Hollowreach

Hollowreach is a game about curiosity. You wash up in a half-submerged ruin and the whole thing unfolds through exploring, poking at old mechanisms, and piecing together what happened here. There's no combat to speak of — just atmosphere, puzzles, and a lot of looking closely.

Navigation is a simple tap-to-move and swipe-to-look setup that fades into the background, which is exactly what you want. The puzzles are environmental and logical, the kind where the solution makes you feel clever rather than lucky. I kept a mental map going and that was half the joy.

It's short — maybe four or five hours — but it respects every one of them. I finished it in two sittings and immediately missed being there.

What we liked

• Gorgeous, melancholy atmosphere
• Clever environmental puzzles
• No padding or busywork