Welcome to my blog ✮

here, i'll share some of the most bizarre and intriguing games i know. as you will see, each time, i'll try to analyze them with a game design approach in mind.
i trully hope you'll like my work! (if you need more, don't forget to check my essays :>)

2025

Steve's Place (11.07.25)
Milk outside a bag of milk outside a bag of milk (10.19.25)
Ligthouse Keeper (10.04.25)
Garage: Bad Dream Adventure (09.13.25)
Novena (09.03.25)

TODO LIST (next games i'll review)

oath
.flow
Yume nikki
... and so much other games

STRANGE SITUATIONS

NOVENA

by Cecile Richard

Genre - poetry

Release - Jun 04, 2018

Reviewed - September 03, 2025

**hi!! I wanted to start somewhere, so here it is!** Last year I wanted to discover new games to play, so as always, I ended up on [OUJEVIPO](https://oujevipo.fr/) *(btw you should check it out, it's full of niche games)*. This is where I found Novita! ## ABOUT It's this short 8-bit poetic thing about perseverance. you play as a girl who decides, even if everyone else already tried and failed, to ask the ocean for a wish. You're looping though each tries, this creates an effect just like an anaphora, which is really cool! The simple, yet very cute, pixel art aesthetic reinforces this etheric vibe (which underlines the poetic intent). This is where this game shines, **it uses different narrative shapes to convey its meaning!** THIS IS SO COOL! ## MY FEELINGS As an aspiring game designer, it's very inspiring to see that there is so much way to convey a story and an intentionality! because we usually learn that only text or sound is important to carry a purpose but there are so many other ways to do it and this game teaches us that! As a deeper aspect, Novita conveys a great way to express our feeling as a game developper: simplicity might be the key, **what’s really matters is feeling!** I think that this is something that Chinese, Tang, poetry understood (idk why but Novita reminds me of *Wang Wei* poems). it’s short, it’s weirdly emotional, it’s free… just go play it!

GARAGE: BAD DREAM ADVENTURE

by Tomomi Sakuba, Toshiba-EMI

Genre - biopunk, point and click

Release - March 25, 1999

Reviewed - September 13, 2025

haiiii! welcome back! Last time, I shared a cute game, but i'have always preferred darker things. so, today I wanted to share a very weird-ass game. This one may be more popular among players (it has been shared a lot on reddit) but it's kinda hard to find things to tell without spoiling everything… Garage (as it is called) is this bizarre, scrappy game about machines in a post apocalyptic dream world, released in 1999. ## ABOUT **Garage's main key selling point might be its art style.** It's very appealing! While stealing a lot of tropes from cyberpunk or biopunk's aesthetic, it's still very unique. It reminds me of Blame! *(Tsutomu Nihei, 1997)* and I love it! Gameplay wise, this game is a simple point n'click. Even if there are some minigames (such as fishing), the core mechanic is about moving our character over railways, from places to places. Garage looks like a walking simulator before this genre even exists! ![garage illustration](https://shared.akamai.steamstatic.com/store_item_assets/steam/apps/1946430/ss_cd7797469457f90c662c65213d900c26399cc0df.1920x1080.jpg?t=1719893096) ## MY FEELINGS However, this game shines with his *narrative*! In this apocalyptic world, every human controls machines. Humans are not human either, they are called Shadows and are reminiscences of themselves. The machine we control is tasked to find his Shadow. Even if this goal seems like a McGuffin, **it creates a double reading through the game** - the Shadow can either be the dreamer *(as we see in a cutscene)* or the player *(because we're in a game)*- which is so interesting! Because of its very simple gameplay, this game only relies on an **indexical and environmental narrative** to create an ergodic path to convey its narrative. While this might be boring in a lot of games, I didn't find it that tedious. Also, because of its biopunk genre, it covers a lot of psychoanalysis themes. This made me uncomfortable a lot through my playthrough, but I found that this serves the creator's purpose in a good way. The game creator wanted to create an enigmatic and dark game and I think that he managed to create *just* that! Garage is still kind of game that you play to make you feel uncomfortable, so if you want to feel that, you shall definitely check it out :D

LIGHTHOUSE KEEPER

by Missing Calm

Genre - horror, experimental

Release - November 22, 2020

Reviewed - October 04, 2025

## ABOUT Today I'll talk about a game I played years ago. … Now that I think about it, it's more a nice piece of poetry than a game - there is no much interaction, just like a very simple light novel - but it's still cool! This might be a cool mix between a cute poem and a dark movie. In fact, you don’t know much about the story: Lighthouse Keeper is the short story of the last working day of someone that tended and cared for a lighthouse (a very lonely and repetitive job). Taking place as a piece of narrated poetry, you’ll have to resolve simple puzzles to progress through the story. ## MY FEELINGS What I loved about this game is its aesthetic (both graphical and feeling-wise). The etheric feeling created by the poetry and the voice-over (who sounds painful) pushed me into the narrative's fantasy. More than just something visual, I felt the big waves hitting the lighthouse. I really was into the narrative world. As you progress, you quickly understand that what the main character is telling seems like an introspection more than just a simple monologue. **It felt like I was reading Soljenitsyne!** Using a monochromatic pixelated aesthetic, moreover than just its coolness, created an impressionist vibe, which fits the vibe of the game! as always, I recommend you to play it, it's a very cool game :>

MILK OUTSIDE A BAG OF MILK OUTSIDE A BAG OF MILK

by Nikita Krykov

Genre - visual novel, horror

Release - December 16, 2021

Reviewed - October 19, 2025

## ABOUT Today’s game might be the most popular game for now. Milk outside a bag of milk… is the sequel of Milk inside a bag of milk… while being a visual novel, this game is famous for having **metalepsis shapes through its narrative** (which is very cool!!). TBH, I love the first game! I love it so much that I find ways to talk about it in every essay! But don’t get me wrong, I also liked this opus, but I was a bit disappointed… Maybe it should have more new things and rely less on the prequel. But never mind! It was still a very good experience! ## MY THOUGHTS Each time, I’m writing so much about the game's appearance,, so let’s be quick! Just like the first game, the monochromatic or really small color palette creates a non-physical aesthetic; just like if I were looking through a destroyed TV. While the previous game’s colors were focused on purple, this time, *it's red*! It’s emphasizing the dangerous vibe of the narrative. Also, the drawings are so cool, with unexpected perspectives that fit the meaning of each scene! ![milk inside a bag of milk screenshot :3](https://shared.fastly.steamstatic.com/store_item_assets/steam/apps/1604000/ss_5bb246a7b769ca77a031c971505d6716bbff1db5.1920x1080.jpg) Something new from the previous game is the screen’s staging. I felt like nearly every screen is an image within an image *(from the first part to the last, which is a mirrored version of the first game)*. Now, let’s talk about the most interesting things in those games: **they are about perception and phenomenology**! From texts (where narratives are shaped through the main character’s way of thinking) to graphics (with weird and limited colors and shapes), everything is from the point of view of the protagonist. **Even the player is a part of The Girl’s consciousness!** That explains why choices are limited, that explains that you exist as a whole inside this game. And even if it might seem like an introspection, every scene is drawn as an external POV which serves the plot so much! THIS GAME IS REALLY SMART! Unfortunately, these reviews must be short, and I can’t express how much I love those games… so this is a short list of things I found cool: - Sound design embodies The Girl's emotions very well! - Every aspect is well-designed to convey the narrative's meaning. - This game's focus is feelings *(which are hard to express)* while talking about mental illness - Screen layout is splendid and fit well each meaning - The phenomenological approach made me scream of happiness :D that’s why you must play it and experience those feelings!

STEVE'S PLACE

by Brem

Genre - RPG, Narrative, Psychedelic

Release - August 03, 2025

Reviewed - November 07, 2025

## ABOUT These days, I’ve been enjoying playing a lot of weird games from LSD Dream Emulator Game Jams. While searching for new experiences, I found today’s game :3 While being described as an RPG, it’s more like a narrative top-down game inspired by Hylics and Yume Nikki. Its main topic is writer’s block. You play as a song writer that’s unable to create new music. With a **surrealist, psychedelic and retro look**, you’ll have to win combats to obtain enough Inspiration to beat your “hit’s block”. Then, in order to find inspiration, you’ll go into your dreams. Here, you’ll meet a cute ghost that will help you to defeat your fears, so that you can create again. Until you defeat your creative fear, you will gain XP through small RPG battles against weird and *Evangelion-Angel* like monsters! There, a narrative loop is set up. ## MY THOUGHTS To be fair, I choose this game neither because of its gameplay, *but more for its looks*. TBH, I’m bored of this RPG trope, motif, to add combat where it’s not necessary. It might have been more significant to create a music based mini-game or just text-based encounters. ![steve's place screenshot :3](https://img.itch.zone/aW1hZ2UvMzc3MDg1Mi8yMjQ0Mzc0Ny5wbmc=/original/eUDBht.png) However, I found the loop effect to be a really cool and interesting narrative shape that fit the author’s intentions. Like, it’s not about a time loop but more of a “I’ve tried everything so I’ll let time help me” loop! Narratively, the story unfolds correctly, characters felt cute enough to have empathy toward them. As I said previously, I chose this game for its aesthetic (both visual and musical); because of all of the little mistakes (texture’s UVs, chromatic aberration…), the game has a *‘self made’* appearance. **Both characters and enemies' designs are also very appealing**. I really liked how irreal enemies looked while adjuvant characters looked like humans (but they were still surreal) - it enhanced the good/evil dialectic. As for the environment, the dream-space is very cool with colorful, hand-made pixel art assets! Graphical intends to create this psychedelic handcrafted world (maybe because your character is an artist? What? Is that a metadiscourse??? omg!), is well done all over the game!