Play Critically

Indie-focused videogame reviews and commentary by @playcritically. New review every Saturday.

[Play Critically @play_critically]

Happy 33rd birthday, Final Fantasy Adventure!

A warrior escapes from an evil lord's gladiatorial pits and gets swept away on a quest to save a fantasy world in this progenitor to the groundbreaking action-RPG Mana series.

Read my review:
https://t.co/4azleTn0tl

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Happy 3rd birthday, ENDER LILIES: Quietus of the Knights!

Guide Lily, the last White Priestess, through the ruined kingdom of Land's End to purify a blight that turns people into undead monsters.

Read my review:
https://t.co/S9SaWhbeUC

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Happy 12th birthday, Oniken!

A stoic mercenary is hired to assassinate the leaders of an evil robot army that rules a post-apocalyptic future in this retro action-platformer.

Read my review:
https://t.co/A8TIDpFGIT

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Happy 2nd birthday, Shredder's Revenge!

Shredder's out for revenge against his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle nemeses, taking most of his cues from Turtles in Time—and that is far from a bad thing. It's a sublime beat em up experience.

Read my review:
https://t.co/OFr9rjqaw0

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Happy 3rd birthday, Golf Club Wasteland!

A solitary figure in a space suit plays a lonely game of golf through the ruins of human civilization in this hauntingly atmospheric side-scrolling golf videogame.

Read my review:
https://t.co/NFKlJePtHw

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Happy 5th birthday, Cadence of Hyrule!

In this sequel/spinoff to Crypt of the NecroDancer, Cadence finds herself transported to Nintendo's land of Hyrule where she must team up with Link and Zelda to stop a new musical curse.

Read my review:
https://t.co/yCj4Dxs0Vv

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Happy 3rd birthday, Trigger Witch!

A gun-toting witch explores a fantasy world, discovering upgrades and conquering dungeons, in this fun mixture of the twin-stick shooting and top-down action/adventure genres.

Read my review:
https://t.co/zZMjzpPc6F

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Happy 3rd birthday, Backbone!

Howard is a private detective who accepts a simple case to find evidence of a husband's infidelity. What he discovers embroils him in a much greater conspiracy in this post-noir narrative videogame.

Read my review:
https://t.co/0PubK0wubH

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Happy 1st birthday, Bleak Sword DX!

A lone warrior embarks on a quest to end the cursed King Rhael's Red Age in this brutally challenging combat videogame with striking lo-fi graphics.

Read my review:
https://t.co/rKCid0nnae

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Happy 3rd birthday, Mighty Goose!

An ordinary goose dons a suit of powered armor and runs-and-guns their way across a solar system to stop the evil VOID Army in this reverent homage to the arcade shooter Metal Slug.

Read my review:
https://t.co/9NSDcIlqD0

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Happy 3rd birthday, Griftlands!

Sal ik-Derrick, a slave-turned-bounty hunter out for revenge. Rook, a retired spy with his identity on the line. Smith, a drunk who wants his inheritance. Experience these stories in this deckbuilder RPG.

Read my review:
https://t.co/VgdmxGdaK5

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Happy 6th Birthday, King's Heir: Rise to the Throne!

The King has been murdered by his wife and Randall Ulmer framed for the crime... but Randall is secretly the heir to the throne.

Read my genre review of Artifex Mundi Hidden Object Games here:
https://t.co/CyzX9Boddq

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Happy 5th birthday, Void Bastards!

The prison spaceship Void Ark is stranded in the dangerous Sargasso Nebula and has no choice but to recruit its own prisoners to scavenge for parts and escape in this darkly comical survival FPS.

Read my review:
https://t.co/H7D3g9Rb0l

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Happy 3rd birthday, The Wild at Heart!

Runaway children Wake and Kirby escape from a timelost forest and a memory-devouring monster called The Never with the help of magical creatures called Spritelings in this Sendak-esque adventure.

Read my review:
https://t.co/wml508dBS4

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Happy 6th birthday, House Flipper!

Buy derelict houses and remodel them into hot properties. Repair and clean every room, paint and carpet their walls and floors, then decorate with furniture to resell them for a profit in this sim.

Read my review:
https://t.co/Wfbb6HBn7y

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Happy 5th birthday, Neo Cab!

Lina has just moved to the tech metropolis Los Ojos when her roommate disappears. Investigate by talking to Lina's rideshare passengers while making enough money to survive another night in Neo Cab.

Read my review:
https://t.co/kHGcuQs2R2

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Happy 2nd birthday, War Mines Collection!

The deductive reasoning puzzles of Minesweeper are brought to the battlefields of World Wars 1 and 2 in this twofer collection.

Read my review:
https://t.co/FIUHzWBkKB

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Happy 5th birthday, SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech!

In this installment, SteamWorld transforms into a storybook RPG where the SteamBot heroes fight fantasy monsters by assembling decks and playing cards from a hand.

Read my review:
https://t.co/ri1XNu7MFp

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Happy 7th birthday, What Remains of Edith Finch!

Edith, the last surviving member of the Finch family, returns to her family's labyrinthian home to uncover the secrets her mother kept hidden from her in this narrative adventure.

Read my review:
https://t.co/kmLFUmvMmj

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Happy 4th birthday, Cloudpunk!

Cloudpunk is a cyberpunk driving narrative adventure about an immigrant whose first night as a delivery driver in the megacity Visalis has unimaginable consequences for the city and its people.

Read my review:
https://t.co/hWb9rByleL