Since 2011, The Yogscast have run the “Jingle Jam” every December. This is a collection of streams promoting a games bundle containing £1k+ of great games to raise money for charity. I’m reviewing all 76 of them! Here’s the final part with games 61-76.

Rating system

As a reminder, I’ll be using the same rating system as last year, essentially it’s purely how much I personally enjoy the game, not whether it’s good or not. As such, a great game might get a 1/5 if it’s not a genre I enjoy, and vice versa. It’s the only way to give an honest review!

  • 5/5: I had to stop myself playing this game, I’m very likely to replay this later and complete it.
  • 4/5: This was a good experience, but maybe had problems. I’ll likely play it again for a little bit eventually.
  • 3/5: The game was OK. Maybe it was a bit flawed, or just obviously bad game design decisions. I’m unlikely to play it again, but didn’t actively dislike it.
  • 2/5: This was not fun. Maybe it has some positive parts, but overall I didn’t enjoy my time playing.
  • 1/5: The game experience was actively unpleasant. I had to force myself to play more than a few minutes of it, and was relieved when I finally closed the game.

I played most games for at least an hour, but some are pretty small and understood / completed after 15-20 minutes. Information on peak player count are from SteamDB.info.

This is part 3 of a 3 part series: Games 1-30, 31-60, and 61-75+.

5/5 Games

Train Valley 2

Steam rating Price Description Released Peak players
86.52% - Store page £11.39 Train Planning Puzzles April 2019 448 (May 2020)

I generally don’t enjoy train games, which makes it very lucky that Train Valley 2 is actually primarily a puzzle game! The aim of the game is resource management and supply chains, with each level having a set of objects that need to be created.

This starts off easy (get grain, created by sending people to a farm) but quickly ramps up. Once resources require other resources (e.g. cows made from wheat made by people), connecting the necessary buildings can be a challenge. However, the real challenge is getting complacent, and before you know it there’ll be a horrendously expensive train crash!

I’ll be picking this up again to work through the 50ish levels, there’s no time constraints so it’s all about planning capability. Sips and Lewis played this a bit during Jingle Jam, worth a watch.

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3

Tinytopia

Steam rating Price Description Released Peak players
80.49% - Store page £7.19 Tiny Town Merging August 2021 170 (August 2021)

I loved this! I’m an absolute sucker for “merge” style games, and Tinytopia combines this with a city builder.

Citizens have all the requirements you’d expect (power, jobs, housing), and growing your city is a pretty simple process. Stack some apartments, stack some stores, add some amenities like police stations.

Interestingly, buildings don’t need to be placed particularly sensibly. You can place houses on the tops of other buildings, create a messy pile of small houses, it’s chaotic! However, higher levels of each building require placing them in a specific way, and it’s quite satisfying when multiple buildings combine at once.

Whilst I did enjoy the first few levels, and I’ll be coming back to it, I’m not sure about the longevity it’ll have. The 3rd screenshot below shows the wide variety of buildings, but once you’ve seen them all… what next? Each level has bonus objectives, but they’re pretty basic.

There’s also farms, monsters, shanty towns, natural disasters, bridges, and much more that I didn’t look at yet. Exciting!

City building Level select Buildings

4/5 Games

Totally Accurate Battle Simulator

Steam rating Price Description Released Peak players
96.43% - Store page £15.99 Chaotic Battle Madness April 2021 13,674 (April 2021)

I’ve watched Angory Tom play this so, so much! TABS is a core part of the Jingle Jam streams, and one of my favourite yearly events.

As a chaotic battle simulator, you have to make your own fun. This makes it a game that is perhaps more fun to watch than actually play, so here’s the last few years of tournaments instead:

  1. TABS Tournament 2020
  2. TABS Tournament 2021 & Part 2
  3. TABS Tournament 2022
  4. TABS Tournament 2023

Tiny Life

Steam rating Price Description Released Peak players
83.35% - Store page £12.79 Pixelated The Sims May 2023 84 (May 2023)

If you’re of a similar age to me, you’ve probably spent hundreds of hours in the original The Sims game from Maxis. Tiny Life is almost identical, but in pixelated form.

There are a few new mechanics, but realistically this is a nostalgic recreation of that 20+ year old game. Every action and objective will be instantly familiar, with the addition of things like pronouns, book titles, etc.

It looks like the developers are intending to implement Steam Workshop for maps and assets, which would be a great way to give this game a life of its own. In the current state, it really is just a pixelised version of The Sims. I love that, but… it’s lacking much depth or original ideas.

Character creator Book selection Household

Trifox

Steam rating Price Description Released Peak players
82.87% - Store page £5.99 Low Poly Platformer October 2022 17 (October 2022)

Trifox’s early levels reminded me, oddly enough, of the LEGO games. Exploring a linear level, smashing crates for coins, and killing anything you see.

Where it differs however, is the ability to choose a “loadout” of equipment, grouped into melee, ranged, and tech. I went for tech as usual, meaning when I unlocked longer distance movement it was a helicopter backpack, and when I unlocked a weapon it was a gun.

The difficulty is well-balanced, with all combat being challenging yet forgiving, and puzzles being solvable without guesswork. You can take a few hits, you can fall into a few holes, you’ll be fine once you’ve had a health potion.

Whilst I did enjoy the gameplay (besides the occasional 3D platforming awkwardness), the story wasn’t for me. It’s clearly been designed to not require words (so no translation), and is quite slapstick-y. Luckily the combat and puzzles are good enough to ignore the story, and I’m looking forward to seeing what the later game upgrades look like!

Cutscene Combat Loadout

3/5 Games

Toodee and Topdee

Steam rating Price Description Released Peak players
88.42% - Store page £16.75 Perspective Puzzling August 2021 104 (February 2022)

This was fun! Shifting between 3D and 2D perspectives to solve puzzles is a fun gimmick, and even a few puzzles in I could see the potential for brain-melting.

However, it’s a little awkward playing by yourself, and is definitely one of those things where the game is significantly better with a friend (at least based on gameplay videos).

2D 3D Level select

Turbo Golf Racing

Steam rating Price Description Released Peak players
80.40% - Store page £14.99 Rocket League Golf October 2022 17 (October 2022)

I used to love Rocket League, before it got sold off and… neglected. Turbo Golf Racing reminds me a lot of the earlier days of Rocket League, when it had solid gameplay mechanics but was just starting to implement extra monetisation.

The core gameplay is pretty fun, it’s just turn based golf with cars. I’m not sure if I was playing a human or a bot, since instantly finding another West Europe player when there’s ~10 players online seems… unlikely. Additionally, they drove pretty straight lines, never jump boosted, and never emoted. Still, I beat them!

Driving mechanics are very Rocket League-y, and this means the game sometimes feels like endlessly taking the kick-off shot. Line up shot, drive towards it, jump and boost, WHACK it in roughly the right direction. Easy.

I’m not sure how much more depth there is than I saw in a single match, besides the seemingly endless cosmetics and engagement-bait quests. There’s some sort of “cores” that give perks, but other than that all the gameplay seems identical to what I experienced. It’s also a little concerning that I won my 3-round game, received 1.1k “gears”… then the cheapest shop item is 1.3k. I’d have expected to be able to buy a cheap cosmetic or two!

Overall this would have been a 4, and maybe even a 5, if it wasn’t for the indications of shallowness and monetisation.

Taking a shot Winner Mid shot

We Are The Dwarves

Steam rating Price Description Released Peak players
65.96% - Store page £14.99 Tactical Dwarven ARPG February 2016 1,464 (April 2019)

It’s hard to have strong emotions on We Are The Dwarves. Wander round as a dwarf (others unlock later), shoot everything that moves, click everything else.

It was fine, but hard to recommend. Dull, repetitive environments, and all the button mashing of Diablo / Torchlight without any of the looting dopamine.

Exploring Combat Shielded

Zapling Bygone

Steam rating Price Description Released Peak players
76.49% - Store page £12.39 Slimey Skully Platformer August 2022 26 (August 2022)

What an odd exploring game. The gameplay is quite familiar, exploring a complex map, gaining upgrades, killing enemies. It’s all well implemented, and the controls feel precise.

Additionally, the aesthetic is intriguing, giving it a distinct alien feel.

However, my experience with it was pretty repetitive, and I’d be concerned that the rest of the game will be more of the same. With Spelunky, Rogue Legacy, and others, I’m kinda burnt out on exploring castles.

Exploring Exploring 2 Dialog

Zeepkist

Steam rating Price Description Released Peak players
91.75% - Store page £9.29 Bouncy Downhill Physics January 2021 241 (May 2022)

Zeepkist was a simple but fun experience. Think Trackmania, but with rubbery imprecise physics.

I played through the first few levels of the offline campaign, and they ramped up pretty slowly. Pretty simple levels with generous time restrictions, where a single mistake requires a restart.

After this, I hopped onto the online lobbies and… the difficulty ramped up! I could barely make the first few corners! I could definitely see this being addictive to play online, especially with friends. The workshop levels also help give the game longevity.

As an aside, the game felt vaguely familiar, turns out I watched the Yogs play it a month ago!

Downhill Photo mode Complex map

2/5 Games

Tunguska: The Visitation

Steam rating Price Description Released Peak players
80.65% - Store page £12.79 Apocalyptic Isometric RPG October 2022 17 (October 2022)

I could see how someone might enjoy Tunguska. It reminds me a lot of earlier Fallout games or S.T.A.L.K.E.R, since you’re trying to complete tasks and explore the wilderness whilst avoiding zombie-style enemies.

However, I found it just a bit too clunky. All information was dumped on you, with pages upon pages of information. The quests were pretty vague, which I know is how older RPG tend to work but… too vague for me!

I left the first town to try and complete my quest, then met a zombie. I managed to kill it with a crowbar I’d taken from a blue man in town, and was trying to figure out how to loot it. After pressing various buttons, I died, and was told I was lost to the zone. I respawned alllllll the way back at the entrance to town, seemingly with my quests all reset. OK.

Basement Information Campfire

Valthirian Arc

Steam rating Price Description Released Peak players
57.74% - Store page £12.99 Anime School RPG July 2021 288 (October 2018)

I don’t like high school RPGs. I don’t like team RPGs like Final Fantasy. I don’t like anime / cutesy art styles. I don’t like royalty storylines.

Valthirian Arc is all of these, so it’s perhaps no surprise I didn’t like it at all! The combat felt like blind button mashing, I had no interest in the story, and I won’t be touching it again.

Art styles Combat Building

Whispers in the West

Steam rating Price Description Released Peak players
76.64% - Store page £4.29 Co-op Murder Mystery July 2023 26 (July 2023)

This is obviously a game intended for multiple players, that can just about be played solo.

I played through the tutorial, and it reminded me a bit of LA Noire, albeit with more dialogue and simpler. I assume the actual mysteries will be trickier to solve, unfortunately it’s not particularly interesting solving by myself.

Looking at the available levels, I suspect completing all of them won’t take too long.

Map Questioning Dialog

Witchtastic

Steam rating Price Description Released Peak players
82.76% - Store page £13.99 Co-op Potion Making October 2021 36 (October 2023)

You know Overcooked? Or Plate Up? Imagine that, but with potions instead of meals.

Really, that’s it. The gameplay videos show that some additional mechanics unlock later on, but it’s obviously not intended for solo players.

Home World map Gameplay

Xenonauts

Steam rating Price Description Released Peak players
84.73% - Store page £18.99 Cold War X-COM June 2014 1,619 (June 2014)

I am genuinely stunned that this isn’t an actual official X-COM game!

The gameplay, interfaces, goals, entire game is essentially a modernised version of the old X-COM games. I’ve watched Lewis & Ben play this for hundreds of hours, and I know it’s definitely not for me unfortunately.

Air combat World map Equipment

1/5 Games

Vermillion

Steam rating Price Description Released Peak players
80.65% - Store page £18.99 VR Painting July 2021 54 (August 2021)

I don’t have a VR headset, and this game requires VR.