It is unfortunate, but Spooktober – one of my favorite times of the year – has left us. That said, the month did bring us a bunch of cool games, some of which you may have missed! I have five such games to tell you about this time, from all sorts of genres. So as usual, thanks to the publishers who sent these games to me in order to make this list possible and let’s get right into it.

Potionomics

Potionomics is a lot of things. At its core, it’s a deckbuilding simulation game about building up an inherited potion shop. But it’s also an RPG, a time management game, and even a dating sim. And to top all of that off, it is done with some of the highest levels of presentation I have seen in this genre. Literally everything about the game – the animation, the art, the music, the UI design – is some seriously polished stuff and you can really tell a lot of passion went into crafting an aesthetically pleasing experience.

The gameplay too. It’s not too complex, but it isn’t dummy easy either. The card game may be simple enough, but the real challenge is managing your time to have high tier potions ready in time for competition. If you don’t then you’re out of luck and honestly, it’s a lot rougher on that aspect than I expected. Still some fun stuff though and worth a look for anyone that likes these fantasy simulation games. 

Potionomics retails for $25 USD and is available on Steam.

LEGO Bricktales

Following up on the excellent LEGO Builder’s Journey from last year, we get LEGO Bricktales, a relaxing little LEGO puzzle game where you must embark on an adventure to help your grandfather rebuild his rundown amusement park. Of course, to do this you will venture across numerous different biomes, help out others along the way, and build a whole lot of neat little contraptions. Sometimes you’ll need just a simple bridge that can withstand a set weight, but sometimes you’ll need a monkey statue to open a temple door or even a helicopter to fly to the top of a mountain.

There’s a lot to build here and although the controls do take some getting used to, it’s a lot of fun and reminds me of when I would sit and tinker with Lego Digital Designer all day as a kid, especially given that there’s a sandbox mode on top of the story stuff. It’s a cool experience and an easy recommendation for LEGO fans or really casual puzzle game fans in general.

LEGO Bricktales retails for $30 USD and is available on Steam. It is also available through GOG and on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Switch.

Sunday Gold

Sunday Gold is a seriously stylized point & click adventure game with a mix of RPG and a bit of tactics too. It’s set in a dystopian future where you control a small group of criminals working to expose an evil mega corporation and the gameplay has you taking up the traditional point & click style, but in a turn-based manner. That already sets it apart from the rest, but this system is also tied into the turn-based combat, where turns extend both to regular actions in the game world and your moves in combat, making for this really interesting dynamic. The puzzles too, nothing too difficult, but decent for the genre and the game does a great job working around this turn-based system.

And yeah, it is very stylized, almost like the entire thing plays straight out of a graphic novel. It’s overall dark and gritty – especially when combined with the story – but the comic-like effects and animations provide for some nice contrast. I’m not sure where the story is going just yet, but I’ve enjoyed my time with the game thus far and would recommend it to point & click fans.

Sunday Gold retails for $22 USD and is available on Steam. You can get an official Steam key 10% off and support the channel using my Gamesplanet partner link.

Harmony’s Odyssey

Harmony’s Odyssey is a very colorful little indie puzzle adventure game built around the creation of various dioramas. Most of the puzzles will have you sorting out mixed up dioramas across a wide variety of different biomes – whether that be a simple garden or a full-blown city center. Sometimes there’s even a minigame to complete on these dioramas at the same time and the game even has co-op support on top of that. It is incredibly simple when it comes to actual gameplay depth, but oddly satisfying and the cute aesthetic definitely helps sell the experience (it’s what got me interested in the game to start with anyways).

For the co-op gameplay, I will note that the controls for that are really wonky and keyboard and mouse is the way better option if you can go that route. Regardless, Harmony’s Odyssey is a fun one, even if a bit short. Worth a look for puzzle game fans or anyone looking for a more casual experience.

Harmony’s Odyssey retails for $15 USD and is available on Steam.

Nitro Kid

Nitro Kid is yet another little indie that’s got a lot going on. It’s a roguelike deckbuilder at its core – one of my recent favorite genes – but played as a turn-based martial arts tactics game and with a very neon synthwave, retro aesthetic. You play one of three unique special agents, working through a building of grid-based rooms, defeating enemies, earning loot, and encountering random events along the way. It’s got all the roguelike staples on lock, but the combat is where the game really shines.

There is a LOT to make it more than just your average deckbuilder there, including numerous status effects, tons of card synergies, environment interactions, and even abilities that can be outright used at any time with additional charges either bought or earned throughout the run. And those abilities can be upgraded too, on top of upgrading your regular cards. It’s just a lot of potential customization, a lot of potential options to enter combat with. I kinda leaned into a more burn heavy deck that did damage over time with chain fire attacks for my first run, but that is just a sliver of what is on offer here. It’s been a fun one, worth a look for deckbuilding fans.

Nitro Kid retails for $20 USD and is available on Steam. You can get an official Steam key 10% off and support the channel using my Gamesplanet partner link.

And that’s it for October! Some great games here – my personal favorite was LEGO Bricktales. Anyways, I’ll see you all around this time next month!

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