10 Best Games In The Bundle For Ukraine, Ranked
The Bundle for Ukraine is a collective bundle of 998 games by 736 creators hosted by Necrosoft Games in order to raise $6 million for a pair of charities to help Ukraine. For a minuscule $10, you can own all of the games in the bundle, but the drive ends on Thursday, March 17th, 2022 at 11:59 pm EST.
Within the bundle are both digital and tabletop games, as well as books, assets, and other gaming resources – some of which have never been part of a bundle before. Some downloads are even from impressive developers who joined up just for this the purposes of this event.
10 Jotun Is A Gorgeous Game That Takes Place In The Norse Afterlife
Jotun has made waves with its gorgeous hand-drawn style, stellar storytelling, and stunning gameplay. It follows the story of a Viking warrior who has to prove herself in order to make it to the halls of Valhalla. This means that she has a lot of trials and fights to get through, hacking and slashing her way through a sort of Norse purgatory with little more than her great axe.
Jotun is an amazing game with difficult battles, and this bundle edition sets the bar even higher. The Valhalla Edition features a new mode that allows for even more difficult versions of Jotun to put players’ abilities to the test.
9 Baba Is You Is A Unique Puzzle Game
Baba is You is an interesting little puzzler where the player makes the rules. It’s a deceptively difficult game, masking this fact behind simple visuals and simple goals. However, Baba is You allows for those goals and rules to change based on how the player reformats the text to solve puzzles.
All the player can do is push around different parts of sentences, along with some other objects to complete each scenario. Oftentimes, Baba is You has multiple solutions, meaning, that the player might have to move some walls, or make Baba himself the winning objective.
8 2064: Read Only Memories Is Full Of Consequential Choices
2064: Read Only Memories is a fascinating mystery game full of cause-and-effect consequences, mixing old point-and-click style games with a modern touch. 2064 has made waves with its identity inclusivity and its exploration of what it means to be human.
There are a lot of in-depth characters who start out seeming monstrous because of their appearance but end up becoming the most relatable and human feeling of the bunch. Suffice to say, 2064 is about toppling preconceived notions. On top of the mysteries to uncover, there are also a ton of puzzles that have some head-scratching solutions, requiring the player to reconsider their usual gaming thought processes.
7 Evergate Is An Adorable Trek Through The Afterlife
Evergate is a beautiful pixel platformer following the lost soul Ki in her quest to open the titular Evergate to get back to Earth. The game has 85 separate challenges and different unlockable abilities that the player must utilize to open smaller gates along the way.
Evergate is reminiscent of the old-style platformers with a bunch of intricate puzzles to solve, but in a way that isn’t agonizing or for the sake of itself. The story is also extremely engaging and brings along with it a sense of accomplishment every time a new gate is reached.
6 Celeste Is A Platformer To Take Notes From
Celeste is one of those games that has its reputation for a reason. It might not be the best looking game in the bundle, but it’s definitely one for the books. This is a massive side-scroller with over 700 screens, puzzles, and charming storytelling about self-discovery that makes every minute of gameplay worthwhile.
The main point of Celeste is to get to the top of a tall mountain. Along the way, there are a ton of puzzles and secrets to uncover, many of which push the simplistic style to its limits. Aspects of the game that don’t seem like a big deal at first become very important later on, making it fun to go through each screen in order to get just a little bit closer to the top.
5 .DUNGEON Needs To Be Printed But Is Sure To Bring Enjoyment To TTRPG Fans
Not every game within the bundle for Ukraine is digital. There are assets and tilesets, little books for roll tables, and even beautiful, well-thought-out TTRPGs, like .dungeon. It’s an alternate reality-style game where one player takes the role of the world itself, much like a Game or Dungeon Master, and additional players come along for the ride.
However, .dungeon has a lovely unique spin to it where the real world actively affects what is happening to the characters in-game. It’s on a pass-fail system that is extremely simple, and there is a collective hit point system as well, representing the connection for all of the players. .dungeon is worth checking out for TTRPG fans looking for a little something different.
4 Lucifer Within Us Is The Phoenix Wright Of Hell
Lucifer Within Us is very much akin to Phoenix Wright in that the point is to interrogate and unravel mysteries of corrupt church officials. The thing that makes Lucifer special is there are no hidden plot twists, random puzzles, or mini-games. It’s all mystery-solving without any of the fluff of similar fare.
This means that it’s extremely difficult in some cases and forces the player to question more than just what’s happening in-game. Lucifer also requires a lot of memory or some good note-taking, otherwise minor mistakes might just come back to cause trouble down the line. Just know that there are a lot of liars out there, so each interrogation can be a bit of a gamble.
3 GoNNER Makes Procedural Generation Painful
GoNNER is a roguelike for players who love pain. It is extremely difficult and full of daily challenges, puzzles, and amazing music. Dying is going to happen, and it’s going to happen a lot. That’s alright though, as the game is built to accommodate for this fact. GoNNER doesn’t hold the player’s hand, but it also recognizes that the point is to be as difficult as possible.
GoNNER also features many ability unlocks and some super special secrets that enhance the colorful side-scroller scenery that generates itself. These secrets can then be used every run instead of being lost upon death, which makes them extremely useful in the trek throughout this painfully difficult game.
2 Promesa Is An Award Winner
Promesa is a beautifully surreal game where the player wanders through dreams and memories of a grandparent and their grandchild. The game presents a unique way of thinking about the dreams of someone who hasn’t experienced something firsthand in a way that’s both unique and shared.
If there was ever a need for a poignant, poetic gaming experience, Promesa has it. Much of the game is just a matter of going through general storytelling and experiencing it along with the characters rather than a ton of combat, puzzles, or trickery that so many other games lean on.
1 Bard Harder! Lets Players Be The Bard They Always Wanted To Be
Bard Harder! takes the trope that bards will hit on anything and everything to new levels. It’s a visual novel-style game where the point is to try and avoid combat by flirting with anything and everything that moves. Bard Harder! is hilarious and worth it for anyone who loves TTRPGs and has even a little bit of that bard energy within them.
Bard Harder! is basically a dating sim and a TTRPG rolled up into one, complete with a ton of different routes and outcomes for player choices. The game breaks often for out-of-character chatting like what happens around a real gaming table, complete even with the Game Master (Wyvern Master in this case) occasionally asking the player if they are sure they want to follow through with their actions.
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