Gabriel Toschi (EN)

The childhood dream has come true. Now what?

2026-09-27T00:00:00Z

Yes, I redesigned my website again. With a custom-designed visual identity by a professional, an interface designed by a UX designer with years of experience. With my article writer persona relegated to the sidelines and my new career in the spotlight.

The last time this happened, 3 years ago, I decided to write about what was going on in my head. I don't know what I wanted at the time, if I expected someone to read why I was creating a new blog? But looking back today and reading what I wrote makes it all worthwhile, because I really didn't know what was to come in the following months.

How proud I was to say at the time that I would use this space to write creative texts, about the things I liked, to connect people! The truth is, I made a couple of them and then discovered I could use my blog to get game keys for reviews. Even though it was my own space, it became "a mechanical and soulless job," exactly as I had written months before. Not that I was lying in the reviews, or that I wasn't actually praising the games I liked, but the time I spent playing things I thought were terrible just to fulfill a commitment for a job that didn't even exist was kind of ridiculous.

Even funnier is realizing how "creating board games" was almost a footnote, just another thing I tried and didn't work out. Little did I know that, months later, I would sign my first game with a publisher and the career I had genuinely dreamed of since childhood would become a reality.

So, in this new phase, I decided to write again about why this whole change happened. Not because I think anyone will genuinely read this text, but maybe I need to remember what was on my mind in a few years. But if you do read it, I hope it helps you in some way.

The little kid who liked little games

While probably more normal kids dreamed of being astronauts or members of a fantastical royal family, little Gabriel always loved his little games. Digital, board, card games, it didn't matter, if it was a game, I was there. Not that I think that justifies the bullying I suffered at school, but, in retrospect, it was funny to think that even the music I listened to had some connection to a game I liked, for example. I didn't get cars, dolls, or other toys: every birthday I got clothes, food, and board games, the latter being the only thing I asked for.

I still remember the first time I played River Raid on an Atari 2600 emulator on the computer. I remember exploring CD-ROMs of educational games and others with a bunch of nonsensical demos. I remember learning how to download the SWF files of the Flash games I played so I wouldn't need an internet connection back when dial-up was more expensive. I remember when the world of emulators opened up to me and I became obsessed with learning the history of video games that I never had the chance to experience. I remember getting my copy of Risk when I was 6 years old and spending years trying to play it properly. I remember spending afternoons with my cousins playing cards, or whatever else was nearby at the time.

This was my first attempt at "making" a digital game, back in 2007. "Making" because, in reality, I downloaded an SWF game I liked, managed to transform it back into a Flash project, and only changed the visual part. I wouldn't really learn programming for years later, and even today I don't know ActionScript. If you want to look, the Wayback Machine managed to preserve it. The text on the page translates to: "This (very cool) game was made by internet user GABRIEL TOSCHI DE OLIVEIRA, 9 years old (Dracena-SP), especially for Divertudo. Our sincerest thanks to him."

A few years ago, I found an essay I had written when I was 10 years old in one of my dad's files. The topic was "what do you want to be when you grow up?" and the title of my essay made the answer quite clear: "I want to be a game designer". At the time, I honestly didn't know what that really meant, but a good part of the decisions I've made in my life since then have been in pursuit of that dream. I started writing online because I wanted to talk more about games than just being a consumer; I studied Computer Science because, in my words at the time, "whoever creates the game is the one who codes it, right?" ~~(no, they're not)~~

Today, recently diagnosed with ADHD and well aware of my hyper-fixation, it's easier to understand why games are much more than a hobby or a career. But until recently, it was just something I really liked, that nobody ever gave me much space to talk about, and that I ended up "hiding" from many areas of my life. Even after years of therapy, my relationship with game design only recently became a topic of discussion, when I became convinced that these games I've always enjoyed might have a significant impact on my life.

I remember what state my mind was in when I wrote that text three years ago. During the pandemic, I finally got involved with the Brazilian game design community and tried to make my first prototypes, but none of them were well-received by publishers. Rejecting my game at the time meant rejecting myself as a creative person — and overcoming that anxiety was one of the main mental challenges I've faced in recent years. It's no wonder I thought I could never be a part of that world. Until I could.

Where do I begin?

The article I referred to at the beginning of this was written in December 2023. If my memory serves me right, it would be the following month, at the very beginning of 2024, that Yuri Morroni would call me to prototype a 40-card game for a publisher he had contact with. Snowy Peaks wouldn't be accepted by the publisher, but it would be submitted to the Cardboard Edison Award at the last minute (by a Gabriel who really didn't believe it would get anywhere) and would win 2nd place in the competition, two weeks before the start of that year's Diversão Offline, the biggest board game fair in Brazil. In mid-2024, we would sign our first licensing agreement, which would later result in the release of Snow Climbing by Grok Games.

Me and my dearest friend Yuri Morroni, designers of Snow Climbing, during the game's launch at Diversão Offline 2026. I told him that day, and I'll say it again: if it weren't for him, I wouldn't be a game designer today.

Obviously, this gave me an incredible boost and a hope I'd never had before. The second half of 2024 marked the beginning of my search for opportunities, calling contacts, looking for publishers, learning how to pitch, and everything else possible. It was in one of these pitches that I got the chance to create a game from scratch for a Warner Bros. IP, and The Jetsons: O Jogo de Tabuleiro became my second signed game.

Note that up until then I said signed, not released: none of my games had actually reached anyone's hands. So, when Pedro "Cabelinho" came to talk to me at the end of 2024 about the lack of interest from Brazilian publishers in microgames (added to several "No's" I had received recently), I dove headfirst (and without any preparation) into the idea of setting up an independent studio. It was in this madness that Piquinim was born, and a year and a half of work launching microgames about Brazilian culture — from my head came Cobogó, Brigadeiro and Rodízio. In July 2025, Cobogó was finally my first game to reach the public.

I still want to tell the story of each game (and the context surrounding them) in specific design diaries, but I just wanted to prove the point of how bizarrely wrong the Gabriel of 2023 was. In fact, the years that followed were responsible for me being able to say today that I am a professional game designer, just like the 10-year-old me wanted to be. It wasn't (and still isn't) an easy journey — it genuinely came with burnouts, anxiety attacks, and imposter syndrome at its peak — but it's really cool to think that I... did it!? I really did it!

I think I only truly realized this this year, during Diversão Offline. In 2023, I went to the event for the first time, after years of wanting to visit São Paulo for this kind of fair. In 2024, as I said, the focus was on signing Snow Climbing, and we succeeded. In 2025, Piquinim had its own booth in Indie Alley, and I, at the peak of burnout, was just trying to be the "businessman" I never really was, selling my ideas to gamers and publishers who would listen.

But in 2026, I was "just" a game designer. 7 published games (3 of them released during the event), spread across 4 different publishers, of varying sizes and audiences. People playing things I made, laughing and having fun. Influencers coming to talk to me without knowing me because they knew I had made something they liked. Autograph sessions with people I had no idea existed but who were excited to say they were interested in my work.

But amidst all of that, I still remember the scene that truly made me accept what I achieved: a child with their father approached me at the fair because they wanted me to autograph their Jetsons manual. The boy, completely awkward and shy, still managed to tell me that he had really enjoyed it and had fun with his friends. I held back tears (something I'm not able to do now as I write), but it was me there. The child who played and dreamed that he could do that too. Only this time I was on the other side as well.

Me during my mornings at the Diversão Offline 2026 at the CapyCat Games' booth, showing, explaining, and playing the 9 (NINE, yes!) games from the Piquinim Collection. I think it was a few minutes after this photo that the child came to talk to me.

I came from a humble family, with a lot of love and little money. "Realizing a dream" wasn't something I could do every week. I think, in reality, I only dreamed about it so much because it seemed so distant, bordering on impossible. In the dream, everything was incredible and wonderful. In reality, it's much more painful and difficult than it seemed. But when that boy came to talk to me, it was truly incredible and wonderful. It's as if the 10-year-old Gabriel was proudly by my side, and all the bad parts of the process had disappeared.

As the days passed after returning home, while I felt very fulfilled, I also began to feel a certain... emptiness? I still don't earn enough money to live off making games, while all the effort to put a title on the market was as laborious as coding by 40 hours a week. The fire of the childhood dream had already faded and was no longer fuel for such a tiring double shift. I achieved what I wanted, and now what?

Do Adults Dream of Electric Games?

It's funny to think that if I had finished the blog a month ago, the ending of this article would be very different. Talk to me a few weeks ago and I would have told you I had a clear plan. "I'm working to make a living making board games," I would have said, adding, "that's why I'm going for every opportunity I can and I'm going to do my best to make most of them work out."

It's no coincidence that, after this year's Diversão Offline event, I think I spent about 5 weeks working on urgent projects for publishers and contacts I made, sending pitches, scheduling meetings. I looked like a well-dressed businessman, just without the suit, the splendor, and the money in the bank. For me, the event had been a success: there were 4 potential contracts to be signed, in addition to other very cool opportunities that would appear in the following months from important conversations that took place there.

Three months later and... almost nothing. Only one contract was signed and several are still pending. Apparently, my time wasn't as valuable as that of several publishers, because the rush they felt while the ball was in my court disappeared as soon as I showed them the prototypes they requested, created in record time. I heard "we're analyzing" or "we still need to see" more times than I expected. Furthermore, even projects that were almost ready to launch started to fall apart. Being a game designer means dealing with frustration all the time, and I hadn't realized the problem of making my income dependent on it. If I already felt bad with it as a "semi-hobby", I don't know what I would do if it were the only way to pay the bills.

I even joked with friends in recent days with a phrase that inspired me to write: "the childhood dream came true and the adult dream ended." Obviously, I was being much more dramatic than I should have been, but seeing so much effort result in so little outcome genuinely made me rethink what I want for the future. I still want to make games professionally, but maybe I need to do a little more on my own terms.

I speak from a privileged position, I know, but I already have a job with a high level of commitment and the salary pays my bills. It's true that "generating value for stakeholders" has never been anyone's dream, and I think making games is genuinely more fun, but... I don't need to make the games successful at any cost, and for some reason that's what I was trying to make happen.

I also think it's important to admit my mea culpa here. Very few people truly make a living as game designers, and usually they've been in the market for decades, with some major successes under their belt. I think it was the desperation of the crazy generative AI bubble growing and dominating the market, along with a certain illusion that it would be "now or never," that motivated me to think this way. It would never work to do in 2 years what many take 20 to achieve, but I needed almost 2 years to understand that.

My idea with this new personal brand, a new website, and a new social media presence has always been to project a more professional image to publishers and companies that don't know me, especially outside of Brazil. It's already difficult to gain a foothold in the international market being Latino, imagine if I seem like just an amateur kid. And at the end of the day, that's what I want to be, a professional game designer, working with companies that will also act professionally, without accepting abusive pitches or poorly thought-out proposals.

Maybe this will close doors for me because some companies only want to take advantage of designers who are pursuing their dreams and hobbies? Maybe. But if I'm going to stress myself out, I'll stress myself out at the job that pays my bills, not at one of the few things that are part of my identity. Now, where will I get to thinking like this? How will I do it? Honestly, I don't think I know yet.

What I'm much more certain of today is understanding why making games is so important to me. Beyond the hyper-fixation and interest in the art itself, why on earth do I enjoy doing this so much?

At the end of the day, I think I enjoy it because I know the power that games have had in my life. The friends I've made, the things I've learned, the stories I've encountered, the worlds I've explored, the puzzles I've solved. Playing and having fun are part of who we are as humans, and if I can create pathways for other people to also have more enjoyable lives, I think the process becomes worthwhile, however difficult it may be.

Of course, I want to one day be able to dedicate myself to this full-time, and all the contracts, money, and professionalism are probably what will allow that to happen. But if I achieve all that and don't feel that my creations are connecting people, the fire will go out. If my games don't have a happy child, a group of friends having fun, a family interacting without a screen... I don't think all this effort will be worth it, because, honestly, it's much more frustrating, painful, and difficult than it seems.

Some of the friends that game design has given me over the last few years, and without their support (and that of many others), I wouldn't be here either. From left to right, top to bottom: Maurício Nóbrega (Guerrinha de Mamona), Yuri Morroni (Snow Climbing, Rolimã), Thiago Leite (Quest Inc, Me Enganei), Lucas Fratini (Fantasmagória, Cafezinho), Arthur Lacerda (Pipoca, ONDA), Bruno Liguori Sia (Rewild: South America) and myself.

Perhaps I'll end this text the way I ended the other one, three years ago: with a much more optimistic dream than I should. Whether that's how adults should dream, I don't know, but I want to believe that I need something more important to achieve than just "being able to pay the bills."

Just as games changed my life, I believe they can change at least a little bit of everyone's life, in some way. Even if it's just one round at a time.

My 10+ favorite games from Steam Next Fest / Summer Showcases 2024

2024-06-17T00:00:00Z

Oh my God, I forgot how packed June was for gaming announcements! Even with the death of E3, the month still is a moment when dev teams around the world, big and small, show how their projects are going (and hopeful some launch dates too). Although a lot of people is excited for new things from Xbox, Ubisoft or who just paid Geoff Keighley the most money, the indie showcases is what sells the month from me.

Like, I almost wishlisted half of this year's Wholesome Direct, loved to see the amazing works showed on Guerrilla Collective 2024 and I was a proud Latino seeing our people saving the gaming industry on the amazing Latin American Games Showcase!

And, as the cherry at top of a delicious chocolate cake, the Steam Next Fest gave me the opportunity to try a lot of those games (and many others) and get a glimpse of what the future reserves in the next months and years. I even played some demos that aren't in the event, but were showed in other presentations too!

So, let's start my recap of June 2024's Next Fest + all the summer showcases! Of course, this list will reflect my personal taste on games, so please check the Next Fest page on Steam to more demos, and GamesRecap to every other event you may have missed. I'll be focusing more on the demos I've played, and finish with some extra games that had trailers.

LOK Digital

Letibus Design/Icedrop Games/Draknek & Friends, releasing in 2024

I discovered the original LOK last year and the concept of a physical word search book about little creatures delighted me — that said, LOK Digital is gonna be the perfect adaptation of the concept! In each level, you have to find some special keywords and use their abilities to cover all the grid (like LOK, that allows you to fill another any cell). New rules are added in a great pace, and you have to discover some of the interactions by yourself too. This will be one of the greatest puzzle games of the year, no doubt! Launches in 2024 for PC.

SCHiM

Ewoud van der Werf/Nils Slijkerman/Extra Nice/PLAYISM, releasing in July 18th 2024

I actually had the pleasure of play an Exclusive Preview of SCHiM, a 3D platformer where you control a creature that can only jump into the literal shadows of the objects that are on the map. You probably have seen a GIF of it on social media and the game seemed really cool, but I can affirm now: playing it is also marvelous! There's a puzzle aspect involved of finding the right path through the shadows, and the story that's been told during the levels feels interesting too. Launches next month on PC, Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4/5.

Mythwrecked: Ambrosia Island

Polygon Treehouse/Whitethorn Games, releasing in Q3 2024

Being stranded in a mysterious island, trying to explore to know its secrets and find a way to go home? I'm interested. But also your isle friends are Greek gods with amnesia, and you need to help them recover their memories? SIGN ME IN! I've been following Mythwrecked: Ambrosia Island for a while now, and I was really happy to get a sneak peek of the gameplay on the demo. It's really exploration-focused (what I love) with some puzzles here and there. Totally a game I will play in the future. Launches in Q3 2024 on PC.

Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo

Pocket Trap/PM Studios, Inc., releasing soon

This was one of the big surprises of the month to me! Created by Brazilian team Pocket Trap, Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo doesn't hide its Game Boy Advance influence, and it can look like a modern-day spiritual successor to Zelda: Minish Cap. That said, Pipistrello is way more fast and fluid than Link ever was: the yo-yo attacks are not only great for combat, but a great tool for environmental puzzles. There isn't a launch date yet, but I know that I'll be there to fight crime with my yo-yo.

WHAT THE CAR?

Triband, releasing 9th September 2024

The team at Triband lives in my heart since they transformed the most boring sport ever in one of the greatest video games that I played in WHAT THE GOLF?, and this is their next step! Breaking free from Apple Arcade prison, WHAT THE CAR? has simpler controls, but the demo has all of the non-sense jokes and concepts that made the first game awesome. Without a par score in the levels, exploring the stages as a two-legged car is more cool than ever, and I loved it. Launches this September on PC.

Lost and Found Co.

Bit Egg Inc./Gamera Games, releasing soon

I'm always down for a new hidden object game, specially if it has personality, great visuals and a cute story. Lost and Found Co. has literally all of those things and finished the package with good character design and a lot of extra challenges that feel fair and fun. I never would think that find lost things as a duck that became a teenager and a dragon trying to regain her power would be that cool, but we live to be surprised, right? No release date was revealed yet, but the game will be launched on PC.

Asgard's Fall

Soulpotion/Assemble Entertainment, releasing Q4 2024

Bullet heavens became my guilty pleasure since I discovered (and finished) Vampire Survivors, so it's great to see new ideas inside the genre! Inspired by Norse mythology, Asgard's Fall was my favorite from all the showcases. Great visuals, easy to learn controls and an interesting level up system, where you alternate between getting new weapons and use currency to give stats boosts in your character. The game launches on PC at end of this year.

Mythmatch

Team Artichoke, releasing soon

From one European mythos to another, Mythmatch was my big surprise from Wholesome Direct this year. I'm always looking down for creative ways to bring overused mechanics to life and this take on match-3 puzzle games is truly interesting. As Artemis (before she becomes a god) trying to get her place at Olympus, putting three equal items together transforms them! Add this with fast movement and you have a really dynamic match-3 that I will look for more. No release date yet, though, but the game will be available on PC.

Blue Prince

Dogubomb/Raw Fury, releasing soon

It's hard to define Blue Prince in a single line: a puzzle-filled, tabletop-inspired escape room roguelike experience, where learn about your surroundings is more important than advance physically sometimes. Every time you enter in the mansion, the map resets and you can start filling it with new rooms and challenges — at least, until you still have steps to go inside each one. No release date yet for this genre-defying adventure, but it will be available on PC in the future.

Fishbowl

imissmyfriends.studio, releasing soon

If it's already difficult for a game to make me cry, imagine the emotional burden of a title that made me cry just with the demo? Fishbowl tells the story about a young adult that is living through a pandemic, trying to connect with family and friends during isolation. Although the visual is great and the minigames are cool, the sensibility and the respect built in the story were the ones that deeply connected with a version of myself that I thought I had already overcome. The game will be available on PC and PS5 in the future.

MORE games to look and wishlist

A Little to the Left: Seeing Stars: one of the greatest cozy puzzle games ever created will receive a new DLC focused on levels with multiple solutions (my favorites!). And it launches next week already!
Escape from Ever After: a Paper Mario-inspired RPG about fairytales fighting against capitalism. Exploration, action commands, turn-based battles and proletarian unity is everything I ask from my games.

SOPA: Tale of the Stolen Potato: as a Latino myself, seeing this game already connected with my heart in so many levels, and it's also promising in the gameplay and fantasy departments. A game just named "SOUP" can't be bad.
UFO 50: the long awaited collection of 50 (FIFTY) small games from the creators of Spelunky, Downwell and more will finally release this September. It will be impossible not to like at least half of the experiences in this package, to be honest.
Squeakross: Home Squeak Home: a cute nonogram/Picross collection about puzzling your way into make furniture to a rodent pet. More cute and made for me, impossible. (and from the team of The Spirit and The Mouse, that I also love!)

Temtem: Swarm: a pocket monster bullet heaven is a million dollars idea, and I'm happy that someone is doing it, and even more happy that Temtem is the one creating it. If this game manages to mix these two worlds well, I might need an intervention...
On Your Tail: an interesting detective game that incorporates "find the difference" puzzles into the investigation process. I also loved the Italian-inspired setting and the characters, and it has everything to be a great title.
Castaway: inspired by Link's Awakening (one of the best Zelda games in my opinion), this tiny adventure game has everything you love and expect from a castaway action RPG experience. And even an infinite, roguelite mode, if you like it.

Please, don't forget to wishlist your favorites on Steam (and all other platforms). This helps a lot the developers to get more attention in the stores, and you can keep updated about their latest news.

And that's it! If you want my full curated list of games from this summer, go to this Backloggd list. And, if you like to play in your PC, you can also subscribe to my Steam curator page and receive my next recommendations through there too!

The Playdate is unlike anything you've ever seen (+all Season One games)

2024-04-18T00:00:00Z

I never believed in "love at first sight", but I know how to recognize when an idea was made for me. This feeling of yes-give-me-this-now-please was the only thing in my head when I saw the Playdate for the first time. This little gaming device created by Panic — a company who may know as the publisher of Firewatch and Untitled Goose Game — impressed me on how different it was compared to the current industry standards. In a decade dictated by frames per second and ray tracing capacities, pitching a black-and-white portable with a crank was truly bold. But making it a reality was just madness, and I loved it.

However, I'm just a latin american guy and getting a Playdate in this economy was impossible. Probably the shipping costs would be even greater than the device itself, and converting from US dollar is always a nightmare. Yet miracles can come true and a great friend of mine gave me a Playdate as a wedding gift last year! (thanks, Hugo 💛).

So, as you may have expected, I dove head first into all the Playdate could offer, including all the 24 (TWENTY-FOUR) games included with the device... and I decided to make this mega review of the Playdate itself and all of those games! I hope to give you a great introduction of how fun cranking is, what it's already possible in the small screen and who the device was created for.

(all that said, because I got the device as a gift in a specific situation, I won't comment on the question of whether the Playdate is worth the price. That said, I hope that this article helps to show you the pros and cons from the device so you can have your own conclusions about this!)

More than just a crank

Holding a Playdate for the first time is a really cute experience. The device is small, light, thin, toy-like and really, really yellow. Even the USB cable is yellow. And a good shade of yellow, it's needed to be said. Its design won't get comfort awards, but it feels good to play even in long sessions — at least, it's more comfortable than playing with my smartphone or the Nintendo Switch in portable mode. All the buttons are snappy, good to press and really responsive: besides the Lock and Menu buttons, you have a 4-direction D-Pad and the classic A and B buttons.

Oh, yes, the crank! Having an actually, usable crank as the analog input is probably the better (or, at least, the silliest) selling point of the Playdate and the big surprise is that... using the crank is fun! It's easy to undock it from the device (and when it's docked, it doesn't disturb the gameplay), and it feels good to turn it to control things in the screen. My only nitpick is when some games ask you to use the crank AND the A Button simultaneously, because it's really uncomfortable to my big hands — however, this is not considered a good practice by the creators of the Playdate and ends up being more the fault of certain games than the hardware itself.

The Playdate also has an accelerometer (similar to what your phone has) that can be really useful in some games, but I didn't played a lot of titles that use it yet. When researching for this review, I also discovered that the device ALSO HAS A MICROPHONE? I need more Playdate mic games now ASAP.

Another important part of the device is the black-and-white screen. Very different than a blocky Game Boy, Playdate's screen has a way higher definition that I was expecting and becoming the frame for some of the most beautiful 1-bit art that I ever seen. That said, like the original Game Boy, the screen isn't backlit so I need constantly to find a light source to be able to play. I always loved to play on my 3DS in the bed after my wife was already asleep and the Playdate didn't filled this need for me. Playing it on the balcony hammock with that Brazilian sun in my head was amazing, though.

It just feels fun (and inclusive)

Do you remember how fun video game operation systems seemed before? The first time you created a Mii and it became your version in that playful world? The first time you put a different theme on your 3DS HOME Menu? The first time you don't turn on a console and it just happened to have the most boring and sterilized interface ever? The people at Panic does remember because the Playdate have the most charismatic gaming OS of the decade.

When you boot up your Playdate for the first time, you have an amazing animated intro, with a banger soundtrack, that doubles down as a "tutorial" of how you can interact with the device — this intro is even better in color, just saying. And after that, every time you want to unlock it, you press the Lock Button twice, and a little robot eye opens up with each click. Each new app comes to you as a gift (with a personalized wrapper) that you open like it's Christmas day, and they can have special animations when booting up to visually integrated with the menu.

Those little details aren't the only things worth to talk about the Playdate OS. It also works really well, even with simpler options. Managing your installed games (and the ones available to be downloaded) is really easy and fast to do, even compared with other portables of the past. There's no SD card slot on the device (so you are stuck with the 4GB memory), but the games are so light that you will need do install dozens of them to start running out of space. The USB port is made to easily connect to any computer, so you can get your screenshots out of the device or put new files for games that are compatible with extra content (like the nonogram collection Sketch, Share, Solve).

But the best and more important feature of the Playdate for me is sideloading games. Instead of following the industry and creating another DRM to lock game sources (like any console out there), the amazing team at Panic decided the Playdate should be DRM-free. Yes, you can buy the games from the official Catalog (on the Web or in the device itself), but you can also get Playdate games from literally anywhere and they can be installed officially on your portable machine.

And it's not a hard thing to do: you can go into the Playdate official website, upload the files and and they are automatically available for download on your device. I literally did this from my phone during my honeymoon with some free games available on itch.io using our hotel's bad Wi-Fi and it worked! Even on my homebrewed 3DS, the process of installing a fan-made game is so complicated, but here is just not only easy, but friendly and encouraged!

Not only that, but every Playdate is also a developing kit for the system. You don't need expensive licenses or getting a specific machine to test your games, everything you need to start coding to the Playdate is available for free. To be fair, you don't even need to know computer programming, because Panic also created a simple game maker called Pulp that runs in your browser and exports Playdate game files. It's so refreshing for the industry seeing initiatives like this and I cannot be happier to see a healthy developer community being grown with this little cranky device.

The debut season

But what is a video game without... games! Instead of having the players going after their own software, the Playdate had an interesting strategy called Season One. On your first 12 weeks of having the device, two new (surprise) games will be installed in your Playdate for free. Besides some free games, those twenty-four games were mostly all the experience I had with my cranky machine until now and the rest of this review will be talking about them in a little bit of detail.

There are two interesting observations to do about this package of games. The first one is how wide the titles are, from genres, concepts and even uses of the Playdate features. Some of them are fully narrative, others are pure arcade joy. Some of them were created because of the crank, others ignore it totally. There are a lot of games in the Season One that I would never buy because they weren't my jam, while others hit so hard that I keep replaying them from time to time. So, even if I didn't like a game of the list, you still have a big chance of loving it.

The second is how they have that feeling of "early games" that you always have with launch titles of any console. All of the games available on Season One were commissioned by Panic before the device even released to the public. If you look now into the Catalog, for example, you will see games way more produced and inventive then most of these early ones, but this is just part of the nature of having a collection on day one. I don't think they represent the full capacity of the Playdate (and, to be fair, I don't think we reached this point yet), but they still are your first look into the device.

Now I present: all the games on Playdate's Season One on launch order (with my mini review for each one of them)!

Week 01: Whitewater Wipeout

I admit that it felt strange the choice of Whitewater Wipeout for the first week. Created by the team behind Cursed to Golf, the idea here is to use the crank to move a surfer and add up a lot of points (and combos) in pure arcade fashion. It's cool to show how the Playdate is a perfect vessel for this type of game, but the controls are really strange and hard to even understand. I know that a lot of people really connected with it and has a lot of tips and tricks for the game, but there are better arcade games in the next weeks.

Week 01: Casual Birder

Now we're talking! This duo in the first week shows how wide the Playdate games can be, and Casual Birder became one of my favorites since then. It's an adventure game about a bird photographer that want to expand his picture collection while dealing with bad guys that dominated the city. The crank is used to adjust the focus of your camera when taking photos of the birds during the game: it has some little bugs but it's a really cool gimmick overall. Some of the birds are almost puzzles to decipher, that adds another layer to the experience.

Week 02: Crankin's Time Travel Adventure

Co-created by Keita Takahashi (the mind behind Katamari Damacy), Crankin's Time Travel Adventure was a cool idea that overcame its welcome. The idea is using the crank to make time go forward and backward and help sleepy Crankin to find his lover before it's too late. Some elements of the level aren't affected by time travel, though, so you need to time Crankin's position to dodge all the obstacles. Yes, it's fun, but not for more than ten levels until it becomes too repetitive. Test it, have some fun with the concept and than go to another game.

Week 02: Boogie Loops

Season One was a way to show all the potential of the Playdate and having available a software that isn't exactly a game is important when thinking about this showcase aspect. Boogie Loops is a music creating app with cute animals that dance and I cannot talk more about it because I never understood the interface fully. I pressed some buttons, some noise came out of the device and I moved on.

Week 03: Lost Your Marbles

Visual novels are not exactly my type of game, so Lost Your Marbles was most an experiment to me than a title that I enjoyed. The whole idea is that you use a "marble machine" to help you having decisions, that it's just a crank minigame you have to do when choosing the outcome of a fork in the story. The characters were cute, the marble thing wasn't that good, but you have a scientist cat and everything is fine. If you like the genre, there's something here to you.

Week 03: Pick Pack Pup

If you've read 2023's Played of the Year ranking, you may already know this but Pick Pack Pup isn't only my favorite Playdate game to date, but probably the best match-3 game I ever played. Your goal is to help the good dog Pup in his first days at an employee of a cruel fulfillment center, while following a good story about how capitalism is the burden of our species.

Gameplay-wise, the idea is that matches don't disappear automatically: instead, they are boxed and become obstacles for future matches until you ship everything (and gets a bigger combo if you manage to ship a lot in one go). The story mode is short but really well-made, introducing new mechanics and flavors to make the game feel fresh. The game don't even use the crank, showing that the other limitations of the Playdate can also help great minds create innovative and fun titles.

Week 04: Flipper Lifter

Another arcade game in the Playdate line-up, Flipper Lifter feels like a Game & Watch Gallery minigame that jumped off from a GBA (or a WarioWare boss stage). You use the crank to move an elevator up and down, bringing penguins to the levels they want. I liked it when I was killing some time in the toilet, but in later stages, the Playdate small screen makes it hard to understand what's really happening. If you like arcade games, I think it's worth a try.

Week 04: Echoic Memory

The concept on Echoic Memory is really neat: a small story about futuristic personal assistants, our relationship with our own memories and a literal memory game that uses only sound. Your goal in each level is to listen musical cues and find what button can play the same song, using the crank as a modulator/tuner. It's more gimmicky that it sounds (!), and it was fun for some levels, but it got repetitive really fast. The story seems interesting, though.

Week 05: Omaze

The best definition of Omaze comes from the official page: "an ode to circles". One of my favorites from all the Season One and one of the only platformers in the list, everything in this game is a circle, from the protagonist until the elements in the screen. You use the crank to move the little circle and try to get at the goal point, avoiding spinning obstacles and using the other buttons to change directions. The "adventure" is really abstract, but I had a lot of fun with this one.

Week 05: Demon Quest '85

Demon Quest '85 was exactly the type of game that I would never have played if it wasn't part of a bundle like this. In a mix of visual novel and puzzle, you became a teenager trying to summon demons from hell to help you became more popular in high school. The story is short and not always landed for me, but it was fun studying the clues to find the best music, smell and vessel to attract each demon. An interesting idea, with a cool execution and some great 1-bit art. One of my favorites!

Week 06: HYPER METEOR

If you still need to be convinced that the Playdate is a great home for arcade games, HYPER METEOR is the title you need to play. Purely collecting points isn't exactly my jam, but the gameplay here is so fluid and good to experience that is hard to stop playing. Like the coin-operated games from yesterday, your job is to move a ship and break meteors — but you don't have a gun! The only way to rack up points is colliding with the white parts of the rocks, while avoiding the darker sides. This visual concept isn't only pleasing to see, but does wonders in the small screen. If you can't have a Playdate now, you can also play a colored version on Steam and Nintendo Switch.

Week 06: Zipper

The name Bennett Foddy can be associated in your head with QWOP, Getting Over It or just pure frustration, but Playdate owners have another game of this creator to play, directly available on Season One. Zipper is a giant, one-level quest of a samurai trying to get revenge. Inspired by MSX classics, I tried a lot to understand how the enemies worked and what would be the best strategy, but, surprising anyone, was too frustrating to my taste. The visuals can be good to look, but they are the worse when you trying to see what's going on. Maybe you like it! (maybe not)

Week 07: Questy Chess

Questy Chess almost got me, because it does a lot of things right to my taste, but it fails on some details. You assume the role of the "chess program v1", trying to fight your way in the system and stop an update. I love this concept of creating worlds inside a computer, and mixing it with a classic board game makes it even better. In each level, you go on this "RPG", moving your piece as chess' rules determine and fighting other pieces. Unfortunately, the way you access other movements besides the pawn is done by consumable items, that you will need to boringly grind to solve the puzzles. I truly believe that allowing those abilities as permanent upgrades or level-based mechanics would result in a better experience.

Week 07: Executive Golf DX

I talked in the past about how I think that golf is the most boring sport ever made (for me), but mini golf video games were also cool and the Playdate could be an amazing vessel to them. Executive Golf DX tries it, but I think it misses the hole by a lot (pun intended). Although the corporate theme got my attention, the 2D side-scroller gameplay, the focus on verticality and the huge amount of obstacles weren't a good mix. Maybe the title is for someone, but I only got frustrated. (Do you want an interesting Playdate golf game? Check out Fore! Track.)

Week 08: Saturday Edition

Saturday Edition was one of the biggest surprises for me in Season One. This narrative game puts you in the life of John Kornfield, a man who was abducted in the past — and when the aliens apparently are coming back, an important key to solving the mystery. The game plays like a slow and simple point-and-click adventure, where your actions are basically talking to people and showing things from your inventory to them. The pacing was a little off too me, but the story intrigued me enough during all the playthrough. Even if you aren't a fan of the genre, I think you should check this with attention when the package arrives in your Playdate.

Week 08: Star Sled

The first Season One game made in-house by Panic, Star Sled also has the space-themed arcade machine as its inspiration. Here, instead of shooting, your goal is to capture Sparks creating a circle around them with your ship. BUT cloistering any enemy is an immediate Game Over, so you need to be really careful when flying and using your boost. I think this is one of the most satisfying uses of the crank in the whole package, although the small size of the objects in the already tiny Playdate screen was a problem to me. I wanted to play more, but I'm bad at it and got stuck on Mission D.

Week 09: Spellcorked

Spellcorked is the most gorgeous game in the whole Playdate's Season One, end of line. Your job is here is run a potion shop but without knowing exactly what each ingredient does at the start. You get orders from your laptop and uses trial-and-error to find the best way of doing the mixtures through simple but cool minigames. The team behind the game paid a lot of attention to the details — like tilting the Playdate vertically to bottle up the potions — but there isn't a lot of depth to the mechanics to keep the discovery process always fresh. A little repetitive, but always beautiful.

Week 09: Inventory Hero

Too repetitive and even a little forgettable, Inventory Hero was Panic's great miss on their own games for Season One. The concept is you are the inventory manager of an automatic RPG hero, using and discard items when needed. Luck was too present to the mechanic depth shine, and I just got bored after two matches. Not for me.

Week 10: Snak

I'm always amazed by how simple and smart Zach Gage's games are (and I'm talking as a person who has a big streak on Puzzmo!). His Playdate debut is also a simple but smart idea: Snak, in his own words, is "Snake plus jump". Yes, you can press a button to make the snake's head jump for some seconds, allowing you to avoid collisions with some enemies and even with yourself. There isn't a lot more to talk about, other than the game is really fun and perfect for small moments.

Week 10: Sasquatchers

I love stupid premises in my video games, so Sasquatchers got my attention since I opened the app for the first time. Here, you got the role of planner to a team of cryptozoologists, trying to take photos and videos from (supposed) fictional creatures, like a sasquatch. But you do this in a tactical RPG fashion, Fire Emblem-style: moving your units, uncovering terrain and avoiding being attack by the beasts. The crank is only used when you are actually taking a photo to get the best angle, that creates a new dimension to the game. Unfortunately, I'm the worst tactical RPG player ever lived, so you will enjoy this more than I did.

Week 11: Forrest Byrnes: Up in Smoke

Do you remember when portables didn't have the power to have the same games as their console counterparts, so you would have smaller titles of those franchises to compensate? I truly think the Playdate is the perfect modern vessel to those spin-offs to shine again! Forrest Byrnes: Up in Smoke isn't an amazing example, but I think it's the proof of concept. Featuring the unsettling mascot from Firewatch, this 2D platformer has a random level each time you starts running away from fire. With a ton of collectables but strange controls to find them, it wasn't for me, but I like the precedent.

Week 11: Battleship Godios

Changing fire bullets to balls that ricochet the screen is apparently a must for black-and-white portable devices? Battleship Godios is a side-scroller shooting game that only gives you a limited number of balls to destroy all the enemy ships and finish a run. Since you go back to the beginning of the game every time you die, the "trial-and-error challenge" became just pure frustration to me and I moved on.

Week 12: b360

Breakout is a classic, but it never impressed me in its original form. That said, variations of the brick-breaker mechanic are always welcome! The last game from Panic itself in this list, b360 is literally a full rotation in the idea (pun also intended): you use the crank to spin your paddle around a circle, bouncing the ball in all the directions. The game also suffers from small sprites in a even smaller screen, and some levels are specifically hard, but if you liked breaking bricks in the past, you will like to do here too.

Week 12: Ratcheteer

If you consider Ratcheteer the season finale, what a banger they reserved to finish Playdate's Season One! Inspired by some Zelda portable games, our hero is an apprentice mechanic trying to find their master in a cryo-colony in a distant, post-apocalyptic future. Exploring the overworld, crawling through dungeons and finding new items to progress are the basis of this adventure, that also uses the crank in clever mechanics. Some quality of life features were missing (even comparing with Link's titles on the Game Boy), but this is the perfect way to show how the Playdate can also be the home of bigger and more dense stories.

Who is the Playdate for, after all?

This was the question I asked myself since the Playdate was announced: who is it for? In an industry that is full of live service games, big 4K machines with ray tracing and 300h repetitive RPGs, why create a small portable device with a crank? Well, after a lot of hours in those Season One games, I think I found an answer. The Playdate was made for who likes experimental and different premises and games — and I'm happy that I'm one of those people.

I can have some issues with the hardware itself (yes, I really wanted a backlit screen) and the Season One games could be just the surface of what is already available, but I can see myself playing in the Playdate for years and years to come. Seeing this community grows around an inclusive concept, transforming limitations into greater ideas, and understanding why cranking is great... As everything that is new and strange, this device is always be a place to try new things and evolve what gaming is (even in black-and-white or with only two buttons).

At the back of the box, the first thing you can read is "We made the Playdate just for fun". And after having one, I believe them. And it's great to be part of it.

My 10 favorite games from Steam Next Fest 02.2024

2024-02-08T00:00:00Z

I never really was a person of downloading demonstration versions of games to be sincere. My backlog is always getting bigger, and playing an incomplete piece of a title wasn't my favorite choice. But, in those past years, because of my gaming review renaissance, I started following devs from all over the world showing their ideas and prototypes, and I finally understood the appeal of demo versions nowadays.

They don't only serve for checking if your PC has the minimum requirements to run the game, but to get excited for a new title and learn way more about it than GIFs or videos. So, with a new Steam Next Fest coming this February — a celebration of upcoming games and exclusive demos made by Valve in their store —, I not only played a LOT of demos, but wrote about my favorites so you can also wishlist them.

Of course, the event's full list has way more games, but those probably also reflect my personal taste in games, a thing that you probably are already used to when reading my blog anyway.

Pine Hearts

Hyper Luminal Games/Little Nook, releasing in Q1 2024

I actually got access to Pine Hearts' demo some days before the Next Fest started and really enjoyed this little cozy adventure. The gameplay is mostly focused on puzzles and fetch quests to keep unlocking new tools and abilities: it's Zelda overworld exploration without combat. The start of the game (and what's available on the demo) was too linear and I would loved to have more freedom on what items to collect and what puzzles to solve, but I'm looking forward to more of this world. The game also looks so cute with those cylindrical little people, I want a plushie of them.

Botany Manor

Balloon Studios/Whitethorn Games, releasing in Q2 2024

There are some games that I start playing the demo and learn immediately how much I'll like it when it comes out. Escape rooms are my jam, and there are even more to explore in this concept when you are not literally escaping from a room. In Botany Manor, your job is to make some special plants grow (and learning how they grow, using cryptic clues and strange contraptions). A cozy and beautiful atmosphere for interesting escape room puzzles to shine in different ways. You can bet I'll review this one when it comes out this year.

The Posthumous Investigation

Mother Gaia Studio, releasing soon

Machado de Assis is one of the most important writers in Brazil's literature and Mother Gaia just decided to adapt all of his work in... a visual novel game!? Playing the demo for The Posthumous Investigation was a delight: it's so good to see so many characters that I studied in school together, in a time loop detective story that I could interact and solve... It's so fun. If you never read The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas, maybe this can be your starting point in Brazilian classic literature. I don't even finished the demo so I could get less spoilers, I really want this game!

Mika and The Witch's Mountain

Chibig/Nukefist, releasing in 2024

After Koa and the Five Pirates of Mara, Chibig probably have another really interesting game coming this year. The demo for Mika and The Witch's Mountain is really small, but shows what to expect from the title: a delivery-focused 3D platformer with a witch learning how to fly and do magic. Flying with the broom is already so good, and the characters have a lot of charm. I'm still on the dark about the delivery challenges themselves, but this has a lot of potential. Who not want to be a witch, right?

Duck Detective: The Secret Salami

Happy Broccoli Games, releasing in 2024

You make a silly detective game with a deep-voiced noir duck and didn't expected me to love it? I remember seeing a trailer for Duck Detective: The Secret Salami and finding it cute, but this Next Fest demo also showed me the great humor that is present in the story. It has some simple deduction and investigation mechanics, but the dialogues, characters and voices were what grabbed me. The demo is really short, but I want to play the full game when it releases.

Mizi NO!

DU&I, releasing in 2024

I didn't knew about this game until I looked through the Next Fest list, but I'm already in love with it. Mizi NO! has such a simple premise that is hard to not like it: Mizi, the cat, is pushing all the things to the floor and you have to fix them as jigsaw puzzles. The interface is great, simple and easy to use: way better than other games in the genre available now. Cats, puzzles, good UI and handpainted visuals: I'm looking forward to this one.

Spilled!

Lente, releasing soon, now on Kickstarter

I've been following Spilled! development for some time now because, since PowerWash Simulator, I've been really looking for more cozy and relaxing cleaning games. This seems to be a tiny, but well-made idea in the genre: using your boat to clean up ocean waste. I love those feedback loops of getting resources and immediately upgrade, so, yeah, one more game that I didn't finish the demo to enjoy more in the full game. If you want to help the development of the project, you can go to its Kickstarter and help fund the game!

Rusty's Retirement

Mister Morris Games, releasing in Q1 2024

Idle games are kinda of my guilty pleasure, specially without microtransactions and dark design patterns. Rusty's Retirement seems to be a really cool one in those lines, with always-living robots working in a cute pixel art farm. The whole idea is that you can keep it open in your computer when working or doing other tasks, but my attention span would love to have it as an app on my phone instead. The amount of content in the demo is really big, although, so if it's your thing, you are (organically) well served here.

Geometry Survivor

Brain Seal Ltd, releasing on February 21th 2024

Another surprise from the Next Fest list, Geometry Survivor caught my attention with the concept of a bullet heaven inspired by old vector arcade games, like Asteroids or Tempest. It controls amazingly well, with a fast and agile ship since the first minute. The visuals also helps the enemies stand out from the background, a thing that a lot of others in the genre fails to do. The progression system seems to be too basic (with mostly upgrades to finish the same 20-minute level), but for a small price, I think it can be a great time killer. Looking forward to it.

Dad's Coming

Cold Lahmen, releasing soon

I'm not impartial when talking about Dad's Coming (because the devs are friends from college), but I liked what I played in the demo! Following the steps of Overcooked and similar games, here you and a friend are siblings trying to tidy up the house before your dad comes home. And, of course, you do this launching objects from one room to another and removing the cat from the table. Playing it alone was really hard, but I can see its potential to a multiplayer game with a lot of chaos and laughs.

That's it! There's a LOT of other demos to check in the Steam Next Fest page and, if you like to play in your PC, you can also subscribe to my Steam curator page and receive my next recommendations through there.

The best digital games I played in 2023

2023-12-28T00:00:00Z

Four years! Four years that I restarted playing games again, and reconnecting with a hobby that I like so much. And it's so good to keep writing about them — now more than ever with this new blog. 2023 was a crazy year, specially on my gaming tastes. I played way more new releases than before, mostly because of my new focus on writing reviews (that I hope to do more here next year).

I also got a Nintendo Switch and a Playdate as wedding gifts, so me and my wife were playing a lot this year too. Specifically, I need to play more Playdate games in the next year to do a major recap, but Nintendo games were a jam in those last months at home.

But the year is coming to an end, and it's time to my already classic Played of the Year! Welcome to POTY 2023, my own personal list of the best games I played this year. It doesn't matter if the title was launched decades ago: if i'm discovering it for the first time now, it counts.

This year we have 25 (TWENTY-FIVE!) titles in the list because I had a lot to talk about! You can also see the lists from past years (2020, 2021, 2022). Let's start!

25) subpar pool

PC/Switch/Android/iOS, grapefrukt games, 2023

I'm always down for a well-made game to be in my pocket, and subpar pool lived in my phone for some months. The mix of mini golf controls with pool levels is amazing, with a lot of interesting mechanics and new crazy ideas. The progression through quests wasn't my favorite, but it was perfect to play a match when waiting in line or in the bathroom throne. The visuals are top notch, and the overall cute but strange vibes are perfect for some uncompromised fun.

24) The Many Pieces of Mr. Coo

PC/Switch/PlayStation/Xbox, Nacho Rodríguez/Gammera Nest/Meridiem Games, 2023

In this bad future we are heading towards with AIs creating all the "art", it's so refreshing and beautiful to see a game with hand-made animation beautifully done. The Many Pieces of Mr. Coo doesn't have the most simple and easy to understand puzzles, and it had a lot of bugs at launch... but Mr. Coo's worlds were so amazing, surreal and interesting that makes all worth it. (There was a lot of behind-the-scenes problems with the developer regarding this game, so I'm also using also the space to support all the effort done by Nacho Rodríguez and his creative team during those hard times. Hope to see a better future to the yellow guy!)

23) Venba

PC/Switch/PlayStation/Xbox, Visai Games, 2023

I was really excited to play Venba since the first time I saw a trailer. The puzzles are in a smaller amount than I expected, but the idea of cooking and discovering the recipe at the same time is smart and fun. Venba is also a great story about Indian and immigrant culture, and how family changes over time. I'm not a immigrant myself, but only connecting with those characters as a "far from home" person was enough to make me cry a little. It's also really short, perfect for a one-shot game night with someone you love.

22) A Tiny Sticker Tale

PC/Switch, Ogre Pixel, 2023

As you gonna understand more and more during this list, short puzzle adventures are my jam. A Tiny Sticker Tale is a simple idea well executed: everything can be a sticker, and can be transported to other parts of the world. This focus gave me almost an escape room vibe, where finding patterns and experimenting with the rules is half of the fun. The story and characters weren't much memorable to me, but after the Paper Mario disaster, I finally have a "sticker game" to praise.

21) Koa and the Five Pirates of Mara

PC/Switch/PlayStation/Xbox, Chibig/Talpa Games/Undercoders, 2023

I'm not a great fan of pure platforming challenges (I like my games spiced with a lot of exploration), but sometimes all you need is a small girl running and jumping to have some fun. Koa and the Five Pirates of Mara isn't the most innovative in its genre, but it knows how to use its small scope to create a great experience. It's relatively short, easy to play if you just wanna relax, but also has a speedrun focus if you like these things. May the winds of Mara be kind to you!

20) Super Mario Bros. Wonder

Switch, Nintendo, 2023

Of course, Super Mario Bros. Wonder is the best 2D Mario game since the Super Nintendo days. And there isn't a doubt that Wonder is a great platformer, with a lot of good ideas and understanding what is fun in its pure form. But I think, after three decades of impressive games being launched, that my expectations were too high for what Nintendo showed us. Most of the Wonder Effects would pass as "common mechanics" in a lot of other titles, including Mario past adventures. It's a marvelous game and I loved it, but wasn't that wonderful for me.

19) WarioWare: Twisted!

Game Boy Advance, Nintendo, 2004

Finally an old game in this list! Thanks to the all-powerful 3DS homebrew, I could play WarioWare: Twisted! the way it was intended, with real motion controls. And it just works really well!? It was a little bit clunky, and sometimes the concept of turning the device bugged me, but it's amazing how they did this in 2004 without many flaws. The microgames were crazy and perfect as always, and I can only hope they put Twisted in the Nintendo Switch Online service so more people can experience it the right way.

18) The Spirit and the Mouse

PC/Mac/Switch/PlayStation, Alblune/Armor Games Studios, 2022

I asked for exploration platformers and I was served! The first on the list is the charming The Spirit and the Mouse, featuring the cute Lila, a mouse with electric powers (that doesn't violate copyright!) in a quest to bring back happiness to a French village. With limited movement in vast levels, my brain have gone almost to a positional puzzle, trying to find the best way to get to a certain place. With a lot of collectables and a cute story, I totally recommend it.

17) Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Switch, Nintendo/Bandai Namco/Sora Ltd., 2018

How not to mention the biggest crossover on entertainment in my POTY when I had the chance? After so many years, I finally played hours and hours of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate — specifically doing 100% on World of Light, the adventure campaign. I know that a lot of people disliked WoL, but I absolutely loved! It has that crossover feeling at the heart, like the gaming franchises were just LEGO pieces that could be mounted and remounted to play make believe. The fact it is, beyond all that, an almost perfect platform fighter is just the cherry on top; even to me, the worst Smash player on planet.

16) Storyteller

PC/Mac/iOS/Android/Switch, Daniel Benmergui/Annapurna Interactive, 2023

Sometimes I think of a good puzzle, but I don't really know how to make it a reality. Storyteller is a game I wish I had thought, and even if I had, I wouldn't have known how to make it. The concept of creating stories using logic blocks in comic strips is just marvelous, easy to learn and always intriguing to play. Sometimes, it can became a little too obtuse (specially in the extra objectives), but being a storyteller never was a easy job anyways.

15) Mario Kart 8 Deluxe: Booster Course Pass

Switch, Nintendo, 2022-2023

I generally try to put DLCs only in the honorable mentions, but this Booster Course Pass was basically a new game! I don't think that Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is specifically a better version of MK8, but with the strongest basis in the series, it's hard to mess up. Even in the weaker courses (like most of the city stages from Tour), it was fun to ride. The levels were doubled, they gave me Pauline and it was part of Nintendo Switch Online. Best expansion Nintendo ever made.

14) Bang-On Balls: Chronicles

PC/Switch/PlayStation/Xbox, Exit Plan Games/Untold Tales/CouchPlay Interactive, 2023

I would NEVER guessed a game like Bang-On Balls: Chronicles would be in my POTY, but the world is round, and it spins, just like those balls. After I passed that first layer of "hey, it just a meme game?", I was shocked to find a 3D platform that is consistently wacky and stupidly fun. BoB is way more combat-focused that I tend to like, but the amount of collectables and the historical theme got me. There isn't a lot of games that allows you to be a Brazilian-painted ball with Nordic clothes helping in the Cold War, so...

13) Pick Pack Pup

Playdate, Nic Magnier/Arthur Hamer/Logan Gabriel, 2022

I played way less on my Playdate than I wanted this year — and I'm promising here more content about it in 2024 — but Pick Pack Pup wasn't just the best Playdate game I played so far, but, probably, the best match-3 game that I ever played. Limitation is the spark of good ideas, and that trio made a miracle here. Instead of fighting with the small screen, they found a good mechanic to overcome it and fix a lot of problems that I had with the genre. If you have a Playdate, this game comes in Season One and you NEED to play it.

12) The Making of Karateka

PC/Switch/PlayStation/Xbox, Digital Eclipse, 2023

If I've played Karateka in any emulator, I would dismiss it in 10 minutes. Yes, people said it was important and I believe them, but its time has passed, right? Fortunately, I played The Making of Karateka instead. Digital Eclipse not only created an amazing game collection, but set a new standard for gaming documentaries and preservation. Even I didn't like to play the titular game, understand the historical context and all that happened during development was the perfect lens to the past to appreciate Karateka and Jordan Mechner's legacy.

11) The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening

Switch, Nintendo/Grezzo, 2019

All that Zelda fans can talk nowadays is about breathing wild and crying kingdoms, but I need to confess: I love The Legend of Zelda in 2D. Just give me a cute world, a quest to slay the darkness and a little boy in green and I will be happy, I promise. Link's Awakening's remake does all of this and way more! This Link is the CUTEST EVER, the diorama visuals are incredible and it has great dungeons, characters and stories. I would be even happier with an original game in that style, though...

10) Rhythm Heaven Megamix

3DS, Nintendo, 2016

This POTY's top 10 starts with a second chance. I had already played Rhythm Heaven Megamix in the past — in fact, it was my first experience with the series. But, then, I became stuck in that cursed Lockstep level and gave up. But then, after many years (and two other RH finished), I discovered I could have just skipped the minigame. So I tried again, AND BEAT IT. In the meantime, I also played the definitive edition of one of the best rhythm game series ever made. If you have a 3DS laying down, put it on homebrew and go in this journey with me.

09) Vampire Survivors

PC/Mac/iOS/Android/Switch/Xbox, poncle, 2022

Last year, I tried Vampire Survivors. It was fun, but didn't caught me. This year, I tried Vampire Survivors again AND IT CONSUMED ME. When you understand all the cogs behind the progression in VS, you will understand why it is so fun. All the combos, evolutions, relics and secrets, laying in the center of a perfect game to turn off the brain and relax. Sometimes, all I needed was choose a podcast, begin a level and start leveling up. I cannot wait the next updates and DLCs (and even other bullet heaven games) in 2024.

08) Carto

PC/Mac/Switch/PlayStation/Xbox, Sunhead Games/Humble Games, 2020

In my first ever POTY, I talked about Carcassonne, a classic tile-laying board game. Three years later and I'm here again talking a tile-laying board game mechanic, but in a different and way more interesting concept. Carto is a girl with a magical map: if she changes the disposition of the cartography, the real world bends to its shape. Each chapter also increases how you can manipulate the map, bringing more depth to the gameplay. It such an amazing puzzle, and it is really well executed in a cozy story about a quest for family.

07) Smushi Come Home

PC/Mac/Switch, SomeHumbleOnion/Mooneye Studios, 2023

A 3D platformer, with focus on exploration, a small protagonist in a big world and SO FREAKING CUTE: Smushi Come Home was almost made to me. It is a short experience (compared with the genre average), but every detail was made to bring happiness. Every collectable is interesting, even if it's a upgrade, a skin or just a fact about mushrooms. Smushi is also the cutest shroom I ever met, with the attitude of a teenager that faces a problem and just asks "what I'm doing here, I'm only eight years old". My spiritual fungus.

06) Luigi's Mansion 3

Switch, Nintendo/Next Level Games, 2019

One more green brother adventure in the POTY! Luigi's Mansion 3 is the gameplay conclusion of a series that tried a lot. The ghost capture is easier, but more flashy and impactful (and also more fun, to me). The hotel is way better than Dark Moon's small mansions, and the new bosses have an amazing character design. Playing this in co-op with my wife was perfect, and we laughed a lot. Gooigi's lack of reaction against everything encapsulates a lot of me in Friday nights after working all week.

05) Katamari Damacy REROLL

PC/Switch/PlayStation/Xbox, MONKEYCRAFT Co. Ltd./Bandai Namco, 2018

Every POTY of mine needs a double feature... and this year, it came rolling! I cannot recommend enough Katamari Damacy. It was such a strange game, but it knows exactly the meaning of fun, and goes for it in every detail. The music is perfect, the wackiness is great, the story doesn't make sense, and you have to just keep rolling. It's my wife's favorite game, and now I understand why. This REROLL version is the most accessible nowadays, but it has all the glory of yesterday rolls.

04) We Love Katamari REROLL+ Royal Reverie

PC/Switch/PlayStation/Xbox, MONKEYCRAFT Co. Ltd./Bandai Namco, 2023

What's better than Katamari? MORE KATAMARI! Improving the original in a lot of ways, including new goals and ways to play, We Love Katamari is just perfection in a form of videogame. I know that the strange controls can turn some people off, but I beg you to try again. Yes, it seems weirder every second, but if you embrace it, you'll have a lot of fun. This REROLL version includes a lot of new things, but sticking to the original content is already an amazing experience.

03) Hi-Fi RUSH

PC/Xbox Series, Tango Gameworks/Bethesda, 2023

The bronze this year goes to the most surprising game of the year to me. A shadow drop from nowhere in the start of 2023, Hi-Fi RUSH is a masterpiece. I was never a fan of character action games, but mixing it with rhythm mechanics made it just perfect to me. And they even made a gorgeous world to look and explore, with that cartoon inspiration overflowing every dialog line, every animation, every object in the map. The story is great, the characters are so charismatic AND EVEN THE CAT IS CUTE, I LOVE 808! If you need to play just one character action game, this is your cue.

02) WHAT THE GOLF?

PC/Mac/Switch/PlayStation, Triband, 2020

I hate golf. Nothing against people that like golf, but I can't understand why someone likes a thing that is boring even in videogame form. Fortunately, there are people out there that understands me, and created WHAT THE GOLF?. The only golf thing here is the name: this is an incredible and always inventive physics puzzle that mesmerized me every level, no exception. The amount of ideas being executed all the time here is too absurd to be real, but sometimes miracles happen.

01) Kirby and the Forgotten Land

Switch, HAL Laboratory/Nintendo, 2022

I already love Kirby, and then you give me one of the best 3D platformers I ever played? Kirby and the Forgotten Land isn't just 3D transition well made, but a masterclass in set pieces, where every level is memorable and gets in the player's memory. All the Mouthful Mode is perfect (Car Kirby!) and the idea of evolving Copy Abilities ticked in my brain until I collected all of them. Surprising no one, Kirby and the Forgotten Land got the gold in my 2023 Played of the Year!

Honorable Mentions

Yes, I played Disney Dreamlight Valley all year. When an update dropped, there I was, ready to finish my new quests. I even bought the new expansion, A Rift in Time! I hope to get a full review of 1.0 version soon here in the blog (and the expansion in the future).
Dordogne is a short, but beautiful French story in watercolor. It isn't challenging, but it could be a good idea to relax at the end of the day.
Crime O'Clock is the most complete hidden object game I ever played. With a lot more story and plot than I expected, the time travel theme got me hooked for some days until I finished it.
Rytmos is more of a puzzle game about music, instead of a musical game. The challenge is fun, but discovering new genres and rhythms from all over the world is what makes it worth.
Puzzmo is what you need if you miss newspaper puzzles. I'm playing it for some months now, and the clue system in the crosswords made me smart again.
TYPECAST is a weird but fun mix of bullet hell and typing games. I would love to see more campaign-focused content in it, but as an arcade game, it is a blast.
Wanna a New Year's treat? Check those free web games that I loved during the year: Machine Yearning, Shape of Mind, Mystic Ring and Tricky Keys 2.

And that was my 4th Played of the Year! You can see a more complete list on my Backloggd, if you want. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and see you on POTY again next year!

Ranking every Club Penguin minigame (because it's Christmas!)

2023-12-25T00:00:00Z

If you ever talked to me about "my favorite games", I have mentioned Club Penguin, a Flash-made children MMO launched in 2005, sold to Disney in 2007 and closed forever in 2017. The idea was very simple: you create a cartoonish penguin as an avatar, got to a island full of snow, fun and regulated chat messages and had fun! Or, at least, moderated fun, if you couldn't have the paid membership at the time. Poor penguin cannot buy clothes with imaginary money because they can't pay real money too.

Even never being a paid member, I completely loved Club Penguin. Gabriel here was a rat of 2000s children MMOs and no one could get in my heart like CP did. For so many years, I logged in at least once a month to check the new items, parties and activities. In fact, I played a lot even past 2017, in a lot of private servers created and maintained by fans during the years. At least, until Disney started sending THE LITERAL POLICE to close down servers and making almost every one desist of the penguin dream.

I would love to play again, but I can't, so remembering is the best way to do it for now. And I can't remember about Club Penguin without time traveling to December 2008. The first non-English CP servers were being launched... in Brazilian Portuguese! I got an email from Disney Brasil's newsletter at the time, created an account and that's it. My first penguin was born, and I started my Club Penguin journey in Christmas Party 2008.

So, yeah, Club Penguin and Christmas are the same in my tiny brain. And the blog is mine, so my "holiday special" will be about my favorite part of the game: minigames! They were smaller games that you could play for coins, and they were well integrated to the bigger plot and scenario (instead of just having a page with them, like Neopets). At least, 50% of my CP playing time was just on them. Some were specially great, some were like a rotten hot sauce pizza.

I'm inviting you to a trip through penguin memory lane in a special, too personal Club Penguin minigame definitive ranking. I'm not counting minigames exclusive to timed parties (like the The Fair ones), console or mobile games (like the EPF duology or Game Day) or the Club Penguin app version (that I never used). Only common, always available minigames on the web version. As criteria, I'm just using my personal taste, really. You may have a different list, and that's fine. You're wrong, though.

31) Paint by Letters

To be fair, I just discovered that this game existed when looking at Club Penguin Wiki for writing this article. Apparently, Paint by Letters was a collection of three typing games in form of books at Coffee Shop's Book Room, where you type the story and, sometimes, choose what to type to change the plot. And maybe some small puzzles too?

This minigame was only available in the English servers in Club Penguin, probably because of the focus on language — translating it would be a nightmare. But I mostly played CP in Portuguese and the game doesn't even existed to me. So my ignorance about is what make it in the last place. Sorry :(

30) Card-Jitsu Snow

To be able to explain this one, I will need to advance some context about a game that is way higher in the list. All you need to know (for now): Card-Jitsu was a digital card game on Club Penguin with a ninja theme, where you compete head-to-head battles using colored cards and a rock-paper-scissors mechanic using 3 elements (fire, water and snow). Got it? Right, back to the worse game.

After the success of Card-Jitsu, CP staff wanted to expand on the ninja storyline and created three original "spin-offs", each one inspired by an element. Card-Jitsu Snow was the last one to be released (in 2013) and it's also one of the most strange minigames on Club Penguin.

Instead of a multiplayer competitive game that used the Card-Jitsu cards in different ways, they just created a way-too-simple tactical RPG — their own bad version of Fire Emblem! You started a level with other two penguins, each one in a role with different abilities, and then just attacked evil snowmen. The cards were only used as a charged final attack! IN A CARD GAME SPIN-OFF!

I was in my Club Penguin semi-hiatus when this released, but I remember looking at it and just not having fun at all. The battles were boring, the Card-Jitsu inspiration was only thematic and the game was way more resource-consuming than the rest of CP, my computer at the time just couldn't even run it properly.

It's a shame because they invested a lot on explain the Card-Jitsu lore, including the origin story of Sensei, the NPC responsible to bring the card game to the island in the first place (more about him later). There's even a true final boss! But with a mediocre game, I just ignored it. It happens.

29) DJ3K

Probably a lot of people have liked DJ3K way more than me, but it never got me mostly by its simplicity and lack of objective. Launched in 2008, it was the first Night Club minigame. You started it and got your penguin behind the DJ turntable in the club: when you pressed the buttons, sounds and music started to be played. You continue to press, the remix continued to happen, your penguin gets happy and you get coins. That's it.

It was fun for the first 10 minutes and than just became boring for me. If you were a member, you could record the songs and use them as the background music for your igloo, buy new records to use in the remixes and even bring your yellow puffle with you... But I wasn't, so just pressing buttons was not that cool.

28) SoundStudio

Well, at least they tried, right? The LAST game ever released on the original Club Penguin was SoundStudio, in 2014, as a replacement for DJ3K. The idea was the same, but instead of a skeuomorphic DJ turntable interface, SoundStudio was literally a digital drum pad with musical and CP samples. How you play was the same, but it was way better to understand how the music was being done.

The selling point of SoundStudio was the recording: instead of just listening in your own igloos, penguins could "publish" their tracks to a public queue, that would be used as the actual soundtrack for the Night Club room! Like, everyone there could listen to the songs created by other players, which was really nice and impossible to do in the early years of CP.

And then, they locked this feature (in-game and inside the standalone app) behind the paid membership. So the (teenager at this point) me couldn't even show my art to the world! So, yeah, if you get an OK game and even put it behind real money, I won't love it.

27) Card-Jitsu Fire

Do you want more penguin ninja lore? Snow was the last, but Card-Jitsu Fire was the first elemental spin-off, launched in 2009. In a concept way more in line of I was expecting from something derived from a card game, Fire was a board game! Your goal was to compete with other players for energy when walking in stones at a volcano. Card-Jitsu battles (using the cards) would determine if you gain or lose energy in each turn.

I love board games, right? So why this is so low at the list, you can ask me? From all the tabletop experiences already made in the history of humanity until 2009, why, in the name of sanity, THEY CHOSE TO CREATE A ROLL-AND-MOVE ONE? You got a number from a roulette, walk that amount of stones, play a card battle and hope to get energy. I tried to play it more during my time at private servers some years ago and I couldn't last 3 games. At least, the Club Penguin version of Monopoly is able to finish a match in less than a week.

As a personal note, I remember playing A LOT of Card-Jitsu Fire on the original island when I was a child. Like, it was boring and I didn't liked roll-and-move games at the time, so why I played it so much? Searching about it, I remembered: this game was member-only BESIDES TWO WEEKS IN 2011. During the Card-Jitsu Party 2011, the game was available for everyone. 15 days and it would be gone forever again.

So, I played ONLY CARD-JITSU FIRE (and Water) for 2 entire weeks in my life, trying to get all the exclusive items. Yes, it was made a open-for-everyone game in 2013, but who cares? A Club Penguin minigame gave me Stockholm syndrome and I don't know what to do with this information.

26) Sled Racing

One of the five original minigames in Club Penguin from 2005, Sled Racing was one of the games that were always there. You could go to the Ski Hill, choose a sled run, wait for more penguins to show up and compete! The game was a simple autorunner and your goal was just avoid obstacles to not stay behind it.

Like, there was nothing wrong with Sled Racing. It was always available for everyone, it was easy to find people to play with and it's really thematic with a snowy island full of penguins. But the game didn't have much substance after two or three races, the amount of coins you get was little... With so much cool games in the island, I just can't bothered to play it that much.

25) Dance Contest

Launched in 2009 to finally give Night Club a real minigame, Dance Contest was a pure and simple Dance Dance Revolution clone. Some colored arrows go up, you press them following the music and you get points! There was only 6 songs to choose, and half of them were member-only, so I could only play 3 of them (Epic Win was my favorite). Not only the songs, but only members had online multiplayer and purple puffles dancing with you.

Well, if it was just a DDR clone, why Dance Contest is the worst Club Penguin minigame? Some years ago, in a private server, as a Stepmania and DDR keyboard scholar that I am, decided to get the AAA grade in every song of the minigame. I even downloaded a software to remap my own keyboard and getting a Flash game recognize the patterns I used in other games. As the DDR person inside my friend group, I went directly to Expert difficulty.

And then, after the first song, I discovered that IN EXPERT, ALL THE ARROWS WERE COMPLETELY RANDOM. Not only the same song would have different maps (because the algorithm would choose them at random), but THEY NEVER FOLLOWED THE SONG BEAT. It's the ONLY THING a DDR clone needs to do: follow the fucking music! Of course, other difficulties had normal beatmaps, but I didn't knew at the time?! I don't know how they messed it up, but Dance Contest lost a LOT of positions because of that.

24) Find Four

Have you ever played a board game called Connect Four? It's a classic! You drop colored tokens in a vertically plastic grid, trying to get four of your pieces in a line to win. If you don't, you could just open Club Penguin and play Find Four in the Ski Lodge. It's literally the same game, and it's incredible how they got away with it.

Like, it's was fun, people seems to love it, but... yeah, it was only an old board game that I never played physically. There's another board game version in this list that I loved way more, so I hope to redeem myself soon.

23) Bits & Bolts

Are you ready for an arcade triple feature? Since 2005, Night Club's second floor had arcade machines with exclusive games (and, after 2011, it officially became the island's Arcade). I never really loved them, and I would ignore them even more after July 2010, when they LOCKED LEVELS behind the paid membership. Yes, everyone could play all the levels before, and now it's just for members. Top weird decisions of the CP team, if you ask me.

My least favorite of the trio was 2011's Bits & Bolts, the last arcade machine released in CP. The idea was being a math game, when you had a target number and you had to count how many bolts were in the tiles and click on them until you have the sum equal to the target. I made it look a boring Tetris-like? Because it was. At least, the visuals were really cute and nice (I love a good orange and blue palette well used).

22) Astro Barrier

Continuing the arcade journey, 2005's Astro Barrier has a really cool concept (specially for one of the first five minigames in CP history). It was inspired by old arcade shooters, but transformed as a puzzle that required forward thinking and precision. In each level, you had only one shot per target and if you successfully shot a target, it would freeze and becoming an obstacle to avoid further.

I think what didn't click for me was, essentially, the arcade vibe of it. Not visually, but the idea of losing all your lives and restarting from the beginning. Some levels were really hard and could be frustrating. But the staff at the time was thinking of it and blocked all but the first 10 levels to non-members, so I didn't had this problem anymore. And I also didn't played Astro Barrier anymore, but it was only a detail.

21) Thin Ice

The best Club Penguin arcade for me, though, was Thin Ice! Released in 2006 (and featuring the first CP original song composed by the legendary Chris Hendricks/Screenhog), your goal was to move a flaming black puffle through ice levels, melting the ice with each move. It was way inspired by those one-line puzzles, when you have to find a path that can go through all the board without repeating a tile or getting stuck.

Two things made this game so far in the ranking, one is the already mentioned decision to lock 50% of the game behind a paid membership — I really loved playing Thin Ice so it was a bit of a bummer to me. The other thing was the really open levels, that just consisted of moving the puffle in a big square for so much longer that it needed, and then discover you messed up. Not great, but in good stages, it was a blast.

(Someone needed to do a spiritual successor to Thin Ice. Maybe I can do that...?)

20) Catchin' Waves

Not even the best surfing game on Club Penguin, Catchin' Waves was released on 2007 and became the great attraction of the Cove until the closing. You get a surfboard and go surf through waves, doing tricks and just surviving. There was a tutorial mode, a freestyle arcade mode and other, more difficult modes that asks for more control of the penguin.

I understand why the game exists, surfing is cool and radical, and we are cool children! But the execution was not very good: the controls were always strange to me, they didn't make sense and were way too slippery. It was never my choice to play during my time online, and I didn't even care too much when they also locked half of the game behind the paid membership. Nice.

19) Puffle Roundup

Puffle Roundup was always one of the most strange minigames for me. It was released in 2005, during the first year of Club Penguin, and then it looked like a first-year activity forever. Your goal was to push puffles into a pen using the mouse, while the pets run away from the cursor in a chaotic way. If you get all of the them until the time goes out, you win and start a new level.

I played it some times even after years of Club Penguin, but it's so fun to be just a simple game, with simpler graphics, in a platform that tried to be bigger each year. They even updated it with new puffle colors when they were released! Not an incredible game, but it was for me like a small piece of history in an avalanche of change.

18) Jet Pack Adventure

I don't like it that much, but I can't deny how iconic Jet Pack Adventure is to Club Penguin. Launched in 2006, your goal was to get a jet pack at the top of the Beacon and use it to travel until the Mine, at the other side of the island, getting coins in the process. Avoiding all the obstacles was the real challenge and the reason why I failed it so much.

It wasn't one of my favorites (I prefer the DS version because of the touch controls) and they also blocked FOUR LEVELS OUT OF FIVE behind the paid membership in 2010... but it was interesting and fitted well with Club Penguin's vibe and lore. I always loved that you lose the game before the ending, you came back to the game in the room you were flying over.

17) Puffle Rescue

The first on a new trilogy of "puffle minigames", Puffle Rescue was launched in 2010 and could be found inside the Mine. The basis of it is being a Frogger semi-clone: you navigate grid-like mazes, dodging obstacles and trying to get to the puffles at the other side to rescue them. Three modes existed (but two of them were members-only): rescuing blue puffles in frozen water, pink puffles inside dangerous caves and black puffles underwater, at risk of drowning. At least, this time, they don't removed free content: pink and black levels were always paid.

I remember fondly how Puffle Rescue was the first Club Penguin thing that couldn't run well in my old computer at the time (just like Card-Jitsu Snow). They were starting the "next generation" at the time, that would implicate in a totally art style in the next years. This minigame was the first that I remember looking and having a strange feeling about it because of more modernized (and less Flash) visuals.

About the game, the free levels were fine. I don't love the Frogger mechanic, but it worked well with the rescuing theme. And you could unlock a secret room during the game, so, it was a nice touch.

16) Hydro Hopper

Our third original CP game in this list, Hydro Hopper is way older than even the first Club Penguin prototypes ever created. According to the Club Penguin Wiki, it was the first Flash game ever made by Lance Priebe (CP's co-founder), that named it originally as Ballistic Biscuit, a way funnier title! Your goal is to maintain your penguin being pushed by a motorboat, avoiding increasing obstacles by moving and jumping with the mouse.

Just like Puffle Roundup, it's easy to know how old the game was, even looking nowadays. The Flash sketchy graphics, the simplicity of the gameplay, the silly jokes between levels... It wasn't bad, I don't played it that often, but ended up being overshadowed by a whole list of more interesting experiences that came after it.

15) Card-Jitsu Water

To finish the Card-Jitsu spin-off trilogy, let's talk about my favorite of the bunch: Card-Jitsu Water, released in 2010. Mixing the board game motif from Fire and the video game inspiration we would see fully in Snow, Water is a real-time race tabletop-like game. Stone tiles with elemental obstacles would be floating down a waterfall, and the goal was to use Card-Jitsu cards to remove the obstacles and be the last penguin standing (or the first to play the gongo).

Besides the more demanding graphics, this game was fun! Maybe it was just the Stockholm syndrome attacking again (I also played this a lot in that 2011 party), but the concept of actually using the cards for something new made sense. The idea of having the game on a waterfall was well used too, instead of being just a thematic background. I wish the interaction between players were more easy to plan, but it was, easily, the best ninja game after the original Card-Jitsu.

Though, it was only for members for a long time and I would have got more nostalgia for it without this limitation. So, 15th is a good place for it.

14) Spy Drills

The only thing more epic than ninjas in Club Penguin are secret agents. If you are familiar with post-2010 CP, you can remember the Elite Penguin Force (EPF), the current special agency responsible to protect the island and keep it safe. Although it was created for a Nintendo DS game two years prior, they became an integral part of the main game, including their own minigames!

Originally, EPF agents could participate in an activity called Field-Ops. Each week, they would receive a message in their spy phones, hinting a particular location in an actual Club Penguin room. When their penguin found the place, the phone would react and unlock a sci-fi, hacking-like microgame. Winning the game would gave resources for unlocking secret agent clothes and items. For lore reasons, the Field-Ops ended in late 2012.

Then, in the next year, they came back from the dead in the form of an actual minigame at the EPF Command Room: Spy Drills! Instead of the weekly location hunt, all the microgames were now available in only one interface, like a common Club Penguin minigame. You could choose one to train it, or go to a Challenge, trying to beat three in a row without failing.

I made them sound way cooler than they really was... Some of them were actually interesting, like The Navigator — that asks you to program commands to beat a maze — or Code Break — a simple but competent Mastermind clone. But at the same time, you have a memory game, a mathematical angle quiz, a rhythmic Simon Says and other simple things. I liked it more as Field-Ops than Spy Drills itself, but I like the recycling process! Content is content, you know?

13) Treasure Hunt

Remember when I said that party minigames would not be in the list? Treasure Hunt is the exception to the rule, because it was just available during some parts of the year since 2008. Specifically, this game was played in the Captain's Quarters of the Migrator, the pirate ship commanded by Rockhopper, one of the most important NPCs in Club Penguin. He would dock in the island multiple times a year (mostly during parties), bringing exclusive items and this minigame!

Treasure Hunt was a 2-player, cooperative board game about dig treasures in a grid covered by sand. A player would only uncover rows in the grid and the other player, only columns. The whole thing about the game is that each grid space had TWO layers of sand; i.e. a thing could only be fully found if both players coordinate their actions to uncover the same square.

The most common treasures were 1x1 simple coins, but 2x2 rubies (and even emeralds) could be also found. The players needed to pay attention to shiny symbols when uncovering the first sand layer: this would indicate something was there, at least a coin. In Christmas, they even changed the game visuals, swapping sand by snow and the treasures by holiday candies and ornaments.

I always liked to play some games of Treasure Hunt, probably because of its sporadic nature and being always a "new" thing to try during an event. But there wasn't a lot of coins to get from it, and the game was heavily based on luck and your partner's moves, so it was easy to get bad games just because you (or worse, the other person) tried the wrong lines.

12) Mancala

Now we got to games that I really liked to play in Club Penguin and I miss every time I remember of my beloved island. And, yes, I loved to play Mancala in the Book Room back in the day. Giving you the context that I didn't have at the time, mancala is, actually, a really old game. Like, history date the first mancala boards to 700 AD's East Africa. Although variations and variations of the game are part of cultures around the world, Brazil was not one of those countries... so I discovered this ancient game through a Flash children MMO.

It is, indeed, a fun game! Most of the versions (including CP's Mancala) is played by two people competitively, moving their pieces in a circular board, trying to capture more pieces than the opponent. The key mechanic of a mancala game (and used in a lot of modern board games) is sewing: you get all the pieces on a space in your side of the board and start distributing then in the next spaces in order, one at a time. Depending where you place the last piece, you can do different actions, like capturing.

Mancala was one of the five first games on Club Penguin and I'm really glad they put it in. If they have chosen any other classic game, like checkers or chess, I would probably have ignored it for years. But when they can introduce a child to a special part of another culture inside a cartoon penguin simulator, it has a great impact.

11) Smoothie Smash

Smoothie Smash was one of the games that I liked to play, but couldn't play much at the time. Released in 2012 at the Coffee Shop, it was the last minigame truly original to be introduced in the original Club Penguin (after that, we only had an EPF game, a ninja game and SoundStudio). The concept here was to create smoothies bouncing with your penguin butt in fruits that were passing in a conveyor belt. At the bottom of the screen, a customer would show what fruits you needed to "smash" and in what order to increase your combo. Even a survival mode with obstacles was available.

First, I need to recognize that ALL THE EXPERIENCE HERE WAS FREE. It was the ONLY GAME in years to be released with all content for free and paid members, and it was just cool. Thank you, gang! Second, it was also one of the newest games, so my computer couldn't handle it very well... In a mechanic of rapid thinking and combos, it wasn't a good match.

But I played Smoothie Smash some years ago in private servers and it was genuinely fun. Trying to find the next fruit to bounce without losing the combo, trying to catch extra time, it was a blast! I would love to see this concept revisited by someone, including new mechanics in the mix (!) to make the experience more interesting after some time.

10) System Defender

At the time, I could imagine a lot of ideas for the first, exclusive EPF minigame... but I could never guess it was a tower defense. System Defender was launched in 2011 as the first storyline in EPF in-game lore, and could only be accessed in the EPF Command Room by secret agents. The idea was to simulate a defense system for the agency computers, using an almost cyberpunk aesthetic. In each level, your goal was help EPF agents to destroy bots that are trying to corrupt the EPF Mainframe using special tech cannons.

The best way I can describe System Defender is "your first tower defense game". You only had three types of cannons/"towers", three types of enemies and the bosses were just bigger robots. Energy was the main (and only) resource that could be used to build new cannons or pay high for a upgrade cog. They were even color-coded to help understand the synergy: the red cannon/robot had average stats, the yellow ones were faster and the purple ones were slow (but more powerful).

I really liked to play this game back in the day, even with half of the levels behind the paid membership. Secret agent things were my favorite at Club Penguin, and having the characters talking and discussing the attacks during the matches was the cherry at the top. My only problem is my completely incapacity of playing tower defense games, so I didn't finished most of the levels.

09) Aqua Grabber

Launched in 2008 in a event to rescue the parts of Rockhopper's ship when it collided with an iceberg, Aqua Grabber is, to me, one of the most complete mini-games in Club Penguin. Your goal is to use a submarine to navigate the seas under the island to get treasures, controlling the air inside it. Although a lot of levels were planned, only two were actually released (and one of them was also money-blocked in the 2010), what is a shame, because it had a lot of potential.

The exploration factor of Aqua Grabber was the best for me, with different objectives and ways to explore the same level. The gameplay was simple, but the controls were well made. I remember trying for hours to get a secret bigger fish in one of the levels, because you needed to get a secret bait, and then get a smaller fish, and then try to "catch" the big fish. Even for not-secret goals, there was some puzzles involved. I really wanted more of Aqua Grabber...

08) Pufflescape

In 2011 (at the middle of my CP frenzy as a child), they started a Beta Team feature in Club Penguin's website. The idea was to test features and minigames in a prototype phase together with the community. I played most of them at the time, and the only one I could remember of liking was Rollerscape, a puzzle-platformer featuring the recent discovered white puffles. Your goal was to control it inside a rolling ball to get all the berries in a ice maze. You could even use the mouse to open/close obstacles, or use the puffle to push boxes and open new paths.

Well, this was the ONLY thing that was actually was put in the game coming from the beta features! Now renamed Pufflescape (and part of the "puffle trilogy") and featuring any of the player's puffles if they wanted, it was really fun! The extra levels were only available for paid members, but I played them on private servers over the years and they had cool designs too. Some of them needed more polish, but for a CP minigame, they found a formula that worked. Another one that I could get a spiritual successor easily.

07) Card-Jitsu

And the end of our ninja journey is the beginning. Released in 2008 and making everyone really cares for the not-secret-anymore Dojo, the original Card-Jitsu was a 2-player competitive card game inside (and outside) Club Penguin. As I mentioned, during the turn, each player would choose a card with an element and a power value, and they would win or lose in a rock-paper-scissors fashion: fire melts snow, snow freezes water, water puts out fire.

What makes it for me more interesting than your more common trumps games is how you would win a game of Card-Jitsu. Instead of just winning a certain number of turns, each card also had a border color. To win, you needed to get three cards of the same element or one card of each element, but IN DIFFERENT BORDER COLORS. It wasn't the greatest strategic game ever made, but this detail helped to allow interesting decisions instead of just playing your powerful card in hand every turn.

Power Cards also were an important part of Card-Jitsu: they were really powerful, had original, exclusive animations and rules that affected the game, like blocking an element in the next turn, or making lower values win elemental ties (instead of higher). The only problem here is how you unlocked new cards during some years: you needed to buy actual, physical Card-Jitsu collection cards and use codes to unlock their digital versions. It was a little frustrating to play against an American child with money and see their collection of Power Cards...

Even with all that, Card-Jitsu was really fun! The progression in your "ninja journey", getting colored belts like some real martial arts, was engaging and a cool way to show your mastery to other penguins. To became a real ninja, you needed to beat the CPU in the form of Sensei, a really hard card duel. It was so successful that I understand why three spin-offs were released after that.

06) Cart Surfer

Now THIS is the best surfing activity in Club Penguin. Forget the water and go to the Mine, because Cart Surfer was always fun. Your penguin just go on a cart mine and your goal is to do a lot of tricks to get points, combos and coins. Released in 2006, it felt as a simple game (because it was), but has all the things that made Flash games addicting in the first place.

It had a easy game loop to understand, and less courageous people could just turn and finish the game without going after a lot of tricks. But understanding the 10+ tricks available, when do them to maximize the points and not crashing at the same time... uh, it was good! My favorite was Cart Grind, that you could do instead of turning. Simple, but effective: Cart Surfer deserves a spiritual successor too.

05) Bean Counters

Our top five starts again in the Coffee Shop for the last Club Penguin original game for the list. Bean Counters released in 2005 as an action-focused minigame, where your goal was to catch coffee bean bags being launched from a truck and stack them to restock the shop.

Of course, anvils, fishes and other strange obstacles would also be launched and needed to be avoided. If you stack a lot of bags in your penguin without unload them in the shop, you would also lose a life.

Just like Cart Surfer, it had this Flash game vibes with a simple gameplay and visuals, but it was really well executed. Using the mouse to move the penguin made it respond well in harder levels, when they are so much things at the screen. And I would love to have this same mechanic in a more intricate game, with more challenge instead of just catching the same bag...

...BUT WE HAVE. Bean Counters is one of the two only minigames in Club Penguin to have a "candy secret variant", activated finding a special button in the title screen. Introduced in 2011, Jellybean Counters have the bags full of colored jellybeans instead of coffee. Instead of just stacking them, you have to pay attention to the right colors too! Putting the wrong jellybeans in the stack would make you lose a life. This version was not that accessible (for colorblind people), but it was my preferred way to play.

04) Pizzatron 3000

Name a more iconic Club Penguin minigame than Pizzatron 3000. I'm not gonna wait because you can't name a more iconic CP activity. The heart of Pizza Parlor since 2007, this was always a blast to play (and SO HARD OH MY GOD). Empty pizzas were passing through a conveyor belt and you had to run with your mouse putting all the toppings correctly, following the recipe at the top.

It's hard to explain why this minigame was so cool, because it is a little too simple in concept. But after the 10th pizza, the belt starts to accelerate and you just ignore everything around you to get five squids and hot sauce in some seconds. It was really hard to finish everything without mistakes, but the fun is to try. Doing no mistakes would reward tips and more coins at the end.

But even harder is the Candytron 3000, the another CP's secret candy variation (in fact, this one came first). Activated in a hidden lever in the title screen, the machine starts making sweet pizzas, with chocolate, marshmallows and jelly beans. It was faster, but more rewarding. I never did a perfect game on the candy mode, however. One day, wko knows?

03) Puffle Launch

I know that I've been harsh about minigames with content locked behind the paid membership... but Puffle Launch was too cool to not be in the top 3. Launched in 2011, it's our last game of the "puffle trilogy" and one of the best ever made on Club Penguin. A red puffle want to recover all the berries stolen by Klutzy the Crab and is going fully radical to it: using cannons!

The easy way to explain is imagining a level full of those Donkey Kong Country barrels (that launch you in a direction), but with free air movement! When flying, you can change the trajectory of the red puffle, so you can do a lot of cool tricks bouncing in the obstacles. There's no place in a level you cannot reach with enough momentum and control mastery. And they know it, because there are a lot of berries on stupid locations, outside the main path.

To me, Puffle Launch is one of the only Club Penguin minigames that could be its own game and be an amazing package. Yes, it's foreshadowing again, because the game was released as the first CP mobile app later that year. In fact, that's how I started to love it! In 2022, I found an APK to the (now delisted) app and mastered it. It was an literal blast and I just wanted to play more.

(Someone MUST do a spiritual successor to Puffle Launch. Maybe I have to do that...?)

02) PSA Secret Missions

If I need to chose one thing to prove how fun and incredible was the secret agent content in Club Penguin, this (not mini)game would be it. Way before the EPF, there was the PSA, the Penguin Secret Agency. As old as the island itself, penguins could enlist to be a special agent and maintain the order. But, in 2006, everything change with the launch of the first PSA Secret Mission.

Instead of in-game events with little puzzles like the EPF had years after, all the PSA Secret Missions were point-and-click games! Looking into rooms, searching for items, solving puzzles, talking to other characters: Club Penguin did its own Monkey Island, in a smaller scale, of course. The agents even had their secret way of communicate in the form of the Tic-Tac-Toe Code, also used for puzzles during the missions.

Because of the heavy focus on story and plot of the genre, the lore behind the PSA and its agents were, for a lot of time, the most detailed part of Club Penguin. It was the first time we would be introduced to iconic characters, like the PSA scientist Gary the Gadget Guy — and even CP's own great evil, Herbert P. Bear, a polar bear destined to destroy the island at any costs.

Ten missions were released from 2006 to 2008, mostly focusing them on your start as a secret agent and the first attacks from Herbert. In 2010, the awaited Mission 11 was released as "The Veggie Villain", that resulted in a big impact in-game. No spoilers, but this was the last mission of the PSA, and after that, the EPF assumed the role of island protectors.

Those missions were so different and well made they even inspired two Nintendo DS games made in the Club Penguin franchise. The second one, Club Penguin: Elite Penguin Force: Herbert's Revenge, was literally based on the PSA missions: more than half of the game are just ports of the original PSA missions. I always find that really lame, but now, with the original CP popped out of existence, it's probably the most accessible way to try them.

01) Ice Fishing

Remember when I said this list was deeply personal? The PSA Missions were, by far, the coolest minigame in Club Penguin history... but if there is one that I played more than any others, it's Ice Fishing. Released in 2006 for the Ski Lodge, it was my favorite CP minigame and I even can't explain why!

Your goal was really simple: just fish. You could move your mouse up and down to catch the fish with your hook, and then click outside the water to remove the prey. Obstacles would appear to make you lose baits (your lives), and they would keep coming during 5 levels of difficulty. At the end, if you were smart, you could use a normal fish as bait for Mullet, the big boy!

It had that Flash game vibe so right, and it was so responsive to play. After some years playing it, I could do a lot of almost "tricks" with the line, catching a lot of the fish in situations that seemed impossible. In 2008, a members-only special fishing pole could be acquired, and harder gray fish would also appear. Fortunately, in my private server years, I could also play with them, and I love it. Ice Fishing is just so cool, and I would pay for a game that replicate that same feeling nowadays.

There was a lot, huh? If you played Club Penguin at some point in your life, I hope to have helped you navigate in memories, remembering the cool times in that loved island. And if you never played CP in your life and just read until here out of pure morbid curiosity... it's impressive and scary how much content a 2000s Flash online game for children could have, right?

I will talk more about CP in the future (because I miss it so much), but that's it for now. Happy Christmas for you, your family and our penguins. Waddle on!

Why creating a blog helped me find a digital identity

2023-12-15T00:00:00Z

If you are reading this, I finished a project that lasted a few months in my hands: I finally have a new, made-from-scratch blog / portfolio for all gaming and writing things that I love to do as a hobby. Yes, it's simple, there is no ads (and never will be), but I made it as my little space in the web and I'm really happy with it.

But when I look to the web around me, a old-fashioned collection of texts seems way off? The internet nowadays is more of a never-sleeping market, whose main products are your screen time and your data. Short videos need Subway Surfers gameplay so people can actually pay attention. A Google search is more of a minefield and you probably get what you want in the page 3, what would be unbelievable some years ago. And, of course, the constant thought of "is this made by an stealing-content AI?" will be asked forever until the end of time.

I used to see people discussing about how this late capitalism stage we live on forces you to transform your hobbies into business and work... but the Web is so strange that, sometimes, engagement is way more valuable than money. Win the social media algorithms just to connect to people, even if you don't want to make profit from it, is obligatory.

Doesn't impress me how much closed spaces are becoming for communities everywhere. If you wanted to find a place to talk about a subject some years ago, you would probably find an open, searchable forum, or even a e-mail group. Today, the best you can find is a Telegram group or a Discord server, that will be lost forever as soon as these companies go bankrupt in the future.

I didn't take so many months to program a simple blog. I really did it in one month, including a lot of the new articles. All of this time was trying to understand why I'm on the internet. I never really remember a time in my history that I wasn't online, but what this means to my adult self? Why bother to craft a special space for me in the middle of digital hell? This is the result of it.

Born with an e-mail account

I was born in August 1998 in a countryside city in Brazil. According to scientists (and Wikipedia), I'm a Zillenial: mostly I have dual citizenship in both generations and I'm both allowed to appeal to nostalgia AND be asked to fix my aunt's Instagram account. The tiny difference here is, when most of Gen Z started their lives with a mobile phone, I learned to type in a desktop keyboard before writing on paper.

People always get sad when I said that I never had cable TV or a video game console during my childhood, but I was really privileged to have access to computers and internet since I was born. Yes, it was a old computer with Windows 98 and a dial-up connection to be used only in weekends, but this is my oldest memory that I can remember. Me, as a toddler, sitting in a high chair, looking at my dad using the PC.

In a way or another, I grew up with the Web. When I was a little child, I got my first e-mail address, learned how to create account on sites for children. Every weekend, when I logged the web, the first thing I was obligated to do was download the Norton Antivirus update for my dad. I loved to browse freeware download portals, because I would love new games and applications to experiment during the week. It was also my first time experimenting with web page design: I used GeoCities, I just tried Microsoft FrontPage non-stop like it was MS Paint.

Imagine a time that everything on the web was static websites and the only thing that a viewer could change was a visitor counter, a world where your Favorites browser folder was a treasure to be saved for generations. A time when a famous Brazilian TV host could try a musical career and his flagship song could be having virtual friends. If I was older, I would probably would been a IRC user, but the only thing burned in my mind is my dad's ICQ notification sound.

(some old sites that I had during the years, from top to bottom, left to right: (1) my first GeoCities website that I did with my dad circa 2004; (2) my most serious attempt to create a humor blog in 2011; (3) the rebranding I did for the same site on 2012, drawing by Mitsujii; (4) a portfolio link aggregator that I did in 2016 when I tried to be a freelance writer)

And then, the internet started to change, and me too. As I started to enter my teenage years, the Web 2.0 started to really becoming a reality. I remember photo sharing sites becoming famous (like Fotolog, really famous on Brazil), and then the social media started to appear. I know that MySpace was the hot thing overseas, but here in my country, we LOVED Orkut. Did you know that for some time, Orkut was only really used by Brazil and India, and all the operations for the site have gone to Google Brazil? Even now, for most millenials, that pink logo is THE symbol of our 2000s Web.

Well, and then, everything happened!? Facebook starts taking over everything, YouTube gets a lot of traction and makes video sharing a true reality, Twitter just explodes and became the new sensation. During this process for us in Brazil, Orkut was really famous yet, and there's a lot of humor blogs, just creating first-generation memes and reposting cool videos from other humor blogs. I tried a lot to be part of this, maybe with a dozen different blogs and some YouTube channels. No, you cannot watch my teenager vlogs or I'll need to kill you.

Looking back, I really lived in the internet all of this time. If it was healthy, I can't say, but I definitely did. Most of my hobbies at the time was doing something in the computer, probably on the web. My favorite game as a child was Club Penguin! It's strange that children nowadays just are born with a smartphone in the hands — and I had a similar, but so different infancy. That's why finding my way on the internet is not just doing a hobby or creating an account: the Web is a integral part of my history, and my online persona is an important part of me.

Finding a digital identity

During all this time, I was just a kid with internet access doing kid stuff. Trying things, copying the trends. I never had any success or fame, probably because I was literally copying the blogs I read or the vlogs I watched. But starting in 2011-2012, I started writing about games for real in the Web, on sites way bigger (and more successful) than anything that I could do alone.

And, for years, I never stopped (all of them are in Portuguese, but if you want, I listed them as part of my project list). I started to get some followers in social media just because I was writing about games in a medium-size portal, and that was it. It was, at least, original articles! (Progress!) I was in high school during this period, and the internet was already algorithmic and more centralized from what I used to.

Suddenly, creating a thing by myself became a stupid idea, you know? Why bother to start from zero when I can just write in other people's spaces? That little amount of visibility — that I never had until that point — was enough to fuel my impostor syndrome. No one would follow what a stupid boy like me, I was just lucky to get a way to write and be known about this.

And, at the same time, I was starting my major in Computer Science. I'm really grateful that my university was public (and public colleges in Brazil are free for students), but I needed some money to get food and a place to live in a bigger city. Writing became also a way to help my parents to pay the bills and try to get a diploma at the end of this.

In a matter of years, that little child that sees the internet as an infinite playground was gone. I was just a recent-promoted-to-adulthood human being, worrying about money and entering in a spiral of low self esteem and burnout. I got some bucks doing copywriting for enterprise blogs and a really clickbait-y mobile app portal, but it was this. In some months, I started doing research and getting some money for that, and then getting a job as a web developer.

And then, I think I never understood what I want from the internet anymore. Besides like, being a "common" (but chronically online) user. For a person that created stupid projects in a monthly basis, it's a little sad. I know that, well, I was an adult now, with a job, responsibilities and mental fatigue, but something was missing. My internet persona was missing.

(one of my old board game prototypes that I failed to develop fully)

I kept writing for a lot of different portals, writing alongside really talented people, but I never was really happy with what I was doing? In just some months, it always became a mechanical, soulless job that I was doing for free to someone. Even when I tried to be a "board game designer" for real during the pandemic, I started almost a double work shift and the impostor syndrome attacked in the first refusal from a publisher.

Even this domain name, gabtoschi.com, was already home for three or four different websites in just a couple of years. I woke up and decided that a new blog will solve my creative problem. In a week, I had found a template in Google, modified some CSS and called it a day. Never updated or wrote anything until the next epiphany. Ad infinitum.

Growing up with the internet taught me how unhealthy was transform all of your feelings and opinions in social media big data. I simply can't share everything that I am as tweets or stories, it doesn't make sense to me. Somehow, I need to find who I want to be in the internet, what my creative outlet would be. In some ways, I want back the innocence, courage, sincerity and trust in my own ideas like I had as a child.

My new cozy webplace

At this point in my intimate reflection, you understand what I decided that would be my creative outlet. This website, made from scratch, by myself (with a great help from my wife). No more templates (for the site and for me). This whole text isn't just about to present it to you, but remind me why I had this in my mind for so many months.

I like the idea of creating a internet persona, for real. A version of me that I'm comfortable to be public and forever preserved on the Internet Archive (or a Russian database). I feel safer because my life and my family is preserved, and I can be connected with people all around the world from my home. That TV show host wasn't that far away, if you think about it.

The first thing that was really clear to me was understand that the internet is a hobby, and not a job. I already have a job — that is creating internet pages, don't even start to argument. Doing those things needs to be just for fun, to be silly, and not another pressure to get results, or engagement, or profit. I already have a lot of capitalism in my head every day, and I cannot choose (again) to have more.

But why? This was getting me for real. If not to be famous, or getting money, why create a blog to write nowadays? If I want just to put something out from me, I can talk to myself in the shower.

Then I realized the only thing that the Web never failed to me: getting people together. I have friends that I talk monthly (at least) for a DECADE. Some of them I would invite for my marriage (and I actually did). There's some people that I meet through messages and video calls that are more next to me than most of the kids I studied together, every day, for 8 years.

So, yeah, I will create a blog to talk about things that I like and find other people that also likes those things. I would love to have someone to talk, in detail, what is the better Club Penguin minigame, or how interesting is this Nintendo DS hidden gem only released in Japan. Or even, something that I already did a lot in other outlets, just talk about good games and help other people to find them! That's a nice goal, and I love it.

I think that writing is a good way to outlet ideas for me, personally. Not just because I do this for 10 years now, and I'm mostly comfortable to do so. But because I'm the master of starting projects, losing the heat and stopping them completely. If I can, at least, write about my attempt, maybe I can have more of the personal satisfaction that I'm looking for.

And also, it's so good to not be attached to a big company's platform nowadays. Yes, I'll probably need social media to find these people, but I don't need to worry that YouTube will delete my channel when I'm sleeping. Or that a social network that I could have invested time and effort would be bought by a stupid person and starting to crumble in front of my eyes. My content, my space, my control.

It's so fun that, for so much time, I was looking for a way to describe my internet persona. A web developer? A gaming-related writer? A game designer? And then I found three words: curiosity, creativity and chaos. Doesn't matter exactly what I'm doing: if I'm curious about to learn, creative enough to do something and chaotic enough to have fun, I'll be good.

Welcome!

That's it. At the end of the day, I just need to be more like myself as a child. There's no stupid ideas, there's no stakes. I always had fun in the internet, and I'll do again, but as a person that lived more, learned more and knows how to do more. And if you liked it, I would love to connect with you, through my articles, reviews, projects or stupid tweets.

If you just read something and want to comment, talk! Are you a content creator that wants to chat and maybe do something together? Get in touch! Are you a gaming developer/publisher/PR agency and thinks that I would do a good review of your game? Send me an email!

No pressure, just vibes. It feels like a new part of me is alive again, and I'm just so excited to have fun with this strange place again. Wish me luck!

photo_camera

Thanks to Super Snapper (on Unsplash) for the cover photo.

The best digital games I played in 2022

2022-12-28T00:00:00Z

It's already the third year that I've spent time in the last week after Christmas reflecting on the games I've played. For a type of leisure that I like so much, it's fun to have a diary of the things I played. It's really fun to reflect on the choices and experiences I had with my favorite games.

This year is not different, so welcome to the POTY 2022 - the Played of the Year! It was the year that I decided to clear half of my backlog, giving a chance to titles that had been molding there for a while. It was the year I played a lot of new games, given my current status as a "happy Xbox Game Pass subscriber". It was a year that I gave a chance to some modern online games that have no end. It was a year that I played a lot with my fianceé and created good moments together with the person I love.

This is my list of the best games I played this year. It doesn't matter if the title was launched decades ago: if i'm discovering it for the first time now, it counts. You can see the POTYs from 2020 and 2021 too, but let's go for the 2022 list!

20) Rhythm Tengoku / Rhythm Heaven Silver

Game Boy Advance, Nintendo, 2006

I love rhythm games and few are as unique as Rhythm Heaven. This not-so-famous-and-deserve-more franchise from Nintendo is capable of impress anyone who has the opportunity to play it. Last year, I played the Wii version and now I went after Rhythm Tengoku, the beginning of the series on the GBA, never released in the West. Because of an incredible fan translation, I could see that the magic was there from the beginning. Even on a portable from 20 years ago, the visual and musical charm of the series is impressive and worth a try for anyone who likes the genre.

19) Kirby: Planet Robobot

Nintendo 3DS, HAL Laboratory/Nintendo, 2016

In a strange coincidence of having two Kirby games at 19th place in consecutive years, Kirby: Planet Robobot was a pleasant surprise. As much as I love the puff pink ball and his little world, it was always difficult to me to engage on his platform games, either due to the lack of challenge or the repetition of content. Robobot manages to be almost an antithesis of other Kirby games (like Triple Deluxe, also on the 3DS): really interesting worlds, good level progression and a great idea with the mechas, a very fun gimmick to use every time it appears. If you only want to play ONE main Kirby game, go with this one.

18) Disney Dreamlight Valley

PC/Mac/PS4/PS5/XBO/XBS/Switch, Gameloft/Disney, 2022

From the bottom of my heart, I wish I hadn't liked Disney Dreamlight Valley so much. As much as Disney films were part of my childhood, today it's difficult not to have many (MANY) cons with the great mouse machine. Having said all that, I LOVED DREAMLIGHT VALLEY. It's a game loop similar to Animal Crossing, but less slow and with more things to complete, especially each character's missions. It's still in early access, but I've 100% finished the content of all the updates released this year... and I'll probably continue next year.

17) Horizon Chase Turbo

PC/Mac/Switch/PS4/XBO, Aquiris Game Studio, 2018

Horizon Chase is my favorite mobile racing game because of its simplicity and controls. Its "expanded" version for PC and consoles, Horizon Chase Turbo, definitely doesn't lose anything in quality. In fact, it's quite a sight to see the beautiful low-poly visuals on a big screen. I ended up not being able to try the multiplayer, but the World Tour campaign is still great and a lot of fun. It's really good to see good Brazilian games getting out there and becaming known for its quality.

16) Wii Sports Resort

Wii, Nintendo, 2009

Last year, I went back in time a few years to understand the magic behind the famous "Wii bowling". And didn't they manage to make an even better game? Wii Sports Resort not only uses Wii MotionPlus very well to improve the experience, but it also brings other much cooler sports. The Wuhu Island and the whole summer vacation vibes are also really cozy and welcome. I spent many hours on the new bowling, table tennis and archery trying to get the best scores and I always come back to play another round.

15) The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe

PC/Mac/Linux/PS4/PS5/XBO/XBS/Switch, Crows Crows Crows, 2022

The Stanley Parable has become a video game storytelling classic largely because of the innovative way in which it challenges, with each player's action, the common media narrative and the expectations present in our imagination. The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe will become a video game storytelling classic by challenging the one thing that wasn't possible in 2013: the video game storytelling classic The Stanley Parable.

14) Tangle Tower

PC/Mac/PS4/XBO/Switch, SFB Games, 2019

2022 was a year in which I played way more narrative games than usual, mainly about mysteries to be solved. I want to play a lot more next year, but Tangle Tower was easily a pleasant surprise. Even though its structure is linear, the game has a very interesting story, great characters, good puzzles and a very unique way of asking questions about the plot. It's a shame it's so short, but I was hooked for a few days until I got everything the game had to offer.

13) Beacon Pines

PC/XBO/XBS/Switch, Hiding Spot Games/Fellow Traveller, 2022

In a double feature of narrative games, I also didn't expect to have swallowed Beacon Pines with the excitement I did. I never really played a lot of visual novels (specially if the Layton series doesn't count), but Beacon Pines was a great "first experience" of the genre, with a simple but interesting story, cute and charismatic characters and a smart way to give you pieces of the story while testing new narrative possibilities.

12) Codenames

Web, Czech Games Edition, 2020

I love board games, so having a good representation of the digital ones in the POTY this year makes me really happy, specially with a game so great as Codenames. It's easily one of the smartest party games ever made, with a high dose of interaction between players without getting boring or boring. Playing online doesn't have exactly the same magic, but it's a great option, mainly because it's free and there are cards in Portuguese now.

11) WarioWare: Get It Together!

Switch, Intelligent Systems/Nintendo, 2021

Is it any surprise to anyone that this crazy microgames thing is by far my favorite Nintendo franchise? Of course. But I also didn't expect WarioWare: Get It Together! would be so much fun in multiplayer. The game completely embraces chaos, switching characters all the time, and makes you happy for getting something at the last second (or laughing for not getting it anyway).

And I know it's a spoiler, but Penny's Song was one of the best songs ever made for a video game in history and anyone who disagrees is wrong.

10) Ynglet

PC/Mac/XBO/XBS, Nifflas Games/Triple Topping, 2021

One of the cool things about clearing the backlog this year was finding great games that were lost on my "one day I'll play" list. Ynglet was by far the best of them. With a super different "platform game" concept, it's really enjoyable to simply move through the levels, finding secrets and solving puzzles. Besides being very, very beautiful in its strange world of shapes and molecules. I wish more people played Ynglet and more games tried to be as different as Ynglet.

09) RPG Time: The Legend of Wright

PC/PS4/XBO/XBS/Switch, Aniplex/Deskworks, 2022

There was no way not to get emotional playing RPG Time: The Legend of Wright. It's the story of a child who wants to make games and wants to show you the latest ideas he has. It's not such a different story from little Gabriel, who cut paper and thought he was programming on the computer, you know? Furthermore, it's a fun collection of minigames, with a charm and sincerity that few games can have. RPG Time is about a happy child that wants to be a game designer and I couldn't connect to it more.

08) Meow Tower: Nonogram

Android/iOS, Studio Boxcat, 2021

Look, who knew, I spent a lot of time playing Picross for another year! Meow Tower: Nonogram is a great choice if you already love nonograms, or if you've never played it before. There are many many puzzles, it's available for free on mobile devices, without abusive microtransactions AND THERE ARE CUTE KITTENS. LOTS OF KITTENS. YOU TALK TO THE KITTENS, CLEAN THE KITTENS' HOUSES, THEY PUR AND THE KITTENS ARE HAPPY, PLAY MEOW TOWER NOW. For the kitties <3

07) Escape Academy

PC/PS4/PS5/XBO/XBS, Coin Crew Games/iam8bit, 2022

I can't say that Escape Academy is perfect, because it isn't. The visuals aren't incredible, the characters are a bit monotonous and the game's story itself is a bit mixed. But, even with all that, it's probably the best digital escape room experience ever made, and I say that as someone who loves and has even created escape rooms in real life. The rooms are incredible, the puzzles are very clever and even the hint system works well. If are your first (or last) escape room experience, this academy will be a great class.

06) PowerWash Simulator

PC/PS4/PS5/XBO/XBS/Switch, FuturLab/Square Enix, 2022

It's not a game for everyone, but PowerWash Simulator was definitely made for me. The proposal is simple: use a high-pressure water machine to clean increasingly crazy scenes and objects while actually following a story (yes, a story) that tries to make sense. In the end, it was just relaxing and rewarding to take a filthy place and make it shine again. Just remove the obnoxious water sound, put on a podcast and you'll be ready to relax.

05) Psychonauts 2

PC/Mac/Linux/PS4/XBO/XBS, Double Fine Productions/Xbox Game Studios, 2021

I haven't played the first chapter of this story yet, but Psychonauts 2 is almost a masterpiece in narrative, gameplay and world creation. Moving Raz is fun, exploring the increasingly wacky psychic worlds is fun, understanding the story behind the Psychonauts is fun. The only thing that didn't worked for me was the half-assed combat, but it was easily overcome by the accessibility options. You can clearly see that they did everything they wanted because they weren't expecting a third game, but I wanted Psychonauts 3 so badly...

04) SteamWorld Dig 2

PC/Mac/Linux/PS4/PSVita/3DS/Switch, Image & Form, 2017

I remember playing the first SteamWorld Dig on the 3DS when I bought the game as a self-birthday gift. I didn't expect to like it so much, but it totally became my jam: exploring, completing, improving and continuing this cycle in a beautiful world. SteamWorld Dig 2 managed to be better in ALL aspects. The movement is better, the gameplay loop is better, the story is better, the progression is better, even the visuals are more gorgeous (even on the small 3DS screen). If this is your type of game, you need to play SteamWorld Dig 2 NOW.

03) A Little to the Left

PC/Mac/Android/iOS/Switch, Max Inferno/Secret Mode, 2022

I started to believe in "love at first sight" when I saw the first trailer for A Little to the Left. Inspired by each person's quirks, the idea is to organize common everyday objects in the most pleasurable way possible. The puzzles are smart, new mechanics appear all the time and there's even a kitten causing confusion. I found the game so fun and enjoyable to play that all the anticipation waiting for it all year was worth it. It almost got the Top 1 on this POTY, but you have to try it.

02) Tinykin

PC/PS4/PS5/XBO/XBS/Switch, Splashteam/tinyBuild, 2022

Exploring beautifully crafted worlds — and building a game around it — is what makes Tinykin such an incredible and special game. Whenever I talk about this game, I use the concept of "dense worlds" because that's what Tinykin does: every room in the gigantic house you find is full of secrets, mechanics and missions to make the most of it. The movement is incredible, everything is very charismatic and it's a great injustice not to see this game on all the "Best of 2022" lists out there because it definitely deserves a place there.

01) Sayonara Wild Hearts

PC/Mac/iOS/PS4/XBO/Switch, Simogo/Annapurna Interactive, 2019

Thanks to a gift from a good friend, Sayonara Wild Hearts was the first game I played in 2022 and it has NEVER left 1st place since then. I cried at the end, so incredible was the experience I had in this catharsis of pop music and neon lights. I can't explain very well why I liked the game so much, but it manages to use the interactivity of the media to tell a great story, with great visuals and an impeccable soundtrack. Sayonara Wild Hearts got the gold position on my Played of the Year 2022!

Honorable Mentions

Didn't I start playing Pokémon GO again? It feels like a completely different game than it did in 2016, with many more options, features, and weekly events.
Half of the list were already Xbox Game Pass games, but it's still worth mentioning other really cool titles that I played there, such as Last Call BBS, Bugsnax, Costume Quest and The Gunk.
Some new rhythm games also came my way this year, like the Rhythm Heaven-like Melatonin, the Apple Arcade exclusive Taiko no Tatsujin: Pop Tap Beat and the meme you've probably seen that is actually a cool game Trombone Champ.
In a week off between jobs this year, I practically marathoned Bayonetta 2 on the Wii U and it was a much cooler experience than I expected. I should try to play the first game in the franchise next year.
In honor of the series' 60th anniversary in 2023, I began my journey of playing everything Doctor Who I could. While this led me to some interesting things, like The Lonely Assassins, it also led me to the two worst games I've played this year: Evacuation Earth and Top Trumps Doctor Who, both on Nintendo DS.

And that was my 3rd Played of the Year! You can see a more complete list on my Backloggd, if you want. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and see you on POTY again next year!

The best digital games I played in 2021

2021-12-26T00:00:00Z

In a world where time has no meaning, I even played a lot of video games! 2021 was a year full of surprises for me: if last year's list had several old games because I officially dusted off my Nintendo 3DS... this was the year for me to buy a Wii U! And that's how I spent the whole year playing things from the last decade (with a few indie games from recent years), but I had fun anyway. At the end of the day, what matters is spending a good amount of time playing games (to try to get away a little bit from the crazy reality that surrounds us).

But the year ended and with more hope to a better future, we also have my most anticipated award: welcome to POTY 2021, the Played of the Year! This is my end-of-the-year list of the best games I played this year. It doesn't matter if the title was launched decades ago: if i'm discovering it for the first time now, it counts. You can see the 2020 edition too, but let's go for the 2021 list!

20) Sally’s Law

PC/iOS/Android, Nanali Studios, 2016

At the beginning of the year, I decided to test Google Play Pass, a subscription service for apps and games on Android. There wasn't much titles that caught my attention (and I hadn't already played it) at the time, but Sally's Law was a pleasant surprise. A very short but very clever puzzle-platformer: you play the same level twice, with both runs complementing each other. Add a cute story, a simple and cute look and some collectibles and it's ready to start our POTY list.

19) Kirby Air Ride

GameCube, HAL Laboratory/Nintendo, 2003

With a little effort, you can run GameCube games on the Wii U and Kirby Air Ride is the first of several GCN titles that will appear on this list. In a never-repeated attempt at a pink mascot racing game, Kirby manages to have a totally unique racing game, with very simple controls and very different from what came before it (and even after!). While the main mode features races full of Copy Abilities and dashes, what really won me over (and this is a unpopular opinion, I know) was Top Ride, a racing mode on a single screen, looking like a slot machine with a little power. It's time for a sequel to this game for Switch now!

18) Florence

PC/Mac/iOS/Android/Switch, Mountains/Annapurna Interactive, 2018

A mix of a comic book, a visual novel and a puzzle game, Florence ended up being a pleasant surprise in the last week of the year. Telling the life story of a young girl, the title uses simple puzzles to reinforce her feelings and those around her in a very beautiful, elegant and smart way. In fact, speaking of beauty, the game is GORGEOUS, made with great attention to detail. It reminded me a lot of the storytelling style of What Remains of Edith Finch, another great recommendation from the same publisher.

17) Untitled Goose Game

PC/Mac/Switch/PS4/Xbox One, House House/Panic, 2019

This year I discovered that very few things are as fun as being a totally chaotic goose with the person you love. The hours I played Untitled Goose Game with my girlfriend were, by far, one of the moments I laughed the most this year. From the absurd missions to the 30-minute moments where we just growled at random people to make their lives hell, this game is amazing. UGG itself is really fun, but here's my very important recommendation to play it with someone else for a even more wonderful experience.

16) Nintendo Land

Wii U, Nintendo, 2012

Since the early days of the Wii U's life (which didn't last long, unfortunately), I watched Nintendo Land and it looked like the coolest game in the world. It wasn't the coolest, but it's definitely a lot of fun. With a focus on asymmetric gameplay and the smart use of the (previously new) GamePad tablet-like controller, the game manages to entertain while paying homage to classic franchises… almost always. While some attractions are incredible (like Donkey Kong's Crash Course, Takamaru's Ninja Castle and Metroid Blast), others leave a lot to be desired. It's not the best console introduction Nintendo has ever made, but it's a very competent one.

15) WarioWare: Smooth Moves

Wii, Intelligent Systems/Nintendo, 2007

It's no news to anyone that I love this series and WarioWare: Smooth Moves is exactly my kind of jam: random microgames, completely different visuals, completely adorable characters and stupid, funny stories. Like a good Wii game, the idea of using motion control for microgames doesn't always work, but when it does, it's extremely fun. Bonus points for the names and introductions of each way to hold the Wii Remote, which definitely didn't need to be like that, but had a “sexy-dumb energy” that definitely surprised me. May next year's list include the new WarioWare on Switch!

14) Tabletop Simulator

PC/Mac/Linux, Berserk Games, 2015

Digital platforms made me discover many new titles during the period safe at home and none did it better than Tabletop Simulator. By far it is the best 3D platform for playing boardgames digitally, with a very, very large list of mods made by the community with games and versions that you least imagine. It has its bugs here and there, but if you want to get started with modern board games, there probably isn't a cheaper and more accessible option right now than TTS. In addition to a friend with lots of board games at home, of course.

13) The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD

Wii U, Nintendo, 2013

My first The Legend of Zelda on Wii U wasn't Breath of the Wild, but The Wind Waker HD, a remake of one of the GameCube classics, which held me for a few weeks this year. The game is incredibly beautiful and wonderful, even more so in the HD version. Being able to play it lying in bed using just the GamePad made me understand the Switch's appeal. Many QoL changes made in this version (including the new sail on the boat) helped me better enjoy the delightful story of yet another classic in the franchise. I think the weak point is in the battle system and the design of the dungeons, but it's still a great game.

12) The Pedestrian

PC/Mac/Linux/Switch/PS4/PS5/Xbox One/Series X-S, Skookum Arts LLC, 2020

Another one that I didn't expect I would like so much, The Pedestrian is a very clever game. Its puzzle ideas are really cool and manages to break a lot of what is expected from a puzzle-platform, even if it has some difficulty spikes out of nowhere. Personally, I thought the game was beautiful, but what caught my attention the most was the incredible work done with symbology and iconography, creating a visual-mechanical identity for the puzzles that is very easy to assimilate and build upon. The end of the game is probably the most brilliant part and only lasts about 15 minutes? Yes, it's a shame, but it was still a really cool way to end a solid little game that I highly recommend.

11) Mario Kart 8

Wii U, Nintendo, 2014

Historically, Mario Kart for me was always just the battle mode, the one where you have to hit items on your opponents to pop their balloons. But with the lack of a decent mode like that in Mario Kart 8 (which was fixed in the Switch port), I settled for ordinary racing… and I LOVED IT? The eighth iteration of the franchise is, by far, the most enjoyable to play, both for the way you control the cars and for the possibilities of what to do with all their mechanics, from turbos to anti-gravity. Furthermore, the game is incredibly beautiful and seeing so many classic tracks (and even from other games, in the DLCs) remade in such a beautiful way makes my heart warm.

10) Kororinpa: Marble Mania

Wii, Hudson Soft, 2007

Being a Wii launch title, it's pretty incredible to see how precise and fun Kororinpa: Marble Mania's motion controls are. The idea of the game is very simple: move the Wii Remote to move a track where a marble moves, collecting all the crystals and reaching the exit. But he does it so well, in such a cute way, that I simply had me glued to the game for about 3 days until I completed all the levels. I also ended up trying Super Monkey Ball on Wii, but it didn't come close to the precision of Kororinpa, which I highly recommend if that's your type of jam. If not, at least watch speedruns of the game, which are incredible.

09) Luigi’s Mansion

GameCube, Nintendo, 2001

Dark Moon, on the 3DS, was one of the most fun games I played on the portable, but it's cool to see how the original Luigi's Mansion, on the GameCube, can be so different! At first, I was a little bothered by the small amount of collectibles (which there were a lot on the 3DS) and the confusing structure of the mansion. But, over time, you start memorizing the map and start to focus more on finding alternative paths and beating the big ghosts, which is the focus of the game. It's a product of its time, but it does a lot of different things and does them very well, in addition to having incredible charisma.

08) Unpacking

PC/Mac/Linux/Switch/Xbox One, Witch Beam/Humble Games, 2021

The only game actually released in 2021 on this list, Unpacking is a very different but extremely cozy experience. Not only because of the way she tells her story, but because of the simple but very relaxing gameplay ― except when it makes me guess by trial and error whether a cloth is a towel table, a dish towel, a bath towel or some clothing. A small but very fun thing in this game is the possibility of exporting images and GIFs of your tidying process, because seeing how differently people tidy things is a show in itself.

07) Assemble With Care

PC/Mac/iOS, Ustwo Games, 2019

Few games hit my emotions as hard as Assemble With Care. In addition to look amazing and having a very beautiful plot, the idea of a mechanic around fixing things hooked me into the game in a way I didn't expect. A lot of people talk about how simple the game's puzzles are (and they really are easy), but I think that's where some of the magic comes from for me: I felt like someone who really knew what they were doing, fixing people's things and discovering their stories. For someone who grew up with his father making repairs as if by magic this game was even more special.

06) Wii Sports

Wii, Nintendo, 2006

YES, I had never played Wii Sports until this year… why did it never look so cool? On a console with Mario, Zelda and Just Dance, why would my 10-year-old self ask to go bowling at someone's house? But then I played it and understood the magic of this business: there is no game that better reflects the philosophy of the Wii as a console than Wii Sports. It's simple, it's intuitive, it's fun, everyone can play, everyone can win, everyone can look at this and think that video games are for them too. Only my mother's happiness playing bowling alone made the game reach this position on the list.

05) Super Mario 3D World

Wii U, Nintendo, 2013

In a year in which I played Mario Galaxy, it's interesting to think that Super Mario 3D World is the game that starts the POTY Top 5. I loved the variety of levels and styles, with each one trying something different, sometimes with more personality than several galaxies in the other game. The idea of exploration is also very present in 3D World, with the search for green stars and stamps, which make you look in every corner of each level. On top of all this, I played the whole thing in multiplayer with my girlfriend and it was a really fun and funny experience with lots of great moments. 3D World is a great game, much better than its portable cousin and a great iteration of Mario in 3D.

04) Chibi-Robo! Plug Into Adventure!

GameCube, Skip Ltd./Bandai/Nintendo, 2006

Chibi-Robo! is a strange game in all its parts: you control a 10-centimeters-tall little robot that needs to be charged every 5 real life minutes, trying to clean the house and help solve the problems of a dysfunctional and almost bankrupt family. With mechanics that sometimes feel like a movement-based puzzle, sometimes feel like a classic adventure and sometimes feel like a survival game, everything about it makes me happy to simply exist. It's such a unique game, with so much personality, that it really deserves a remake to correct some issues that have aged poorly in this great little game.

03) Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective

Nintendo DS/iOS, Capcom, 2011

An absolute truth: very few stories ever told in ANY MEDIA are more engaging, surprising and crazy than the plot of Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective. A DS classic that was lost in an iOS port, it is an extremely unique and wonderful game. From character design to the sequence of plot events, I took advantage of my last two days off from work to just play this thing. I just played this game, for real, nothing else. As much as it has its problems, the innovative “owning objects” mechanic is an even more dynamic version of the point-and-click idea that also works very well.

02) Spin Rhythm XD

PC/Mac, Super Spin Digital, 2019

I'm an avowed fan of rhythm games, but I'm not the person who's going to spend hours learning how to do Full Combos. But in many games, on the simplest difficulties, that feeling of playing an instrument (or at least being one with the music) doesn't happen as much. Spin Rhythm XD managed to make me be in that state of flow even on lower difficulties, with very fluid and natural gameplay and a good selection of electronic music. The game is still in early access, but should be officially released soon. If you like music games like me, it's definitely worth checking out.

01) Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

GameCube, Intelligent Systems/Nintendo, 2004

The original Nintendo 64 game was already something very memorable for me, but Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is a masterpiece, remnants of a Nintendo that unfortunately no longer exists. Everything is different, it's strange, it's different, from the story to the characters and how that little world is built. Each chapter has a somewhat distinct structure, the mechanics have been improved and brought to near perfection. It's very sad to think that this game is stuck in the purple cube to this day, because it is by far one of the best things I've ever played and a perfect recommendation for those who like different RPGs. The Thousand-Year Door deserves my Played of the Year!

Honorable Mentions

I played a lot, a lot of Picross/Nonogram this year on the Nintendo 3DS, it was my thing when I was very tired. The best were the Japan-exclusive Club Nintendo Picross and the themed My Nintendo Picross: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Sanrio characters Picross.
My “mobile point-and-click franchise that I marathoned in a week” of the year was the bizarre Hidden my game by mom (available on consoles as Mom Hid My Game!). The games don't make any sense, the puzzles have absurd solutions, but it's very funny.
Rhythm Heaven Fever has one of the best songs in video games in the credits and I was finally able to play it until the end to see this masterpiece.
I didn't know there were idle games with a story, but this year I was shown Spaceplan and Peter Talisman: Lord of the Harvest. Each one in their own way, they have very different proposals in the genre that I find very interesting.
The three worst games I played this year were quite peculiar: the game with much more budget than it should have The Solitaire Conspiracy, the musical gacha Beatstar and the overrated adventure game The Dream Machine.

And that was my 2nd Played of the Year! You can see a more complete list on my Backloggd, if you want. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and see you on POTY again next year!

Not every game story needs to be about “saving the world”

2021-11-30T00:00:00Z

Without falling into too many generalisms, it can be said that many stories told in video games always have as their main figure a hero character. They are about to live an adventure to solve a problem that puts a lot at risk, such as the death of someone important or saving the world of a great catastrophe. Trials, challenges, losses and discoveries are part not only of game plots, but of many, many incredible stories in media, which have spanned generations and are still told to this day.

Which isn't necessarily a problem, right? The fact that Mario is going to save the princess for the 1000th time doesn't take away from the fact that this is going to be the beginning of a phenomenal game. Just because half of the medieval RPGs out there consist of a standard Dungeons & Dragons group looking for seven magical orbs to save the world doesn't mean that good stories and good games can't emerge in this context.

Surviving these last few months in the real world has already been quite a challenge, considering all the crises that Brazil is going through simultaneously. It's no surprise that video games were one of the escape valves that I used to get through the difficult days. As much as I like being a hero by pushing half a dozen buttons, I started to realize that I was becoming interested in things that just... didn't do that? I don't know if it was the anxiety and fear of these months or something else, but there were days when I just didn't want to save the world.

I know that several games can bring this feeling: abstract puzzle games like Tetris can be a great and calm pastime, and sandboxes like Minecraft or Terraria allow you to build your own path in that world. But that's not exactly what I want to talk about: I'm here to talk about simple stories, without many promises, but which in difficult times warmed my heart and I definitely want to see more of that in the future. Because I think I'll need it (and maybe more people will need it too).

A story about changes

The game that inspired me to write this text was Unpacking, released this year by Australian studio Witch Beam and published by Humble Games. I remember learning about this game through some GIF in a random tweet and its premise couldn't be more peculiar: a puzzle game about literally moving: taking things out of boxes and putting them in their rightful place when moving houses. I like strange and different games, I knew I would want to try it when it came out.

The puzzle itself was really fun, trying to fit everything into its place was very interesting. At least until the part where he made me decide whether a random fabric was a washcloth, a dishtowel, or a pillowcase. But anyway, playing Unpacking was a pleasant experience in itself.

I just didn't expect how completely invested I would be in the game's story. In fact, I didn't even expect the game to actually have a story! I could have sworn it would just be a series of rooms, with you trying to fit everything into place without anything left over.

But not! Unlike this, Unpacking tells about the same person moving houses at different moments in their life. Every new house, every new object you take out of a box tells a part of that person's story. I don't want to give spoilers about what happens, but if you're going to (re)play, I invite you to pay attention to them. From objects that are worn out or reused in other places, or even the houses you find and what they represent. Everything in Unpacking helps tell this story, painting this character's life in some way.

In the end, it's a short story about the changes in life that everyone goes through. Some of them bring good things, others not so much, but we correct them and move on to start the next one. For someone who is going through a process of many changes like me, I can't think of a better medium than the interactivity of a video game to tell a story in this way and I think Unpacking does a great job.

A story about discoveries

As I thought about other games that I could use as examples in this text, the first thing that came to my mind was the wonder that A Short Hike did in my life when I played it last year. Created by Adam Robinson-Yu, I ended up coming across the title during one of the free play weeks on the Epic Games Store and, after much praise from some friends, I decided to try it out on a night where I was tired, exhausted and very scared after the second month of quarantine.

I think I've had few happier experiences with video games than playing this game. The concept, as you might expect at this point, is very simple: you help the bird Claire explore a provincial park and manage to climb a mountain to get signal for her cell phone.

Before talking about the story, I need to praise how enjoyable it is to play this game. The movement, the flying, the exploration, the progression, the sidequests, the art style, the dialogue, everything in this game seems to have been made with so much care with the only goal of bringing a smile to my face. Playing A Short Hike is very good and would still be a wonderful game to play even without being as cozy as it is. But he does it and still manages to warm my heart.

Ultimately, this game is about a teenager who was pushed by her aunt to visit a mountain in a park for a week — and all she wants is to get a cell phone signal. After all, what kind of young person cares about a calm and peaceful stay on a mountain? I was once that kind of young person, I've met a lot of people who are still that kind of young person. But this game is also about her (and you) walking around the mountain, meeting people, making friends, exploring a different place and discovering new things.

Travel to a beautiful park, talk to people there, look for shells on the beach, learn to climb, fish in a calm lake: A Short Hike doesn't try to change the world, it just tells a story about discovering a new place and invites you to participate in it. I'm happy that this place is incredible, fun and did me a lot of good in a very difficult week. No wonder it made my POTY 2020.

A story about new beginnings

Another game that stood out to me these last few months was Assemble with Care, from the British team Ustwo Games. Originally an Apple Arcade exclusive and from the same creators of the mobile classic Monument Valley, this game had been on my wishlist for a long time. Not only because it's a puzzle game, but also because of the theme: you follow Maria, an antique-restorer, who arrives in a Spanish city looking for things to fix and earn a few bucks to enjoy the gastronomic festival at the weekend.

This game enchanted me in a few different ways. The first one was how fixing things in the game was fun and simple: the puzzles weren't very difficult, but they always brought new elements and were very interesting. Somehow, it was as if I could do the same things my father did when I was a child; I felt like I had the same skills as him, even if it was just for a few minutes in a video game.

But at the same time, the way this game presents its little world is also something that caught my attention: every object worth repairing is important to someone. As you get to know the people of the city and repair their objects, you will understand their problems and what those objects represent. I've always been fascinated by the stories that objects can have and how they can represent someone's (or a group's) life. Being able to somehow give these objects a new life and start a new chapter for these people was something very special.

None of the stories were really dramatic: they were just ordinary problems, faced by ordinary people. But they could be part of anyone's life, from the child who really likes their video games to the watch that has come passed through generations.

A part of me wanted this game to never end, that I could go to a new city, learn more about the lives of people and their objects. Maybe this game doesn't click with you as much compared to how much it pleased me, but a part of me wanted to be able to go around fixing things and discovering stories as simple, but as cozy as the plots of Assemble with Care.

A story about pranks

OK, I know it's going to seem a little out of tone talking about this game, but I think it's a good counter example to show that these games that I'm now a fan of don't just have to be about beautiful and intimate stories. Because I definitely also didn't save the world in Untitled Goose Game, developed by House House and published by Panic. If you've ever seen a GIF of a goose seeking to be the very incarnation of chaos, you know what game I'm talking about.

I really like thinking about the meeting where the idea for this game was discussed: “what if you could be the irritating goose on the face of the planet?”. And really, isn't that stupidly fun!? Even though the controls are a little strange and the missions can be frustrating at some point, I played this thing in co-op with my girlfriend and it was really, really fun. It was quite interesting how we would casually take turns which goose would do the game task and which one would just honk at all the humans to scare them.

I think my favorite thing about this game is the commitment to the simple, pure story they wanted to tell. You are a despicable goose who will do whatever you want to do. And that's it! At the same time, as you change people's lives, you begin to understand who they are, what the relationship is between those people and what their relationship is with the geese.

It's really good how the whole concept of the game is just an episode of an old cartoon like Woody Woodpecker or Tom & Jerry: animals destroying everything with minimal reason while we laugh a lot. It's cool how the tasks that the game gives you are not just objectives, but also serve to modify the world around you and help tell the story of those people that afternoon. And the ending, which is already mechanically very cool, also ties up the entire saga in search of absolute chaos. HONK!

The next stories?

Somehow, these may not be the most common in video games, but they are stories from our real world, emotions and moments that we all go through. In reality, I connected a lot with them because I am also going through moments of changes, discoveries, new beginnings ~~and the search for the complete chaos of the universe~~.

This post was written as a way to talk more about them, to inspire more people to look for new types of plots in the games they consume. If you already like this type of game, perhaps now you have some recommendations. If you've never thought about it that way, I hope one of the games here inspires you to try something new.

As for me, I'm rooting for a better future for all of us, but these games that warm my heart won't stay away from me. While there should be plenty more out there to try, there are plenty more coming out in the future that I want to be able to keep an eye on for them — like the dreamy rhythm game Melatonin, the Indian cooking simulator Venba, and the organization puzzle A Little to the Left.

In the end, these games aren't about saving the world, but being able to experience these stories saved a little part of my world when I needed it most. I think it was worth it.