Sunset Routes
A tiny, charming Uncharted Waters-inspired crew-and-trading roguelite that exceeds every expectation its NZ$1.49 price tag sets, held back by real reported bugs and thin variety once its handful of endings are seen.
6.5 / 10
The Wanderer reading room
Idle RPGs, MMOs, browser games and mobile RPGs, taken apart properly. Every review carries a score out of 10, what the game does well, what it does badly, and the kind of player it is actually for.
A tiny, charming Uncharted Waters-inspired crew-and-trading roguelite that exceeds every expectation its NZ$1.49 price tag sets, held back by real reported bugs and thin variety once its handful of endings are seen.
6.5 / 10
An exceptionally curated retro collection featuring previously untranslated Bomberman titles, extensive extras and genuine preservation care, undermined for a large share of its own fanbase by the total absence of online multiplayer or Remote Play Together, plus specific reported audio bugs and a VSync-related speed glitch on high-refresh-rate monitors.
6.5 / 10
Diecast gacha, minus the real-money risk Supercar Collection Simulator puts players behind the counter of a diecast toy car shop: unbox surprise car packs, build out a growing coll
5.5 / 10
A landmark first-person shooter where time only moves when you do, Very Positive across more than 16,200 reviews for a genuinely innovative, widely imitated core mechanic — dominated by an extremely consistent complaint that its two-to-three-hour campaign doesn't match its asking price, alongside a specific, repeatedly cited controversy over content the developer removed years after release, a forced third-party launcher, and a real photosensitivity warning several reviewers say the game needs.
7 / 10
A text-driven political drama that casts the player as the president of a fictional post-colonial nation, earning praise as close to a genre landmark for its writing and worldbuilding, while a large, detailed share of reviewers push back hard on how little direct control the actual mechanics give the choices that supposedly define it.
7.5 / 10
A nostalgia-driven inn-management sequel bringing back beloved characters from Softstar's decades-old Sword and Fairy RPG series, genuinely charming for longtime fans but criticised by a large share of its own audience for stripping out the exploration depth that made the original stand out.
5.5 / 10
SYMMETRY wraps a survival-management sim in genuinely striking retro-futuristic vector art and a mysterious, half-told sci-fi story. Its own reviewers largely agree the atmosphere is the best thing about it, and just as largely agree the actual click-and-wait management loop underneath is one of the most punishing, repetitive experiences in the genre.
5 / 10
A free-to-play co-op tank-crewing PvP game whose "everyone has a job inside one tank" concept earns genuine, specific praise from players who found a full crew, undercut by a large, specific negative-review consensus that the live playerbase is now too thin to reliably find matches, and by a confusing free-demo-versus-paid-DLC structure several reviewers call misleading.
5 / 10
A VR open-world beat-em-up whose parkour movement and genuine TMNT fan service earn real praise, undermined by broken grip controls on Index headsets, a small and lifeless open-world hub, shallow repetitive combat, and a co-op multiplayer system reviewers say only works via private room codes rather than public matchmaking.
5 / 10
DONTNOD's Alaska-set mystery about twins piecing together a shared, supernatural childhood memory is gorgeous and well-intentioned, but a large share of its own audience, including many who loved Life is Strange, say the writing and interactivity don't match the studio's earlier work — a critique this review treats as separate from the political backlash the game's trans protagonist also drew.
6 / 10
A cheap, fully-voiced otome death-game puzzle RPG whose writing and cast earned it an outsized, devoted following, held back by a rough English localization — including one reviewer-flagged slur that shouldn't have made it to release — and an unresolved bug that blocks progress specifically on the Mac version the store page advertises.
7 / 10
A somber diorama puzzle game about death, memory and family tragedy, atmospheric enough to move some players deeply — and undercut for many others by story that never quite resolves, fiddly rotation-based puzzles, and achievements several reviewers single out as an actively bad design choice.
5.5 / 10
A card-battling circus-management RPG set in post-Civil War America, Mixed across a small sample of Steam reviews for its distinctive theme and art — undercut by an extremely consistent complaint that its circus setting is a thin cosmetic reskin over standard deckbuilder mechanics, poor tutorialization, and a widely repeated sense among reviewers that the resulting gameplay is simply boring.
5 / 10
A psychedelic, guitar-shredding side-scrolling adventure about a young musician escaping his uncle's folk-legend shadow, Very Positive across nearly 900 reviews for its stunning visual spectacle — undercut by an extremely consistent complaint that the actual gameplay is shallow and repetitive, a well-corroborated complaint about unchanging, repetitive music, and a specific progression-blocking bug this review found no evidence of being patched.
6 / 10
A puzzle-heavy first-person dungeon crawler reviving a classic RPG name, praised for tactical combat, songs and voice work, but weighed down by a genuinely large volume of documented bugs, a puzzle-to-roleplay ratio that surprises and frustrates a substantial share of buyers, and restrictive character-building choices.
6 / 10
A free-to-play Vampire Survivors-style bullet-heaven whose genuinely fun opening hours are widely praised, before a large, remarkably consistent negative-review consensus describes a punishing grind wall and aggressive gacha monetization that Steam's own promotional feed for the game — almost entirely sale and summon-banner announcements — directly corroborates.
4.5 / 10
A short, stylish noir-parody detective visual novel that unanimously delights its very small early review sample with absurd witness interrogations, a striking black-grey-and-gold art style, and five distinct investigation minigames, tempered only by a report of unclear or poorly-localised dialogue for at least one non-native English reader.
7.5 / 10
Ron Gilbert's Double Fine puzzle-platformer sends three chosen adventurers, out of seven available, into a talking, wish-granting cave to confront their own dark pasts — reviewers consistently praise its charm and writing, while a specific, well-documented complaint argues the advertised co-op mode barely functions as co-op at all.
6.5 / 10
A genuinely inventive reality-TV cameraman sim from Reigns developer Nerial, published by Devolver Digital, whose original premise and art direction earn wide admiration for a first playthrough, undercut by a remarkably consistent negative-review theme describing repetitive dialogue after the first season, an unresolved mystery that never pays off, and at least one persistent progress-blocking bug the developer appears to have stopped patching.
5.5 / 10
A tiny expedition from a trusted puzzle studio The Electrifying Incident is a bite-sized standalone spinoff from Draknek and Friends, the studio behind the widely acclaimed A Monst
6.5 / 10
Read review of The Electrifying Incident: A Monster Mini-Expedition
The End Is Nigh sends a small, sad blob named Ash through hundreds of brutal precision platforming levels in a decaying post-apocalyptic world, from Super Meat Boy co-creator Edmund McMillen. Its level design and dark tone earn genuine praise, while a specific, recurring complaint about a finite-lives second chapter and a lack of meaningful long-term reward keep it from a clean sweep.
7 / 10
The Escapists 2 sends up to four players into a series of increasingly elaborate prisons to plot their breakout through crafting, routine-management, and careful rule-breaking. Its sandbox premise draws real, sustained praise, tempered by a specific, well-documented complaint that escape plans are far more scripted than the marketing suggests, and by a development history that's been effectively dormant for years.
6.5 / 10
A solo developer's beautiful, steampunk-tinged open-world war-bird combat game, weighed down at launch by floaty controls and a repetitive fly-fight-fly-back mission loop that a genuine, years-long remaster effort has since worked to address.
6 / 10
A time-loop mystery RPG expanded from an award-winning Skyrim mod into a full standalone release, Overwhelmingly Positive across more than 7,300 reviews for its ambitious premise and dialogue-driven investigation — undercut by a consistent backlash against its hype, thin walking-sim gameplay dressed as an RPG, dated production values, and a widely criticised "canon" ending that many reviewers feel undercuts the story it spent hours building.
6.5 / 10