

Up until 19th century there were no borders as such and our predecessors had greater freedom of movement than we do now. It would be wild if somebody made a game about a 19th century person crossing imaginary borders, doing so in a wold where national states were still just a vague concept.

MINI METRO

The other day I watched an episode of The Orville  which dealt with discovering a 2-dimensional civilization and thought the colourful lines of movements of its beings and objects  were remindful of old metro scheme designs and vehicle pathways of Tron and that it would great if such designs were used more frequently in gaming. Minutes into my on-line quasi-research and I come upon Mini Metro.What a great example of an exciting real-life job simulation carved into a slick game! Subway and train outlines have been part of gaming since its infancy, but this title gives you an actual opportunity to see the results of your construction engineering efforts seconds after you've built, reinvented, upgraded or altered the lines. The city (one in 10 actual cities you can pick) and its population gets bigger and so does the number of stations  you need to connect with subway lines and thus keep make things run as smoothly as possible,

Mini Metro is visually pleasing and fun and easy to play and has a decent replay value and cute music. It also has that Je ne sais quoi  quality about it that makes it both charming and ground-breaking at the same time. Could it be the compelling nature of fighting entropy on any scale and within any given system the thing that makes Mini Metro a great game? Or is it simply the combination of casual gameplay and deep tactics? Try this instant classic, you won't be disappointed.

TOTALLY ACCURATE BATTLE SIMULATOR

This is a tale of comedy and military tactics lumped togeter to form a unique gaming creation. You strategise and make your awkward army charge, hoping for the best.The soldiers emit strange and funny screams, run and wave their hands hillariously, reminding one of games like Humans Fall Flat or Octodad. Did the idea for this game  come while  the authors witnessed a battle recreation at some Medieval Festival and laughed at polyester ranks?

The game does offer you a chance to talk to your inner warlord and accurately think of strategies and plans you fully implement in a given battlefield,era and weapons array just like any other decent game in the genre does. But that's not the point  here- it's all about quirkiness and fun. I cannot help but think about the possible anti-war sentiment present in this game, and how disposable a soldier is in any given era. War is madness and it engulfs the cannon fodder with trembling terror, no heroes, period.

BEHOLDER

Surveillance State is old news in most of today's world , but the Russians were the first to openly deride it in their art, movies and culture, and so it's only befitting that they be the ones leading the pack when it came to games dealing with this subject.
I loved Papers,Please when it came out , but it was way too broad for my taste. I find  the ominously titled BEHOLDER game approaching the entire thing from a more interested angle. Being a landlord appointed by the State to record activities of all the tenants looking for traces of illegal behaviour you're given a choice- you can either blindfully obey your superiors and  tell on every single person or you can choose to turn a blind eye to what the tenants are doing.You can be friends with some and tell on others.Your finances  depend on your performance, so protecting the tenants might considerably affect your incurred expenses and lead to unsatisfied family needs and to ending your gaming session very early on,  You evesdrop on conversations with guests,peek through keyholes, search the apartments when tenants are away in search for illegal material, rob them of an item or two, or even plant illegal materials in their rooms only to tell on them later on. Anything you do seriously affects everything else. The navigation is simple and effective, and so is the music.
The player is faced with a myriad of moral dilemmas present in this day and age and that's what's most endearing about this title. Great art imitates life.

WORMS

Another great game the impact of which was greatly diminished by the gruesome number of sequels.
There was such a simple concept behind it that it was bound to become a cult video game. It needs no introduction  or explanation - the minute you see the screen you soak the game in and become privy to the game's charm. True , we all tried our respective versions and have our opinions of the many,many post-1995 reiterations, but the truth is the players were blown away by the original game more than any other. It had tons of outstanding features for a 1995 game to achieve this -puerile humour to go along with the cartoon-like characters and scenery.excellent graphics and navigation,the level designs that were randomly generated, the multi-player option etc. It made a turn-based games hater like myself re-examine the genre altogether.
I  did playWorms Armaggedon  more than any other game in the series, but all the post-1995 changes they made to the series are purelly cosmetic.