Developer Monogon Games describes Interloper as a real-time strategy game with five-minute matches, but I would call it an RTS for people who hate the genre. This quirky example features all of the catchy conquering, tactical thinking, and fast-paced combat of the average real-time strategy game without being burdened by the base building, resource management, and game duration that scare off some of the potential audience. Toss in puzzle-like maps, an unusual setting, and faintly surreal visuals and sound, and you have a pick-up-and-play RTS for the masses that even genre veterans can appreciate for its innovations and challenge.

Simplicity is Interloper’s greatest asset. This is a two-player game in which you battle the AI or an online human opponent on small and slightly-less-small maps that never feature more than a handful of key assets to claim. The main unit is a Sentinel, a big mama that looks like a manta ray or some kind of microscopic bug, depending on w…

My wife calls them “chore games.” Day-to-day life simulations such as Stardew Valley, Graveyard Keeper, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons celebrate the mundanity of routine, assigning you daily lists of menial tasks to perform and rewarding you for completing them with another day and another to-do list. Littlewood is most certainly another one of these chore games. Rather than weighing it down, Littlewood’s daily grind is leavened by a lean, focused approach to its various labors, the swift turnover of its day-night cycle, and a dash of mystery that elevates its charming setting.

Peace has spread across the land of Solemn in the aftermath of the defeat of a dark wizard. Leading the victorious band of adventurers was a great hero who, in classic video game protagonist tradition, is now suffering from amnesia. He or she cannot remember a single thing about the battle, the triumph, or life beforehand. Nonetheless, at the urging of the friends you appa…