Northern Journey

This game really shows how far a clear artistic vision can take you. While the character models might make you think otherwise, this is one of the best looking games i've played in awhile, and if you enjoyed the environment design of games like Dark Souls and S.T.A.L.K.E.R you will likely feel the same way. Each area has a fairly distinct visual flair, it's own very fitting music track, and often a unique set of enemies that all tie it together, and with how long the game is (I hit 12 hours, which seems pretty average) you get a good spread of environments with none of them overstaying their welcome.

Gameplay wise it's very simple, and can probably best be compared to something like Serious Sam, where the majority of your time will be spent side strafing large mobs of enemies or a big boss while pelting it with arrows and bolts. While nothing particularly innovative on that front, the game does a great job of making your weapons feel effective, and provides a unique crosshair style that gives you a rough idea of the trajectory of your projectiles that better incorporates long range arcing shots into the expected combat loop.

Without spoiling much, i'd also say it's one of the best horror games in the same way that Subnautica is.