What Are We Playing? [May 2025]

Periodically on this blog we highlight a handful of tabletop and digital games to spread the word about interesting experiences and support other creators. Here's our May edition, which includes a mix of tabletop games and video games.

Blue Prince by Raw Fury

Blue Prince is a house exploration game, in which the house changes every game day. Every time you open a new door, you draft one room from a choice of 3, in the hopes of eventually finding a hidden 46th room. If you don’t find the room in the allotted steps, you are forced to leave the mansion and try again. This is a brilliantly conceptualized roguelite puzzle game, one I found myself literally dreaming about, after playing it late into the night.

There were times where I felt overly limited with what I could accomplish in that gameplay loop, and there was a lot of reliance on the luck of the draw. I often found that I did not have the pieces I needed at the moments I needed them, and it would have been nice in the late game to maintain more inventory items between runs. There were clues and narrative beats spread throughout the mansion, which led to fun discoveries. Occasionally, I found the solutions to the puzzles to be unnecessarily obtuse, though most of them are cleverly conceived. The amount of content in this game far exceeds what the beginning of the game implies (there is a reason it says to keep a notebook!)

All in all, this game was incredibly captivating. I was constantly excited to uncover new rooms, items, and puzzles, even when that meant starting a new loop. If you enjoy exploration games, this is a must-play!

Difficulty: 3/5

Time: ~10-20 hours to complete the “main” quest, easily twice as much if you keep going

Sherlock Holmes: Phantom’s Hour by Wolf Escape Games

Sherlock Holmes: Phantom’s Hour is a solid online escape room experience where you follow the path of Sherlock and Watson through the streets of London. To solve the city’s latest mystery, you meet characters and solve puzzles in a linear, story-driven adventure. The puzzles provide some fun aha moments, and are generally not too complex. While run from your browser, the high production value still makes it feel like playing a full video game. If you are looking for a short, well-crafted puzzle adventure that can be played solo or remotely with a friend, this is a good option.

Difficulty: 2/5

Time: ~90 mins

Image via Steam

Griftlands by Klei Entertainment

Griftlands is a rougelite deck-building game in which you play a mercenary traversing a planetary world. The game starts with one playable character, but before long, 2 more are unlocked, each with their own story line. Getting started is pretty intuitive, but there could have been better onboarding in terms of describing card effects so that players could make more informed decisions when building their deck throughout the game. That being said, it was satisfying to upgrade cards and abilities.

The gameplay was compelling enough to keep me engaged for a full run with each of the playable characters. It was really interesting to see how their stories intertwined and varied, with subtle gameplay differences between each. I’m looking forward to going back and replaying some of the characters to unlock more card abilities and try different story options. If you like deck-building games, this is definitely one to try out!

Difficulty: 2/5

Time: ~2 hours per run (more for the first run when you are just becoming familiar with the mechanics)

Image via Mystery Unfolds

Puzzle Cards by Mystery Unfolds

I recently played through two puzzle cards created by Mystery Unfolds: Crossed Words and Escape the Swedish Furniture Store. These cards can just act as self-contained puzzles, or can be an added challenge to the gift-giving process by making someone solve a puzzle in order to earn their present.

Crossed Words did some fun things with its solving process, and I enjoyed the unusual, visually pleasing art. There were some moments of odd grammar and a word I did not recognize due to regional differences, but it seems like the designer is making edits to provide more clarity, which is always great to hear. When I had these stumbles, the hint system was effective in getting me back on track. With some tweaks in a new printing, this would be a nice card to give a puzzle lover in your life.

Escape the Swedish Furniture Store was adorable, with drawings that resembled a… certain Swedish furniture store… along with its maps and famously simple instructions. The execution was incredibly charming. The perspective drawings had great attention to detail, and it was satisfying to use different parts of the artwork to solve the puzzle. This one comes to Kickstarter soon, so keep an eye out.

Overall, I am looking forward to trying the backlog of cards from Mystery Unfolds!

Difficulty: 2/5

Time: ~15 mins per card

Image via Steam

The End of the Sun by Mokosh Games

The End of the Sun is a first-person narrative exploration game reminiscent in style (but not in content) of Gone Home. By discovering objects in different locations and time periods, you uncover the story of a couple interacting with creatures and characters from Slavic folklore. I rarely see games that focus on this folklore, and I really enjoyed the atmosphere, music, and discoveries that came from exploring a world with that setting. It was also interesting to see the same environment in four different seasons and decades, though the mechanic was occasionally tedious if a lot of walking was required.

While the animation and dialogue could use some improvement, the graphics were generally well done, and I found the story and characters compelling. There were some puzzles to complete along the way, and the tasks were not particularly difficult, despite some navigational challenges caused by an unclear map and iconography.

This team may have had a small budget, but a lot of love clearly went into making this game. If you like narrative-driven adventures, exploring folklore, and the supernatural, it is worth giving this one a try.

Difficulty: 1.5/5

Time: ~7 hours

What have you been playing lately?