“Ponding” is bright, colorful and full of singing frogs. There are several amphibians scattered throughout the pond for you to talk to and almost all of them are trilling some tunes. The experience is accompanied by a pop track appropriately titled “Frogs in Tuxes”, so everything in this game is how it should be. [PLAY]
“Ranae” by vaporwavewarlock.
“Ranae”, Latin for “frogs”, is about a holy descent. You play as a pilgrim in the last stage of a ritual, devote as you jump into the water. The prose that accompanies the gradual descent into the mud is peaceful. The reasoning behind the ritual is not explained and so the descent is open to interpretation, with the most immediate for me being a metaphor for coming to terms with death. With that idea in mind, however, the game is not grim and does offer hope in the idea of eventual rebirth. [PLAY]
“Street Rat VII (A Tirenian Story)” by skybeargames.
“Street Rat VII (A Tirenian Story)” is the seventh part of a Bitsy game series, but if you – like me – have not played the previous games in this series, there is a recap at the beginning of the game to catch you up to speed. Our main character, Ratto, in frog form, must venture through the swamp to rescue his stolen dragon egg.
The game is filled with entertaining puzzles and helpful frogs. Technically, you have the option to solve the puzzles blindly by not talking to any of the non-player characters, but you will end up memorizing the opening recap by the time you finish the game that way. It also features multiple endings and plenty of death states, so it is still fun to see how things go wrong. [PLAY]
“You Are A Frog.” by Harry Petch.
“You Are A Frog.” is an existential game that asks what it is that defines froghood. You go through the various stages of frog life as represented by their physical development: Hatching, growing various limbs, and old age. Your time is spent doing frog things, like eating many flies, but is that what makes a frog a frog? [PLAY]
