We’ve made it to another Friday, and with it, more free games to play! This week some of the most interesting releases include a first-person RPG in the style of King’s Field, a third-person action-adventure game that has you exploring the ocean depths, a gruesome point-and-click adventure in “The Flayed Man,” a turn-based tactical RPG where you control a bunch of bugs against an invasion of robots, and a story-driven puzzle adventure that unfolds on a theatrical stage.
Just so you know, with this post, I’m now marking the games I find most interesting with an “*” so that they are easier for readers to find. With that said, here are the major categories for this week,
Casual
Age of War (This was delisted from Steam a week after release)
A modern remake of the classic flash game first released in 2007. Some complain that this one has been dumbed down so it is easier than before. Yet, I want to share it here for the nostalgia that fans have for the original game.
This is a casual exploration puzzle game with a cartoony hand-drawn art style. It sounds like it is pretty cute and funny! Available on the Epic Games Store.
Action
A side-scrolling 2D Platformer. I really appreciate the humble game description: “Indie game developer dedicated to creating fresh, imaginative games that spark curiosity and exploration. With a focus on unique mechanics and heartfelt storytelling, I aim to deliver memorable adventures that challenge, entertain, and inspire. Feedback welcome”.
Originally a gift for a nephew’s 11th birthday, it is now on Steam for free! Jackroid is a small 2D metroidvania with nice pixel art and an SD aesthetic.
A boss-fight FPS where you fight against a massive tornado. I like the idea!
A third-person action-adventure game where you explore the ocean depths and escort a submarine along the sea floor. It seems to have a good variety of gameplay elements with resource collecting and upgrades available as well.
Touhou Chouhatsuyou ~ Burgeoning Tresses of Longevity
Yet another Touhou fan game by someone who has developed about 7 of them! This is as if a Touhou game came out on the Sega Master System with an unlimited sprite limit. I hope it is good! I would like to try out the mainline Touhou games in the future.
Adventure
Despite being a point-and-click adventure game, this title is clearly not for me. It is a narrative-driven horror game with some gross pixel-art, but people really seem to like it. All the reviews I saw were enthusiastically positive. Therefore, I want to share it with my readers!
RPG
Did you ever play King’s Field on the PS1? This game is like it. It is a first-person dungeon crawler RPG with PlayStation 1-style graphics. It has multiple positive reviews.
Pudding Fantasy: Tales of Go and Magic – Chapter 1
For a genre-bending RPG, you can’t get much stranger than this one! It is an RPG where it teaches you how to play the game of Go!
This is a 2D pixel-art narrative RPG that takes place on a boat and includes horror elements. I like the art style some, and the premise.
Strategy
A turn-based tactical RPG where you control multiple bugs as you defend yourselves against an invasion of robots. This looks really good with nice pixel artwork! It has quite positive reviews.
Other
This is a horror experience taking place in an abandoned hospital that features puzzle and hidden-object elements as well.
A very intriguing game where the story unfolds on a theatrical stage. The description says it is a story-driven puzzle adventure.
A side-scrolling 2D rhythm-platformer that doesn’t look like much, but it features a level editor and cool music in the trailer. I hope it finds its audience!
Oh dear, Kollywood is a stop-motion game using actors and quick-time-event fight scenes. People say it is really funny!
A uniquely illustrated first-person walking simulator game where the main characters are dogs and everything is in black and white. I really like the PS1-2 quality graphics with flat characters.
This is a dark, violent interactive fiction game. It claims to be realistic, and has over a dozen reviews already, many of which are positive.
Conclusion
For this week, I originally thought we had a lot more diversity in the “other” category than normal. However, after moving some more titles into the RPG category, that sense seemed to go away. Although one of these isn’t my style, some of the biggest standouts include Lunacid – Tears of the Moon, 100th Bug Brigade, The Flayed Man. The first two are like King’s Field and Fire Emblem, respectively. The latter already has a really positive reception so it may be one of the biggest hits of the week!
So, what about yourself? Are you adding any of these games to your library? Let us know in the comments below!
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