Teller Report

Three video game gems for rainy summer days

7/3/2023, 12:07:01 PM

Highlights: Hand-painted backgrounds in beautiful Swedish indie games. minimalist mini-games about grief and magic forest adventures from a studio that has dug into the Nordic soil. Game critic Susanne Möller gives three tips on overlooked gems from the gaming world in 2023. Planet of Lana, Bramble – the mountain king, and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt are just a few of the titles on our list of must-plays for the new year. The full list of games to watch out for in the next few weeks will be revealed on 23rd January.

Hand-painted backgrounds in beautiful Swedish indie games, minimalist mini-games about grief and magic forest adventures from a studio that has dug into the Nordic soil. Game critic Susanne Möller gives three tips on overlooked gems from the gaming world in 2023.


Planet of Lana

The game is created by the Swedish indie studio Wishfully. In the game, you are a young girl on a planet where people, animals and nature previously lived in harmony with each other. But the planet has been invaded by machine-like aliens. And the task? To save the planet.

"It's incredibly beautiful and it's hand-drawn environments you move through on this puzzle adventure," says Susanne Möller.

It comes in waves

This is a short, minimalist, experimental adventure that addresses themes of guilt, grief, and shame.

"It's very minimalistic both in scope and in what you do in the game. It's incredibly exciting and very arty-farty, says Susanne Möller, who wonders if it's a game in the traditional sense.

Bramble – the mountain king

The game has been created by the Swedish studio Dimfrost and it is an adventure game inspired by the dark side of Norse mythology. Susanne Möller clearly sees inspiration from John Bauer.

"You can see it almost directly on the main character Olle. He's like taken out of a Bauer painting," she says of the game, which is both beautiful and scary.