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What Are We Playing [May 2026]

  • 2 days ago
  • 4 min read

This month's What Are We Playing highlights the amazing quarter we've had for video games. Of course, it wouldn't be a PostCurious WAWP without a few tabletop games to round out the screen time!

Image via Steam
Image via Steam

Esoteric Ebb is an RPG that wears its Disco Elysium influence openly, but also holds its own—lighter in tone, fantasy-set, and considerably more whimsical, even when it edges into more serious territory. If you're drawn to D&D-style lore and world-building, you can get a lot of mileage out of this game.

The onboarding was smooth, though expectation-setting was a little off. The game leans more dialogue-heavy than the setup suggests, and some abilities go unused—raising the question of what might've been missed in unexplored corners. Though light in combat, the wittiness of the writing more than makes up for it: there were frequent laugh-out-loud moments, and the world-building has enough depth to keep the momentum going. Though it's an homage to one of our all-time favorite games, it is also something unique in itself, and made me want to spend more time exploring the world and characters.


Time: 20+ hours

Difficulty: 2/5


Image via Steam
Image via Steam

From its opening sequence, Gris is gorgeous and experimental. A light platformer—watercolor, atmospheric, closer in spirit to Journey than to anything puzzle-heavy—with art that kept surprising throughout. The animation is a clear labor of love, and the music lifts the whole experience to a Zen-state that is hard to overstate. It was not always immediately obvious what to do, but the solution always felt attainable. The game wants you to succeed, but there are some sequences that require precise timing, so expect your patience to be tested a bit. The mechanics build on each other nicely, and the art, animation, and small extra touches make pushing through the harder moments feel worthwhile. This game is simple, but full of beautiful moments, which was enough motivation to persevere through the occasional pesky jump sequence. If you're looking for a way to challenge yourself while winding down from a long day, add this one to your list!

Time: ~4 hours

Difficulty: 2.5/5


Image via Steam
Image via Steam

Lord Winklebottom Investigates is a classic point-and-click mystery solving game where the detective is a giraffe in a world full of animals. Punny, dry, and easy to get started at any skill level. The art isn't the most polished, but its quirky style fits right with the vibe. The puzzles occasionally require combining objects in ways that aren't intuitive, and the hint system tends to be too generalized to be reliably useful. Always make sure that you're thorough, as new options don't always appear until a particular action is triggered. Otherwise, you'll be sent back to sleuth around more. The puzzling could have been more satisfying, but it feels like the start of something that could develop into a stronger series. Fans of whimsy in detective games will still enjoy this one for its particular flavor of silliness.


Time: ~5 hours

Difficulty: 2/5



Wilmot's Warehouse is a co-operative tabletop game about placing tiles and then remembering where you put them. Sounds easy enough, right? The catch is the only way to remember is the collective story your group builds around each tile. Is that a candy corn or a mountain? It depends entirely on how your group decides to look at it.


The ambiguous shapes make for genuinely fun collaboration, and building a shared organizational logic with friends is more entertaining than it sounds. A little intimidating at first, but with the right group it's a great time. If co-op communication games like Concept or Decorum are your thing, this is worth a play!


Time: 30-60 minutes

Difficulty: 3/5



This is the sequel to Slay the Spire, a roguelike deckbuilder and one of my favorite games. Though the game is still in early access, it already feels more polished than many finished games. Some placeholder artwork remains here and there, but don't let that put you off! The core gameplay is still the essence of the original, with new cards, rewards, and characters, each introducing a mechanic that opens up a fresh set of synergies and abilities. The biggest addition is the multiplayer feature, and it's not an afterthought: it runs smoothly, works cross-platform, and holds up just as well over voice chat as it does in the same room. With multiple characters and generated levels, each battle is a new puzzle with effectively endless replay potential. For newcomers to deck-builders, this is a great title to try, especially for its multiplayer functionality. For anyone who's logged serious hours in the original, the wait was worth it.


Time: ~1-1.5 hour per run

Difficulty: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯



Fans of Taskmaster will find a lot of love in the details—the artwork and writing are full of nods to the hit show. Didn't know it was a show? Not a problem, as no knowledge of the show is required to play. The game can be played fully offline, though the online solution checker is worth using for the bonus videos featuring "Little" Alex Horne. Most puzzles are beginner-friendly and well signposted, with clear, logical solutions. A handful had too many possible extraction paths to work through comfortably without hints, which made those particular moments feel more tedious than challenging. The "pop-up" format of the board is enjoyable—clues appear in the cards and papers as well as the house itself—and the variety of mechanics kept things from feeling repetitive. Nothing groundbreaking, but nothing that overstays its welcome either. Fans of the show looking for a lighter tabletop escape game experience should add this to their must-play list!

Time: ~2 hours

Difficulty: 1.5/5


What have you been playing lately?


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