The Hub of Reid Harris Cooper

Here I shall mini-review demos and/or full games in Ludonarracon 2025. (Be “advised” I am using a press access edition of the event, so not all games or demos mentioned will be playable for you, but you can still wishlist and/or buy them).

Ludonarracon runs till May 5th so you have plenty time to check these games and the sales out still.

Keep Driving: There is definitely a story here of taking the road and finding adventure, but it is burdened by being quite the difficult and at times unforgiving strategy game. Before even making it to the first town I could rest in I basically lost all energy on the road, fell asleep on the side, woke up and lost energy again encountering a tractor in my way. For a Narrative the game system needs a lot more balance, but even if the narrative was minimal, balance of encounters definitely needs reworking. This is one to keep an eye on, but I hope the devs are still actually working on it.

Compensation Not Guaranteed: A very fun demo of an upcoming Papers, Pleasesque. The art, world and characters introduced are fantastic and as long as it stays zen like and not add speed rounds but just more things to look at and the weird twist in the dreams I think we have a gem of something new here.

The Horror at Highrook: First let me state that I love the gothic supernatural setting, the familiar but tropic group coming together to solve a mystery at a creepy manor. The art is also amazing, reminiscent of Mike Mignola and John Paul Leon to my eyes. That said I don’t think this type of game is made for my thinking. After I completed the introductory tasks I felt completely lost. I didn’t know how to unlock rooms or use certain cards. I was just befuddled. That doesn’t mean it isn’t well done, I just needed a little more hand holding. You on the other hand, especially those who play TTRPGs or card games will be in paradise.

A Week in the Life of Asocial Giraffe: Wonderful cartoon art displaying a personality trait many can relate to or understand wrapped in a visual logic puzzle. Worth trying your hand at and seeing how you vibe.

inKOBINI: You only get a taste in the prologue but I feel this is a zen style game with fun little explorations in to life and never truly a stressfull feel on running the shop. Fix labels, check supplies, very serene and not feeling like actual “work” but instead idle devices to keep iccupied while “reading” simple tales of everyday people.

Usual June: Based on the demo this is the kind of game I love. Third person action adventure with interesting art, quirky characters, fun and not too complicated but not too easy combat, lots of exploration and a big story. Which is also what it promises. I will be keeping my eye on this cause ghosts, mystery, weirdness. The only thing I’d add was a jump button, there aren’t enough Psychonauts like games out there! I also hope they optimize the game a lot before release, my rig had trouble but didn’t feel like it should. I may need to play this on console.

More to come before the end of the Festival!

As LudoNarracon begins its first day I will be without any electricity since ConEd decided 10 AM on a Thursday is a perfectly reasonable time to shut off the entire building for some tests or whatever they’re doing. I will most probably miss the Davey Wreden fireside chat and can only hope that by 4PM PDT I’ll be able to catch Sam Lake.

Luckily though I was provided preview press access to demos as well as full games featured in the fest and some which I assume are part of the excellent LudoNarracon. Before I get into that though check out this excellent schedule, which if you are reading now means you can get over to Steam and start watching the fest, downloading demos and buying games.

Creepy Redneck Dinosaur Mansion III: There was no CRDM or CRDM II but this tile matching game takes that simple genre and flips it on its head both in compelling gameplay and a weird weird but also clever narrative. There is a very clever tale being told via the device in this game which is currently out (released 4/22). I thoroughly enjoyed this one.

Psychotic Bathtub: I felt very uncomfortable playing this, but it is visually charming. There’s some very different ways for this story to go, some sweet one, some very very disturbing. It’s your choice to decide the direction you want to take things.

Expelled!: An Open world visual novel. Not completely open world as you are locked into e specific linearity as you try to either solve the mystery or at least make sure you aren’t accused, found guilty and expelled. Using the same style of inkle’s Overboard! (so much so that Expelled! is called an Overboard! game) I can see a lot replayability in this to see what you can unlock and how under the game’s premise.

The Mr. Rabbit Magic Show: This free to play anniversary puzzle piece by Rusty Lake is a lovely celebration. It has that classic Rusty Lake art. Weird but solvable puzzles when you use that awkward thinking. Special achievements. Secret links. You do yourself a disservice of not only playing this but when you get to the end to keep playing to the secret secret endings.

Detective Dotson: While I personally do not find the game play mechanic fun, it is well done and I can see others absoluting loving this tribute to Bollywood mixed with a rather simplistic but thought provoking secure clues and connect the words to make a detective design. The pettable animals is a huge plus. If you haven’t tried Dotson give it a go. I must say the demo I once played feels like a different game than the one I played as part of Ludonarracon, but there’s a charm there.

The Berlin Apartment: This is an extremely strong demo for what seems to be a very big game yet all in one place. We only get snippets of two sories that are contained but I can only hope we learn of the many people before 2020 and maybe even who moves in after the repair. The art makes you want to explore the world more but the demo does not allow for much exploration, it is built to truly be a snippet but one worthy of download and wishlisting.

When my power returns I plan to delve deep into the rest of Ludonarracon and will share more thoughts at that time, including a review of despelote.

Rosewater is just the beginning of this journey. Welcome to Vespuccia.

Here is a statement I made to developer Francisco Gonzalez’ on the social media app FKA Twitter about his 2025 release ROSEWATER

[Lie]. “Indeed, a horrible game, no choices, silly puzzles, you play as a woman who is tough as nails and team with foreigners. Diversity initiatives, amirite?”

Honestly though ROSEWATER is a lovely game with multiple ways to solve interesting puzzles. It is true you play as a tough as nails female, they are also creative, intuitive, intelligent and brave. She does end up teaming with a very diverse group of very well rounded interesting individuals with intriguing backstories and histories you’ll learn along the way and it is this storytelling that makes the game so worth experiencing.

First and foremost I think we must recognize that Francisco is truly an accomplished writer and world creator. To fully explain the depth of that world creation would rob you of reveals in this game, but fans of prior Grundislav games will be absolutely delighted by the developments and tales told in Rosewater.

The way the story and game builds is so intriguing and different, it feels like a drawn out but yet perfectly crafted streaming series but with choose your own adventure decisions that will not actually ever lead to a THE END but will tell you a different version of the story and its intricate details allowing for multiple gameplays outside of just re-experiencing the adventure again. This is a rarity in this style of game but a welcome one.

The simple but very attractive and enticing pixel art, quality sounds and music, brilliant voice acting and pay attention to the details or go for more brunt force choices on certain puzzle areas make the idea of replay value for a retro point n click even higher, especially in 2025 when there seems many games of this genre returning so anything that feels different, stronger, better will standout.

I should state that at the date of writing this review I have not yet completed the adventure (with 7 hours in). It is a long one and every bit of it never loses charm. As you learn more of your protagonist and build them based on decisions that all make sense for the character you learn more about your compatriots and want to spend as much time as possible with them, learning as much as you can about them and learning as much about the world through their eyes. This goes for every character you come across. They are all realized and feel like more then just filler or dressing, each encounter is a full small story of a steampunk western built in a reality familiar to ours and one regaled in many a cowboy or “oregon trail” like book, movie, show or game but feeling wholly original and crafted with love.

ROSEWATER is available NOW on Steam and GOG for $19.99.