Just when I thought I’d heard of every concept for a video game imaginable, a pitch landed in my inbox. A game about driving a forklift. Okay, normal enough, seems like it could be a good time. I’ve always wanted to get forklift certified. But the big kicker here wasn’t that. No, it was the fact that I’d be doing it as a giraffe. An interesting concept, without a doubt. But what I didn’t expect was one of the most well-designed, hilarious puzzle games I’ve played since Portal 2.

This week, I dove into four games: Tiny Lands 2, Extreme Forklifting 3, ChainStaff, and The Void. Four games that couldn’t be any more different from one another. A spot the difference game that taught me the value of winding down properly after a long day. A hilariously written puzzle game with some of the most batshit insane lore I’ve ever heard. A Contra-esque run & gun game where I played as a supersoldier with a bug head. And a terrifying horde shooter that has all the right pieces to make me sweat. Four games, made by small teams of varying sizes, and one thing in common: they’re quickly becoming some of my favorite games that I’ve played this year so far.

Extreme Forklifting 3 Let Me Live Out My Dream of Becoming Forklift Certified, and It Rocks

I don’t know when all of the memes about becoming Forklift Certified actually started, but it’s been a part of my daily vernacular for longer than I’d have ever expected up to this point. It’s such a silly concept, and it’s something that could easily coast by on its gimmick. But rather than being a silly little game about driving a forklift as a giraffe, it’s much more than that. It’s a speedrunners’ dream, where you can find ways to optimize your runs to compete against other players. It’s a graphical delight, with floppy physics and fantastic vehicle handling. There’s even a ton of lore that explains why in the hell a giraffe is forklift certified. Extreme Forklifting 3 is the surprise of the year for me so far, for many different reasons.

The explanation as to why our long-necked friend needs to become forklift certified is genuinely hilarious. Nuclear winter, Emu Wars, and more await anyone interested enough to dive into this one. The game is also a looker, and it ran perfectly on both my PC and my ROG Ally. I wanted to play on the go, and once you try it out for yourself, you’ll understand why I needed it everywhere. But the puzzles here. The puzzles are the true star of the show. That, and the need for me to try and continuously one-up my greatest times.

Extreme Forklifting 3 is a Genuine Puzzle Mastercraft

A game like this needs to nail not only the vibe, but the controls. If the premise is great, it would be a tragedy to see it controlled poorly. You don’t need to worry about that here. Every vehicle that you get to command here drives exactly as you would expect it. Playing with a controller, I was able to manipulate the forklift forks vertically, as well as horizontally. In a mad dash to try and stack as many objects as possible in the world’s most horrifying game of Jenga, I was flying around the map like a champion before long.

It’s not very often that I’m this impressed by a puzzle game, but Extreme Forklifting 3 nails it. It’s utterly hilarious, controls like a dream, and will have even the most non-competitive players vying for their chance to be on the leaderboard. At first, I was worried that this would be little more than just a meme game. But at the end of the day, I can see the potential that Extreme Forklifting 3 has, and I fuck with the vision. It’s an astonishingly good time, and I had a smile on my face whenever I was playing it, even if I had just dumped an entire stack of items off the edge of the map because I was cheesing too hard.

Tiny Lands 2 Has Become My New Unwind Game, and Believe Me When I Say You Should Play With Headphones

I’m one of those types of people who can’t focus if music has lyrics. I’m engrossed by what message the lead singer of a band is trying to get across, so the majority of my day is spent listening to lo-fi streams on YouTube. The same can be said for video games. If I’m playing a game that has a lot of dialogue, I can’t have music with lyrics interrupting the flow of the characters. Tiny Lands 2 understands me, and as a game that requires your focus, the music is eager to match my expectations. A surreal, more grown-up version of the classic I Spy book series that I grew up with, Tiny Lands 2 is both a blast from the past and a fantastic way to unwind after a long day.

Some people love to march straight forward onto a battlefield after a long day of work. Me? I’d rather unwind. Let the music sweep me away, and push my brain into some challenging spot-the-difference puzzles. Tiny Lands 2 is an incredibly chill time, featuring beautiful instrumental music, a fantastic core gameplay loop, and a beautiful visual style that shines. Plus, some of these puzzles can be genuinely brain-racking, and I’m always interested to see what the next setup is going to look like.

Tiny Lands 2 Is Beautiful in Every Regard

This is another game that was instantly added to my ROG Ally so I could play it more often. Unwinding on the couch after a long day is much better than sitting behind a computer screen for longer than I need to. For those wondering, Tiny Lands 2 has fantastic controller support, so playing anywhere feels like a dream come true. Even on a smaller screen, I can zoom in enough to ensure that I’m viewing every square inch of these intricately designed dioramas to find all of the sneaky little differences. I thought playing on a handheld may make the experience a little more difficult, but it’s just as fun as it is on a bigger screen.

There’s also plenty of content to keep even the quickest of spotters busy for quite a while. I’ve racked up a fair number of hours at this point, and I haven’t seen everything that the game has to offer. For under $10, this may be one of the best bang-for-your-buck games on the market, especially if you’re a fan of things like Where’s Waldo or I Spy. Spot the difference games were something I had disregarded for far too long, and Tiny Lands 2 has made me a believer in the genre.

ChainStaff Is Gnarly, Nasty, and Metal as Hell, and I Can’t Get Enough of It

If looking at the image above makes you feel sick to your stomach, ChainStaff may not be a game for you. It’s bloody, gnarly, and nasty, all backed with an impressively heavy metal soundtrack, and plenty of body horror that would make even Clive Barker a little squeamish. You’re placed in the boots of a super soldier who has one mission: save the world. But there’s something a little… off about our hero. Maybe it’s the gun that they use, and the power-ups that you can collect along the way. Maybe it’s the fact that they can summon a massive, wiggling and writhing staff made of what appears to be spinal vertebrae. Oh, I think I got it. It’s the massive, horrifying bug head that they have.

Okay, maybe I’m misleading you a little bit. It’s not a bug head, persay. It’s actually an ALIEN HEAD THAT HAS BURROWED INTO YOUR BODY, AND IT’S THE ONLY THING KEEPING YOU ALIVE. The barbed tentacles burrow into your heart and lungs, and any attempt to try and remove this would spell instant death for you and those that you’re trying to protect. No pressure or anything, right?

ChainStaff Harkens Back to the NES Days of Jump ‘N Gun Glory, and Sticks the Landing

There’s one thing to be said about a lot of modern video games. They can be very forgiving. Giving players plenty of health and plenty of opportunities to try and right the wrongs that they may have made. Not ChainStaff. ChainStaff gives you some hits, and if you die? You gotta go back to the last checkpoint you got to. That may mean that you’ll need to go through that punishing platforming section again. All you gotta do is do it better this time. It’s not as terrifyingly difficult as Contra, but it’s still got plenty of moments that made me want to bash my head into a table until it bled.

If you’ve been searching for a classically styled Jump ‘n Gun platformer that feels both old and new, ChainStaff is for you. It’ll kick your ass repeatedly. But you have all of the tools to guarantee your success waiting there for you. You just need to learn how to utilize them properly, and once it clicks, the game becomes far better than you may have ever imagined.

The Void Is Punishing. It Is Brutal. But Also, The Void Is Great

Now, for the most mysterious game on this whole list. The Void. It’s a game that seems simple on paper, but once you dig deeper into the mechanics, it becomes a great mixture of horde shooting and power-up saving. I find myself alone in the middle of an unknown location. Behind me, there is a church, and four branching paths. I know not what to expect as I hear the ding of a bell and the skittering feet of an unknown creature approaching me. All I know is that I have a gun, and I’m ready to use it.

The Void sells itself as a horde shooter, inspired by the film The Mist. While I’m unfamiliar with the film that this game is inspired by, The Void has inspired me to search that out, as well. The dark, oppressive atmosphere and the feeling of never knowing when my time was about to be up were actually terrifying. Unlike other horde shooters, The Void gives you one hit to survive. Anything, from the smallest tap to the biggest swing, can kill you, and you need to prepare wisely to survive until Absolution.

It Takes a Minute To Cook, but Once It Starts, It Doesn’t Stop

The Void is purposely obtuse, and that’s something that I genuinely love about it. The build that I played, which is still early in development, offers a hint section for those eager to see what they need to do next. Because as soon as you’re dropped into the world of The Void, there are no visual markers that tell you where to go or what to do. You just need to survive, using the environment around you to tell you where enemies are about to start piling out from. The first waves of The Void are slow, plodding affairs. It gives you plenty of time to relax and figure out where enemies are coming from. But as waves continue to grow, so does the intensity of each of them.

I’m very intrigued with what The Void has to offer. While this build doesn’t have much in regard to story or worldbuilding, I could see this becoming a favorite for those who enjoy the darker side of life. I’m not sure where these demons are coming from, or what is causing them to hunt me down, but I’m already ready to become one with The Void. Let’s get this party started, shall we?