My long and passionate relationship with stealth games started with Thief: The Dark Project and have stayed true to this very day. It might be a genetic marker for being sneaky, or maybe I overdosed on Ninja Turtles in my formative years turning me into a stealth-loving furry masquerading as an upstanding citizen in a world that hates my kind.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3578110055
Mark of the Ninja is a brilliant exemplar of the genre that truly reminds me what makes sneaky games great! We play as the titular marked ninja, the champion of his ninja clan, out for blood after a corporation sponsored massacre of his dojo leaves him as the sole survivor once again proving that late-stage capitalism is the best villain in any story... The voiceacting and characterisation is great and I really like the classic ninja-tropes brought to life in the veins of the classical ninja-movie craze of the 80s-90. Starting out with a basic set of ninja abilities you sneak, stab and gadget your way through various scenes trying to either assassinate your opposition or leave them behind unwise of your shadowy presence. The options are varied and you get to choose from a ton of upgrades and tools to either go in turning guards into blood fountains or blending into the night like a creature of the unknown, leaving naught but the objective completed and a befuddled guardforce questioning their sanity.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3578109415
The maps are long and sprawling and lend to a lot of different playstyles, much to the benefit of the game. The graphics are crisp and cartoony and really works well to encapsulate the ninja action contained within and the stealth game is nigh perfect and the ratio of stealth and action is brilliant and akin to the best of the stealth games on the market. If you enjoy thrilling and slow-paced tactical ninja action this is the golden ticket to your inner wet shinobi-dream! The game is a great example of how to take a concept and translate it into a perfect vessel
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3578109737
Conclusion: An absolutely terrific side scrolling stealth action game that takes the ninja trope and crunches it up to 11! Highly recommended to fans of stealth, assasination or shinobi simulators in general.

Journey is, well, a journey.. As a small hooded individual with a unique combination of glyphs as a name you trek across the ruined landscape of those that were before, in an vaguely archeological adventure. On your way you find bits and pieces of a magical scarf that lets you jump high and soar across the lands in a puzzle platformer kind of way. On your journey you can encounter other travelers with whom you can only communicate with simple chimes, all in all a strange yet serene experience of the weird understanding that is communication with simple means..
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3450780507
This is a surprisingly esoteric experience that really blew me away.. The first time I ran through its ethereal plains in search of an answer to my pitiful existence I was literally amazed at the subtle vistas that kept on expanding as I ventured forth across the landscapes, the cyclopean mountain ever beaconing me forward. I encountered different players who helped me find secrets and picked me up when I was in desperate need of a push. However, sadly, the first round I got weirdly stuck on one part of the game due to a glitch with my controller, which I solved by swapping to keyboard and mouse. But by the time I journeyed on my friend who had stayed by my side faithfully for the whole journey had migrated on.. So thank you whoever you were!
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3450781314
This game is simply amazing, and although I can see that some might find it a bit odd and maybe even dull, to me it was akin to that of Return of the Obra Dinn, an experience I will carry with me forever as one of the pinnacle of gaming as an interactive medium. I read somewhere that a bug in an early version of the game led a game tester to freeze at an opportune moment creating the stunning and emotional ending we got in the finished game, to this I can only conclude that it must have been the most fortuitous crash ever recorded!
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3450782034
Conclusion: Highly recommended. A spiritual journey through time and space where you meet strangers and share a strange camaraderie on your way to gain insight into what happened to the world.. Might not be for everyone, but if you, like me, share a philosophical interest, this game truly pokes on what it means to be alive. Truly special, but only in a good way!