Summer Literary Game Reviews: Part Two

 This summer I was fortunate to be able to play several new games coming to Steam. My first few game reviews from this series were posted back in July, and you can read the reviews here. Thank you to Keymailer for sending me review copies of the following games.

Super Farming Boy

Have you ever said to yourself, "I really want a game that combines the gameplay of Stardew Valley with the art style and humor of Cuphead"? Wait, you have said that? Well then, Super Farming Boy is definitely the game for you!

I'll openly admit that I had no idea what to think about this game going into it. I could see that it was going to be a unique take on the farming game genre that has now embedded itself forever in gaming culture, but I had no idea just how unique it would be. I can honestly tell you now that Super Farming Boy is one of the most unusual farming games I have ever played -- and that's definitely not a bad thing. The farming genre has admittedly grown a bit stale, with hundreds of Stardew Valley imitators popping up on Steam constantly. Super Farming Boy is NOT a Stardew Valley imitator by any stretch. Instead, it's one of the few games I've played recently that actually goes its own way and defies the expectations that modern day gamers might want to place on it. Honestly, I can't really think of any currently existing labels that actually fully fit this game. Even Steam seems to be having trouble defining Super Farming Boy -- the labels currently showing on its page are "farming sim," "arcade," and "match three." If I hadn't already played the game I would, frankly, be confused by those labels, and rightly so. Probably the most similar game I can think of would be Plants Vs. Zombies, but even that's a bit of a stretch. Basically all I can say is that you should play Super Farming Boy if the idea of crop-based-combat interests you.

Story:

There isn't a lot of story to Super Farming Boy, but the story that does exist is harrowing. The game opens abruptly with so much action on the screen you might get overwhelmed and quit before you even start (genuinely: if you are neurodivergent and get easily overstimulated by lots of bright, moving colors, activity, and sounds, be aware that those are the things that most define the aesthetics of Super Farming Boy). Shortly after you are dropped (or... spat out by your living, gelatinous home) into this world, an absolutely terrifying menace that personifies the evils of capitalism shows up, takes everything you own, and kidnaps all of your friends (including your mom!?). His name is "KORPO™®©" and he makes Tom Nook look like the nicest guy you've ever met. From here on, the story consists of working for the man and trying to buy your friends back from him. 

TLDR:

Overall, I recommend this game to anyone who loves farming games but has become bored with the banality of recent farming game offerings. It's also a perfect game for those who love unusual indies, interesting combat styles, or Cuphead-style cartoon art. If you are looking for cozy games, however, I would warn that while Super Farming Boy could be described as cozy in a roundabout way, its bright colors and frantic time schedule could be off-putting to someone who is trying to wind down and relax. 

Disclosure: I received a free review copy of this product from https://www.keymailer.co

Gecko Gods

I was given a chance to play the demo for upcoming game Gecko Gods, and I'm very glad to have done so! At first glance, Gecko Gods looks like a basic platformer -- you play as a gecko, which is a really cool concept, but really, how different is that from games like Yooka-Laylee? It turns out Gecko Gods is very different from Yooka-Laylee and its anthropomorphized brethren, a fact that I might not have realized if I hadn't played the demo. For one, the gecko protagonist in Gecko Gods is a fairly realistic representation of a real-life animal, and I found it fun to run up the walls like a real lizard! But more importantly, the gameplay may be described as platforming, but it is really less like Crash Bandicoot or Spyro, where the focus is on traversing difficult paths and looking for collectibles, and more similar to The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, with a focus on exploration, puzzle-solving, and story. Alongside Wind Waker and the earlier handheld Zelda games, I would say that Gecko Gods is also similar in feel to Shadow of the Colossus, though a tad more colorful. As a huge fan of the Legend of Zelda series and other Zelda-like games, I am excitedly anticipating the release of Gecko Gods in late 2025. 

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Review: The Necromancer's Tale

 The Necromancer's Tale is a new RPG created by Psychic Software that came out on Steam in July 2025. According to the developer, 

‘The Necromancer’s Tale’ is a narrative-driven top down story-rich gothic RPG with an isometric viewpoint. Master the rituals of an ancient spellbook. Raise an undead army to march against your enemies. Commune with the realm of the dead & struggle with your descent into madness. Progress through secrecy, diplomacy, blackmail, coercion & seduction until ready to reveal yourself. 

 

When you begin the game you spend a fair amount of time creating your character -- not in a visual character creator, but in a story book where you answer multiple choice questions to create a backstory for your protagonist. I was immediately impressed by the complexity of the backstories you can create for your character; most RPGs with strong story elements give you a paragraph or two of backstory for each character option, but this game allows you to create several pages worth of story about your protagonist. 

After you finish creating your character, the game dives into a battle in a top-down, third person viewpoint reminiscent of ARPGs like the Diablo and Torchlight franchises. The gameplay style actually makes me feel most nostalgic for the classic Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale games of the late 90s and early 2000s. In these older Dungeons and Dragons computer games, roleplaying a character you create was an important feature (just like in the tabletop games they were created to emulate). The Necromancer's Tale uses similar story roleplaying elements and even allows you to use your own artwork for your character, if you have it. The main difference I noticed between The Necromancer's Tale and Baldur's Gate/Icewind Dale is that The Necromancer's Tale is easier to play solo than the older games. BG/Icewind Dale strongly recommended a multiplayer experience (again, like the original tabletop Dungeons and Dragons), which is how I played them -- over a LAN connection -- back in the day. The Necromancer's Tale is much better for the hermit I have become in my old age. 

I have only played The Necromancer's Tale up to chapter three, so I can't speak on the entire game yet, but so far the story and mystery-solving aspects of the game far outweigh any battle elements that you might expect from an RPG. For me, that doesn't slow the game too much as I enjoy stories more than fighting, but many RPG players who like a lot of combat in their games may be turned off by this. My biggest difficulty with the game is that I am playing it on Steam Deck, but it's very clearly created to be played with a mouse and keyboard. Steam says that the game is verified on Steam Deck, but I have had a lot of frustrations with the controls. Fortunately the developers have been actively patching the game since its release and I suspect that controller support will improve in upcoming patches.

The TLDR:

I recommend this game to anyone who loves the roleplaying aspects of roleplaying games. It makes a great personal-time activity for someone who plays DnD (or other TTRPGs) with a gaming group, but who then wants even more roleplaying when they get home. Do you love talking to NPCs in Dragon Age: Origins? If yes, you'll love The Necromancer's Tale. But if your idea of playing an RPG revolves more around combat, like in the Diablo series, this may not be the game for you. 

Disclosure: I received a free review copy of this product from https://www.keymailer.co

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Review: Wanderstop by Ivy Road

 

Image by Ivy Road

Wanderstop is a beautiful game about imperfection, taking it slow, and drinking lots and lots of tea. The heroine of the story, Alta, is the best in her field. That her field is combat is less relevant than the simple fact that she is the very best -- like no one ever was. But then Alta is beat -- more than once. She is no longer the best, and she doesn't know how to be less than perfect. So she travels into the woods to find her old teacher and to try to, once again, become the best. How could there be any greater goal? 

Many of us can relate to Alta. Phrases like, "You can be anything," or "Believe in yourself" proliferate in the American education system and elsewhere. The so-called "gifted kid to burnout pipeline" has claimed many adults who were told as children that they would do great things, save the world, or even become world leaders when they grew up. When the adults told them that, they fully believed it and tried to achieve it, and many eventually experienced extreme burnout at a young age. I'm certain many game developers can also relate to Alta's struggles, as the commonality of crunch practices in game development spaces is causing high levels of burnout for game developers. 

An exhausted Alta eventually finds herself at Wanderstop, a simple tea shop somewhere in the middle of the forest. The shop's keeper, Boro, suggests that Alta is too exhausted to continue, and offers her a job making and serving tea. Through her time at Wanderstop Alta learns that sometimes we really do just need to slow down or stop entirely -- that pushing ourselves to the brink of death may not be worth it, and maybe goals need to be adjusted sometimes. 

Characters:

The way Wanderstop approaches the secondary characters in the story is somewhat revolutionary. Players know a lot about Alta, as she is the main character of the game. The other characters who enter the tea shop, however, are a little more opaque. We get to know them a bit, learn about their problems, begin to pick our favorites and decide that we really like these characters, and then... they leave. Unlike the quests you'll encounter in most RPGs, Alta is not required or encouraged to fix the problems of the people who frequent her tea shop. Instead she simply listens when they speak, occasionally responds with helpful or less-than-helpful dialogue choices, and then everyone goes about their own personal business. If there's a lesson to be learned here, it's that we may be the main characters in our own stories, but we are not the main character in other peoples' lives. It is not my (real life) job to fix others' problems, even if we are friends. Sometimes the best I can do, as a person, is listen to what people want to tell me, and let them figure out their lives while I figure out mine.

Accessibility options in Wanderstop

Accessibility: 

Wanderstop has some great accessibility options that have been very helpful for me, personally. As usual, I cannot speak on all disabilities and can only speak on my own disabilities and accessibility needs. The options menu can be accessed at any time during the game, and accessibility options include subtitles in different sizes, a dyslexia-friendly font that can be turned on or off, multiple options for colorblind support, and a motion sickness dot. Other very specific functions in the game can be tweaked as well, including "hold bellows button to heat" (so you don't have to button mash), camera sway and sensitivity, dialogue speed, and more. My own primary accessibility needs involve motion sickness and button mashing, so I'm happy to see options to reduce both of those problems for me. I'm pleased with the outcome and I personally have no hindrances to playing this game with my disabilities. 

I will note that I have been playing the game on the Steam Deck and on my television. While Steam Deck warns that the text may be too small to read, I have not had a problem with this, and I played with the subtitles on medium size. I am legally blind but not fully unable to see, so while some games are difficult for me in this area, I have had no problem with Wanderstop. I suspect Steam will update its information to reflect this after Wanderstop is officially released. 

Story:

The story in Wanderstop may be short, but it is far from shallow. Alta is a fully realized character and the story is more about her journey than anything else. Alta is human and Alta is all of us. Her emotions feel very real and raw. There isn't much more I can say about the story without spoiling it, but I can say with confidence that Wanderstop is a story everyone should experience.

Graphics, Controls, Etc.:

I don't have a lot to say about the graphics. They are beautiful. They are gorgeous. The colors pop splendidly. The only more specific thing I can note is that when I started the game, I wondered if Wanderstop was created by the same developers who made Slime Rancher (it's not) because the graphics seemed so similar. Both games evoked a lot of emotions for me, so that may be part of the reason I noticed a similarity.

The controls in Wanderstop worked fluidly and I had no trouble whatsoever. I played on Steam Deck, both in handheld mode and docked to my television and attached to an X-Box controller. Everything ran surprisingly smoothly and I experienced no notable glitches or bugs! In this day and age, I'm very pleasantly surprised. 

Overall my experience with Wanderstop has been pretty much perfect. It's rare for me to have absolutely nothing bad to say about a thing I'm reviewing, yet here we are. Wanderstop will certainly go to the top of my favorites list, and I foresee many replays in my future. 

Wanderstop releases on March 11, 2025 on Steam and Playstation 5. Thank you to the developers, Ivy Road, for the free review copy. 

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This Way Madness Lies: My Game of the Year?!

 This Way Madness Lies is the latest game from developer Zeboyd Games, creators of indie classics like Cthulhu Saves the World and Cosmic Star Heroine. When I heard that Zeboyd was creating a game based on the works of Shakespeare -- starring magical girls -- I literally jumped for joy. Then I asked for a review copy. I couldn't imagine exactly how a game about magical girls in the stories of Shakespeare would work, but I knew it would change my life for the better. 

If you've been following this blog for any amount of time you are probably aware that I have spent a lot of time writing about Shakespeare's influence on the video game medium. In fact, earlier this year I wrote about the vast quantity of games that are based specifically on Hamlet. Hamlet is all but absent from This Way Madness Lies, and I suspect that's because the game's creators knew that the bard's other plays needed a bit more attention in the video game realm. I was impressed by writer Willow Boyd's knowledge not only of the contents of Shakespeare's plays, but of the scholarship and historical discussion surrounding the plays and their author. I studied Shakespeare throughout college and two levels of graduate school but I still learned a thing or two from this game. Truly (verily?) the game's writer is a genuine bardolator. 

The most notable aspect of This Way Madness Lies that a new player will undoubtedly appreciate is the soundtrack. Immediately upon starting the game and viewing the opening menu, players are hit with a truly rocking symphonic metal banger, which I had to sit and listen to several times before I was willing to move on to playing the actual game. From this menu players can navigate to the credits, which show  that the music was composed by Joshua Queen, while the vocalist is Sarah Queen. Note that I still have this song stuck in my head as I'm writing my review, and I haven't even played the game today. The soundtrack throughout the game is just as good, and I felt nostalgic for the Persona series as I was listening to the soundtrack of This Way Madness Lies -- perhaps it was an influence? 

After the musical score, my favorite aspect of the game is its referential humor. Not only are there clever little quips about Shakespeare, but in true Zeboyd Games style there are lots of references to older games by the same developers, and to their favorite sleeping god, Cthulhu, and his otherworldly brethren. Every piece of dialogue in This Way Madness Lies is dripping with my kind of humor (mostly cheesy), so I couldn't help but have a big grin on my face throughout the 14+ hours I was playing the game. 

I can't consider this review complete without mentioning the beautiful pixel art. Each character is incredibly detailed and unique and players will get to see these details on full display every time the protagonists complete their magical girl transformations -- a necessary staple of the magical girl genre.

 

While I loved this game with all my heart, I would be lying if I said I didn't have any less than positive thoughts, however small. First: accessibility options are practically nonexistent. HOWEVER: I didn't find that I personally needed any accessibility accommodations in this game. I played the game with a controller and selected easy mode, and those seemed to be all the accommodations I personally needed. The game was very easy for me and I had no difficulty with controls or with my ability to see or hear the game. That said, I am only somewhat low vision and I suspect there are players who would benefit from some accessibility options like different text sizes and fonts, etc. The developers have been very good about updating the game after listening to their players, however, so accessibility options may be added in the near future (or they may already have been added as I haven't played the game in the last few days). 

I enjoyed the decision to start the story in the middle of the action -- we don't have to slog through origin stories for our magical girls, and I approve of that decision. I do wish we had a bit more background and character development for the girls, however. Is it too early to hope there will be a sequel or prequel to This Way Madness Lies? 

To answer my question in this post's title: yes, I would say that This Way Madness Lies is my game of the year for 2022. Does that mean I am comparing it to titles like God of War and Elden Ring? No, because I didn't play those games. I tend to spend most of my time playing more niche titles, so my closest runner-up that I played this year would be Kirby and the Forgotten Land. But I can't deny that This Way Madness Lies moved me in a way that I haven't been moved since the first time I played Supergiant's Bastion. It wasn't just the Shakespeare angle that hooked me -- I genuinely connected with the characters and the world of the game. I felt like this game was made for me, specifically, and that's a rare feeling. I greatly look forward to seeing where Zeboyd Games goes from here.

I received a copy of This Way Madness Lies for free in exchange for an honest review.

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