The autumn chill sinks in deeper this year. I’m shaken up for obvious reasons—looming conservative backlash, worry for my friends and loved ones, feeling unmoored in an perilous job market. How do I muster the energy for small joys like the montly Manygame Collection when I’ll need every scrap of it to survive?
At first I tried to focus entirely on the next monthly batch of games to cover. Scrutinizing every facet, lining up every stray thought. But I just felt more exhausted. What was the point? Later that week, a friend asked what I’d been working on. I gestured wearily to the list on my markerboard.
“I haven’t heard of any of these games,” they said. “But I’m glad you’re writing about them.”
That offhand admission is what led me to my office chair this morning. For now, I can start small. Write a list of games I’ve been enjoying. Put on some Kadhja Bonet and let my guard down. Start the small bits of daily work that build my energy back up. And then redirect that new energy into change, from my own neighborhood to the place my loved ones call home. We always have each other.
What is a Manygame Collection?
Manygame Collection is my way of documenting exciting games—past, present, in some cases future—that don’t quite make it to a full CMS page. These titles are deeply weird, frequently funny, and absolutely worth your time.
Previously in Manygame Collection: Spooks and Scrambled Eggs
Tetrachroma
Tetrachroma will flex those block-placement muscles for even the most Tetris-hardened warriors. Clearing lines of blocks works just like other puzzle games, but piece color affects what matches you can make. Drop a blue piece onto a solid block of yellow tiles and it’ll change every tile that touches that row or column to blue. Lines can only clear once they’re the same color.
Sparsevector’s charming soundtrack and deliberately nostalgic choices loosened up some of the tension coiled in my spine, even when I flubbed a block placement. And the detailed credits are remarkable in their own way, citing each background image, soundtrack inspiration, and asset in detail.
The game nails the hazy feeling of playing puzzle games on my family’s whirring beige Macintosh, but the wealth of interface and game options lend it a distinctly modern edge. It instantly joins my all-time puzzle greats along with Mixolumia and Xross Dreams. Tetrachroma is a stellar opener to this month’s Manygame Collection.
Flowstone Saga
Flowstone Saga fuses coming-of-age JRPG structure with block-placement combat. (Sensing a theme?) Mirai, a young would-be adventurer, stumbles upon a Flowstone that bestows the power of block-based creation. This newfound gift steers her into nearby wilderness to aid her sleepy village.
I initially struggled with Flowstone Saga’s real-time Tetris inspired fights. But Flowstone Saga’s confidence in its system extends to all aspects of gameplay. Once I toggled on turn-based fights, enemies only acted when I placed a piece. And instead of frantically blanking out in the middle of tense encounters, I could take my time.
Later additions experiment with different block sets for Mirai. Despite my real-time anxiety, I was drawn to the high-stakes Demolitionist set. While most pieces were oversized, taking careful maneuvering to clear lines, TNT tiles would drop onto the field at set intervals. My board would teeter close to the top, but then the right explosive would click into place, wiping out enemies in one fell swoop.
Flowstone Saga’s freeform tetromino system turns a winking JRPG jaunt into an endlessly fascinating loop. I ran into each fight on the level-based map because I wanted to, not because I felt obligated. More fights led to more resources. And more resources flowed into upgrading Mirai’s village. Upgrading the village gave Mirai more options. That sense of flow (it’s right there in the name) propelled me through.
Dungeon Inn
Dungeon Inn’s charming vector art balances out its’ capitalist fusion of management sim and mild tower defense. You’ve set up an inn between two rival guilds. But the only way to court both sets of guests at your inn is to make sure they don’t bump into each other. Traffic flows down toward the inn from two lanes, but with smart placement of distractions and incentives, you can milk this rivalry for all the gold it’s worth.
Cat Society meters out charm and cunning at a perfect pace. And even the most management-shy players can quickly gauge the situation turn-by-turn. More guests, more funds, more amenities to entice with. That’s business, baby. And despite myself, I’m itching to return to the fantasy grindset.
Reindeer Story
Reindeer Story’s solo developed RPG wears its themes and influences proudly. Lux is a red-nosed reindeer who can’t seem to get anyone to take them seriously. But when gifts are stolen from Santa’s workshop, they spring into action with the help of some newfound friends.
Mechanically, Reindeer Story merges the best of the Mario and Luigi series with Undertale’s sensibilities. Explore the pixel art world by running and jumping, using Lux’s charge or laser nose when you get stuck.
Facing down enemies in turn-based combat is a dance between carefully timed button presses, dodging enemies and projectiles in a bounding box, and judicious use of skills or items. Like every aspect of the game, it’s simple and effective.
Most characters are perfectly nice, but I was startled into a laugh by a crude joke or a terrible pun countless times. Reindeer Story might be a bit of a softer landing than I’m used to, but I still plan to savor the rest of the story over the next month. It’ll be my holiday treat.
cheesequest
Cheesequest isn’t interested in subtlety. Even its seemingly crude, Number Munchers era presentation is designed for maximum impact. Although it’s been lurking in early access for over two years, the feel of the game is unmistakable. It feels like Inscryption pared down to its rawest elements: a taunting narrator, and the twisted pull of the cards.
Your goal is simple: get the cheese. Cultivate your hand of resources, fend off attackers, and make necessary sacrifices to win. Seeds make wheat. Wheat feeds animals. And sometimes the other way around. Despite a harsh, limited palette, Cheesequest kept me on a knife’s edge for multiple playthroughs. And no Manygame Collection is complete without at least one wild card entry.
Vampire Survivors: Ode to Castlevania
Vampire Survivors: Ode to Castlevania is a full victory lap as DLC. The controls are simple—move your character and collect upgrades as you automatically fight waves of enemies—but the downloadable expansions keep finding surprising ways to layer onto the game’s core. Ode to Castlevania’s sprawling map, horde of characters, and endless items make it the most ambitious outing yet.
As my husband started from scratch on a new Xbox save, I saw Vampire Survivors’ finely honed difficulty curve all over again. What appears mechanically simple strikes the perfect balance between intuitive and demanding. Vampire Survivors: Ode to Castlevania is the perfect decompression game: easy to pick up, more difficult to master.
And that’s all for this month’s Manygame Collection. Take care of each other out there.
