Cradle

I'm going to tentatively recommend this, but I am a bit conflicted -- mostly because the game also seems a bit confused about itself. Visually, it's one of the most beautiful games I've ever played. As a mood piece, or as a glimpse into an original and carefully put together world, it is also excellent. But there are significant problems in the way it's designed in terms of gameplay and the presentation of narrative.
Most of what you actually do in this game is walk around and move clunky objects to different places in order to accomplish mundane but comfy and varied tasks. That's fine. Having to hunt down a very specific object out of a myriad of possible objects all crammed in one location can get a bit aggravating, but it's okay. Personally, I just looked at a guide whenever I felt the cosiness was being outweighed by the frustration. The real problem in terms of gameplay is that Cradle keeps throwing you into an irritating minigame that feels wholly out of place -- both in relation to the setting and story, and in relation to the other type of puzzle gameplay I mentioned. It feels like you're pausing this comfy, mysterious, atmospheric adventure to play Pacman for five minutes. To be fair, you get the option to skip the minigame and just continue with the story -- which in itself is already an admission that the minigame is thoroughly misplaced. But here's the best part: you have to actually lose the minigame once first, which can take quite a while. I don't think this is very good game design.
As for the narrative problem, this has to do with the way the story is presented rather than the story itself (which is a really nice mix of things that oscillates somewhere between complicated sci-fi and a heartfelt poetic fable). When you start, you get a ton of optional exposition in the form of a ton of documents you can read, all scattered around the small starting location. This is not only where the background lore is, but also essential information on what actually ultimately happens in the game. If you don't read it attentively, you'll end up feeling lost. If you read it, be prepared for at least half an hour of hunting down documents in a literal pile of papers for an info dump. There's no exploration aspect to it. Most of it is just heaped up there at the start and you just have to go through it. I'm all for more ambiguous storytelling via withholding information or indirect delivery but this isn't it.
That was problem #1. The second problem with the narrative is that most of your interactions with the most significant NPC in the game are going to just be more of these type of lore/backstory dumps. In a game whose impact relies a lot on you forming an emotional attachment to this character, this isn't ideal. And finally, there's the ending. What you need to know before buying the game is that for most people, the ending is going to be sudden, confusing, and unsatisfying. Lots of the other reviews seem to think that it's because the game is unfinished -- I don't buy that. Most things that exist in the game story-wise seem deliberate and carefully thought out, and the context for the ending is there if you look for it. What it does suffer from is bad design, just like the rest of the game. It's awkwardly put together, and that context is given to you in an entirely wrong, unsatisfying, and unimaginative way -- see the paragraph above.
In spite of all these problems, Cradle is one of the most interesting and memorable games I've ever played. This is entirely due to the mood, the visuals, and the concept/setting (poetic transhumanist sci-fi in a Mongolian yurt -- that's all you need to know). It's startling and original and unapologetic about its vision, and I would love to play something else from these developers that takes the lessons learnt from Cradle into account. I don't know if they even exist anymore -- as far as I'm aware they haven't put out anything else in the past five years. Which is a shame, because I'd love to see more games like this executed better. If you care about unique worlds and visions in games and have a high tolerance for unpolished nonsense, Cradle is definitely a game that stands out.

You'll Be Thinking About This One Long After! Guaranteed!
One game; one ending; that spawns a million discussions! Awesome game! Golden story!
Golden action sequences that create a sense of urgency in a science fiction story that is unlike any other I've participated in. Although the creators thoughtfully gave the option to bypass these, try your hardest not to take the easy route. With a little thinking and putting into practice the advice given at the start of every pavilion, you'll master them in no time. Beating them gives you a sense of being victorious for someone who needs you, rather than just going to a place and picking something up with no action on your part. If you're reading reviews that dis this game even in the slightest due to the action sequences, disregard. It's one thing to dis a game because it's overall terrible, and another when it's due to your inabilities. When writing a review, at the very least an attempt should be made, to make sure subjectivism doesn't rise above objectivism.
I'm still thinking about this game and its ending. Pure gold! Wow! What a game!

Cradle is a difficult game to classify. I'd say it's an indie adventure/walking simulator open world game, with a bit of puzzles. And all this in a post-apocalyptic dystopian universe where a sci-fi story is told (it's clear, right?).
The narrative is engaging (it's always raising new questions), and the world is captivating. In the other hand, the mini-games are very repetitive and slow down the story's pace. The optimization is quite bad, and there are randomly fps drops often.
It's far away from being a perfect game and it's a weird mix of genres, but if you're looking for an interesting sci-fi story, or if you like dystopias, may be an interesting option. It has an strange beautiness.
I recommend it discounted (since it lasts about 5 hours).
✪✯✪✯✪✯✪ 6.1 / 10 ✪✯✪✯✪✯✪

WTF did I just play?
So this is an art piece. The 3D point&click adventure lives from its atmosphere of mystery. In postapocalyptic mongolia, your (?) Jurte is standing next to an amusement park ruin. The story unravels through articles in leftover papers and the conversation between you and the two (!) NPCs.
The game itself is quite simplistic. Three places of interest, two NPCs and one questline. This has two major negative consequences:
A) It is short. Take out some unneccessary parts like the repeated traversal between Jurte and park, and you get about 2h of story.
B) It has boring bits. The park-minigames are four times the same minigame, and not too compelling. The programmers knew that, so lose once and you get the option to skip. Running between park and Jurte about 7 times also is boring.
But my oh my did the story get me hooked. It was all conversation/reading based, but what was there was good! Unfortunately, the game doesn't answer anything on its own, which is always a shame. You have to read every hidden piece of paper to get a modest understanding of everything, and even that leaves a few gaping holes. If you take it as a piece of art, a display of beauty, ideas to talk about, but with the slight problem, that you will never fully understand the artist or his intention, it is a good game. The soundtrack is superb.
Follow my curator at

This is a good game overall. The plot gets more fascinating the more you play it, although it would have been better if they forced you to learn optional bits of information before you can get to the ending (maybe a good/bad ending depending on what you know).
You're in a mongolian steppe, unable to leave for reasons you don't understand, and you find and reactivate someone's digital brain. Restore her memories, figure out who you are, and understand what went wrong with the world.
The gameplay itself is not the best but it's better than a boring walking simulator. But yeah you'd play it for the plot anyway.

It’s like a book… It‘s like a mystery book hidden from you in the endless grasses of Mongolia, weird strange yurta and who knows where else, waiting for revelation and comprehension. How does it feel, losing your memory completely? What do you feel, investigating scattered crumbs on pieces of papers, trying to understand who are you, what’s happened there, to read notes from somebody who was in your body just yesterday, to absorb a brand new world into you? Will you also find all the answers how and why you’ll change this world at the very end?
What you’ll find here for sure – it’s not a game as you know, it’s piece of art as you feel.

Cool non-linear storytelling, quite original plot: a mix of post apocalitical world (due to a pandemic), etical and moral implications of human-mecanization, some nice chunks of Mongolian cultural aesthetic... but terrible gameplay.
Super laggy, some puzzles are just tiresome, not smart, and the worst part: the world is gigantic, but all the action is set... near your house. Also, the game forces you to do the puzzles step-by-step, even if you figure out everything quicker than was expected, so it's a real pain to get the missions updated, you waste a lot of time thinking "which pointeless step did I missed?"
Worth your time if you grab it on a sale (at least 60% off)