2023 was a year where many great games came out. However, high-end games like Baldur’s Gate 3 and Lies of P would not have been playable on a PC that couldn’t handle 3D graphics properly. But there are plenty of great games you can enjoy without high-end hardware.
ⓒ Foundry
If you’re a user of an entry-level PC, a laptop without a separate graphics card, or even a Steam deck that needs to be recharged every two hours, be sure to read PCWorld’s full review article, which introduces the games that you can have fun. on an entry-level PC every year. All can be played on Windows and other platforms and work well even on old, rusty hardware. Another plus is that it is much cheaper than the latest AAA games.
The following are low-end PC-only games selected by the author. Order has nothing to do with rank. If you want a game with lower requirements, check out our full 2021 and 2022 reviews, which are still fun to play.
pizza tower
Fans of the weird and ugly comics of the late ’90s or Twitch platformers will find a unique fusion in Pizza Tower. Sonic’s heavy breathing, Wario’s multi-character form, and awesome music come together to create a completely skill-based experience. It’s a pixel art style, but not at the 8-bit level. It resembles the complex scribbles of a middle school student brought to life and vigor through the Microsoft Paint app.
In most cases, you can level up quickly, but boss battles can only be won if you use the game’s movement and attack tools well. That’s the beauty of platform games. You can have a lot of fun with 3D games without having to reinterpret them in 2D. Pizza Tower sells for 21,000 won on Steam.
Book of Hours
This is a game for TikTok users who love books. In “Book of Hours”, you must manage a psychic library, restore each room, search the entire collection to solve mysteries, and cure suspicious visitors to the library. It’s a game that mixes the management elements of a simulation game with an RPG with strong production elements, but also adds developer Weather Factory’s unique esoteric style. There is no direct combat.
You will feel like Belle, the protagonist of “Beauty and the Beast”, who defeated the beast and all the magical furniture in the castle and fell into the true passion of “knowledge”. You can choose each character’s background and story, so there’s plenty of room to explore the game again even after you’ve seen the ending. It’s worth playing around with it several times until you’ve created the perfect library. Book of Ours sells for 27,000 won on Steam.
The last spell
Part tower defense, part grid-based strategy, in “The Last Spell,” users must defend the city from endless waves of the undead. If you can keep the wizard alive long enough, the wizard can permanently kill the undead with a cleansing spell. The cute pixel art and hardcore difficulty of the roguelike setting hide a surprising amount of depth and strategic variety.
The Last Spell supports expansion in all directions, starting from the ideal and simple strategy, adapting to the user’s comfortable style or new experiments. Once you get through the initial difficult parts, you will be rewarded with great prizes. Despite being pixel art, there are some small visual elements, like creepy built-in expressions, that might surprise you when playing the Steam deck. The Last Spell sells for 27,000 won on Steam.
Dave the Diver
‘Dave the Diver’ is a difficult game to describe. However, if I had to express it, the core of the game is a repetition of the pattern of exploring the depths of the sea and cooking and serving the caught fish in a sushi restaurant. However, it is full of serious stories and minigames and has a unique personality.
Some say that Dave the Diver is a game with a confusing identity, but for most people this won’t be an issue. Through slightly strange and fresh characters and game elements, players enter a kind of meditative state without knowing what events will happen the next day, whether in the dangerous sea or on the calm land. If you’re looking for an addictive game that brings new surprises every moment, try Dave the Diver. It sells for 24,000 won on Steam.
The Sisterhood of the Cosmic Wheel
Divining the future with tarot cards is nothing new, but playing tarot cards in an asteroid prison is certainly a new setting. As the young wizard Fortuna, players create a deck of mysterious cards in clip art style. We call this deck of cards “Entities” in hopes of regaining our freedom. The atmospheric story and creative drag-and-drop gameplay are literally one-of-a-kind. Some say that because the pace is slow, it is not exciting.
“The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood” hides a deep relationship and an adult story behind soothing music and beautiful 2D graphics. So keep in mind that this is not a game for kids or players who just want an occasional blast. But if you want a calm game that offers huge creative possibilities, it deserves a place on the list. It sells for 19,000 won on Steam and can also be played on GOG.
cardboard city
Players of city building games aim to achieve incredible precision that matches real-world cities. ‘Cardboard Town’ is a game that elaborately deconstructs this concept. Familiar elements like resource management and space planning are simplified in a tab-based interface, allowing cities to plan in a more organic and less comprehensive way. At times it feels closer to a puzzle game than an old city-building game.
Even though it’s technically 3D, I like the simple visuals and soothing music that also works well with the integrated graphics. The way the building is constructed in each location gives you the satisfaction of observing the work of a paper craft expert. There was also a recent update that allows players to explore the city as little cardboard citizens and doubles as a cute screensaver. Cardboard Town sells for 21,500 won on Steam.
typecast
As a keyboard enthusiast, I hate any game that makes typing fun and takes away from America’s most popular typing practice program, Mavis Beacon. ‘Typecast’ combines 2D combat using mouse and keyboard with the fast pace of Typing of the Dead, combining fighting game elements with office skills. It sells for 5,600 won on Steam.
Sea of Stars
There are still many 2D RPG games dating back to the Super Nintendo era, but among them, ‘Sea of Stars’ can be said to be the best game of 2023. Sea of Stars, a game Turn-based focused on attack combos, it will be familiar to players who enjoyed Chrono Trigger, games where timer-based bonus damage allowed you to maintain the upper hand. Sea of Stars also eliminated old-fashioned elements such as random battles and repeated level-ups.
The story follows a similar flow to a traditional animation, but the 2D visuals are excellent and the minigames are plentiful, so there’s always something to do. What’s special is that you can listen to string music by Yasunori Mitsuda, a legendary Japanese video game music composer famous for songs like Chrono Trigger, Mana and Xenogears. It sells for 37,500 won on Steam.
cassette beast
It’s hard to think of anything other than Pokemon and Sony Walkman as representative words of the ’90s. This is probably why the developer created ‘Cassette Beasts’. Although it is an RPG about fighting monsters, players work with a magical cassette player to defeat music-related monsters, collect new items, defeat bosses, and travel to new areas.
This isn’t a game that simply mixes old concepts together. You can block the most powerful attacks by teaming up with AI-managed partners or other players. The graphics are a retro mix of 2D and 3D, but since this is a turn-based monster battle, it will be fine with an integrated graphics card. It sells for 21,500 won on Steam and is also included in Xbox Game Pass.
Leica: aged through blood
Laika is neither a dog sent on a spaceship from the Soviet Union nor the name of a stop-motion animation studio. The Motorvania genre of “Laika: Aged Through Blood” is reminiscent of the physics-based motorcycle movement of Trials and the 2D shooting action of My Friend Pedro. . The setting is a wasteland like a Mad Max movie.
It takes a little time to manage the speed and momentum of your bike as you leap in slow motion to hit waves of bad guys, but what’s really surprising is the emotional aspect of the game. The story unfolds amidst shocking authenticity and beautiful 2D scenery. The characters are cute, but it has an apocalyptic worldview and violent elements, so I recommend playing this game away from children. It sells for 21,500 won on Steam and can also be purchased on the Epic Game Store and GOG.
moon ring
If you’re a fan of Ultima, be sure to check out “Moonring.” Moonring, a 2D top-down dungeon crawler game, is a game that combines old and new concepts. While it’s strictly a turn-based fighting game, it features combat that isn’t speed-limiting. Even when you’re moving like crazy, you can stop when necessary and plan your next move.
The dark RPG system mixes randomness and roguelike-style difficulty, making each turn unique. The main combat system is surprisingly well calibrated, something you wouldn’t expect just by looking at the neon and black graphics. It is also important to note that this is a free game. It’s a game there’s no reason not to play. Moonring can be downloaded from Steam.
edit@itworld.co.kr
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