QCF: Papers, Please

oral choices in most games are easy. Save enough little sisters in Bioshock- you get the good ending, kill any and you're the worlds biggest monster. These choices are so ultimately binary that it's easy to even forget that they're questions of morality to begin with. Even when dealing with a complex issue, there's always a prompt telling you what kind of decision you made, regardless of your reasoning. "Yes and no" or "right and wrong" stick firmly into our heads to the point where we'll always know where our choices take us and what kind of end game they'll eventually lead us to.

However, Papers, Please doesn't play by those rules. In fact, it doesn't really play by any. There's no right or wrong here, only moral uncertainty and shades of horrific grays that lead to an experience which is devastatingly horrific, monotonous, and perplexing fun at the same time. Basically, it's one of the most interesting and creative video games you'll play all year.

Just don't expect to leave it feeling good about yourself.

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QCF: Fist Puncher

any questions come to mind when determining the worth of a classic arcade brawler: Does the game offer players more than “move right and punch”? Do levels have various weapons and interactive objects scattered throughout? What can one expect in the way of character selection, boss battles, and other classic tropes? In the case of Team2Bit's tribute to the genre, well... there's certainly more than just "keep going."

Enter Fist Puncher, a beat-em-up brawler that combines elements of other popular arcade classics from the golden age of gaming (think Double Dragon and Bad Dudes) and fuses them with the progression elements found in any character-building RPG. And yes -- you’ll have plenty of objects to pick up and throw at enemies. Hell, some levels feature nothing but trash cans and other debris scattered around for this very purpose.

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QCF: My Ex-Boyfriend The Space Tyrant

nfortunately there's little for LGBT folk when it comes to the mainstream culture of video games. There are very few games themselves that deal with the kind of issues relatable with the gay community, and often when homosexuality is bought up it's as a childish punchline ala Blood Dragon. Despite this, though, there are a few indie games that do appeal to this less-than-marketed-to demographic, and thankfully these games fill a void that other games are just afraid to even acknowledge.

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QCF: Regular Show-Best Park In The Universe

e live in a day and age where a blue jay and raccoon can make a living being hilarious through the lenses of rose-colored glasses of nostalgia, and it works... really well. Nostalgia is a strange thing, regardless of whatever we hold close to our hearts. Regardless of its age, the argument over whether or not it’s a product of the time becomes nullified; it’s a beast of philosophical proportions and a prevalent one within media -- especially video games. In this case, though, it’s been a mine of delight for nerd-culturist and artist J.G. Quintel and his wildly successful property, Regular Show, a program full of homages and references to video games. It only makes sense that a video game adaption would soon follow suit.

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QCF: Towerfall

ideo Games have the unique ability of making you constantly hate your friends with what should be a fun time making digitized pictures move with one another. The appeal of getting your buds and pals on a couch together, huddled around the glow of a television has always skirted towards the edge of violence and fits of rage that ranged anywhere from thrown controllers to controller unplugging. And you know, the internet makes me miss those days. The days of swearing at Bomberman because Chad pulled a dick move, or sitting back and watching Lisa ruin Mario Party because she somehow took everyone’s stars in one foul dice roll with Bowser are nearly long gone now. The good news is that the indie scene keeps the labor of love that is "couch play" alive.

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QCF: Kentucky Route Zero: Act 2

fter several months of waiting, we finally return to Kentucky Route Zero only to find that things are more bizarre than what they seemed. At the end of the first episode, as Conway and Shannon stare off into what must be Route Zero I imagined that the many questions I was left with would have some form of an answer after I hit the road. As I know now at the conclusion of Act 2, the answers will not come as easy, and that dealing with the questions is what makes this experience unlike any games on the PC right now.

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QCF: Zeno Clash 2

lmost four years after the release of the first person brawler Zeno Clash, we return to the eccentric world of Zenozoik and its bizarre inhabitants. In Zeno Clash 2, players will explore much more of the landscape, while completing quests and finding allies along the way. While combat has been improved along with new weapons, the overall game play still has the same issues as the original. ACE attempts to flesh out the experience within the nine or ten hour campaign, however punching and kicking will only carry this abnormal adventure so far.

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QCF: Evoland

amers are a fickle bunch, and while I understand that I’m posing an opinionated statement as fact, the evidence that supports the conclusion isn’t just some common consensus that you can argue, it’s reality. Keeping that in mind, when a game pays some sort of tribute or homage to some bit of allusion in video game culture that only a gamer would recognize then the odds have always shown the reference to be a surefire hit among players as a standout moment within the game. Whether it’s shameless and shallow or well thought out and brilliant, the love letter mechanic has always been met with open reception. Still, how well does the concept pan out when the game is entirely built around it?

Shiro Games aims for the stakes with Evoland, a literal portrayal of the growth in adventure video games from the late eighties to the present. While the gimmick is heartwarming and will appeal to an audience in some capacity, it barely stands to prop up a game that can’t competently stand on its own otherwise.

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