December Picks: Good Games You May Have Missed

You might have noticed that we skipped a recent monthly roundup, so this edition takes a broader look at noteworthy releases from the past few weeks. There’s plenty to catch up on, with a wide range of games that may have flown under the radar. From smaller projects to ambitious new releases, December offers a good opportunity to revisit what you may have overlooked and discover something worth your time.

Duet Night Abyss

After two closed beta tests, the developers of Duet Night Abyss made an unexpected decision. Instead of relying on paid gacha mechanics, they removed them entirely. Money and spins are limited to cosmetic items, while all characters and weapons must be unlocked through regular play.

This change comes at a cost. Grinding plays a major role, with numerous modes and challenges designed to farm resources and equipment. The developers have tried to keep these activities varied, including escort-style missions, but many of them feel stretched out. Difficulty ramps up slowly, both in individual activities and across the game as a whole.

Visually, the game is impressive. The art direction stands out immediately, and the cold, picturesque world invites constant screenshot-taking. Combat allows you to switch between melee weapons and firearms, and co-op play is also supported.

Despite its flaws, Duet Night Abyss leaves a positive impression. The story is lively and emotional, touching on themes such as racial prejudice, dangerous experiments, and a mysterious illness affecting parts of the population. A talkative companion, clearly inspired by Paimon, provides comic relief, although her constant chatter can become grating over time.

Beyond the main story, the game offers side activities built around an interesting dialogue system. Choosing different responses affects character traits, which can later influence dice-based persuasion attempts. This does not make the narrative truly non-linear, but it adds a welcome layer of depth.

Overall, Duet Night Abyss still needs refinement, but its strong visual identity, ambitious ideas, and willingness to move away from traditional gacha systems give it clear potential.

Silly Polly Beast

Silly Polly Beast is one of those rare hidden gems that occasionally surface in Steam’s themed collections. Developed largely by a single creator, Andrey Chernyshev, the game draws inspiration from Russian teen dramas, early Resident Evil, mystical anime, and low-budget arthouse cinema. At times it flirts with outright graphomania, but aside from a few overly verbose scenes, the result is strikingly original and memorable.

Visually, the game is highly stylised and instantly recognisable. Its dark tone is infused with harsh, often unsettling black humour. The story follows Polly, a mute girl who flees an orphanage after years of bullying and abuse. When her planned escape goes wrong, she falls into a manhole and seemingly dies, only to awaken in a nightmarish underworld locked in an endless conflict between angels and demons.

This hell operates by its own warped logic. Demons patrol the streets wearing animal masks and wielding rubber truncheons. Angels live underground and call themselves rebels. Teenaged devils with horns dance through blood-soaked fog to loud music. Polly herself grows horns and becomes bound by a pact with a mysterious captive who tasks her with hunting down three demons. The chaotic and unpredictable nature of the game can even remind you of the excitement of trying your luck at Slotozen no deposit bonus, where every move holds the possibility of an unexpected reward. These surreal events are interwoven with fragmented memories of life in the orphanage.

In practice, everything works better in motion than on paper. Most importantly, the gameplay is genuinely compelling. Silly Polly Beast blends survival horror, twin-stick shooting, and hardcore combat even on normal difficulty. Polly can perform demonic rituals to solve puzzles, unlock paths, and even fly briefly by using weapon recoil.

The game constantly throws unexpected ideas at the player: extreme skateboarding through metro tunnels, brutal boss encounters, and Soviet-era kiosks that double as fast-travel hubs, shops, and levelling stations, the latter humorously located in public toilets. The result is a world that is colourful, uncomfortable, occasionally cringe-inducing, but impossible to ignore.

Combat allows you to strike enemies with a skateboard, throw it like a boomerang, shoot firearms, and dodge attacks, all while carefully managing stamina. Enemies can immobilise you with chains, forcing quick reactions. Stealth is also an option, letting you pull up your hood and slip past danger. From time to time, the game slows down with simple but atmospheric puzzles, including the grim task of dragging corpses through hostile environments.

Silly Polly Beast is messy, bold, and deeply unconventional. It will not appeal to everyone, but for players willing to embrace its strange logic and raw creativity, it offers an experience that feels genuinely unlike anything else.

Shrine's Legacy

A word of warning upfront: don’t put too much faith in claims about a “reliable combat system” in Shrine’s Legacy. Like many old-school 8- and 16-bit RPGs – and in stark contrast to the more forgiving, turn-based structure of Atelier Totori – the combat feels archaic from a modern perspective. It is clunky, unforgiving, and often inconvenient. You can adapt to it over time, but you will still find yourself cursing when a spell misses because your character was not positioned perfectly. Contact damage from enemies is constant, and your health pool is, to put it mildly, limited.

The situation is made more demanding by the need to constantly switch between the two main characters, each with their own health bar, as well as between spells that drain mana at an alarming rate. All of this makes solo play feel tense and, at times, exhausting. Local co-op changes the picture significantly. With a second player controlling the partner character, combat becomes far more manageable and considerably more enjoyable.

Despite its rough edges, Shrine’s Legacy has a strong sense of warmth and sincerity. There is an engaging story that starts from a familiar premise — a hero facing a newly freed demon lord — but expands it with memorable characters, dialogue choices, and even a love triangle involving two potential companions.

The game offers the freedom to explore a varied world filled with dungeons, traps, and puzzles, many of which rely on clever use of elemental spells. Most importantly, there is a genuine spirit of adventure running through the entire experience.

In short, if you want a game that makes you suffer, complain, and keep going anyway — like mice that cried, pricked themselves, but kept eating cactus — Shrine’s Legacy is worth your time. Just make sure to play it in co-op if you can.

Lost Eidolons: Veil of the Witch

The original Lost Eidolons was a tactical JRPG clearly inspired by Fire Emblem, with a strong focus on cinematic storytelling, dialogue, and building relationships with party members. At times, it felt almost like a camp management simulator, complete with conversations, gift-giving, and lengthy cutscenes. This approach divided players, although many praised the game’s ambitious presentation and some unusual tactical ideas, such as battles that required targeting enemy weak points.

With Veil of the Witch, a spin-off that has now emerged from early access, the developers have clearly listened to that feedback. This time, tactical combat is combined with roguelike elements. Dialogue and story scenes are kept to a minimum, while the camp is reduced to a streamlined menu where all preparations can be handled quickly and without unnecessary distractions. The narrative itself remains deliberately vague, hinting at a fallen warrior who has lost both life and memory after striking a deal with a witch, before largely stepping aside to let the battles take centre stage.

Combat is fast-paced and demanding. Many encounters involve zombies that can respawn endlessly unless you interrupt dark rituals and extinguish special bonfires on the battlefield. Other scenarios challenge you to break through encirclements or rescue vulnerable healers under pressure. Survival depends on careful progression, including upgrading equipment with special stones, gaining blessings, unlocking new skills, and collecting relics, some of which offer powerful bonuses at the cost of serious drawbacks.

As in the original game, success hinges on thoughtful tactical decisions. You need to manage each character’s two weapon types, switch stances at the right moment, and make full use of unique abilities. Environmental effects also play a role, with surface interactions encouraging smart positioning, such as using lightning attacks against wet enemies. For players seeking an extra challenge, a dedicated trial mode allows you to customise difficulty modifiers and push the systems to their limits.

Lost Eidolons: Veil of the Witch trims away excess storytelling in favour of focused, replayable tactics. It may lack the spectacle of its predecessor, but in return it delivers a sharper and more disciplined tactical experience.

The Lonesome Guild

The Lonesome Guild is often described as a cute, almost childlike game about friendship. In reality, this RPG starring big-eyed bunnies and foxes paints a much darker picture of the world. Beneath its gentle surface lie themes of pain, inequality, war, and emotional isolation. Around campfires and during quiet conversations, its characters wrestle with heavy questions: can you forgive a murderer if they are someone you love, can love fade away, and is it better to think carefully or act decisively.

Much of the game’s storytelling is metaphorical rather than explicit. The central plot initially appears familiar, with a creeping, blood-red fog driving the heroes from place to place. Over time, it becomes clear that this fog represents concentrated despair and loneliness. Many of the bosses you face commit terrible acts not out of malice, but because they are profoundly isolated. The protagonist, a benevolent spirit, can literally enter their souls in an attempt to understand and help them.

At its core, the game argues that friendship and compassion are the only true remedies. This may sound sentimental, but the harshness with which the world and its characters are portrayed makes the message feel earned rather than naive. That theme is also deeply integrated into the mechanics. The spirit must constantly interact with companions, choosing dialogue options and giving gifts to strengthen bonds. Higher friendship levels unlock new combat skill paths, directly tying emotional connection to gameplay progression.

Combat reinforces cooperation just as strongly. Players need to switch between characters at the right moments to gain bonuses, heal allies, and rescue wounded party members. Beyond battles, the game offers side quests, environmental exploration in search of equipment and hidden chests, and puzzles built around character interactions.

The result is a thoughtful and well-rounded RPG that combines solid combat design with a surprisingly heavy emotional core, using its “cosy” exterior to tell a much more unsettling and human story.

Winter Burrow

Winter Burrow first caught players’ attention with its demo, which gave the impression of a full-fledged survival game. The atmosphere and the comforting fireplace suggested a harsh winter experience where you could feel the frostbitten mouse warming itself by the fire. In reality, the game is a more linear adventure with light survival elements, mostly involving trips between a house with workbenches and a forest to gather resources.

Despite its simplicity, the game is beautiful and quietly moving. It carries a gentle sadness and a touching story, centred on a young mouse who has lost her parents and decides to establish a family burrow. Along the way, players help her navigate challenges, find warmth and comfort, and discover hope.

With its serene pace, well-written characters, and wintery atmosphere, Winter Burrow is a perfect fit for a cozy gaming session during the colder months.