Hollow Tide Expedition

Hollow Tide Expedition is the quiet one in this list. You explore a half-drowned coastal town, solving environmental puzzles and piecing together what happened to the people who lived there. There's no combat, just curiosity.

The touch controls are gentle — tap to move, swipe to look around — and the game trusts you to figure things out without hand-holding. I got stuck twice and both times the answer was hidden in a detail I'd walked right past.

It's short, maybe five hours, but it lingered with me afterward. The atmosphere, the muted colors, the distant sound of water — it all adds up to something memorable. Play it with headphones.

What we liked

• Beautiful, melancholy atmosphere
• Clever environmental puzzles
• Respects your intelligence