52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

[kashell]

55. Crow Country

Inspired by Telly, I got back into this and cleared it without much trouble (3.5 hours) and a having a guide handy for when I got lost. I needed a palette cleanser after the long Trails through Daybreak II. The throwback, janky polygons meshed well with the modern controls and storytelling. The story was compelling, too. I wanted to learn more from the start and things got revealed at a nice pace. I kind of wish there was more narrative or information about the origins and monsters. There was stuff provided but not enough for me. The twist at the end caught me by the surprise!

[dhaabi]

29. Still at the Table || Browser || 07.30.2026



More and more often, I'm finding myself playing game jam projects. Anything that interests me usually gets logged into a list to reference later as games I may want to play, resulting in a relatively long backlog of its own. So as I skimmed through some of the more popular entries submitted to yet another recent game jam, Still at the Table caught my attention for its more serious intepretation of the event's "spin to win" theme. But this time, I decided to try it sooner than later.

To be brief, Still at the Table is a narrative adventure game about the protagonist being confronted by his girlfriend Jessica in regards to his gambling addiction and the tolls it's had on their shared relationship. There's a clear focus on communication, but the game's gimmick is that players cannot outright select dialogue responses. Instead, he must gamble by using a roulette wheel that determines the conversation flow. So what this means is that the player's dialogue choice being triggered is entirely dependent upon whatever segment the roulette wheel stops at. And whether or not the player bets successfully on that same segment determines whether they earn or lose money. Of course, money is to be used on upgrades and actions that raise the chance of triggering the player's desired dialogue choice each round.

Yet, while the game's system seems compelling at first, it's rather static and with limitations that become apparent as the playthrough continues. When starting the game, players select of the three protagonists to choose from, each with their own personality type. However, personality types seem to not matter at all, for Jessica's dialogue follows the same script no matter which character is selected. From what I've observed, her dialogue only changes depending on which of the three dialogue response types is selected: Admit, Deny, or Question. Meanwhile, there is a health system of sorts that corresponds to any amount of money still withheld. One unit of health is removed once all money is lost, but then a small amount is returned back to the player allowing them to continue. This alone is too forgiving, but what's worse is the rate of failure. I actually don't know what occurs when depleting all health because the rate of success is set too high. It's a decision that directly conflicts with the great risks and low expectation of winning with gambling altogether. Concerning the act of gambling itself, I found no reason to bet high amounts. Part of this relates to the high rate of success previously mentioned, but it's still easily achieveable to gain what I'm presuming is the more positive end outcome to the game without actually spending any of the protagonist's earnings. So whether the player places low or high bets, there just aren't any stakes in the choices made or outcomes occurring.

Of course, players are free to play choosing any character response they deem fit. Since the three playable protagonists are supplied with one simple defining personality descriptor, players can roleplay to adhere to that specific trait—even if it's a response that may seem counterintuitive to the outcome players are trying to reach. Ideally, this sort of depth would be built into the game to differentiate three starting paths, but it's a shortcoming of the game's development limitations. Without this sort of approach, characterization is exclusive to Jessica only, and this negatively impacts the player's relationship with the protagonist they control. Of course, this style of play comes with a huge disclaimer, being the game's random nature.

From a conceptual point-of-view, Still at the Table is certainly interesting. Unfortunately, though, too many of its elements bear little importance. When a player's bet is unfavorable, the only adverse effect is money being lost. Assuming most players approach the game with the intention of mending the couple's relationship, a lost bet can still benefit the player since even simple response choices aren't always straightforward regarding what sort of effect they'll have on the conversation direction. Meanwhile, I'm not exactly sure what the game is arguing for with its gameplay mechanic. That the protagonist has become fully resigned to their gambling addiction to the extent that even their own thoughts and actions are wholly dictated by chance? That in relationships, we can't guarantee outcomes no matter what we ourselves do and say, because ultimately a relationship is built upon two parties? Maybe there's no greater depth beyond the mechanic itself. Should meaning exist or be wanting to exist, I think that a better approach to the game's gambling system would be for it to relate to Jessica's words and not the protagonist's. Were it modified that way, neither what the player selects or what the protagonist actually says would change; instead, Jessica's dialogue that was previewed before the player's placed bet would change, therefore making the protagonist's selection nonsensical and maybe even detrimental in that moment instead of what otherwise had been positive. It's just some idea, but it's an alternative to what's currently ineffective.

Despite what I feel are some of the game's mechanical shortcomings not being as successful as they could have been, Still at the Table proves to be effective through its presentation, though it's without its own faults. For games completed within a short time window, sound work tends to be underdeveloped or lacking altogether. However, I was surprised that voice acting—and competent voice acting, at that—is present for Jessica's somewhat lengthy dialogue. Unfortunately, though, the sound design altogether is especially problematic. For some reason, there is a deliberate distorted sound effect added. At the same time, there is a visual CRT filter that can be toggled on or off, and I thought that the distortion was related to it at first but actually isn't. Needless to say, this static and sound clipping is considerably unpleasant and detrimental to the gameplay experience. Going back to the filter, it's ultimately inadequate as it elevates no other aspect present. There's nothing implied while playing to suggest that we're viewing the game itself from a monitor, so its inclusion is questionable at best and disruptive at worst. Looking beyond these effects that impair the game at large, the game's core visuals are simple but nicely designed within a single-screen frame. Static character portraits are positioned at a corner which function fine for the game's scope, but simple animations that illustrate in-the-moment emotions would have been effective.

Having reached the end of my thoughts, one may conclude that my experience playing Still at the Table was poor. But this is far from the truth. Ultimately, the submitted game build experiments with a certain mechanic and system in a novel way, but it's perhaps not successfully implemented given the strict time limitations for development. This doesn't mean that the game is bad, though, as I can easily envision it being expanded upon and iterated as a more premium campaign without superfluous elements. The focus of game jams is to spend a short amount of time to test out ideas to see what works and what doesn't. That goal was definitely met, and the result is that Still at the Table exists as a unique final product.

[kashell]

56. Astalon: Tears of the Earth

I have a few grievances with this game that I'll review eventually. But, they're not worth getting into here because overall I had a really good time with this. The inspirations from Dragon Quest, Castlevania III, Link II and a few more I'm probably missing came together in a unique Metroidvania/Rogue-Lite. After getting 100% map and item completion, I think I can put this one away for a while. The first boss in Boss Rush Mode is probably the worst boss in the game. The other mode I unlocked was fun to dabble with for a bit, but it's nothing like say Julius Mode or Richter Mode from golden-aged Castlevanias. If you don't mind some frustrating initial struggles, then I highly recommend this because it scratches multiple genre itches.