Olivander's Net Cafe

Favorite Games

Here is a collection of some of my favorite games! All of these I have thoroughly enjoyed or have inspired my own games :).

Or they are just nostalgic for me, and I wanted to talk about them. I ordered them by original release date.

	Link's Awakening By Nintendo Released August 6, 1993 An entire Legend of Zelda experience on a potato of a handheld. The story, characters, and world are still an inspiration to me. The Gameboy was the most iconic systems of the 90s and 2000s. It used last gen tech to lower the price of the system which was a novel idea, but the whole thing could have failed if Nintendo didn't have some of the best developers of the era making games for it. The Gameboy forced creativity and innovation within a very restrictive hardware framework; the idea of creativity within constraints is part of what makes Pico-8 so compelling to me. I really enjoyed learning about how this game was developed with it starting out as just a passion project of one developer working on it in their free time.
	Dungeon Keeper By Bullfrog Productions Released June 26, 1997 The original dungeon management game. "It is good to be bad". I love the role reversal of this game. You are an evil dungeon lord managing your minions, defending your dungeon, and attacking the strongholds of the heroes. The voice actor in the game is iconic and the humor is amazing and dark. I revisit this game every few years. There is also an excelent fan expansion called KeeperFX that is now available on GoG.
	Lego Island 2 By Silicon Dreams Studio Released March 22, 2001 Lego Island 2 was one of my favorite games growing up. The open island, sense of humor, and collection of minigames had a huge impact on the types of games I enjoyed later on in life. For a modern game that gave me similar good vibes, try Tiny Terry's Turbo Trip.
	Mega Man Battle Network 3 - White By CAPCOM Released June 24, 2003 This was my favorite Gameboy Advanced game as a kid. I borrowed it from a kid on the playground I knew and absolutely loved it. I convinced my mom to get me a copy of it for a birthday and played it obsessively. I even got the neighbor kids to play it. I even had a tournament for this game at one of my birthdays. Pokemon was still huge with kids my age, but my group of friends all played Battle Network 3. It was a really fun time. This game combines deckbuilding with a realtime grid battle system that hasn't been replicated since. The story, characters, and overall presentation of cyberspace are still some of my favorites to revisit. I would point to this game as one of the major inspirations to getting me interested in programming.
	Into The Breach By Subset Games Released February 27, 2018 Into the Breach is one of my all time favorite games. It is similar to other tactics games with the wrinkle that your squad of mechs are trying to protect buildings that either produce power or house civilians from giant monsters. The simple change from kill all enemies in a level to prevent enemies from destroying the city changes the entire dynamic of the game. And since all enemy actions are telegraphed the turn before, it allows the player to really think about how they can manipulate the situation. Maybe in a level it is better to push a monster so that it attacks a buddy than to try kill the enemy with pure abilities. With all the different squads of mechs, pilots, and abilities, the game has a ton to explore and discover. The themed squads usually have a gimmick that you have to master to be able to succeed in a run. If you have even a passing interest in mechs or tactics games, this is one of the best.
	Among Us By Innersloth Released June 15, 2018 The great social deduction game of 2020. The fun that can be had when you find yourself in a good lobby where everyone is trying to solve murders and complete tasks is amazing. One of the best gaming experiences. On the other hand, when you find a lobby where everyone is absolutely insane, throwing random people out of the airlock for no apparent reason. Priceless. The game is amazing when played well and absolutely hilarious when no one is paying attention or actively sabotaging each other. The first season of the tv show is currently out. It is good. The show plays out much like a "traditionally good" game of Among Us that I mentioned above. My one disappointment was that they went for more of a "The Thing" style monster as opposed to the imposter in the game. The Thing is one of my favorite movies, but I love the imposter design from the game. I also wouldn't have minded a few memes circa 2020 (sus). I still think it is worth a watch!
	Kill the Crows By 5minlab Corp. Released August 21, 2023 This is a single level, western themed, roguelite, twin-stick shooter. It is a simple concept: You have a gun and you kill crow cultists. This game takes a simple concept and finds clever ways of innovating the genre. Kill the Crows clearly has so much passion and love poured into it. Like most roguelike games, the player gets better, the game doesn't get easier. The Kill the Crows gives you small goals to achieve as you are getting better at the game. Achieving the incremental goals unlocks either a new gun, new showdown (your ultimate dead-eye move), or a piece of equipment. You can then start a new run with those new items. Some of them help make future runs easier, but most of theme provide interesting and different playstyles. The game is one level, so you become intimately familiar with it's geometry. You know where you can lead enemies into a choke point and where the exits are if you get overwhelmed. One of the things I love about the game is that it reminds me of Doom in how each of the enemies has a priority to them. The snipers should be handled as soon as possible where the normal slow shooters can be dodged by sidestepping. The axe guys have priority based on how far away they are. You get all of these small micro-second decisions you have to make. Maybe you will need to dodge a sniper and deal with the closer enemies first, breaking the priority flow. The showdown also gives you a get out of jail free card if you have multiple enemies from all sides; you can slow down time and dispatch groups of troublesome enemies all at once. The bosses at each 100th kill milestone gives little bits of lore and are quick and unique. Each boss is a satisfying encounter that doesn't overstay it's welcome. All of this combined creates a very fun game. The narrative of the game is well done with the story mostly coming from item descriptions and small bits of dialogue during boss fights. The artwork and controls set the tone for the game. There are other things I can talk about like, the other types of crow cultists you encounter, Curses mode, the difficulty settings, but that will be all for now. The games is amazing! You are outnumbered, but not outgunned.