Recent reviews by Phoenix

Backpack Hero is a great innovative take on the rogue-like genre. The puzzle of sorting and managing your inventory works shockingly well, with items comboing based on their position in the backpack and what they have next to them. And with the latest update they added a whole meta-aspect to it, where the items you bring back allow you to unlock more items and improve your town.

Really, my only negatives are:
1. It is still "inventory management, the game". Expect to spend a lot of time figuring out what items you want to keep and what you want to throw away, and finagling everything so it fits. This might not be so bad, but...
2. The game is easy. Very easy. So you'll spend a lot of time perfecting a build, but a build half as good could've won you the game.

Still highly recommend though. It's very fun and very different compared to a lot of what's out there.

Delightfully weird. There's more mechanics than Cosmo D's other games but it's all pretty easy to understand. Definitely make sure to save often though.

One of the best first person shooters I've played in recent years, it's a game all about the gun play without any excess mechanics to bog the game down. Getting certain combinations of items is incredibly satisfying too and gives you a real feeling of power that some other roguelikes lack.

Just beware the difficulty can spike at times and you can go down very quickly (though as you progress through the meta-progression tree things become easier). The game's all about taking down priority targets as fast as possible and screwing up means a run will be over real quick.

While not quite as good as Slay the Spire, Monster Train is still a great game that has enough differences and innovations to be worth playing (especially if you're a fan of the genre).

A fun addicting game where each run you'll try to figure out exactly how broken you can make your deck. Creating huge combos and just destroying bosses once you get everything just right is incredibly satisfying.

One of the best Metroidvania's I've ever played. The combat is great, and the exploration and discovery of the world is wonderful. It's more forgiving than Dark Souls, but I think that's more of a plus than a minus.

Essentially a rogue-lite strategy RPG with a hefty dose of Civilization and Oregon Trail thrown in for good measure. Combat takes a little getting used to but once you know what you're doing (and you disable animations) it's quick and fun and has a few pretty unique mechanics that add a bit of strategic depth. Out of combat (which is more of the game) you'll try to maximize you're score, and try to figure out just how to best use your characters and what areas and treasures you can take advantage of.

Also while I was a bit put off by the graphics at first they fit the game rather well and haven't bothered me since (though it helps that I find the gameplay as enjoyable as it is).

Definitely an underrated gem.