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Steam's free weekend of Dinkum was a joy!

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Dinkum I can't remember when, but sometime within the last month, there was a free weekend for this game, and I managed to actually pay attention to it and play it for a few days.  Go me for paying attention to the ad carousel. Dinkum is a multiplayer, build a life, explore, and really another game like Animal Crossing. It just falls into that genre pretty well. It was developed by James Bendon and published by KRAFTON, Inc. The game came out in July of 2022 and seems to have some regular updates in the new hubs portion of the landing page on Steam, between patch notes and bug fixes.  Gameplay The story starts off at a depressing place where no one has any motivation, and you were chosen to go to an island by a granny. When there, you are tasked with placing the home hub tent, also known as Granny's tent. After placing those, you get a tent, and there is also a visitors' station. The visitor's plot is for those who want to visit the island, and you h...

Making Waves: My Take on Critter Cove

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Critter Cove This lovely game came out in September of last year. Developed and published by Gentleman Rat Studios. It's described as an open world, town-building, life sim. Critter Cove is set in some kind of post-apocalyptic world, where animals and people live, and for some reason keep getting shipwrecked on places. I would think the lore has to do with some kind of flooding, as there are many islands and sunken towns to explore. This game reminds me of what I would like Animal Crossing to be.  Gameplay As mentioned, it's a town-building sim. So the troupe of you wash up, found by a mayor of sorts that runs a shop where you can sell/buy things. The only difference is that he just gives you a house. (instead of sticking you in a mortgage) The character creation was the coolest thing ever, with so many options, and I think kid me would be very happy with the result. Of course, I needed cat ears, two tails, and also wings.  As you play, you can meet and inv...

Esteem: Little Wolf Saga – A Howl-Worthy Adventure or a Lost Pup?

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Esteem: The Little Wolf Saga This game reminds me of an old-school top-down, turn-based RPG. I mean, that is what it is, but still, ah the good old days. There is even the hit action addition to the fighting, but we'll go over that later.  Esteem came out on March 6th of 2025, developed by Ingami Studio. This is their only game. It was published by Dream Stories, who have published other games like Valledi a side-scroller game about a girl and her little drone, Envyus, a top-down RPG game, and quite a few others. Esteem is listed as $9.99 on the Steam store.  I also would like to thank the devs, who gave me the key through a program called Keymailer.  The game Esteem is about a little wolf named Laisa. I had no clue on how to pronounce her name, so in my frustrations I just called her lady. She woke up late, and while exploring, I somehow managed to make her go back to bed. You have to help someone pick plants from a garden and then go on to meet with ...

Smoking is bad for you, m'kay? Tobacco Shop Simulator: Prologue

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Tobacco Shop Simulator: Prologue (edited 3/31/2025) Tobacco Shop Simulator is just what you think it is: a shop where you sell Tobacco products and accessories. The game came out on November 1st, 2024, and you can play this prologue for free. The great thing about it is that you don't have to hire employees when you can just invite a friend to play with you. This game can be played by up to 4 players. It was developed and published by Buiness Tycoon. Business Tycoon also makes Retail Company Simulator. Both games are normally $11.99 but are on sale until March 13th, 2025.  Shout out to the devs for suggesting the key through a program called Keymailer. I mean, it's free, but still, I wouldn't have known about it if it hadn't been on Keymailer.  Game play Like most simulator shop games, you have to first set up your shop name and buy stock to fill up your store. This one runs on a buy-a-brand system. So you start off with it making you buy Warblo, and...

Farm TD a different take on farming and tower defense games!

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Farm TD Are you looking for a chill game or a more intense game? Well, this can kind of be both, depending on what difficulty you play on. Farm TD is a new tower defense game that is coming out in March of 2025. The game was published and developed by R.J. Brontsema, who also did The Little Pixel That Could, which will come out later this year, and The Fanciful Chronicle, which came out in June of 2024. You can play the demo of the game right now! Concept Well, the gist behind the game is that you are to defend your farm from the threat of bugs. You can do that by using your farm animals in their pasture to prevent the bugs from getting to the farm. There are various routes you can choose from, as well as a range of animals that all do different things. Not only do you get coins from defeating bugs, but you can actually plant things in your farms to get coins after taking care of them. They then will be harvestable in a certain amount of rounds. You do have to watch...

What is the Sports Renovations demo all about?

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Sports: Renovations I ended up getting an email about this game if I was interested in playing it. Because I like games like House Flipper and Powerwash Simulator I thought that it gave off similar vibes so I decided why not? Sports: Renovations was developed by Goat Gamez (which is funny and you will find out later) and published by Dear Villagers. Its Release date is set for March 27th, and I am looking forward to playing the rest of the game for the story.  Story  You start off as a sad lady, watching the news and how they are going to renovate the basketball community center which was the home of The Goats. (See told you!) A basketball team that was great until they sold off their best players and then they weren't so great from what I pieced together from the story. You decided to take matters into your own hands somehow because I guess you are just that powerful of a lady, and renovate the beast of a project. The starting point is, to help others in n...

Gah! - Casual Gaming Review

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Gah! This dungeon crawler roguelite game is a game you will want to keep playing out of achievement or out of spite. Gah! was developed and published by Jasio Games and is set to release in September 2024.  Gameplay There are 6 playable characters three of which you will have to unlock. So you'll start with the choice of Sorcerer, King, or Rouge. The sorcerer can only use light armor and staves, the king can use anything, and the rouge can use light armor and bows.  You start with a basic weapon, it's by chance or by buying in town you'll get new armor or weapons. As you level up you'll get the choice between 3 stats and two skills. The skills are random so sometimes you might get the things you want while sometimes you might not get anything you would use. You can also pick something that you already used to level it up further. If of course, it's one of the choices. The stats are intelligence, endurance, and strength.  You have 4 skill buttons ...