@stillitcomes To Sea In a Sieve was my favorite puzzler. :)
I voted Xanthippe's Last Night With Socrates and Please Sign Here higher since I have a slight preference for narrative games, but don't think either of them are likely to win.
To answer my own question, I haven’t played all the games yet, and I’m biased towards parser games, but I loved To Sea In A Sieve and I think it’s a contender for winner. Quirky writing (which seems to be a popular trait among past winners), strong setting, and challenging puzzles. Only possible downside is that the puzzles might be a little too challenging? 🤔
I accidentally lost my progress in Assembly and haven’t gotten up to replaying, but what I saw was super promising too.
Conquests of the Longbow: The Legend of Robin Hood is short but does this excellently. Instead of dead-ending you, failure usually only makes the ending worse.
Wait, who downvoted this? 😅 I’m not mad, I’m just curious as to how a link to an interview could make someone go, “Nope, this is trash. To the pit of Hades with you.”
What are some good games that opt for a grounded approach? I agree that it is few and far between (whether that is good, bad, or indifferent is a topic for another space). A few that come to mind are Don't Escape: 4 Days to Survive (takes place in a survival situation) and Dreams in the Witch House, which incorporates shop/money mechanics and other survival management elements.
You wanna know which came ISN'T grounded? Nightlong: Union City Conspiracy. If you are in the mood for some hilariously baffling moon logic, outlandish set design and embarrassing period voice acting and CG, with a plot that makes slightly more sense than The Mystery of The Druids, give it a shot. It's basically "we have Blade Runner at home."
Guess how they travel in the cyberpunk future presented in this game: flying cars. But guess how they receive documents when out of the office? Public fax machine booths mounted on walls of train stations. That's right. FAX MACHINES. The future is now.
The game is not bad per se, it will definitely stay in your mind with its utter weirdness. Grimbeard did a detailed video on it if you are curious.
Stardew valley. The resources required to have a tool made by your blacksmith make sense and most people can’t simply walk down the road and buy a steel pickax. Especially not in a small rural town. But it’s still gamified sufficiently so it doesn’t just feel like work/arbitrary.
A game I equally loved and hated for having multiple ways the story could go was KGB. Sometimes you would lose because of a decision you made hours ago. :D
I think a lot of adventure game fans have heard of it but Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon is pretty great and it’s my favorite game designed by Josh Mandel. I really wish it could get a digital rerelease.
A lot of people really hold this one in very high regard. Unfortunately, with regards to a rerelease, the rights situation is a tangled spiderweb of immense proportions.
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