Egg Fried Rice

Also known as:  N/A

Developer: Grainwood Games

I love this game. It's not the greatest game ever created or anything like that…but it's impressive for what it is. Egg Fried Rice is a very simplistic game, but a lot of that simplicity is hidden with the fact that the gameplay is varied for the brief, 15 minutes that it takes to complete. In that short span of time, you'll explore your house, drive to a Chinese restaurant, and potentially find yourself in a dark trail through the woods….all because you couldn't sleep and wanted some egg fried rice. Aside from that, you can make phone calls to friends, family, and the police…and you'll find radios all over, including in your car, with more than one radio station to choose from. I also really enjoy the retro look of everything found in the game…it makes it enjoyable to work your way towards seeing all four endings (four styles of endings, but there's more than one variation of a few endings, depending on how you play) that the game has to offer. Everything just rolls up into a very, very good, short game. I don't know if Grainwood Games is a single person (which would make this game even more impressive) or a collection of people, but if they can make a short game this solid, I'm looking forward to seeing what they can create if they make something with a little more meat to it. You can find this game for free over at itch.io, but you can donate money if you like what they created. I liked it a lot, and I gladly donated.

Review added: 10/31/2024

The Elder Scrolls: Arena

Also known as:  N/A

Developer: Bethesda Softworks

I've put countless hours into Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim over the years…but the first two Elder Scrolls games I had never played. After seeing that the first game in the series, The Elder Scrolls: Arena, was free on Steam, I decided to give it a try. Several hours later, I found that The Elder Scrolls: Arena had hooked me just like the more recent games in the series had. While this game isn't a masterpiece by any stretch, it's a very ambitious game with a huge, open game world. You can essentially visit all of Tamriel in this game. If you're a fan of Skyrim, you can visit a 1994 version of Skyrim here. If you're a fan of Oblivion, you can visit the Imperial City and the surrounding area from that game here. If you loved Morrowind, you can visit that area here as well. Much like later games in the series, it's simply just fun to wander around and explore to see what you're able to discover. The downside, though, is that this game is so huge that much of your travel is very uneventful, and since this was released in 1994, most of the environments as you travel aren't the most interesting. The end result is a game that was ahead of its time, and maybe a little too ambitious for the limitations of PC software in 1994. While I appreciate the size of this game, shrinking the in-game world could have resulted in more interesting travel between towns…while the boring travel didn't necessarily bother me, I can easily see it making other folks get bored and give up on this game. Likewise, this game is so vast, that it can be difficult to figure out exactly where you need to go to advance the story. Still, though, if you're a fan of the Elder Scrolls games and want to see how the series got its start, I definitely recommend The Elder Scrolls: Arena. It won't be for everyone, but I found myself to be a pretty big fan.

Review added: 10/18/2025

Electronic Super Joy

Also known as:  N/A

Developer: Michael Todd Games

While I've heard a lot of folks say that Electronic Super Joy is really hard, I don't really see the game as difficult...you can restart over and over as many times as it takes to complete an area by familiarizing yourself with the level and coming up with a good strategy to make it through. Yes, you'll die a lot...but it's hard for me to say that a game with infinite lives is difficult. After a few attempts, what seemed impossible becomes conquerable. What seems difficult becomes easy through repetition. And as I mentioned, you've got infinite lives, so you have unlimited opportunities to get better and advance on in the game. But anyway, Electronic Super Joy is a well-designed platformer with an interesting visual design, a challenging-but-fair difficulty, and a nice sense of humor. If you're into 2D platformers, this is a great game to play…an absolute joy, pun intended.

Review added: 07/22/2019

Ells Tales: Egg

Also known as:  N/A

Developer: Ells&Pills

At first glance, Ells Tales: Egg looks pretty boring…click a button to make the egg jump over the rotating half-ring. But then you start to play, try to click the left mouse button, and wind up sawing your hands off. That doesn't kill you, though…and without your hands, you're free to get up from the table and use your arm stumps to hit the exit button….and as the door slowly opens for you to escape, a murderous rooster wielding an axe runs over and murders you. So, then you click some more, playing the egg jump rope…and then you realize that you're able to look around…looking at markings on the wall, both while at the table, and if you chop your hands off again and briefly explore before the rooster gets you, you'll see that they give you hints on things you can do to get your left hand free….then your right hand free. You can grab the egg out of the air with one hand free, making things a little easier, and ensuring that the watchful hens don't murder you in anger if the egg breaks. Eventually, you can get ahold of a shotgun to defend yourself against the rooster…With the rooster down, there are two endings that you can get. I found myself finishing the game in a little over half an hour…and then putting in quite a bit more time, just experimenting and trying to see if I could find any new combinations of things to do to make my life a little easier…like grabbing the egg to ensure it doesn’t break. Ells Tales: Egg isn't necessarily a must-play game, but if you like interesting, unique games with a low price point, then I bet you'll find some enjoyment in this chicken-based, Saw-influenced game of egg jump rope.

Review added: 10/18/2025

Eversion

Also known as:  N/A

Developer: Zaratustra Productions

I've had Eversion in my Steam library for a while but never took the time to sit down and play it…but, since it popped up under the "Horror" label, I decided to play it as part of my giant, Halloween PC game update this year. I'm glad I finally gave it a chance. While the platforming itself is pretty dull and uninspiring, the gimmick of switching between dimensions with the "Evert" button makes up for that a bit. You can't just switch between dimensions willy-nilly, you've got to find a spot where the sky changes slightly. That's a sign that you can switch. By switching, clouds that you've fall through may become strong enough to support you, or plant life blocking your path may become withered so you can walk past it. Making use of the Evert button is the key to collecting all of the gems in the game, which is necessary to get the "special" ending. Anyway, while it may seem odd that a game is considered a horror game when you control a flower trying to platform his way towards saving a princess…but some of the dimensions that you'll be switching to get pretty dark…and the endings don't really get much brighter. Anyway, if you're looking for a decent platformer with unique gimmick and that has a little bit of a dark side to it, then Eversion might be for you.

Review added: 10/31/2024

Evil Holiday

Also known as:  N/A

Developer: REVVALUTION Studio

Evil Holiday is a nice, short horror game with Christmas themes mixed in. It's roughly 45 minutes in length, so it's over before it starts to get old, which is nice…but if Santa Claus is reading this, it's also got the "naughty" aspect of some of REVVALUTION Studio's games where the trigger area for certain items in the game is ridiculously small. There's no reason to have to move around in place for more than a minute, moving the mouse around just to find that microscopic area that will register for you to pick up an item. It also doesn't really do very much to make you feel scared or uneasy…I think this is the first game to get me with a jump scare where my mouse wobbled instead of staying steady, so I'll give them that one. But jump scares don't really result in a creepy atmosphere. I do like, however, a scene where the smoke detector is going off while some stuff is happening…while an annoying sound, having that on top of everything else, does create a nice moment of anxiety. The rest of the game, not so much, though. Still, I enjoyed the story and the game as a whole….I'm a sucker for Christmas-themed horror, though, so it's hard to make me not enjoy a game like this. Overall, Evil Holiday is a decent, short walking simulator that you can enjoy during Christmas or Halloween. It won't wow you, nor will it live up to any of the descriptions in the Steam "About this game" section, but its fine for what it is.  

Review added: 10/18/2025

Evoland

Also known as:  N/A

Developer: Shiro Games

Mix the 2D Legend of Zelda games with Final Fantasy with a hint of Diablo and you've got Evoland. It's a really charming game that takes you through the basic, technical history of RPGs and action adventure games. It's fun and a nice ride down memory lane, but when you peel away the neat concept, you're left with a very basic game that probably won't have you wanting to come back for more. If you're not swayed by the concept of working through various eras in video games, then you probably also won't be wowed or won over by the gameplay. Likewise if you're looking for a deep experience, you won't find it here. On the other hand, if the concept of playing through various RPG styles sounds awesome to you, or if you've played most RPG classics and you'd like a little nostalgia, then you'll likely be happy to deal with the issues and simplicity that this game provides as you work your way through to the end of this short, but somewhat charming game.

Review added: 08/26/2022